Create a Classic quote

Overview

One of the key elements of the translation process is a translation quote. Before you even start working on the source documents, you need to agree with your client about what they will be charged for and how much the work will cost them. Understanding the client's needs and what they require for a given project helps you to save your and your vendors' time, improve the quality and consistency of services, and speed up the entire process.

If you take a look at the XTRF quotes, you may ascertain how many aspects are important for the translating process:

  • project's finances

  • language combinations

  • project's workflows

  • project's deadline

  • translation specialization, etc.

On the XTRF Platform, you can prepare a quote that includes all the necessary elements and instantly inform your client about your offer so they can decide whether to accept it.

This guide will help you to prepare a quote along with its financial details. You will create a quote with two tasks, one for each language combination, add receivables to the created tasks, and send the quote to your client.

In XTRF, the cost of the task, with the calculation unit and price unit is called a Receivable.


I. Add a quote

  1. Sign in to the XTRF Home Portal.

  2. Click the button on the top menu bar and select Quote from the drop-down menu.
    Alternatively, go to the Quotes module and click the Add Quote button in the top right-hand corner.
    You will be directed to the Add Quote page.

  3. Provide a concise Name for the new quote.

  4. Select the Client.
    Note: If the selected client has no contact person defined, you will be asked to add one.

  5. (Optional) Select the Project Group you want this project to be linked to. To learn more about project groups, see the guide.

  6. Select the classic project service. To learn more about services, see the Create and manage services guide.

  7. Click the Add Quote button.
    You will be directed to the Main Data tab of the classic's Add Quote page, where you may check, change or add the essential details of the new quote.

  8. (Optional) In the Client section, you can select another client or add a new one:

    • If you click the Select Client button, a Select Client Price Profile pop-up window appears. Use the filters on the left to narrow down the search. Click on the price profile of the desired client to change the client in the quote.

    • If you click the Add Client button, you will be directed to the Add Client page. To learn how to add clients, see the Create a new client profile guide.

  9. (Optional) From the Client Price Profile drop-down list, select another price profile for this client.

  10. (Optional) Provide the Client PO Number - the purchase order number or another reference number on the client side.

  11. In the Contact Person section, you can manage contact persons on the client's side:

    • Select the main contact person from the drop-down list.

    • (Optional) Click the Add Contact Person button to open the Add Contact Person pop-up window. Provide the contact person details and click the Add button.

    • (Optional) Click the More link to expand two additional sections: Send Back to and Additional Contacts.

  12. In the Sales Person and Project Manager sections, select the persons responsible for the future project from the drop-down lists. To check or change how the responsible persons are selected by default, go to Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Settings → Responsible Persons (Classic) tab.

  13. In the Workflow section, check or change the specific workflow that will be used in the future project. By default, you see the workflow defined in the selected service settings, but you can change it according to your needs. To learn more about workflows, see the https://help.xtm.cloud/xtrf/home-portal/configuration-menu/en/workflow-definitions--classic-.html article.

  14. From the Specialization drop-down list, select the topic of the future project. To learn more about specializations, see the https://help.xtm.cloud/xtrf/home-portal/configuration-menu/en/specializations.html article.

  15. The Added on and Offer Expiration dates are entered automatically; however, you can also enter them manually. To change the default Offer Expiration settings, go to the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Settings → Scheduling tab.

  16. In the Estimated Delivery Date and Time, provide the project's estimated due date and time. You can also set the expected duration in the Business Days field.

  17. (Optional) Check the Automatically Accept Sent Quote box if you want the quote to be converted into a project after the quote's status changes to Sent.

  18. If the quote concerns a live interpretation, select the Additional Fields checkbox. New fields will appear below.

    • In the Place of Event field, provide the details on where the interpretation will occur.

    • In the Date and Time of Event and Start Date and Time, provide the details about the timing of the interpretation.

    • In the Deadline field, provide the date of the event’s

  19. In the Categories section, select the quote's category from the drop-down list. To learn more about categories, see the article.

  20. (Optional) Switch to the Instructions tab, and provide notes and special instructions about the future project.

  21. Click the Save button at the bottom of the page. You will be directed to the Add Quote Language Combination page.


II. Select the language combination

Whenever you get files for translation, you need to specify the language combination in your quote: source and target languages. After you do that, one task will be created for this language combination. This allows you to easily manage the vendors' activities because they declare the languages in which they can provide their services. 

  1. In the Mode section:

    1. Use the radio buttons to decide on the type of language combination you want to add.

      • One to many → select this option if you want to add new language combinations where one source language is translated to many target languages.

      • Many to one → select this option if you want to add new language combinations where many source languages are translated into one target language.

  2. For One to many:

    1. Select the source language from the Source Language drop-down list.

    2. In the Target Languages section, double-click on a language(s) in the Available Items list or select a language and click the Add button to add it to the Selected Items list. 

  3. For Many to one:

    1. In the Source Language section: double-click on a language(s) in the Available Items list or select a language and click the Add button to add it to the Selected Items list. 

    2. Select the target language from the Target Language drop-down menu.

  4. Click the Add button. You will be directed to the Add Task page.

Start typing the language name to find it quicker.


III. Add a task

To proceed with the source files through the workflow steps in the future project, you need to define the project's tasks. Each task is associated with the language combination: source and target language. To create a task for a selected language combination, perform the following steps:

  1. Click on the language combination in the left-hand menu, then click the icon or the Add Task button below the left-hand menu. The new task appears below the selected language combination.

  2. In the Main Data tab on the right, you can see the data you have provided when creating a quote. You may make changes to this data if some details are task-specific. For example, you can select different deadline dates, specializations, or contact persons for this task.

  3. Click the Save button. The task appears below its associated language combination in the left-hand panel.

 If you have added multiple language combinations, the data are displayed for the last selected language combination.


IV. Add a receivable

After you have added a task to a language combination, new tabs appear on the right. To add a receivable to a task, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the desired task in the left-hand menu.

  2. Go to the Receivables tab and click the Add Receivable button. For details, see the Add a receivable and Use CAT analyses to define payables and receivables guides.


V. (Optional) Copy a task

If the details of the newly created task will be the same for other language pairs, you can simply copy the task instead of repeating the steps. To do so, click the Copy Task button below the left-hand menu. You will be directed to the Copy Task page.

  1. From the Task drop-down list, select the task you want to copy.

  2. In the Languages section, double-click on a language pair(s) to which the task will be copied in the Available Items list, or select a language pair and click the Add button to add it to the Selected Items list. 

  3. In the fields below, select the data that will be copied to the new task.

  4. (Optional) Use the radio buttons to switch from Copy to Set mode and provide new data.

  5. Click the Copy Task button.


VI. Send a quote

Once the quote is prepared, you can send it to the client. To do so, perform the following steps.

  1. Open the quote in Edit mode.

  2. In the left-hand menu, select the quote.

  3. Go to the Documents tab. The structure of this tab reflects the structure of the quote. There are separate lines and documents for each task and the whole quote.

  4. Click the icon in the Preview & Print column to preview the quote that will be sent to the client.

  5. In the Document Template column, you can select the template that will be used to create this particular quote. To learn more about document templates, see the article.

  6. To send the quote in whole, click the Send Global Quote button.

  7. To send the quote for a certain task, select this task in the list of documents and click the Send Quotes for Selected Tasks button.

  8. (Optional) To edit the e-mail that will be sent to the client along with a quote, click the icon in the Edit and Send column. The E-mail Test pop-up window appears. Here you can check and change the recipients, the content of the e-mail, its layout, and attachments.
    The changes you make while editing e-mails on this level won't be reflected in future messages. To learn how to change the e-mail templates, see the article.

  9. (Optional) You can also send this quote for internal review. To do so, click the Send Quote for Review section to expand additional fields.

    1. Select a Reviewer from the drop-down list.

    2. Click the button with the desired action below.


VII. Convert a quote into a project

 When your client accepts the terms and conditions of the created quote, you can convert this quote into a project.

To do so, click the Convert into Project button. You can find this button:

  • At the bottom of the quote's page (in edit mode).

  • On top of the list of quotes on the Quotes module main page (you have to select the quote first).

You will be directed to the Converting Quote into Project page. Here you can change the details provided in the quote and add new information:

  1. With the Auto-start Workflows checkbox, decide whether you want to start the project workflows immediately after conversion. To change the default setting of this checkbox, go to the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Settings → Workflow (Classic) tab.

  2. (Optional) Provide the project's Start Date and Time and Deadline dates and decide whether you want to apply those dates to the tasks in the project.

  3. With the Reset Jobs' dates checkbox, decide whether you want to change the job dates set in the quote. If you check this box, the first job start date and time will be set to the time of quote conversion, and the last job will receive the project's deadline you provide on this page. To change the default setting of this checkbox, go to the Configuration menu > Projects and Quotes > Settings > Scheduling tab.

  4. (Optional) If you want to convert to the project only some of the selected tasks, uncheck the Default box in the Advanced Settings section. A list of tasks will appear. Uncheck the boxes for the tasks you don't want to include in the project.

  5. Click the Add button. You will be directed to the newly created project page.