Making Estimates Inactive
I would like a way to make estimates inactive after a certain period (ie 30 days) of time or by a manual change. I do not want to delete them as this is I still want to see the history, but I do not want them to be able to go into their portal months or years after the estimate and approve it at that time.
I would also like to be able to mark them as no or something in the event that we know we did not receive the estimate (such as a bid) or they choose someone else, so that we could also keep track of items like that.
This is live!
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
Thanks @Troy! To make it more organized, I made a new post for the request:
http://feedback.repairshopr.com/forums/165658-general/suggestions/8623531-automatically-make-estimates-expire-after-a-config -
Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
Awesome Troy,
Thanks! I was going to create a whole additional feedback topic called "Automatically mark Estimates older than [specified-day-count] as Expired, instead of just manual Approval / Decline"
I think I'm 4 for 17 on "approval votes" from you now ;)
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Hey Ryan - I like it.. We'll get that going in an update pretty soon.
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
Hey Robert,
I did notice that you added the button in Settings>Estimates>Preferences to manually mark all estimates older than 30 days to become declined.
If I'm not mistaken, I'm assuming this is just a one-time push to all estimates older than 30 days? Meaning that 2 days later, the estimates that were 29 days old (that would now be 31 days old) would not become declined automatically unless you go back and click the button again?
This is really close, but here are my proposed upgrades to it:
1. Instead of calling the old estimates "Declined", call them "Expired"
2. Allow us to specify the number of days before expiring (vs the default 30). We use 30 here, but not sure that works for everyone...
3. Make estimates AUTOMATICALLY become expired after the specified number of days; vs having to manually click the "Decline Estimates older than 30 days" box.
4. Use a red "X" icon in the customer portal for expired, instead of a red "checkbox" so we can visually differentiate between declined and expired.What do you think?
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
@Robert: Please do NOT mark this as completed. The Declined button for estimates does NOT function as an expiration factor; because it is manual. Expiration by definition is AUTOMATIC.
The expiration idea would be so easy and simple. There would be a place in estimate settings in the admin panel where we can set a time threshold in days (30 for us). Then, estimates automatically expire after that threshold OR when a ticket becomes Resolved. Boom!
Expired estimates would auto-flag in the customer portal with an "x" and a status of "expired". This way customers cannot approve/decline something that is too old, or something that is linked to a resolved ticket.
The only thing I'm not sure of is if techs should have the ability to "renew/refresh" estimates that have expired. It might make more sense to show that an estimate expired and a new one had to be made. Otherwise, I suppose the estimate will always have the time stamp of when it was created for reference.
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Ryan (CTO, Pinellas Computers) commented
This would work extremely well if integrated with my mock up of the "extended progress bar" on tickets.
The extended progress bar would include: deposit taken, diagnosis provided, work approved, invoice created, work completed, payment taken.
Finally, each line would be grey in color by default. Then, you can create updates that are either a "yes" or "no" value, which would change the lines from grey to green or red to signify yes or no.
Example: if a customer does not approve any estimates, the "work approved" line could turn red to signify no work approved. And if an invoice is created, the line would turn green to signify that step happened.