Quotation, sale order and delivery challan software

The paperwork before the bill

A building materials supplier, a steel dealer or a distributor does much of its business on large orders. A contractor asks for rates. A shop confirms an order for the coming week. A truck leaves the godown with half the order today and the rest tomorrow. Each step needs a document, and on paper each one lives in a different book: the quotation pad, the order diary and the challan book.

The trouble starts when these books do not talk to each other. A quotation is sent at one rate and billed at another. An order is confirmed on the phone and nobody writes it down. Goods go out on a challan and are never billed, because the challan copy got lost in the truck. Each of these mistakes costs money, and the lost challan is the worst, because those goods are simply given away.

How the flow works in Taajir

1. Estimate (quotation): items, rates, discounts and your terms, sent as a PDF or on WhatsApp.
2. Sale order: once the customer confirms, record the order so it shows on the list of confirmed but unbilled business.
3. Delivery challan: each trip goes out with a challan, printed or as a PDF.
4. Sale invoice: bill the customer. Stock goes down and the customer's ledger goes up. An estimate can also convert straight to an invoice in one click.
5. Sale return: if anything comes back, record a return linked to the original invoice.

A worked example: a contractor's order

A building materials supplier in Islamabad gets a request from a contractor for cement and tiles. The first quotation:

The contractor asks for a better tile rate. The supplier revises the estimate to Rs 2,100 a box, which makes tiles Rs 315,000 and the total Rs 595,000. The contractor agrees, and the order is recorded as a sale order.

Delivery goes in two trips. The first challan carries 120 bags of cement and all 150 boxes of tiles. The second carries the remaining 80 bags. Both challans are signed at the site. The invoice for Rs 595,000 is then made, the contractor pays Rs 400,000 by bank transfer, and Rs 195,000 goes to his ledger as udhaar. If 5 boxes of tiles arrive broken, a sale return of 5 × Rs 2,100 = Rs 10,500 brings his balance down to Rs 184,500.

At every point, the supplier can see what was quoted, what was ordered, what went out and what has been billed. More on how this trade works is on our building materials page.

Why it matters

• No unbilled challans. Goods that left the godown can be matched to an invoice.
• No rate disputes. The agreed rate is in the estimate, and it carries into the invoice.
• Follow-up on open quotes. The estimate report shows which quotations have not turned into sales yet, so your salesman knows whom to call.
• One look for every document. The quotation, challans and invoice all carry your logo and terms, which helps when a contractor is comparing three suppliers.

What it costs

Estimates, sale orders, delivery challans and returns are part of the base app, alongside billing, stock, ledgers and reports. Standard is Rs 4,000 a month, or Rs 36,000 a year if you pay yearly, which saves Rs 12,000 against 12 monthly payments of Rs 4,000. A supplier with a shop and a separate yard needs Business for multiple warehouses: Rs 5,000 a month or Rs 50,000 a year. Distributors who run the same flow with order bookers should also read distribution management software.