Estimate numbers

Best practice for estimates

The numbers consist of <KV-prefix>-<four-digit year>-<three-digit sequential number>

KV-2018-015 KV-2019-001

The three-digit sequential number of the estimate starts again at 001 at the turn of the year. If in one year there are actually more than one thousand estimates for a customer, the number will automatically become four digits.

The estimate number does not include a customer code

When we create a proposal for a new business customer, we may not want to create a customer, customer account and a job in the agency software right away. We don't yet know whether the lead will turn into anything. If the customer later approves the estimate and we create the customer and the job in the system, we simply move the existing estimate into the newly created job. Since estimates generally do not carry customer codes, this also does not create a numbering conflict when creating further estimates for that customer.

Advantages of this pattern

• The number is suitable as a filename - even on a web server

• The prefix distinguishes between estimate and invoice

• In a file system, files named by estimate number automatically sort by year and sequential number

Estimate number is not the same as job number

• An estimate should also be able to be created without a job

• A job can contain multiple estimates

• A job can contain multiple (not realized) versions of an estimate that have already been with the customer. These versions should be clearly distinguishable from each other by different numbers.

Number ranges for estimate numbers are possible

Estimates can optionally be maintained in so-called number ranges. That means you can open a separate estimate number range for each customer. As a result, it will not be apparent from a customer's estimate number whether and how many estimates you issue to other customers.