Why would we want to do that?

Many of our customers are using an ERP system in combination with CRM. For example, Navision in combination with Dynamics 365 CRM. In this case, it’s very common to use CRM for the Lead to Opportunity to Quote process. While the order itself is handled in ERP. Unfortunately, Dynamics 365 CRM only provides the “Create Order” to win a quote and this is not the desirable way in this scenario.

Therefore, here at Thrives, we developed a custom functionality to close a quote as won. This with the look and feel of the standard Dynamics 365 system. And, of course, without creating an order out of it. Making use of a custom dialog box, some ribbon tweaks and extra plugins to handle the business logic, we were able to get the job done.

The solution

First of all, we’ve hidden the “Create Order” button from the ribbon of the Quote forms as it won’t be necessary and could possibly cause confusion. Then we added an extra button to the ribbon that says “Close as Won”. And we also renamed the standard “Close Quote” button to “Close as Lost” because actually, that’s all it does.

Before:

Standard Quote ribbon

After:

Extra quote ribbon buttons

 

To keep everything in line with standard CRM behavior, we made sure the custom button only shows when the quote has been activated. Now, when we want to close the quote as won, we just click the Close as Won button and our custom dialog box will pop up.

Custom dialog box

Here you can see we provided a read-only field for the Total Amount that will be copied one on one from the same field as on the form. Also the closing date is available and adjustable for users. These fields are necessary to resolve the quote. Next we have the possibility to close the related opportunity, if available.

When we decide to close the related opportunity, we also have the possibility to close all other related quotes to this opportunity as Canceled. After all, most of the time there is only one winning quote for an opportunity.

As you can see on the screenshot below, there are currently 3 quotes for this opportunity.

When we hit the ‘OK’ button, that’s when the magic happens! We get to see a nice loading screen and in the meantime the quote is getting closed as won. And in this case, together with the opportunity and all its related quotes.

Et voila, the quote is closed as won, without creating an order. And because we chose to, the opportunity is also closed as won and all other quotes in turn are closed as canceled.

But I also want to keep track of my orders in CRM?

Well, in this case, you can just handle your orders in ERP as you please. And when you’re done, assuming you’re ERP is linked to your CRM, just sync your orders from your ERP back to CRM.

Conclusion

And that’s all there is to it! Of course this is just how we approached the problem. I’m pretty sure there will be other solutions to it. Feel free to share if you know some other ways!

If you are interested in our solution, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy helping you with it!