How to Convert a Work Order Quote Into a Work Order

Converting a work order quote turns an approved price into a real job, so the labour, parts and expenses the customer signed off become the estimates the mechanic works to and the invoice is billed from.

Overview

A quote is only ever a promise. The moment the customer says yes, someone has to turn it into work a mechanic can pick up - and that is all converting does. Latner gives you two ways to do it, depending on whether the job is new or an addition to something already booked in.

Convert to New Work Order creates a fresh chargeable work order in Open status and Unallocated tech status, carrying the quote's job details across.
Convert to Existing Work Order attaches the quote to a work order you already have, so several quotes can feed the one job.
Either way the quote's estimate lines are not copied. They stay on the quote and appear on the work order's Estimates tab, which is what makes invoicing from estimates possible later.
Converting is available while the quote is Open or Quoted. You don't have to email the quote first.
The quote moves to Converted and records which work order it became, when, and who did it.

Before You Begin

Converting needs a quote worth converting and the right permissions on the work order side, not just the quote side.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Work Order Quote permission - lets you open the quote in the first place	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Service › Screen
Create Work Order permission - needed for Convert to New Work Order	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Service › Option
Edit Work Order permission - needed for Convert to Existing Work Order	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Service › Option
Work Order permission - so the link to the new work order is clickable from the quote	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Service › Screen
A quote with at least one estimate line, in Open or Quoted status	Service › Work Orders Quotes
A purchase order number, if the customer is flagged Purchase Order Required	Customers › Customers › the customer's Financial Details

The Service Option permissions. Convert is one action with two permissions behind it - a user with Create Work Order but not Edit Work Order can start a new job from a quote but not add it to an existing one

The two Convert options are permissioned separately on purpose. Whether a menu item is greyed out is about the quote's status, not your permissions - a user without the permission doesn't see the item at all.

Converting the Quote

Step 1 - Open the quote

Go to Service › Work Orders Quotes and open the quote the customer has approved. Converting is done from the quote itself; there is no bulk convert on the list screen.

Check the Customer Details card before you go any further. Work Order, Converted Date and Converted By are empty on a quote that hasn't been converted, and they are the quickest way to tell whether someone has already done this.

A quote sitting in Quoted status, waiting on the customer. Open works just as well - you don't have to email a quote before you can convert it

Step 2 - Check the estimate lines

Scroll to the Details tab and confirm the labour, parts and expense lines are the ones the customer agreed to. This is your last easy chance to fix them: the totals on the Financial Details card become the work order's estimated cost and estimated retail, and those numbers are what an estimates-based invoice bills.

A quote with no lines at all can't be converted.

Six hours of labour and two hoses, $658.94 cost against $1,010.00 retail. Both figures carry to the work order as Estimated Cost and Estimated Retail

Step 3 - Choose how to convert

Select Options › Convert. Two choices appear:

Convert to New Work Order - the usual path. Use it when the quote is the whole job.
Convert to Existing Work Order - use it when the quote is extra work on a job that is already booked in, for example a variation the customer approved after the original work order was raised.

The Convert submenu. Note that Add Timesheet Estimate, Add Parts Estimate and Add Expense are greyed out on a Quoted quote - reopen it if the lines still need work

Step 4 - Convert to a new work order

Select Convert to New Work Order and confirm the prompt. Latner creates the work order and opens it straight away.

The new work order starts as Open status, Unallocated tech status and type Chargeable, with its due date set to the moment you converted. It carries across the quote's:

Branch, Work Order Description and Notes
Equipment and Equipment Description
Customer, Site and Customer Contact
Purchase Order
Job Category (and with it the job reason), Rental Contract and Service Request, where the quote had them

The confirmation prompt. There is no form here - everything the work order needs already came from the quote

The new work order, opened automatically. Work Order Quote(s) in the Customer Details card links back to the quote it came from

Two things do not come across. Location Type always starts as Workshop on the new work order, even if the quote was Field Service, and the quote's Work To Complete text does not populate the work order's Work Completed. Set them on the work order after converting if the job needs them.

Step 5 - Or convert to an existing work order

Select Convert to Existing Work Order and pick the target in the Work Order field. The list only offers work orders that are in Open status, of type Chargeable, and for the same Branch, Equipment, Customer and Site as the quote, so anything you can select is a valid target.

Select Save. The quote is attached to that work order and Latner opens it.

The Work Order picker, already filtered to valid targets. If the list comes back empty, one of the five conditions in the dialog's own note isn't met

After Conversion

The quote's status becomes Converted, and Work Order, Converted Date and Converted By are filled in on the Customer Details card. A banner at the top of the quote links to the work order.
The quote's lines appear on the work order's Estimates tab, each row showing the quote number it came from. Where several quotes have been converted into the one work order, all of their lines sit on that tab together.
The work order's Estimated Cost and Estimated Retail are recalculated from every quote attached to it, so a second quote pushes the estimate up rather than replacing it.
When you invoice the work order you can bill from Estimates instead of Actuals, which charges exactly what the customer approved. Once a work order has been invoiced one way, later invoices on it must use the same source.
You can still add and change estimate lines on a converted quote, and doing so changes what an estimates-based invoice will bill. A line that is already on a live invoice is locked until that invoice is cancelled, and everything locks once the work order is cancelled.
On a converted quote, Set Status to Quoted, Cancel Quote, Convert, Reopen Work Order Quote and Update Customer are all greyed out.

The work order's Estimates tab after two quotes were converted into it - the Work Order Quote column is how you tell which approved price each line came from

Estimated Cost and Estimated Retail on the work order, now the sum of both quotes. Actuals stay at zero until a mechanic books time or parts against the job

The Options menu on a converted quote. Adding estimates is still allowed, but every status action has closed off

Converting is one-way. There is no unconvert, and a Converted quote can no longer be reopened or cancelled. If the customer pulls out after you have converted, cancel the work order rather than trying to reverse the conversion; if the job changes shape, raise a fresh quote and convert that one into the same work order.

FAQs

Converting says a purchase order is required.

The customer is flagged Purchase Order Required, so Latner will not let the job start without their PO number. Enter it in the Purchase Order field on the quote's General Details card, save, then convert. The number carries across to the work order and on to the invoice.

Converting says there are no details to convert.

The quote has no estimate lines. Add at least one labour, parts or expense line first - a quote with nothing on it would produce a work order with no estimate and nothing to invoice from.

The Convert option is greyed out.

The quote is already Converted or has been Cancelled. Those are the only two statuses that block it - Open and Quoted both convert. If a converted quote has become the wrong job, cancel its work order and raise a new quote.

The work order I want isn't in the Convert to Existing Work Order list.

The list only offers work orders matching all five conditions: Open status, type Chargeable, and the same Branch, Equipment, Customer and Site as the quote. An internal or customer damage work order will never appear, and neither will one for a different machine - even for the same customer. If the quote itself has the wrong details, correct them on the quote while it is Open, or convert to a new work order instead.

Can I convert more than one quote into the same work order?

Yes, and it is the point of Convert to Existing Work Order. Every converted quote adds its lines to the work order's Estimates tab and lifts the estimated totals. The work order's Work Order Quote(s) field lists all of them.

Why didn't the mechanic's estimate lines appear on the work order's Actuals tab?

Because they aren't actuals. Estimates are what you quoted; actuals are the timesheets and parts genuinely booked against the job. The two are tracked separately so you can compare them, which is also why you get to choose which of the two an invoice bills from.

The work order came out as Workshop but the quote was Field Service.

That's expected - Location Type is not carried across, so every converted work order starts as Workshop. Change it on the work order after converting. The quote's Work To Complete text is not carried across either.