📝 Overview

This article walks you through how to create, manage, approve, and convert estimates. You’ll learn the different ways to create an estimate—during check-in, from the Billing module, or using the Quick Add button—as well as how to add, decline, or delete items and bundles. The guide also covers how clients can review, approve, and sign estimates, and how approved estimates are converted into invoices for billing.

💡 You may use bundles (invoice or estimate bundles) to help create estimates. When using a bundle to create an estimate, you will have the option to define a low and high range for each item in that estimateFor more information about working with bundles, please click the button below.

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📄 Where to Create an Estimate

This section will teach you the different areas you can create an estimate.

Click the arrow to learn where an estimate can be created

Creating an Estimate at time of Check-in

🎥 Creating an Estimate at Check-In Video

This method is helpful when you want to do your assessment of the patient first, and build out the estimate for client approval before services are rendered. Follow the steps below to create a estimate at check-in.Sa

Click on Check in from the applicable appointment
Set the Billing field to Estimate
Click Check in and the estimate will now be linked to the appointment, and can be accessible from the medical not or appointment on the schedule.

💡Within the Settings > View Configurations, you can set the Check In Billing configuration to Create Estimate if you want the billing field at check in to default to a new estimate.

Creating an Estimate from the "Quick Add" Button

This method is commonly used when a client requests an estimate for services prior to a visit. It also allows clients to review, approve, and sign an estimate before an appointment is scheduled, which is especially helpful for surgeries or services that require advance authorization.

Click on the green plus icon at the top right of the screen and select New Estimate
Fill out the form that appears, including the client name (optional) and patient name (optional). A provider can be assigned after the estimate is created and then attached to an appointment.

💡 Use estimate bundles to quickly build an estimate, especially for common services such as spay or neuter procedures. Estimate bundles allow you to define a quantity range for included items. Invoice bundles can also be used on estimates; however, they do not support quantity ranges. Click the button below to learn more about bundles.

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Creating an Estimate from the Billing Module

This is the least common way to create an estimate, as the other methods are more streamlined. This method would be used if you were already in the billing module and needed to create an estimate from there.

Click into the Billing module
Click on Estimates and select New Estimate
Complete the form that appears and click Save

🛠️ How to Build an Estimate

Once the estimate is created, it will need to be built out, such as adding items, bundles and quantity ranges as needed.

Click the arrow to learn how to build an estimate

The first step when working with an estimate is to add items and services. If a bundle was selected during estimate creation, those items will automatically appear on the estimate. Bundles can also be added after the estimate is created. Follow the steps below to add individual items to an estimate:

Click the Items tab and select New Item
Fill out the form that appears, by selecting the Item and enter in the Quantity, including a low and high range as needed
Click Save + Done or Save + Add New to keep adding items to the estimate

Adding a Bundle to an Estimate

Using bundles can significantly speed up the estimate-building process by adding multiple items at once. This is especially useful for common services such as annual exams, frequently performed surgeries, and standard lab panels. When adding a bundle to an estimate, you can choose which items to include, allowing bundles to contain a wide range of options while still giving users the flexibility to select only what is needed for the specific situation. Follow the steps below to add a bundle to an estimate:

Click the Items tab and New Bundle
Select the appropriate bundle by searching in the Bundle field or by scrolling through the list. Each bundle is labeled as either Invoice or Estimate next to the bundle name, indicating the bundle type. Invoice bundles can be used on estimates; however, they do not include quantity ranges. Estimate bundles support quantity ranges, which helps save time by eliminating the need to manually enter ranges for each item.
Click Next and select the items that are needed from the bundle item list. By default, all items and selected. Simply deselect items you do not need, or select the top Select / Unselect All button to unselect all items and make your choices. Additionally, you can add quantity ranges at this point as needed.
Once the items have been selected, click Save on the bottom right. The items will be added to the estimate at this point.

From the gear icon to the right of the item, the item can be edited, declined or deleted. Items can be declined or deleted in bulk. Please see the section below, How to Bulk Decline & Delete Items to learn more.

📦 How to Bulk Decline & Delete Items

If more than one item needs to be declined or deleted from an estimate, you can easily do so from the bulk decline and delete option from the items tab. Additionally, this section will cover how to add declined items to an exported estimate for client visibility.

Click the arrow to learn how to bulk decline or delete items

Multi-Select Items for Declining

Click on the Items tab and select Decline Items
Check the box next to the items you wish to decline and select Decline Selected on the top of the item list
Enter in the Reason and click Save

💡Declined items will be moved to the Declined tab of the estimate. If an estimate is exported, the declined items can be added to the estimate. There will be a check box that allows for the declined items to be added.

💡 Declined items will be omitted from the converted invoice. See screenshot below

Multi-Select Items for Deleting

Click on the Items tab and select Delete Items
Check the box next to the items you wish to delete and select Delete Selected on the top of the item list
Confirm you wish to delete

✍️ How to Approve, Sign & Convert Estimates to Invoices

Once the estimate is complete and the client has reviewed it, you can approve the estimate and collect the client’s signature. Once the estimate is approved, it can then be converted to an invoice so the client can be billed.

💡 You can locate any existing estimate from the client’s profile under the Billing tab by selecting View Estimates. Estimates can also be found by searching the Billing module using the client name or estimate number.

Click the arrow to learn how to approve and capture a clients signature

Approving & Signing

Approving and signing estimates is a simply, 2 step process. All estimates have an Approve button on the top header. Click this option to capture the client's signature

Once Approve is selected, the client can either Draw or Type their signature. Click Approve once the client has completed the signature.

💡 For in-office signatures, a tablet is ideal for capturing a signature, though a laptop that the client can easily access works as well.

💡 Estimates can be exported to clients for signature either before an appointment or in the office. From the estimate header, click Export and select Email Estimate or Text (SMS) Estimate (SMS add-on required). Clients can sign the estimate from their device, and the signed copy is saved to the client profile under the Billing tab.

How To Convert an Estimate to an Invoice

Once the approved estimate is ready to become an invoice, you will need to convert the estimate to an invoice so the client can officially be billed. Follow the steps below:

Click Convert to Invoice on the estimate header
Complete the form by creating medical records for the estimate items, linking the estimate to a medical note, and either creating a new invoice or linking it to an open one. For reporting purposes, it is best practice to create a new invoice
Click Convert and the estimate will convert into an invoice

💡 An estimate must be approved before it can be converted to an invoice.

If the estimate includes a rabies item, you will be prompted to enter the rabies tag number during conversion. If needed, the tag number can be added later from the rabies medical record.

❓Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Find answers to common questions or additional details that may not be covered in the main instructions.

Click the arrow to view frequently asked questions