Method Community

Hi there,

So I love the ability of customers to be able to view all of their estimates/invoices/payments etc. though the portal screens, however sometimes this can be an overcomplicated process. I am in the service (lawncare/landscaping) industry, and the key to selling to customers is to get them their estimates as quickly as possible. I have found that sending them a link to a portal, where they log in and try to find their estimate is a few too many steps for my liking. Also, my templates are highly customized with calculations, so the portal doesn't convey all the information I need. I end up not using the portal and save a pdf file, then email this to my clients. I would love for method to solve this for me.

Would it be possible to have an option to send a direct link to an estimate/invoice? That way, the customer receives an email and can click to load the estimate/invoice right away.

This would dramatically improve our sales process.

Thank you,

Greg Burghall, GroGreen Lawn Care

Hey Greg,

This can be accomplished via customization. But I have put in a feature request to have this ability in stock Method:New out-of-the-box.

I'll update our thread as soon as I hear back.

-- Mortaza

I agree. This would make customers happier.

Hi Mortaza,

Can you give any guidance on how to do this? I've looked at the button actions on both the screens and can't see anything that would help.

In the email, I see a url for the http://urlforportal but nothing that I could modify to load the actual estimate.

Thanks,

Greg

Hey Greg,

In order to be able to do this, you need to create a Generate Report action immediately followed by a Send Email action to send the PDF on a button on a copy of the original estimate screen. 

You can reverse engineer how Work Orders are emailed in Method Field Services to see how that happens.

Try that and let me know if you need me to break down further.

-- Mortaza

Hi Mortaza,

Thanks for the info, but I'm having a problem.

When I make a copy of the 'New/Edit Estimate' screen, I'm getting an error message whenever I try to load it. I even deleted the screen I made, made a copy of the stock screen without any changes, and tried to load the fresh copy. Unless I'm loading the original stock screen, I will get the following error:

The ActiveRecordChange event for New / Edit Estimate(2) failed to complete.

Message: Filter cannot be found

Stack Trace:

• #2 - Action Set (btnGridAppearance_onClick)
• #2 - Condition
• #1 - SetViewFilter (If)

Please verify and try again. If the problem persists please contact Method Technical Support.

Hey Greg,

What if you go to Manage Apps > Edit App (Estimates) > Copy (New / Edit Estimate) > OK

Does it let you copy and customize that screen?

If you follow these steps and still are not able to create a copy of the screen, please give us a call on the Method support line at 1.888.925.6238 x 2 and we'll be happy to take a look with you.

-- Mortaza

Hi Mortaza,

I am able to copy and customize the screen, however I get that error whenever I try to view the screen under normal usage. It will even give me the error when it is a fresh copy, without any customization done to the new copy.

Hey Greg,

Try this:

- Completly remove any copied screens of the  New / Edit screen

- Remove the Redirection from the stock New/Edit screen.

- Copy stock New / Edit screen

- Click Customize on the copied screen

See if you are still getting the same error.

-- Mortaza