With the Price inquiry module, you can send non-binding price inquiries for your products to various suppliers. This allows you to obtain offers and compare prices before you place a binding purchase order. Price inquiries can easily be converted into purchase orders in Xentral at a later stage.

Important

The Price inquiry module is only available if you use Xentral in the Pro plan.

For more information on Xentral plans, visit our website.

You can easily open the Price inquiry module via the Smart Search.

Overview

The Overview tab of the Price inquiry module displays an overview of all past price inquiries. Here, you can see at a glance which prices the different suppliers have offered for the product. This allows you to quickly and easily compare offers and select the best option for your purchase order.

Creating a new price inquiry

To create a new price inquiry, proceed as follows:

Use the Smart Search to open the Price inquiry module.
Click on + NEW.
Carry out the desired settings. The following tables describe the available fields.
Click on *Approve.
After approving the price inquiry, you can send it via email to the supplier by clicking on Send document or archive it manually.

Available settings in the General area of a price inquiry:

Field label	Description
Supplier	Select the supplier you want to request the price from.
Date	Enter the date of the price inquiry. The current date is pre-filled automatically.
Internal designation	Enter an internal designation for the price inquiry.
Project	Assign the price inquiry to a project.
Status	Displays the current status of the price inquiry. This is assigned automatically by Xentral and cannot be changed manually.
Write protection	Activate this option to protect the price inquiry from further changes.
Free text	Here you can enter optional text that appears below the product list on the receipt.
Header text	Here you can enter optional text that appears above the product list on the receipt.

Available settings in the Master data area of a price inquiry:

Field label	Description
Type	Select whether the address is for a private individual or a company (Mr./Ms., Company).
Name	Enter the name of the person or company.
Title	The title appears in the address block before the name on the receipt.
Contact person	Enter the responsible contact person here.
Department	Enter the contact person’s department.
Sub-department	Enter the contact person’s sub-department.
Additional address	Here you can enter an optional address supplement.
Street	Enter the street of the address.
ZIP code/town	Enter the ZIP code and the place of the address.
State	Enter the state of the address.
Country	Enter the country of the address.
GLN	Enter the GLN (Global Location Number) of the address.
Phone	Enter the phone number of the address.
Fax	Enter the fax number of the address.
Email	Enter the email address.
Salutation	This text is the salutation and is automatically included in the email cover letter when you send the document.

Adding products in the Positions tab

In this tab, you can add the individual products for which you want to create a price inquiry. You can search for products here or create special fields manually.

Note

You must select the positions to match the selected supplier.

Grouping positions

If you activate the Group item no. option under Details in the Price inquiry area, positions on the receipt are grouped if they represent the same product and follow each other directly in sequence. The example image displays how positions with the same product number and product description are grouped when the option is activated. The quantities of the positions are added together.

The following applies:

The position number does not increase.
The product number and product description are only displayed for the first position.

Files

In the Files tab, you can attach further files to the price inquiry. Via the Create a new file sub-tab, you can add files by drag-and-drop or via the search function.

Bulk mailing for price inquiries

In the Bulk mailing tab, you can send price inquiries to several suppliers at the same time. A separate email is created for each supplier.

Use the Smart Search to open the Price inquiry module.
Open the Bulk mailing tab.
Select the desired suppliers you want to send the price inquiry to.
Select the Send by email action in the Bulk processing area.
Confirm the displayed query by clicking on OK.
The emails are now sent individually to the selected suppliers.

Important

The status of the email dispatch is visible in the Email log module. If you are entered as a copy recipient in the system settings, you will receive a copy for each sent email. When using bulk mailing, ensure that you do not use individual variables or personal salutations in the cover letter, as the same message is sent to all previously selected suppliers.

Special functions

The following chapters contain information on further functions that you can use in the Price inquiry module.

Continuing a price inquiry as a purchase order

You can convert price inquiries into a binding purchase order and trigger it with the supplier. The Sales order to purchase order module is a prerequisite for this. Refer to the article Order/Price inquiry to order for more information.

In an existing price inquiry, open the Action drop-down menu.
Select the option Continue as purchase order.
Click on Save.
Select whether custom fields and product descriptions should be transferred.
Optional: Using the corresponding options below the position table, select whether you want to transfer custom fields and product descriptions to the price inquiry and attach the purchase order as a PDF attachment in the sales order.
Click on Generate purchase order(s).
You are then redirected directly to the newly created price inquiry.

Displaying the price inquiry in the sales order

You can display a price inquiry linked to a purchase order in the mini detail view of a sales order. For this, the price inquiry, purchase order, and sales order must be linked with each other.

Create a purchase order from the price inquiry as described in the chapter Continuing a price inquiry as a purchase order.
Save and release the purchase order.
Open the Buy > Purchase orders menu.
Open the mini detail of the purchase order by clicking on the arrow on the left edge of the table entry. The price inquiry is now visible here.
Link the existing sales order with the purchase order. To do so, click on the pencil icon in the purchase order overview to open the purchase order.
In the Protocol tab, click on the connect with sales order button to link the purchase order with the sales order.
The price inquiry is displayed in the mini details of the sales order overview in the Sell > Sales order menu.