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Turn simPRO estimates into client proposals

Keep estimating in simPRO, with its cost centres and labour rates. When the estimate is finished, a Zap drafts the proposal your client will actually read, from your QuoteCloud template, with the quote's details already in it.

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Build a Zap with QuoteCloud's Zapier app, on Essentials and up. simPRO's Quote Updated trigger starts it, a filter keeps only quotes set to your finished stage, and QuoteCloud's Find or Create Contact and Create Document draft the proposal from your template with the simPRO quote number, customer and site in data items, ready to check and send.

Last reviewed by the QuoteCloud team

Two overlapping panels with sample data. Behind, Harrowfield Fire & Security's draft proposal HF-SP-0418 for Penrose Cold Stores, its data items filled by a Zap from simPRO quote 18204: prepared for Penrose Cold Stores, simPRO quote number 18204, site Lakeview depot, designer Marcus Teo; and the proposal's price table, $43,066.00 plus tax, with two extra cameras as an option. In front, an illustration of simPRO quote 18204 at the Complete stage, salesperson Marcus Teo.

Why not send the simPRO quote as it is?

Harrowfield Fire & Security estimates every system in simPRO: cameras, sensors, readers, detectors, cabling and labour, by cost centre. That's the right place to cost the work. It isn't what Penrose Cold Stores' operations manager and finance manager want to read and sign.

So the estimate stays in simPRO and the proposal comes from Harrowfield's QuoteCloud template: the zone plan, the system laid out in plain sections, an option for two extra cameras, a 30% deposit on acceptance and a place for both signers. A Zap starts the draft the moment Marcus Teo sets the simPRO quote to Complete.

  • The template decides the content, the sections and the options; the Zap fills the quote's details.
  • The simPRO quote number goes into a data item, so the signed proposal and the estimate can always be matched.
  • The draft waits for Marcus to check before anything reaches the client.

How does a finished simPRO quote become a proposal?

A filter, two lookups and the draft. Every name is the exact event you pick in Zapier.

ZapsimPRO quote complete: draft the proposal

  1. When simPROTriggerQuote UpdatedFires when a quote is saved, including a stage change.Passes on
    • ID
    • Name
    • Stage
    • Customer
    • Site
    • Salesperson
  2. Only if Filter by ZapierFilterOnly continue when the quote's stage is Complete (your finished stage).
  3. Then simPROSearchFind ContactThe customer's contact who will sign: name and email.Searches on
    • Email
    • Given Name
    • Family Name
  4. Then QuoteCloudSearchFind or Create ContactUses the contact already in QuoteCloud, or creates it.Searches on
    • Email
    • First name
    • Last name
  5. Then QuoteCloudActionCreate DocumentFrom your proposal template. Data items take the quote's details.Mapped in
    • Template
    • Title
    • simPRO quote no.
    • Prepared for
    • Site
    • Designer
  6. Then QuoteCloudActionAdd Document RecipientMapped in
    • Document
    • Contact

Find Contact is only needed when the trigger doesn't carry the signer's email: check your Zap's test data. Add the second signer the same way, or in QuoteCloud before sending. The same job can be built in Make, bring your own.

Marcus sets simPRO quote 18204 to Complete at 2:11 pm. At 2:12 the draft HF-SP-0418 is in QuoteCloud with the quote number, Penrose Cold Stores, the Lakeview depot and his name filled in, and Owen Petrakis added as a recipient.

Result

A draft proposal from Harrowfield's template, carrying the simPRO quote's details, a minute after the estimate is finished. Marcus fills the section prices from his estimate, adds Clara Nguyen and sends it.

Essentials and up · per-document fee for each document a Zap creates

How security contractors write system proposals

The estimate goes in, the proposal comes out

simPRO quote 18204 beside the draft the Zap made from it.

Harrowfield Fire & SecuritySecurity system proposal HF-SP-0418 Sample · fictional business

Data items filled by the Zap from simPRO quote 18204

Prepared for
Penrose Cold StoresFrom simPRO · Customer
simPRO quote no.
18204From simPRO · Quote ID
Site
Lakeview depotFrom simPRO · Site name
Designer
Marcus TeoFrom simPRO · Salesperson

Your system, priced

ItemQtyRateAmount
Supplied & installed$43,066
CCTV, 27 IP cameras & recorderTurret and dome cameras, 30 days' recording
1 system $15,800 $15,800.00
Intruder alarm, 12 sensors & panelMonitored, with a keypad at each entry
1 system $3,940 $3,940.00
Access control, 7 doorsReaders, locks and the management software
1 system $9,620 $9,620.00
Detection, 22 smoke & heat detectorsHeat detection in the cold rooms
1 system $4,180 $4,180.00
Cabling & containment, 1,920 mFrom the zone survey on 9 October
1 lot $8,064 $8,064.00
Commissioning & staff trainingHandover pack and two training sessions
1 lot $1,462 $1,462.00
Add if you'd like Tick to add
Two extra cameras at the cold-room doorsCovers both loading doors from inside
2 ea $420 $840.00
Subtotal
$43,066.00
Tax (10%)
$4,306.60
Total
$47,372.60
Deposit on acceptance (30%)
$14,211.78
Data items from the simPRO quote. The price table and the extra-camera option come from the template, priced by Marcus.

Zap

  1. Quote Updated
  2. Create Document
  3. Add Document Recipient
Job management · QuoteHalden Climate Co. Illustration · sample data

Quote · ID 18204CCTV, alarm & access control · Penrose Cold StoresLakeview depot

  1. In progress
  2. Complete
  3. Approved
Customer
Penrose Cold Stores
Site
Lakeview depot
Salesperson
Marcus Teo
Quote total
$43,066.00 + tax
Cost centres
CCTV · Intruder · Access · Detection

Activity timeline

  1. Stage changed to CompleteBy Marcus Teo: this starts the proposal ZapMon 19 Oct · 2:11 pm
  2. Quote createdAfter the zone survey, by Marcus TeoFri 9 Oct · 3:20 pm

Illustration with sample data: a generic job record, not simPRO’s screen.

The simPRO quote at Complete. Nothing is written back to it.

A Zap never ticks options or chooses content blocks: the extra cameras stay for Penrose to tick. The quote record is our illustration of a generic job-management record with sample data, not simPRO's screen.

What fills the proposal from the simPRO quote?

What each step maps, with the sample values from quote 18204.

simPRO quote to draft proposal: simPRO fields and where they land in QuoteCloud
simPRO: simPRO fieldDirectionQuoteCloud: QuoteCloud fieldGoes intoExample (sample data)Note
Into the document (Create Document, Add Document Recipient)
Name simPRO to QuoteCloud Title Document field CCTV, alarm & access control, Penrose Cold Stores
ID simPRO to QuoteCloud simPRO quote no. Data item 18204 Find Quote finds the quote by it later.
Customer name simPRO to QuoteCloud Prepared for Data item Penrose Cold Stores
Site name simPRO to QuoteCloud Site Data item Lakeview depot The tender-to-job Zap searches on it after signing.
Salesperson simPRO to QuoteCloud Designer Data item Marcus Teo
Email (Find Contact) simPRO to QuoteCloud Contact (Find or Create Contact) Contact field owen.petrakis@example.com Add Document Recipient adds that contact.
Optional
A value you map, such as the quote's total simPRO to QuoteCloud Price-table row: label, note, price, qty Price-table column Security system, supplied & installed · $43,066 · 1 Only if your trigger's test data carries it. The quote's lines aren't copied for you.

Data item names are the ones in your template. All values are sample data.

Variations for estimators

Small changes to the Zap, a check against duplicates, what happens after signing, and the Make route.

  • Stop a second draft

    If a quote can be set back and finished again, add QuoteCloud's Find Document by Field on the simPRO quote no. data item and stop the Zap when a proposal already exists.

  • A template per kind of work

    Use Paths by Zapier on the quote's name or cost centre, with a Create Document step and its own template in each path: fire, security, maintenance.

  • After the client signs

    simPRO's Zapier app can't mark a quote approved, so convert it in simPRO as you do now, or let the tender-to-job Zap open a service job and attach the signed PDF.

  • Build it in Make instead

    Bring your own: a scenario that starts from Make's own tools for simPRO or simPRO's API, then calls QuoteCloud's API through Make's built-in OAuth connection. No ready-made QuoteCloud app on Make.

Build it with a free trial

QuoteCloud's Zapier app is on the Essentials plan and up. Start a free 14-day trial, connect simPRO in Zapier and test with a sample quote.

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Build the proposal Zap in five steps

  1. Add data items to the template

    In QuoteCloud, add simPRO quote no., Prepared for, Site and Designer data items to your proposal template. Custom data items are on Essentials and up.

  2. Start with Quote Updated

    In Zapier, choose simPRO's Quote Updated trigger, then a Filter by Zapier step that continues only when the stage is your finished stage.

  3. Find the signer

    Add simPRO's Find Contact if the trigger doesn't carry the contact's email, then QuoteCloud's Find or Create Contact.

  4. Create the document

    Add Create Document with your template and map the quote's details into the data items, then Add Document Recipient.

  5. Test, then turn it on

    Finish a test quote for a test customer with an @example.com contact, check the draft in QuoteCloud, then switch the Zap on.

Questions about simPRO estimates and proposals

Which simPRO trigger should start the proposal?

Quote Updated, with a Filter by Zapier step on the stage that means the estimate is finished. New Quote fires when a quote is first created, before it's priced, so it suits only teams that start the proposal at the same time. Both are simPRO triggers in Zapier.

Do the simPRO quote's lines fill the price table?

Not as a whole list. Create Document can add price-table rows from values you map, with a label, note, price and quantity, but there's no step that hands over a simPRO quote's lines. Most contractors lay out the proposal's sections in the template and price them from the estimate, or map one lump-sum row.

Does signing the proposal mark the simPRO quote approved?

No. simPRO's Zapier app has no action that updates a quote. Your team converts or approves the quote in simPRO as now, or a second Zap on Document Signing Complete opens a service job with Create Service Job and attaches the signed PDF.

Does each proposal the Zap creates carry a fee?

Yes. Documents created through Zapier or the API carry a per-document fee of US$2.00, $1.80 or $1.60 by volume, and QuoteCloud's Zapier app is on the Essentials plan and up. Steps that only read simPRO, such as Find Contact, don't create documents.

More simPRO questions

More on QuoteCloud and simPRO

Five use cases with the exact Zapier steps, then how to connect, test and what it costs.

Cost it in simPRO. Win it in QuoteCloud.

Start a free 14-day trial, add data items to your proposal template and build the Zap with a test simPRO quote.

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