This is a list of frequently asked questions about Mobile Quote.
D-Tools Mobile Quote is a companion application to SIX 2013. Mobile Quote is a native IOS-based iPad® app that enables SIX 2013 users to work with customers to establish an initial scope and budget, generate a quote, and sync that quote with their D-Tools SIX 2013 application to create a project – from which more detailed documentation (proposal, contract, drawings, etc.) can be generated, and the project can be managed through install.
Mobile Quote has been designed to give D-Tools SIX 2013 users a new way of generating important information about a job prior to completing a detailed proposal. It is effectively a sales tool, which can be used to construct a general "Quote." The information gathered in the quote is used to determine the size of the job and to derive an approximate price. While some customers may be able to use Mobile Quote to generate an acceptable proposal, the primary use case here is to support a multi-step sales process in which:
Mobile Quote works as an "Add-In" to SIX 2013. You can think of Mobile Quote like you would "offline work" in SIX 2013. SIX 2013 is the source of all the information needed in Mobile Quote to generate a quote. This data must by synchronized down to the iPad. When a quote has been completed it must be synchronized up to SIX 2013. Because of this, the iPad must have both internet access and be able to connect to the SIX 2013 Server running on the company network.
Mobile Quote will be available for download via the app store and can be installed for free. However, every customer must purchase additional "Device Licenses" in order to fully use Mobile Quote. Device Licenses are managed via the SIX 2013 registration system. Device Licenses are not the same as SIX 2013 additional concurrent user licenses. Since SIX 2013 supports creating more users than seats, customers can create users who only use Mobile Quote devices (if they like). Devices are however assigned to a specific user/device combination. Once all device licenses have been used up, the customer must either:
Users who have downloaded Mobile Quote but do not have SIX 2013 R2 can "explore" the app by editing the included sample project and using the included sample Catalog, but in order to fully use the app, the customer must install SIX 2013 R2 and validate their device.
SIX 2013 R2 has new permissions for managing Mobile Quote users. These have been added to the User Groups Permissions dialog in Control Panel/Quick Setup. The most relevant permission is the "Use Mobile Quote App." Deselecting this permission disables users in the group from registering (or using) a Mobile Quote Device.
SIX 2013 R2 includes all new services for communicating with Mobile Quote. These services are enabled via http on port 9011 (by default). In order to connect Mobile Quote to SIX 2013 the device must:
In this way, connecting Mobile Quote to SIX 2013 is not very different from the way the SIX 2013 desktop client connects to the SIX 2013 Server. D-Tools customers have a few options for how to handle availability of the SIX 2013 R2 services:
Your SIX Server must be on a network with wireless access so that your iPad can connect to it if you are within your network.
Your wireless network can not be assigned as "Public network" since this prevents networking between devices. When setting your network location, set it as either "Home network" or "Work network":
A quick note on Machine Names, vs IP addresses and Domain Vs Workgroups:
Mobile Quote will work best when the network has a domain which routes server names to appropriate IP addresses or when a static IP address is set up for the SIX 2013 Server. For customers using workgroups, iPads can be added to the workgroup there are a few resources on the web explaining this:
A quick note when working with Parallels:
If you are running SIX 2013 on a server running on Parallels on a Mac it is important that you make sure your networking is set to "Bridged" in the parallels configuration. Using shared networking will result in the app not be able to connect to the windows virtual. You can set up bridged networking in the parallels configuration.
In order to connect Mobile Quote to your SIX 2013 Server you will need the following information:
In order to connect Mobile Quote to your SIX 2013 Server you will need to make sure you are updated to the latest version of SIX 2013 R2 and have purchased Mobile Quote licenses.
All the data used by SIX Mobile Quote is generated by the SIX 2013 R2 Server. The data generated by the server includes:
The Catalog downloaded to Mobile Quote is specifically designed for use in Mobile Quote. It is not the entire company Catalog. SIX 2013 R2 includes a new warehouse of data for storing read-only data for use in Mobile Quote. The data that is sent to Mobile Quote is pared down for use in generating the quote. The Catalog is static but is be regularly re-built in one of two ways:
The data stored in the Mobile Quote Catalog has some special properties that are important to understand:
Equipment data isn't really equipment data at all. It is actually a list of all the Categories and Subcategories found in the Catalog. When building the Catalog, all the items in each category and sub-category are inspected. That information is used to generate the following information for each cat/sub-cat:
It is important to understand that since we are using price ranges, more often than not a more accurate number will be returned when using sub-cats rather than categories.
Packages work differently than Equipment Data. The package data that is sent to Mobile Quote is all the actual packages in the Catalog. In this case, we do not provide a price range, but rather the Base Price for the package based on the equipment in the package. Labor hours are derived by adding up any the labor hours of the items in the package and any labor SKUs. Customers that rely on packages only to build quotes will find that these items give the best approximate price for any quote.
There are always two wire items returned in any sync: Bulk and Finish. These work very similar to equipment. All wire items are scanned price range, price, and labor hours are all derived. The only real difference between bulk and finish wire is that bulk wire is displayed in Mobile Quote as having feet/meters when setting the quantity, whereas Finish wires are presented simply as quantity.
SIX 2013 R2 calculates a single labor rate to be used on all quotes when calculating install price. This rate is included in the data sync and cannot be edited by the Mobile Quote user. The labor rate is set up in the Mobile Quote Setting dialog and can be set in one of three ways:
Tax is set in the Mobile Quotes Settings UI and can be either manually entered, or chosen from the list of tax rates stored in SIX 2013 R2. This is a single tax applied to the install total. Tax rates can be changed by the Mobile Quote user if they are given permission to do so.
Mobile Quote data is designed to be used as a "scaffold" or roadmap to creating a detailed project/proposal in SIX 2013 R2. When a Mobile Quote is sent to SIX it becomes available via the new "Manage Mobile Quotes" UI in the app (Start>Mobile Quotes>Manage Mobile Quotes). From this list of quotes users can choose to "Create new project" This UI is also available via the Create New button in the Manage Projects screen.
When a new project is created via Mobile Quote a few things happen:
All the items added to the quote are displayed in the Mobile Quote explorer and can be dragged and dropped directly into the project (just like adding labor, equipment or packages). When adding equipment items and wire the "Add Product" dialog is opened pre-filtered to the cat/sub cat of the item and filtered by items that fall with in a range of the price set in the quote (this can be adjusted). Also, the system and location as well as the quantity of the items are all pre-set based on the data in the Quote Item.
Packages are added directly to the project.