Quotations, Sales Order, and Delivery

Path

Retail Settings: iVendNext Desk → Retail → Settings → Retail Settings

Prerequisites

Before you use Quotation, Order, or Delivery transaction modes, ensure the following are in place:

• You have a POS Profile configured for the relevant terminals.
• Retail permissions for Quotation and Order modes are assigned to the appropriate cashier roles. Cashiers without the relevant permission cannot switch a transaction to these modes.
• For Order transactions, customer records must exist in iVendNext — an Order cannot be saved without a customer.
• The Quotation Validity Days setting is configured in Retail Settings if you want quotations to carry a defined expiry date.
• Stock reservation and Payment Schedule settings are configured in Retail Settings if you intend to use advance orders.

How to Create a Quotation

The cashier saves a basket as a quotation for a customer on the till. See Quotations and Fulfillment Plans.

How to Create an Order

The cashier places an order and takes the deposit on the till. A cashier can also sell from a saved quotation. See Endless Aisle and Delivery and Quotations and Fulfillment Plans.

How to Process a Delivery

The cashier delivers a booked order from the order screen on the till. See Endless Aisle and Delivery.

Features

Three Transaction Modes in One Workflow

Quotation, Order, and Delivery are three distinct transaction modes in iVendNext POS, each representing a stage in a single sales workflow. A Quotation is a non-binding price estimate. An Order is a confirmed commitment with payment collected. A Delivery records the physical handover of goods and updates stock. Each mode is a separate POS invoice type, but they are linked — a Quotation can be converted to an Order, and an Order can be fulfilled by one or more Deliveries, all traceable through the source document chain.

Quotation Validity and Expiry

Every Quotation carries a Valid Until date calculated from the Quotation Validity Days setting in Retail Settings. This date is printed on the quotation document so the customer has a clear reference for how long the quoted prices are guaranteed. If conversion of expired quotations is disabled in Retail Settings, a cashier attempting to convert an expired quote sees a clear error message and cannot proceed. When the business requires flexibility — for example, to honour a quote for a returning customer — a manager can enable expired conversion in Retail Settings.

Quotation Status Lifecycle

Every Quotation has one of three statuses. Opened means the quotation is active and can be recalled, converted, or closed. Converted means all or part of the quotation has been turned into an Order or completed Sale — if only some items are converted, the quotation remains Opened with the remaining items available. Closed means the cashier has manually cancelled the quotation without converting it. A closed quotation cannot be reopened or converted. All status transitions are logged with the user, timestamp, and reason.

Customer Requirement for Orders

A Quotation can be created without a customer record, allowing walk-in customers to receive a price estimate without providing personal details. An Order, however, always requires a customer. This is because the order must be tracked against a specific person for payment scheduling, delivery coordination, and communication. The system blocks saving an Order without a customer assigned and displays a clear prompt.

Advance Payment and Payment Schedule

When an Order is created, the cashier collects an advance payment — the full order value or a partial deposit — through the standard payment panel. The Payment Schedule on the order records the deposit received and the balance outstanding, with expected payment dates if configured. Each subsequent payment collected against the order updates the schedule. When the Delivery is processed and the remaining balance is collected, the Payment Schedule closes out cleanly. Finance can report on advance payments received versus outstanding balances across all open orders without manual reconciliation.

Stock Reservation

When an item is placed on an Order, the cashier can flag it for Stock Reservation. This marks the quantity as committed to a specific customer and signals to the warehouse or store team that it should not be sold to anyone else. The reservation is informational at the point of order creation — stock is not deducted until the Delivery is processed. This keeps inventory counts accurate throughout the order lifecycle and ensures that reserved items remain visible to anyone checking on-hand levels.

Partial Deliveries

A single Order can be fulfilled by multiple Deliveries across separate customer visits. When a partial Delivery is processed, only the selected items and quantities are included in the Delivery invoice. The remaining items stay on the open Order with their original quantities and reservation flags intact. Each Delivery invoice is linked to the source Order, giving finance and operations a consolidated view of the order's fulfilment history. The Order remains Opened until the last item is delivered, at which point its status changes to Converted automatically.

Serial and Batch Number Assignment at Delivery

For items that require serial or batch number tracking, assignment happens at the Delivery step rather than at the Order or Quotation stage. Serial and batch numbers from the original quotation or order are cleared on conversion, because the specific unit being handed over may not be known when the order is placed. When the cashier processes a Delivery for a serialised or batch-tracked item, the system prompts them to scan or enter the relevant number. This ensures the inventory record reflects which specific unit left the store and that the customer's invoice is linked to the correct serial or batch number.

Promotions on Quotations

Whether promotions apply to Quotation transactions is controlled by a setting in Retail Settings. When enabled, the promotions engine evaluates the basket exactly as it would for a normal sale — quantity breaks, tiered discounts, and bundle prices all apply, and the customer sees promotional pricing on their printed quotation. When disabled, standard selling prices apply and no promotional pricing is locked in for the validity period.