How to Create and Manage Quotations

How to Create and Manage Quotations

What: A quotation is a non-binding price estimate for a patient, built and priced the same way as an invoice, but without creating any financial transaction on their account.

Why: It lets a patient see and agree to an estimated cost before you commit to billing anything, and if they go ahead, the same lines can be turned straight into a real invoice without recapturing them.

When: When a patient wants to know what a visit or procedure will cost before you invoice it, for example ahead of an elective procedure or when quoting a cash-paying patient.

Create a new quotation

Quotations live in the Accounts submenu, alongside Invoices, Manual RA capture, and Suspense account.

1. Open 'Quotations' in the Accounts submenu

Location: top navigation bar › click 'Accounts'. Then in the Accounts submenu, click 'Quotations'

The Accounts submenu lists Accounts, Invoices, Manual RA capture, Suspense account, and Quotations.

You should see: the Quotations screen, with a Branch filter (default All), a Status filter (default Created), a search box, a 'New quotation' button, and a results table with Patient, Account no., Quote no., Date of service, Status, Quote amount, and Actions columns.

2. Click 'New quotation'

Location: Quotations screen › click 'New quotation'

3. Search for the patient in the 'Select Patient for Quotation' modal

Location: 'Select Patient for Quotation' modal › 'Select patient' search field

Type the patient's name or account number. Matching accounts appear in a dropdown below the field, each showing the account holder's name, account number, date of birth, and cell number or member number.

4. Select the patient and click 'Select'

Location: 'Select Patient for Quotation' modal › click the matching patient, then click 'Select'

You should see: the New quotation screen opens with the patient's name, date of birth, and account number shown at the top, read-only.

5. Complete the quotation header fields

Location: New quotation screen › Date of service, Treating provider, Branch, Place of service, Invoice type

Fill in the same header fields you'd use on a normal invoice:

• Date of service — defaults to today's date.
• Treating provider — the provider the quote is for, shown with their speciality.
• Branch.
• Place of service — e.g. Inpatient hospital.
• Invoice type — e.g. Cash.

An 'Additional claim information' panel (location, authorisation number, admission/discharge dates, referral details) and a 'Templates' panel are also available, matching the Capture Invoice screen.

The New quotation screen is a cut-down Capture Invoice screen: It reuses the same header fields, line table, and template panel as Capture Invoice, but the 'Series invoice' toggle, 'Balance billing' checkbox, 'Create template', 'Save for later', 'Submit for approval', and 'Submit' buttons are all hidden. Only 'Cancel', 'Reset', and 'Save quotation' remain at the bottom.

6. Add a diagnosis code

Location: New quotation screen › 'Search for a diagnosis' field

Type a diagnosis code or description (for example J06) into the 'Search for a diagnosis' field and click the matching result from the dropdown.

The selected code appears as a chip next to the search field. Leave 'Apply to all lines' ticked (it's ticked by default) to copy the diagnosis to every line on the quotation, or set a diagnosis per line individually in the Diag. code column.

7. Add or adjust procedure lines

Location: New quotation screen › click 'Add a line'

Click 'Add a line' to add each additional procedure, medicine, or consumable, using the same Line type, Tariff code, Qty, and Price fields as a normal invoice. Use the + and - icons to the left of a line to duplicate or remove it.

8. Click 'Save quotation'

Location: New quotation screen › bottom right, click 'Save quotation'

You should see: a 'Quotation created' confirmation, and you're returned to the Quotations screen.

If a diagnosis code is missing: Clicking 'Save quotation' before every line (and the quotation itself) has a diagnosis code blocks the save with a warning: "Please specify a diagnosis code for the quotation, and for each quotation line." Click 'Ok', add the missing code(s), and try again.

9. Find the new quotation on the list

Location: Quotations screen › results table

The new quotation appears at the top of the list with status Created. Its quote number follows the pattern QYYMM-##### — the year and month it was created (not the date of service), followed by a 5-digit sequence number. In this example, Q2609-00001 was created in September 2026.

Actions on a saved quotation

Each quotation row has a ⋮ actions menu. With status Created, five actions are available: Quotation PDF, Email quotation, Create invoice, Rejected by patient, and Cancel.

10. Open the actions menu and view the quotation PDF

Location: Quotations screen › quotation row › click the ⋮ icon

Click 'Quotation PDF' to generate and open the quotation as a PDF document. It opens outside the main Nova window (typically a new browser tab), named using the pattern Quotation_[Provider]_[Patient] ([Account no.])_[Date of service].pdf.

11. Email the quotation to the patient

Location: ⋮ actions menu › click 'Email quotation'

A 'New Mail' panel opens with the quotation PDF already attached, and the Subject and message body pre-filled with the practice's contact details. Click 'Send' to email it.

Check the 'Recipients' field: If the patient's account doesn't have an email address on file, the 'Recipients' field opens empty (flagged with a red outline). Add the correct email address manually before clicking 'Send'.

12. Create an invoice from the quotation

Location: ⋮ actions menu › click 'Create invoice'

This opens the patient's normal Capture invoice screen (with its full account sidebar), pre-populated with the quotation's date of service, treating provider, branch, place of service, invoice type, diagnosis code, and line items. Unlike the New quotation screen, all the usual buttons are here, including 'Series invoice', 'Create template', 'Save for later', and 'Submit'.

Review the pre-populated details, then click 'Submit' to capture the invoice.

You should see: an 'Invoice submitted' confirmation on the patient's account page.

The quotation's own status doesn't update automatically: After you submit the invoice, the quotation it came from still shows status Created, not Invoiced, on the Quotations list — even with the Status filter set to All — and its ⋮ menu still offers the same five Created-only actions. Don't rely on the Quotations list to tell you which quotes have already been turned into an invoice — the invoice itself is the source of truth.

13. Reject a quotation on the patient's behalf

Location: ⋮ actions menu › click 'Rejected by patient'

A 'Quotation rejected by patient' dialog opens, warning that "You will not be able to create an invoice once this quotation is rejected." Enter a 'Reason or note' (required) explaining why, then click 'Save status'.

You should see: a 'Quotation successfully rejected' confirmation.

14. Confirm the rejection on the list

Location: Quotations screen › Status filter › select 'Rejected'

'Cancel' follows the same pattern: The ⋮ menu's 'Cancel' action (also only available on quotations with status Created) uses a similar confirm-with-reason pattern to 'Rejected by patient'.

What happens if you save an empty quotation

Clicking 'Save quotation' on a quotation with no lines at all (Total: R0.00) does not show a plain "quotation is empty" message. It's caught by the same diagnosis-code validation as step 8, but with different wording.

On a quotation with zero lines, 'Save quotation' opens an 'Error' dialog reading "You will need to fix the diagnosis code errors below before trying to submit," followed by 'Header level diagnosis — Please provide a diagnosis code for this invoice.'

The error text says "invoice", not "quotation": This message is reused as-is from Capture Invoice's own validation and refers to "this invoice" rather than "this quotation." There's no separate, quotation-specific wording for an empty or zero-total quote — it's blocked by the missing header-level diagnosis code, same as any other quotation without one.

Things to know before creating a quotation

• A quotation is not a financial transaction. It never appears as a balance, invoice, or transaction on the patient's account until you use 'Create invoice' to actually generate one.
• Every line — and the quotation itself — needs a diagnosis code before it will save. Missing codes are what trigger both validation messages documented above, whether the quotation has lines on it or not.
• Quote numbers follow the pattern QYYMM-#####, based on the month the quotation was created, not its date of service.
• Not currently available: saving a quotation as a draft to finish later, copying an existing quotation to start a new one, and a custom or editable quotation email template. The New quotation screen offers only 'Save quotation' — there's no save-for-later option.

Frequently asked

Q: Does saving a quotation create any transaction on the patient's account?

No. A quotation is a price estimate only. It doesn't appear as a balance, transaction, or invoice on the account until you use 'Create invoice' to generate one from it.

Q: How do I know if a quotation has already been turned into an invoice?

Be cautious relying on the Quotations list for this — a quotation's status can still show as Created (not Invoiced) even right after you've submitted the invoice, with the Status filter set to All. Check the patient's Transactions tab or Invoices list for the actual invoice instead.

Q: Can I save a quotation to finish later, or copy an existing one to start a new quote?

Not currently. The New quotation screen only offers 'Save quotation' — there's no save-for-later option, and no way to duplicate an existing quotation as the starting point for a new one.