Quote to cash, explained

"Quote to cash" is the path a sale travels from the customer's first question to money in the bank. Workcell models that path as a chain of records, each handing off to the next. This primer explains the concept; the how-to docs cover the clicks.

The five stages

1. Request (RFQ)

It often starts with a customer asking "what would this cost?" A request for quote captures that inquiry, the items, and the quantities, before you commit to a price. Not every deal has one; you can skip straight to a quote.

2. Offer (Quote)

A quote is your priced offer. It lists items, quantities, unit prices, and any volume price breaks, with a date it stays valid through. You send it; the customer accepts or declines. A quote commits nobody until it is accepted and converted.

3. Commitment (Order)

When the customer agrees, the quote becomes a sales order: the firm deal. Releasing the order turns it into real demand that planning and the warehouse act on. This is the pivot from "maybe" to "we are making and shipping this."

4. Delivery (Fulfillment)

The plant sources, builds, or picks the goods and ships them. The order tracks how much has shipped, and any quantity that ships short becomes a backorder to fulfill later.

5. Payment (Invoice)

Shipping the goods is not the same as getting paid. An invoice bills the customer for what shipped, and the order tracks payment until the balance is settled. When everything has shipped and been paid, the order is complete.

Why it is a chain, not one big form

Each stage has a different owner and a different question to answer. Sales owns the offer, planning owns the commitment to supply, the warehouse owns delivery, and accounting owns collection. Modeling them as linked records means each team works from the same source of truth, and you can always trace a payment back to the original inquiry.

Ready to walk it? Start with Create a quote.