Options Menu

Create Estimate

Choosing this option moves the opportunity from the pre-bid stage during which you can advance through additional pre-bid statuses that have been defined, to the bidding stage. At this point, the status on the Opportunity screen is set to Bidding, and the View Estimate icon becomes available so you can begin estimating. This option is available if it has not previously been selected for the opportunity.

This option allows the estimator to mark the estimate as complete during the estimation process (i.e. when the status is Bidding). Once selected, the opportunity moves to Pending Approval status.

When marking an estimate as complete, Aspire will show a warning message if the estimate contains one or more inactive service items or service kit items. Inactive items can appear if they've been marked as inactive in the item catalog after being added to the estimate. The warning provides a list of these inactive items and their position in the estimate hierarchy. Users can choose to proceed with completing the estimate or cancel.

Aspire also checks estimates with T&M services to ensure labor rates and item markups are provided, prompting users to enter them if they haven't been already.

If the opportunity was created from an opportunity template, Aspire displays the Create Estimate from Template screen.

Approve

When the estimate is marked as complete (Estimate Complete option), if a workflow has been established, the opportunity advances to Pending Approval status allowing a manager to review the estimate before it goes to the customer. This option is available if the opportunity status is Pending Approval and you are authorized to approve it. When you choose this option, Aspire will change the opportunity status to approved.  Thereafter, generated proposals will no longer be watermarked Draft and will thus be suitable for delivery to the customer. 

Deny

Once the estimate is marked as complete, it advances to Pending Approval status allowing a manager to review the estimate before it goes to the customer. The Deny option is available if the opportunity status is Pending Approval and you are authorized to approve or deny opportunity estimates. When you choose this option, Aspire will change the opportunity status back to Bidding requiring the estimator to update the estimate and resubmit it.  

Renew

This option allows you to create a new annual contract opportunity from the existing opportunity when it is approaching its annual end date. Using this function also ties the new opportunity to the existing through the Master Job field for use in the renewals report. This option is available if the opportunity has been won and contract renewal is pending.

When it is selected, the Opportunity Renewal screen is displayed allowing you to specify preferences to be applied when creating the renewal opportunity from the selected opportunity. The first four options also appear on the Create Estimate from Template screen and are described there. The fifth option allows you to copy routes and sequencing for work tickets as defined by Route Scheduling on the Schedule Board to determine in advance how the properties will be serviced if a snow event occurs.

Change

The change option allows you to initiate a change to a contract that is currently being delivered. Using this option, Aspire allows you to update active contracts by creating revisions that apply to future work while maintaining the history of work already completed. Aspire allows services to be added to or removed from a contract. This option is available if an opportunity is an in-process contract that does not have pending changes (contract changes that have not been won) and the user additionally has Change Opportunity permission. When the option has been chosen, a Change Opportunity dialog displays allowing you to specify the date on which revisions will begin.

Cancel

This option allows you to cancel an existing contract or work order if the customer has decided they do not wish to have the work completed. This option is available if the displayed opportunity is an in-process opportunity that has not had any revisions for users who have the Cancel Contract or Cancel Opportunity permission enabled as appropriate to the displayed opportunity. When the option has been chosen, Aspire displays the Cancel Opportunity dialog allowing you to specify a cancellation reason and, for contracts,  the date from which all future work will be canceled. 

After you choose the date and optionally the cancellation reason, and click the Save icon, Aspire verifies there are no work tickets in a complete status after the specified cancellation date. If completed work tickets do exist after the specified cancellation date, Aspire will display a warning message identifying the offending work tickets and will prevent the cancellation from completing.

Uncancel

This option is available if you have the new Uncancel Opportunity permission if the currently displayed opportunity is in the Canceled status. 

Won

This option is only available if you have the Win Opportunities permission. Once the customer has signed the work order or contract, use this option to mark the opportunity as Won. When the opportunity is won, Aspire generates work tickets in the system required to support the services specified in the estimate. This option is available if the opportunity status is Approved (approved for delivery of the proposal to the customer) or Delivered (proposal delivered to the customer).

Sign and Won

If you have Edit My Opportunities permission (provided they created the opportunity) or Edit All Opportunities permission, can select the Sign and Won option. This will display the Contact Signature screen allowing the customer to sign the proposal using their finger or a stylus. 

Lost

If you have the System Admin permission, then the label for the Competitor field is displayed as a hyperlink allowing you to go directly to the Competitor screen to add or edit competitors, and then return to select one.

This option allows you to generate the proposal for printing. If the opportunity estimate has not yet been approved, the proposal will be watermarked with the word, DRAFT.  This option is available once the estimate has begun for the opportunity.  Choosing this option will display a Report Setting dialog that allows you to select the report layout.  If they have Choose Report Export Type permission, the dialog will also allow you to choose the output format of the document (excel, text, word, Html, image, pdf) – otherwise Aspire will only allow you to generate the document as a PDF. Proposal layouts are commonly established with the input by the AspireCare team during system setup.

This option allows you to email a PDF copy of the proposal as an attachment to the primary contact for the associated property and/or any other contacts. This option is available once the estimate has begun for the opportunity. Choosing this option displays the Bulk Email Opportunity Proposal screen, allowing you to choose recipients, specify the subject providing email tokens to fill in data values related to the opportunity, choose the layout for generating the proposal, and providing the body of the email to accompany the proposal – also with tokens.

This option allows you to add a change order to modify an existing work order. This option is available for work order opportunities once the estimate has been won. Aspire removes this option for work orders if they are in a Complete status and have been fully invoiced to the customer, unless:

• The opportunity is Fixed Price Open Billing (FPOB) and you’ve chosen to reopen the opportunity.
• You need to create a positive change order on fully invoiced work orders with open work tickets.
• You need to create a negative change order on work orders where all but retainage has been invoiced and there are open work tickets.

Selecting this option immediately creates a change order, making it available on the Opportunity screen.

Copy

This option allows you to copy the currently displayed opportunity as the basis for creating a new opportunity on another property. This option is available provided revisions are not pending. When they choose this option, Aspire displays the Copy Opportunity screen that allows you to specify the property on which to create the new opportunity and specify other parameters for completing the copy.  

Reset to Bidding

Choosing this option allows you to reset an opportunity to bidding status so that they can make changes to the estimate.  They cannot reset an opportunity to bidding if costs (labor, materials, etc.) have been committed or allocated to it, or if an invoice has been generated for it. This option is available if the estimate has been approved or delivered to the customer or is being delivered but has no pending revisions (contract changes that have not been won). Choosing this option displays a confirmation box allowing the user to proceed with the reset to bidding or cancel.

Delete Opportunity

This option will allow you to delete an opportunity. This option is available if the estimate has not been completed, there are no revisions pending on the opportunity, and the user has Edit Template permission.  Choosing this option displays a confirmation box allowing you to proceed with the deletion or cancel. 

Save as Template

This option allows you to create an opportunity template by saving the currently displayed opportunity as a template. Once a template has been created in this manner, it can be edited using the Manage Opportunity Templates option on the Administration screen or it can be selected as the basis for creating a new opportunity.