Adding quotes
Ways to add Quotes
There are several ways to add quotes to Silkline:
From a Request:
Click the "Create Quote" button or drag and drop a quote onto this button
From the Quotes page:
Click the "Create Quote" button in the top right
Drag and drop one or more quote PDFs into the window
Quotes that are dragged and dropped into Silkline are created with the draft status and then autofilled using AI.
Linking quotes to requests
Quotes and Requests are independent objects in Silkline that can be linked together. When you add a quote to a request, the quotes are automatically linked to that request. You can also link an existing quote from your quotes library by selecting the "Link Existing" button in the "Quotes" section when viewing a request:
This loads a sidebar that shows all active quotes with parts that match the items on the request. Select one or more quotes to link to the request. This flexible workflow allows you to reuse quotes across requests.
AI autofill
When dragging and dropping a quote document into Silkline, we automatically create a quote record for that document and scan the document using AI to extract key details from the quote, including:
Supplier quote number
Quote date and expiration date
Items matched to your parts library
Unit cost
Quantity
Unit of measure
Lead time
A purple sparkle icon appears next to the draft status badge to indicate that the quote has been autofilled using AI:
When manually creating a quote, users can press the "Auto Fill" button to populate details from the quote document automatically.
AI autofill only works for PDFs that have a text layer. We currently do not perform OCR on uploaded documents, so screenshots or images cannot be read.
eCommerce orders
For eCommerce orders transacted via the vendor's website, it is often necessary to create a purchase order for record-keeping purposes and to receive inventory accordingly. For these orders, you can save time and avoid manual data entry by uploading a PDF of an order confirmation (or cart) as a quote. Once the data is extracted from the quote, you can easily convert the quote to an order.
Quote status
Quotes in Silkline can have the following statuses:
Draft – quote has been uploaded, but has not been reviewed/confirmed. To confirm a draft quote, simply edit the quote, make any necessary changes/additions, and then save the quote.
Active – quote is confirmed and is within its validity period
Expired – quote is confirmed and is outside its validity period
Validity period
The quote validity period is determined by the date of the quote and the expiration date, if any. The validity period is designed to assist buyers in searching, filtering, and organizing quotes. An expired status does prevent a quote from being converted to a purchase order.
Quote fields
Header
Supplier
The supplier tagged to the quote. This is automatically populated and locked when entering a quote for an RFQ.
Supplier Quote Number
The quote number provided on the supplier's quote document. This value is searchable.
Issued at
The date the quote was issued
Expires at
The date the quote expires
Quote file
The original quote file (PDF, PNG, JPG, etc.)
Notes
Internal notes for the quote
Items
Item
The linked part or item description
Supplier part number
The supplier's part number, if available and different from the buyer's part number
Quantity
The number of units quoted. For items quoted in packages, you can add purchase quantity by clicking the "Purchase Qty" button. See Purchase Quantity below.
Unit cost
The cost per unit of item. When purchase quantity is used, this is automatically calculated from the purchase unit cost.
Fixed cost
Any one-time order fees, such as NRE or setup fees
Lead time
The quote lead time for the item, displayed in various calendar units (10d = 10 days, 4w = 4 weeks, etc.)
Purchase Quantity Tracking
For items quoted in one unit of measure but tracked in another, Silkline supports dual quantity and pricing tracking:
When to use Purchase Quantity:
Packaged goods: Supplier quotes by the package but you track individual units (e.g., bolts sold in boxes)
Raw materials: Materials quoted in one unit but consumed in another (e.g., aluminum sheets quoted per sheet but tracked per square meter)
Bulk materials: Items quoted in large units but used in smaller units (e.g., cable quoted per spool but consumed per meter)
Unit conversions: Need to maintain both supplier's quoted price and your consumption unit price
How it works:
Click "Purchase Qty" in the Quantity column
Enter purchase quantity - Number of supplier units (e.g., 10 boxes, 15 sheets)
Enter purchase unit of measure - Supplier's unit (e.g., BOX, SHEET, ROLL)
Enter purchase unit cost - Cost per supplier unit (e.g., $50 per box, $180 per sheet)
Enter item quantity - Manually enter the item quantity OR use the calculator icon to automatically calculate based on a conversion factor (e.g., units per box, square meters per sheet)
Examples:
Packaged goods:
Quote: Bolts sold in boxes of 100
Purchase: 10 BOX @ $50.00/BOX
Item Quantity: 1,000 EA (manually entered, OR use calculator with conversion factor of 100 units/box: 10 × 100 = 1,000)
Result: 1,000 EA @ $0.50/EA (auto-calculated)
Raw materials:
Quote: Aluminum sheet quoted per sheet, each sheet is 3m²
Purchase: 15 SHEET @ $180.00/SHEET
Item Quantity: 45 M² (manually entered, OR use calculator with conversion factor of 3 m²/sheet: 15 × 3 = 45)
Result: 45 M² @ $60.00/M² (auto-calculated)
Bulk materials:
Quote: Ethernet cable sold per box, each box contains 305 meters
Purchase: 5 BOX @ $152.50/BOX
Item Quantity: 1,525 M (manually entered, OR use calculator with conversion factor of 305 m/box: 5 × 305 = 1,525)
Result: 1,525 M @ $0.50/M (auto-calculated)
When purchase quantity is added, the unit cost becomes read-only and is automatically calculated from the purchase unit cost. This ensures pricing accuracy when converting between supplier units and consumption units.
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