015 — Common Business Scenarios¶

Step-by-step recipes for the tasks you will do most often.

For Customer Portal Users¶

Scenario 1 — Place your first request¶

Goal: get a price for a set of products.

Sign in. You land on Home.
In the header, open the Request Selector and choose New.
Give it a clear name — "Q3 lab restock", not "list 1".
Browse using Products or Brands, or type in the search box.
Open a product, choose a product variant if it has options, set the quantity, and Add.
Repeat for everything you need.
Open Company Profile → Draft Requests and open your draft request.
Set the Requested Delivery Date — when you need the goods.
Enter a Target Price on each line if you have a budget in mind.
Click Submit RFQ.

What happens next: your Account Manager is notified. The request moves out of Draft Requests and into RFQs. You will be notified when the quotation arrives.

Scenario 2 — Accept a quotation and place the order¶

You receive a notification and an e-mail that a quotation is ready.
Open Company Profile → RFQs and open the record.
Review the lines — check quantities, prices, discounts and the total.
Read the Account Manager Note; conditions and lead times are recorded there.
If you are happy, click Submit PO.
Upload your Purchase Order. It must be a PDF.
Confirm.

What happens next: your Account Manager confirms the order, and it moves to Orders.

If you are not happy: use Open Chat to discuss it, or Update RFQ to change the request and submit it again.

Scenario 3 — Reorder something you buy regularly¶

The fastest route is to copy.

Open Company Profile → Orders.
Find the previous order.
Click 📋 Copy.
A new draft request is created with the same products.
Adjust quantities and the requested delivery date.
Submit RFQ.

This works on any record at any stage — including archived ones.

Scenario 4 — Ask for something not in the catalogue¶

Open the draft request or RFQ it belongs to.
Go to the New Product Requests panel.
Enter the product name, a description, the quantity, and a reference link if you have one.
Submit.

What happens next: your Account Manager marks it In Progress while sourcing. If they find it, the product appears as a normal line on your order automatically. If not, it is marked Product Not Found.

Tip: include a reference URL. It removes all ambiguity about what you are asking for.

Scenario 5 — Get advice before committing¶

Use Share draft request instead of Submit RFQ.

Build your draft request as normal.
Open it and click Share draft request.
Use Open Chat to explain what you need help with.

Your Account Manager is notified and can see the list, but it stays a draft in your hands. Nothing is formally requested until you submit it.

Scenario 6 — Add a new colleague (Company Administrators)¶

User menu → Company Profile → Users.
Add user.
Enter their full name and e-mail (both required), plus phone if you have it.
Assign any tags.
Save.
Ask your Account Manager to send the invitation.

If they cannot sign in: check both switches — Status is yours, Account Manager Approved is SAMTIA's.

For Account Management Portal Users¶

Scenario 7 — Work through a new request¶

Sign in. The Dashboard shows your Action Items.
Open a request, or go to Orders management → RFQ Quotations.
Open it with 👁 View Details.
Read the Target Price column — this is what the customer needs.
Check the New Product Requests panel and resolve anything outstanding.
Set the Discount % on each line until the commercials work.
Adjust quantities, remove unsupplied lines, add alternatives with Add Products.
Write an Account Manager Note for anything the customer must know.
Click Send Quotation.

The quotation is produced, e-mailed and the customer notified — all in that one click. Check your prices before clicking.

Scenario 8 — Confirm an order¶

Go to Orders management → Quotations.
Find records showing PO Submitted in the State column.
Open one and review the customer's Purchase Order in the attachments.
If everything is correct, click Confirm.

The order becomes real business and moves to Orders.

Scenario 9 — Return an incorrect Purchase Order¶

Open the order showing PO Submitted.
Click Return.
Enter a specific reason at the prompt.
Confirm.

The customer sees your reason as the Return Reason on their order and can correct and resubmit.

Write it as an instruction: "PO references quotation Q-1042; this order is Q-1051 — please reissue against the correct number" gets a corrected PO the same day. "Incorrect PO" does not.

Scenario 10 — Chase a quiet quotation¶

Go to Orders management → Quotations.
Open the column chooser and switch on Quotation Viewed Date and Quotation Downloaded Date.
Read the pattern:

What you see	What to do
No Quotation Viewed Date	They have not opened it. Chat or call — do not assume they are considering it
Reviewed, not printed	Seen and under consideration. A short chat message is appropriate
Printed	Likely circulating for internal approval. Ask if anything is needed to help it through

Check Dashboard → Online Users before sending a chat message.

Scenario 11 — A shared request arrives¶

Go to Orders management → Shared Request.
Open the record.
Click Open Chat and ask what the customer needs.
Advise — availability, alternatives, indicative pricing.
Click Reply Done to clear the attention flag.

Encourage the customer to submit it as an RFQ when they are ready. This queue is where deals are shaped before they are formalised.

Scenario 12 — Set up a new customer¶

Check Customers management → Customer Segments — does the right segment exist with the right price list?
Customers management → Customers → New Customer.
Complete Company Info: name, Tax ID, e-mail, phone, address.
Set the Account manager — usually yourself. Requests may go unnoticed if this is wrong.
Set the Customer Segment and confirm the resulting price list.
Go to the Users tab and create their first user — make this person their Company Administrator.
Click Send invitation.

The customer's administrator can then create the rest of their team without coming back to you.

Scenario 13 — A customer cannot see a product¶

Work down this list in order. The last step is almost always the answer.

Check	Where
Does the product exist?	Products management → Products
Is itPublished?	Product form → General tab
Does it have aCategory?	Product form → General tab
Is there a price rule for it on that customer's price list?	Pricelists → the customer's list

A product with no price rule on a customer's price list is invisible to that customer, however correctly everything else is set up.

flowchart TB
    A["Customer reports<br/>sign-in problem"] --> B{"Is Account Enabled on?<br/>Customers → Users tab"}
    B -->|No| C["Switch it on —<br/>this is your switch"]
    B -->|Yes| D["Their own administrator has<br/>switched off Portal Access Enabled"]
    D --> E["Ask their administrator<br/>to reactivate the user"]

Both switches must be on. Yours is Account Enabled; theirs is Portal Access Enabled.

Scenario 15 — Launch a promotion for one customer¶

Customers management → Customers, open the customer.
Go to the Banners tab.
Create a banner with an image and description.
Set the active period so it starts and stops automatically.
Add a promotion link and any related products or categories.

The banner appears on that customer's Home page only, for the dates you set.

For the pricing side, add rules with a Validity Period to the relevant price list — see 012.

Quick Troubleshooting¶

Symptom	Most likely cause
Customer cannot see a product	No price rule on their price list
Customer cannot sign in	One of the two activation switches is off
Account Manager never saw a request	The customer is assigned to a different Account Manager
Quotation looks different from what was sent	The customer edited it without resubmitting
Shared Request queue is full of handled items	Nobody clicked Reply Done
Customer says they never received a quotation	Check Quotation Viewed Date; also confirm their e-mail address
Prices are wrong for one customer	Check whether an individual price list overrides their category default
Purchase Order will not upload	It must be a PDF
Draft Request cannot be submitted	It has no products, or it has already been submitted
Draft Request cannot be deleted	Only its creator can delete it; after submission, archive instead