What is a deal?

IN THIS ARTICLE

The deal hierarchy

Unlike a flat spreadsheet or price list, Estii deals are hierarchical. The structure lets you model complex work without losing the roll-ups your team needs for review: price, margin, capacity, schedule, revenue timing, and scope.

The illustration below shows the main objects inside a deal.

Deals are structured as a hierarchy of objects

Deals

The deal header gives you the main controls for progressing and presenting a deal.

• Progress moves the deal through approval, in play, won, lost, abandoned, or archived states.
• Present previews and exports the approved proposal for customers and other guests.

The deal header

Overview

The overview tab provides a summary of the deal budget, timeline and workflow.

• Budget breakdown by category across phases
• Budget breakdown by phase
• Timeline breakdown by phase (duration, resource count)

The deal overview screen

Estimate

Estimate is where you describe the requirements and delivery work behind the deal.

Estimates are organised within each phase using the following hierarchy:

The hierarchy runs from phase, to category, to section, to item, to line item, to estimate.

• Categories are defined by the phase template. Each category controls which resource types and pricing models are available.
• Sections group related items inside a category and provide subtotals.
• Items collect line items for a functional area, deliverable, or work package.
• Line items describe individual requirements, tasks, or assumptions.
• Estimates assign effort, units, fixed amounts, recurring amounts, or other pricing inputs to a line item.

Editing items, line items and estimates

Phases

Each phase contains a separate budget and duration. You can view or create phases from the overview, or switch between phases from other deal pages.

Deal phases on the overview screen

Items

• Items contain line items and estimates
• Items have priority and risk/contingency level
• Items provide a roll-up of the total units (effort) and value (price) of all line items

The estimates screen

Line items and assumptions

Line items are where you describe and estimate individual requirements within an item.

• Line items contain a description of the included requirements or deliverables
• Line items contain zero or more estimates, which are resource allocations of effort or cost
• A line item with zero estimates is called an assumption

Each estimate is a calculation of effort (for example 10 days x web stream) or cost (for example 5 x daily travel cost) that is automatically converted into a monetary value and rolled up into the total value for the parent item.

Choosing an estimate's resource

Contingency and risk

Contingency is defined as a range (default, min, max) in Settings > Rates and currency

Contingency is automatically applied to items based on their risk level (none, low, normal, high) and added to the raw time estimates.

Risk is also used to help automatically prioritise items when adjusting scope (removing the highest risk, lowest priority items first).

Setting item risk

Scoping

Use scope to refine what is included in each phase and see the price change as you work.

• View a breakdown of scope by priority, item and stream
• Descope groups of line items by priority, risk, tag, item, or stream
• Review the margin impact of scope changes
• Change the rate card or margin for the phase

Adjusting the scope of a phase

Scheduling

Use schedule to adjust duration, resource demand, and delivery timing for each phase.

• Adjust the duration
• Round resource allocations to a specific delivery cycle (week, fortnight, month, etc)
• Distribute partial resources to the start, end or middle of the phase, or distributed equally
• Change the rate card and/or margin for the phase

Adjusting the schedule of a phase

Payment milestones

Use payment milestones to describe how the customer is expected to pay across the deal or per phase.

• Choose a preset based on equal progress payments, split payments, or recurring payments
• Create custom milestones when the structure is bespoke
• Schedule due dates by deal or phase progress, relative days, or fixed dates
• Calculate price as a percentage of value or as a fixed amount

Dynamic milestones adjust when deal price and duration change. They also drive revenue recognition in forecasts.

Adding payment milestones

Rate cards and margins

Rate card

Each phase has an active rate card that determines the cost and price for roles. New deals default to the default rate card, however it can be changed if multiple rate cards exist in the space.

Margins

Each rate card contains a low, average and high margin range that is used to calculate the price of roles.

Phases default the average margin to calculate role prices, however they can be adjusted to increase or decrease price and profitability within the defined range. When you change rate card, the margin will reset to average.

Deal currency

The deal currency determines how final pricing is displayed and exported to buyers, along with the exchange rate.

Actual estimates and internal pricing use the default Space currency (managed in Settings > Rates and currency)

Lifecycle, versions, and modes

Deals move through draft, pending approval, approved, in play, won, lost, abandoned, and archived states. Probability on open deals feeds weighted forecasts.

A deal is editable while it is in draft. Once it is submitted for approval, approved, or closed, it becomes read-only until it is redrafted. Versions record snapshots so you can compare, restore, or share a specific state.

Sales, Delivery, and Client modes change what information is visible without changing the underlying deal.

Proposals

Estii generates proposal content from the deal. When scope, price, schedule, or payment milestones change, the proposal reflects the current model.

You can preview and adjust template settings (and appearance) from the presentation tab on a deal.

Customising your proposal

Themes

You can create and manage multiple themes across your deals, with editable logos, colours, images and fonts to keep deals on brand.

Editing a proposal theme

Proposal viewer

The proposal viewer is a standalone view for external guests, such as target customers or decision makers. It only shows approved versions of the deal.

Presenting a proposal

Next up