20.1 The AIUNIFY CRM Sales Workspace

The Sales area brings together the primary customer-facing transaction records used by AIUNIFY CRM.

The Sales menu itself is permission-sensitive. Users see the transaction areas their accounts are permitted to access.

20.2 Confirmed Sales Menu Areas

The deployed CRM registers Sales menu entries for:

  • Proposals
  • Estimates
  • Invoices
  • Payments
  • Credit Notes
  • Items

Each entry is displayed according to the applicable access checks.

20.3 Proposals

Proposals are used to present proposed business terms, services, products, or work to a prospect or Customer.

Proposals have their own lifecycle, communication, related-record, and conversion capabilities covered in later chapters.

20.4 Estimates

Estimates represent estimated charges for products or services before an Invoice is issued.

Use an Estimate when your business process calls for a formal estimate rather than an immediate Invoice.

20.5 Invoices

Invoices represent amounts billed to Customers.

Invoice records can contain customer information, line items, totals, dates, status, notes, activity, communication history, and related payment information according to the functions available in the CRM.

20.6 Payments

Payments record amounts received against applicable Invoice activity.

Payment visibility can be available to users who have Payments access or appropriate access to related Invoice information.

20.7 Credit Notes

Credit Notes represent credits associated with Customer financial activity.

The CRM supports Credit Note operations such as applying credits, reminders, notes, and refund-related workflows where permitted.

20.8 Items

Items are reusable sales items used when building applicable transaction records.

Use existing Items when they correctly represent what is being quoted or billed. Configuration and maintenance of organization-wide financial setup values are outside this User Operations Manual unless exposed as part of your ordinary user role.

20.9 Related Operational Financial Areas

Several financial or commercial record types are registered outside the collapsed Sales menu but remain part of Customer operations, including:

  • Subscriptions — recurring Customer subscription relationships.
  • Expenses — business expense records.
  • Contracts — agreements associated with Customers and related work.

These areas are also permission-controlled and are covered in dedicated chapters later in this manual.

20.10 Customer Relationships

Sales transactions should be connected to the correct Customer whenever the transaction is Customer-based.

Before creating a new transaction:

  1. Search for the Customer.
  2. Review related existing transactions.
  3. Confirm the intended Contact where applicable.
  4. Choose the correct transaction type.
  5. Create a new record only when one is required.

20.11 Common Transaction Concepts

Although each Sales record type has its own workflow, several concepts appear repeatedly:

  • Customer and Contact relationships.
  • Record dates and due/expiration dates where applicable.
  • Status.
  • Currency.
  • Line items.
  • Quantity and rates.
  • Taxes when used.
  • Discounts or adjustments where supported.
  • Notes.
  • Attachments or related files where supported.
  • Reminders.
  • Activity history.
  • Sending customer-facing records by email.

The exact values available for organization-wide financial catalogs are determined by the deployed tenant configuration. Ordinary users should select from the values presented by the CRM.

20.12 Quick Actions for Sales Records

Depending on your permissions, Quick Actions can provide shortcuts for creating records such as:

  • Invoice
  • Estimate
  • Proposal
  • Credit Note
  • Subscription
  • Expense
  • Contract

Quick Actions start the same kind of operational record workflow without requiring you to navigate through every menu level first.

20.13 Choose the Correct Transaction Type

Do not use an Invoice merely because a Customer is expected to buy something if the business process actually requires a Proposal or Estimate first.

Likewise, do not create a new Estimate or Invoice if the correct record already exists and only requires an authorized update.

20.14 Where the Manual Goes Next

The following chapters move from this overview into the individual Sales workflows, beginning with Proposals and then continuing through Estimates, Invoices, Payments, Credit Notes, Items, Subscriptions, Expenses, and Contracts.

Operational principle: Choose the CRM record that accurately represents the business event, associate it with the correct Customer, and maintain the history on that record instead of creating unnecessary duplicates.

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