In this tutorial we will cover a standard workflow to following for creating, approving Cost Estimates and through to getting them Billed. This is a thorough workflow and depending on your company size you may skip some of these steps.
| Step | Title | Actor | Comment |
| 1 | Create CE | Account Executive | Can be left in DRAFT and edited multiple times until ready to be approved. |
| 2 | Create task to have CE approved | Account Executive | Assign task to your GM or person responsible for signing off a CE, put a due date of 2 days or whatever your company SLA is for having CE's approved. |
| 3 | Approve CE | GM / Manager | Review CE, if changes are needed make a comment on the task and assigned back to the AE (Account Executive). |
| 4 | Update CE | Account Executive | Make CE changes and reassign approval task back to GM and update due date. |
| 5 | GM Approves CE | GM / Manager | Save CE as INTERNALLY APPROVED and close CE approval task which will generate notification to AE. |
| 6 | Send CE to Client | Account Executive | Send CE to client using send account functionality in Magnetic and choose option to set CE as ISSUED. |
| 7 | Client Requests Changes | Client | Email received by CE Owner and Job Watchers requesting changes and job comment made. |
| 8 | Changes reviewed and CE updated | Account Executive | After updating CE either resend to Client or create task for GM to approve again. |
| 9 | Client Approves CE | Client | Email received by CE Owner and Job Watchers giving approval. Job comment made with approvers email address. CE Status set to CLIENT APPROVED. Client receives email upon approving CE, requesting a PO is sent to the CE Owner. |
| 11 | Schedule Project Kick off | Account Executive | Schedule kick off meeting with stakeholders and Traffic to schedule work. Policy may dictate waiting for PO before starting though. If client doesnt requires a signed PO then proceed to Step 13. |
| 12 | PO sent to AE | Client | Client send PO to AE via email |
| 13 | AE actions billing | Account Executive | Attach PO to Job. Set CE Status to WAITING TO BILL. Kick-off project work if not started already. Create billing instruction task for FM/Bookkeeper to bill X% depending on CE terms. |
| 14 | Accountant bills client | FM/Accountant | Create TI. Close billing instructions task. CE status will be updated to PART BILLED or BILLED depending on % billed. If policy dictates that Accountant sends to client then do so and set TI as ISSUED else AE will action. |
| 15 | AE send to client | Account Executive | Send TI to Client if not done by Accountant and choose option to set as ISSUED. |
Explanation of Cost Estimate Statuses
| Draft | CE is still being internally created and confirmed. |
| Internally Approved | CE is approved internally and ready to be sent to the client. |
| Internally cancelled | CE has been canceled before being sent out. |
| Issued | Sent to client and waiting for approval. |
| Client Approved | Client has approved CE. |
| Client Cancelled | Client has canceled CE. |
| Awaiting Signature | CE Approved but waiting for PO or signed CE. |
| Waiting to bill | CE is waiting to be invoiced to the client. |
| Part Billed | Part of CE has been invoiced. |
| Billed | Full amount of CE has been invoiced. |
How to monitor that the workflow is working
1. View the list of outstanding CE's that are in DRAFT or INTERNALLY APPROVED status and older than an x date that you can input. These should either be issued to the client and then approved/declined or moved to INTERNALLY CANCELLED.
2. View the list of CE's in CLIENT APPROVED, either a PO is still needed and the Account Executive must chase for one or one has been received and the CE hasn't been moved forward to billing and kickoff.
3. View the list of CE's that are in WAITING TO BILL, the accountant has not billed this CE yet and no Tax Invoice has been issued to the client.
4. View the list of CE's that are in PART_BILLED, some jobs may have progress and the remainder needs to be billed.