To get started, you will need a "Customer" and a "Job" and an "Area/Room" - this vocabulary differs from our competitors with the benefit being that you can have multiple jobs per customer.

A job is typically a set of rooms or "Areas" that will be templated, fabricated, and installed together.

In a residential situation, you may end up working on a primary home "Job" and vacation home "Job" for the same customer.

In a commercial situation, the "Customer" could refer to an apartment complex and the "Jobs" would refer to each unit.

 

The easiest way to create a new customer, job, and area is the Quote Wizard, by clicking the "Create Quote" button  - this generates a customer, job, and area/room all at once and opens the "Area Module" where you will begin drawing.

You can also manually create a new customer, job, and area.

Quote Wizard

Manually Create a New Customer, Job, and Area

Quote Wizard

The easiest way to create a new customer, job, and area is using the "Quote Wizard" by clicking the "Create Quote" button. (see video in Step 2)

Figure 1. The easiest way to start a quote from scratch is to click "Create Quote" - this generates a customer, job, and area/room all at once.

Manually Create a New Customer, Job, and Area

Manually Create a New Customer, Job, and Area

1.  Create a New Customer by clicking the green plus sign in the top left of the screen in "Customer View." Edit the customer's name, contact information, and any other relevant data and then click "Save."

Figure 1. In the Customer View, click the green plus sign to add a new Customer.

Figure 2. Click the "Customer Basic Info" expander to view and edit the customer's data. Be sure to click "Save". (If the save button is greyed out, ActionFlow autosaved your data.)

2.  Create a New Job by clicking the green plus sign on the left side of the screen within the Job Expander.

Figure 3. If you are in the "Customer View," add a new job by clicking the green plus below customer and account data.

 

Figure 4. If you are in the "Job View" (recommended), click the green plus sign underneath the job header.

 3.  Create an Area in that job by clicking on the green plus sign in the area section.

Figure 5. Create a new Area by clicking the green plus sign under the text "Area List:"

  Keywords: Basic Data Structure - Customer, Job, Area; Finding Customers and Customer view; What is a job? (residential vs commercial etc.)

Step 2: Start a Quote

You are ready to start your quote!

For ActionFlow to calculate the cost, revenue, and other key metrics for your quote, you may need:

1. Required area data
   
2. Data for calculating the material and edge cost and revenue 
   
1. Drawing Tops so ActionFlow can calculate the area
   
2. Adding slabs so ActionFlow can calculate the slab cost and revenue
   
3. Manually setting area, linear feet, and other key data to calculate the quote without a drawing
   
3. Drawing items added to tops 
   
4. Additional line items

Required Area Data The items below are required for all quotes: Select a Price List Select a Name Select the Edge Select the Material Select the Color

Figure 1. To start the quote, complete all the "Required" fields -  these are located in the red box in the Area Data section on the far right of the Area Module.

Create a Quote without a Drawing

At this point, you could create a quote without a drawing. For video instructions, see Step 4.

Creating a Quoting Without a Drawing

To create a quote without a drawing,

1. Go to the "Line Items" tab.
   
2. Open the "Line Item Overrides" expander.
   
3. Enter applicable values.
   
4. Click the "Calc & Save" button.
   
5. Confirm the calculated values in the Area Summary are correct.

Figure 1. The Line Item Overrides section allows you to override area, linear, and splash values.

 

 

                 

Keywords: Creating a Quote; Quote Wizard - Starting a quote from scratch; Creating a new job or adding to an existing job; The Area (Quoting) Module; What data do I need to start a quote?

Step 3: Add Tops, Edges, and Drawing Items

Let's get drawing! The easiest way to add a top is by clicking a predefined shape button.

Create Tops with Predefined Shapes

Create Tops using the Draw Button

Add Edges

Add Drawing Items

Create Tops with Predefined Shapes

Create Tops with Predefined Shapes

The easiest way to add a top is by clicking a predefined shape button. 

In the Customer Layout Tab

1.  Set the depth and angle for your top if they are different than the default depth and default angle

2.  Click the shape of your top.

3.  Once a top is created, hover over a dimension and click to edit it

1. Hit "Tab" to edit the next dimension
   
2. "Enter" to stop editing dimensions. 
   

The top length and depth will also be displayed in Top Details.

Figure 1. The predefined shapes button will quickly generate a top of that shape. You can then edit the dimensions.

Create Tops using the Draw Button

For batwings with non-45° angles, use the “Draw” button.

1.  Set the depth and angle for your top if they are different than the default depth and default angle

2.  Click the Draw button

3.  Click once in the drawing window to begin the top. (Click and release after initial click)

4.  Left-Click to change direction

5.  Right-Click to finish the top

Figure 1. Use the "Draw" button for tops with non-45 degree angles

Add Edges

There are three options for each edge on a top:

1. Unfinished
   
2. Finished
   
3. Backsplash 
   

To change the edge on a top,

1. Select the top by clicking on it (it will be highlighted in blue to indicate it is selected). 
   
2. Hover over the top and move your mouse close to the edge of the top - notice the mouse turns to a hand.
   
1. Click 1x for unfinished
   
2. Click 2x for finished
   
3. Click 3x for backsplash

Figure 1. To change the edge, hover and click near the edge of a top when the mouse turns to a hand.

As you continue to click on the top, it will cycle through the Unfinished, Finished and Backsplash options:

For negative edges, second edges, or extracting backsplash, check out this article.

Add Drawing Items

Add drawing items by right clicking on a top and selecting the item.

Then move the drawing item to where you would like it and left click to place it.

To remove the drawing item, hover over the item until an "Eraser" appears and then left click.

Some drawing items can be moved again after they have been placed - left click to grab the item and left click again to place it elsewhere.

Figure 1. Access drawing items by right clicking on a top.

For additional drawing instruction: Beyond the Basics - Drawing in ActionFlow 

Keywords: Draw a Top; Modify Dimensions; Finished Edges and Add Backsplash; Draw non-predefined shapes; Refresh to Re-Center Tops; Calculate the Quote

Step 4: Add and/or Adjust Line Items

In this video, we dive into the "Line Items" tab which provides greater insight into how each line item is calculated and is also where you will adjust line items and manually add line items that can't go on the drawing (ie. Tearout).

Manually Add and Adjust Line Items

To manually add line items:

    1.  Go to the Line Items tab on the Area Module

Figure 2. The Line Items tab is located to the right of the Customer Layout tab.

2. Add a new line item

Each Line Item has a Class and a SKU. There are multiple ways to add a new line item.

1. Select the Class in the drop down
   
2. Click the Green Plus
   
3. Hit <Ctrl> and ‘+’ button
   

 All three methods will add a new Line Item to the list.

Figure 3. Add a new line item using the “Select SKU Class for New Line Item” dropdown or the Green Plus or with the keyboard shortcut

3. Find the specific SKU item

To find the specific SKU, search and select the item in the Auto Complete box. If there is no SKU class set in the dropdown, the search box allows you to filter on all SKU items in all SKU classes. 

Figure 4. You can search on all SKU Items if no SKU class is selected – in that case, click the green plus or use the keyboard shortcut to add the line item

OR

Click find the line item in the dropdown. You can set the class so that both the auto complete box and the dropdown will filter on that SKU Class. 

If you will be adding multiple items within one class, you will likely want to set the SKU Class first and then use the keyboard shortcut to quickly add new items.

​

Figure 5. When the SKU Class is set, the dropdown and auto complete box will filter within that SKU Class

4.  Click "Calc & Save" to recalculate the quote.

 

Figure 6.  Click “Calc & Save” to recalculate the quote with the new line item(s)

 Price by the Slab

For material cost and revenue, if you are pricing by the slab and not the area of the tops, you will new to add the necessary number of inventory items/slabs to the quote. See the "Price by the Slab" expander to learn more.

Override Line Items

View and Hide Area Module Features

Price by the Slab

Manually Set the Final Price (Adjust to Target)

Leveraging Metrics

Price by the Slab

Price by the Slab

To charge based on the number of slabs instead of the area of the tops

   1.  Select a color that has a "Slab" unit. (Override the unit if you have permission)

   2.  Open the "Inventory Items" section at the bottom of the Area Module.

Figure 1. Select a color with a "Slab" unit, then click the arrow next to Inventory Items to open the inventory expander.

   3.  Add the number of slabs needed by clicking the green plus. To determine the number of slabs, you can place your tops on the slab(s) in the "Fabrication Layout" tab where you can try different seam placements.

For fabrication layout and slab imaging instruction: Fabrication Layout and Slab Imaging

Figure 2. Click the green plus to add slabs to the quote.

   4.  Select an available slab of that color using the "Item#" dropdown. In that case, the slab specs will be added automatically. You can also manually enter the length, depth, cost, and revenue to calculate the quote now if your team will be selecting a specific slab later in the process.

Figure 3. Select an available slab or manually add the Length, Depth, Cost and Revenue.

Keywords: Calculations with Slab Pricing and Adding a Slab; Determine # of slabs

Adjust to Target

Manually Set the Final Price (Adjust to Target)

 You can set the final revenue value before or after tax using the "Adjust to Target" feature.

Leveraging Metrics

Keywords:  Levering Key Metrics (Cost, Hours, T$, Retail. Margin etc.); Line Items Not in the Drawing; Override SqFt & Price per Area/Quote; Override $ Per SqFt; Create an Estimate without a Drawing

Step 5: Run and Email the Estimate

Before you run the estimate, click "Calc & Save" which does a final calculation and captures the drawing image for the estimate.

We can now run the estimate and send it to our customer!

To run the estimate, click the "Reports" button in the top left of the area module. Find the version of the estimate you want to generate. 

Figure 7. Select the estimate report from the "Report" menu in the top left of the Area Module.

There are a few options for how you can deliver the quote to your customer:

1. Print a hard copy of the Estimate
   
2. Email quote from within ActionFlow to your client
   
3. Save estimate to the job files
   
4. Open quote in Adobe Reader
   
5. Export estimate as a PDF, CSV File, EMF Description, Excel, Rich Text Format, TIFF file, Web Archive
   
1. The exported document could then be attached to an email external of ActionFlow.