ERPNext 7 Showcase : Request for Quotation

With ERPNext 7 we have created a feature for users to be able to easily communicate with suppliers and get quotations.

1.Make a Request for Quotation for multiple suppliers and items.

2.Attach documents to RFQ that are to be sent to the suppliers and send it.

3.Suppliers will receive a portal link for RFQ, where they can enter their rate and add additional notes.

You can have a look at a video demo of this feature here : [ERPNext] Request for Quotation - YouTube
You can also checkout the feature on our beta website : https://beta.erpnext.com

Cheers,
Frappe Team

5 Likes

Wow , this is what I was waiting for , thank you so much for this update , Many thanks . In love with ERPNEXT .

@vjFaLk this is really awesome. I remember asking for this feature about a year ago and I am happy you have decided to put this in the system. May I propose three things that I know from practice make sense:

  • Suppliers want to attach their formal quotation PDF so it would make sense if they could upload an attachment.
  • Typically things have a lead time in days or weeks, could you make it possible to add that or would that need to be put in the Notes field?
  • Typically there are costs that are not associated with the cost per piece such as tooling cost, one time cost, set up cost etc. Would it be possible to add that?

Thanks again! Looking forward to using this!

2 Likes

Hi @dominik
Thanks for your suggestions, check my comments below

Supplier can add dropbox links into notes.

Yes.

Is it possible to add in notes? Suggest design

Thanks, Rohit

I am always looking at this from an enterprise business perspective. So I have thought this through and added the following features:

  • Ability to show Item Code and Item Name from DocType
  • Ability to show Supplier Part No from DocType or enable supplier to input. When saved must be inserted in the table, not just in the quote.
  • Qty Required and Qty Offered (maybe supplier has less stock, only wants to sell certain amount or wants to sell more)
  • Currency as drop down, normally suppliers quote in Europe in USD, EUR or GBP. This must be the case for most other countries too.
  • Manufacturer and Manufacturer Part added from Doctype
  • Required Date and Available Date added, this is important for backlogged item
  • Added ability to add note to a line such as “qty changed, special discount applied, etc.”
  • Other costs added such as initial cost, tooling, setup fees
  • Added ability to put Supplier Quote Number and Validity
  • Added ability to upload attachments (quotes, drawings, datasheets, etc.)

Here is a link to the balsamiq mockup file Dropbox - File Deleted

1 Like

Hello ERPNext Team,

Thanks for creating this RFQ function. The majority of my job is purchasing, I believe the suggestions Dominik has added will really help to create a comprehensive RFQ form for suppliers to fill out. Usually when suppliers send out their quotes,they provide a lot of information and in order for us to having a viable RFQ, we need to create a form that can contain all the info associated with a quote. This includes things like:

  • Quantity offered: The quantity offered might be different from the quantity requested because of required minimum order quantities (MOQ) or packing units (e.g. the goods are always sold in units of 100 pieces).

  • Supplier part number: It is important to have on file when it comes to ordering at a later stage. Referencing this number also makes the supplier’s life easier, and thus more likely to use this form rather than sending us their standard quotation. It is the case that supplier part numbers are often different than the manufacturer part numbers, at least in the electronics industry (and I would guess that this applies in other industries as well).

  • Currency: This is really important for European companies, as suppliers often offer the prices in EITHER Euro or US Dollar.

  • Manufacturer article number: This really needs to be cross-referenced from the doc type and serve as a control (to make sure the right part is ordered).

  • Required date: Helps us tell the supplier when we need to receive the goods. But it is often the case that the goods are not available exactly when they need them and have a lead time. The supplier can then put in the lead time under “available date.” This is really essential information to know when it comes to making purchasing decisions. E.g. it is sometimes the case that I have to order a part for more money elsewhere because the lead time is shorter.

  • Special discount: Many companies have negotiated conditions or pricing/rebate offers with suppliers. The supplier can put this information here.

  • There definitely also needs to be a field for one-time tooling or engineering costs. For example, if I buy a specially produced plastic part in China, they will charge me several hundred dollars for the molding fee on the first order, and so there needs to be a space for this. Other kinds of non-recurring costs could include things like set-up, design, or engineering costs.

  • Supplier quote number and validity is important information for the supplier to have in order to locate their quote in their own ERP system. Us purchasers also have to be able to reference the quote number and validity period when placing the order.

  • Having a place to upload attachments would be really helpful! The supplier could even include the quote generated from their own ERP system, or things like Terms and Conditions or datasheets.

Thanks for taking Dominik’s suggestions into consideration, and I hope my explanation helps shed some light on why these fields are so important to purchasers during the quotation process.

1 Like

@dominik u surely can customize form to show all the needed fields …

Some feedback based on your points:

Letting the supplier edit the quantity field in the Supplier portal should achieve this goal, right? I think this is possible with the new system.

This is already implemented. You can add Supplier part numbers for each supplier in the Item DocType and these will be referenced in the PDF and Supplier Portal. See how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1snON19SSx8

I would guess that you know what currency your supplier quotes in, so that can be set up in the Supplier page. The problem is that there is no indication of what currency the supplier quotes the part in on the Supplier Portal, so they don’t know what currency they are quoting in.

How does an article number differ from the part number? Could it be included in a custom field (which you can include in the pdf by customizing the print view)?

To clarify, are you asking on a part by part basis, or just one for the entire quotation?

Additionally, some way of the supplier indicating taxes and charges (which could be discounts) would be useful.

I think what’s being asked here is if the supplier can effectively add their own line items to the Supplier portal. I’m not quite sure how this would work - maybe having a group of default items (e.g. Engineering, Tooling, Set-up, etc) that can be added by the supplier. You probably don’t want every supplier creating their own items in your system, and there currently isn’t a way to add one-time items in ERPNext, so giving them a list to choose from might be the easiest way.

The supplier is notified about the Quotation number when they submit the quotation in the portal.

Agreed!

1 Like

Hi All ,

I have a doubt , should the supplier be using erpnext to use this portal link ?

Thanks in advance

The log in is created automatically by ERPNext for the supplier so that they can submit their quotation.

1 Like

Thank you so much for the info

Is there anyway to import items to a Request for Quotation (RFP)? Some of our quotations, the line items exceed over 200 line items, and it is quite a pain to create items one by one. Is there an easy way to do this?

Items can be imported into an RFQ directly from a Material Request form. A Material Request form can be created from a Sales Order or the items can be imported from a BOM in the system already.

So assuming you go though the process of creating BOM’s for your items, then creating RFQ’s are fairly quick even with 100’s of items. The initial setup of any ERP system is painful and time consuming, but very worthwhile once it’s all done.

As well, you can use the Data Import Tool to import RFQs from a CSV file.

Hi Ben_Cornwell_Mott or Dbone

Another question, we are a trading company. So what happens is that in the RFQ, the line items requested are sometimes in order of 20,000 line items.

When I upload the RFQ, can I upload it in parts, and if so what is the limitation per import (in terms of line items).

Finally we never have a supplier that quotes the entire list of line items at one shot. There could be certain parties that are unable to quote (for example the parts are not available in that territory, or so on and so forth). Is there a way to separate the items that have been quoted and unquoted into two separate PDFs (i.e. items that are unquoted will have price set to 0.

Finally instead of setting margins via price lists, is there any way we can put a hidden field in the quotation, and/or invoice, where it’s one master margin instead of setting it in price lists?

Cheers,

Gladwyn