Automatically Split a Quote into Multiple Orders

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Generate orders from a single quote based on quote line group.
• Generate orders from a single quote determined by a custom quote line field.
• Describe how automatic order splitting methods interact with each other.

Streamline Order Splitting

Checking the Ordered checkbox is by far the simplest way to generate an order. It can even be automated in some circumstances. By default, this method creates a single order with all unordered quote lines, which might be a little too simple for some business use cases. Thankfully, there are two ways to tell Salesforce CPQ to split a quote into multiple orders automatically. There’s no need to manually pick products every time you need more than one order.

Create Orders by Quote Line Group

When sales reps put together a quote, they often want to organize the quote lines in a way that helps the customer understand their quote better. Maybe some quote lines are meant for one location, like a main office, while others are for a remote site. They can use Quote Line Groups to achieve this kind of grouping.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell Salesforce CPQ to create a separate order for each group, automatically? You can, and it’s super easy. Let’s take a look at a pre-made quote with just one group. You will create a second group, move some quote lines to it, then use the newly organized quote to generate two orders.

1. Click Accounts in the navigation bar.
2. Click Kevco Inc.
3. Click the Related tab.
4. From the Quotes related list, click Q-00024.
5. Click Edit Lines.
   Here you see a quote with one premade quote line group. Pretend to be a sales rep and create another group.
6. Click Add Group.
7. Drag the Projector and Projector Bulb quote lines into the new group.
8. Click Save.
   Now that your quote is organized, pretend to be Sales Operations from this point forward.
9. On the quote, click Edit.
10. Check the Order By Quote Line Group checkbox.
    This checkbox is all it takes to tell Salesforce CPQ to split a quote into multiple orders. In this example, you manually check the box, but in the real world you could automate this.
11. Check the Ordered checkbox.
12. Click Save.

That’s all there is to it: an extra checkbox to order by quote line group. In a few moments, Salesforce CPQ will be done generating both orders, which you can explore from the Orders related list.

Custom Automatic Order Splitting

In the last example, you acted as the sales rep to create a second quote line group, then organized quote lines manually. In that scenario, you organized the quote lines in a way that made sense to your overall sales goals. However, actual sales reps might make mistakes when organizing the quote, which translates into mistakes on orders. Also, some businesses would rather not use groups as the defining factor for order splitting. The good news is that admins can set up Salesforce CPQ to automatically split quotes based on criteria other than quote line groups.

To automatically split quotes into multiple orders, all you need is a quote line field that can distinguish one quote line from another. For example, you could have a custom field named Color__c. Each color would result in a separate order.

In this example, you need to tell Salesforce CPQ to use Color__c as the distinguishing field. You do this by choosing Color__c in the Order By picklist field on the quote. It may seem strange to pick a field name from a picklist, but it’s fairly common in CPQ administration.

Let’s see how you set up automatic order splitting based on the Product Family, one of many out-of-the-box quote line fields. You start by adding the API name of Product Family to the Order By picklist.

1. Click  and click Setup. The Setup page opens in a new tab.
2. Click Object Manager.
3. Click Quote.
4. Click Fields & Relationships.
5. Click Order By.
6. In the Values list, click New.
7. Enter SBQQ__ProductFamily__c.
   This is the exact API name of the quote line’s Product Family field that comes as part of the Salesforce CPQ managed package. If you create your own custom field, use the API name for the picklist value.
8. Click Save.
   Close the Setup tab and return to the Salesforce CPQ tab. Now that the picklist is updated, you are ready to play the role of Sales Ops and generate an order from a quote that includes quote lines from three different product families.
9. Click Accounts in the navigation bar.
10. Click Kevco Inc.
11. Click the Related tab.
12. From the Quotes related list, click Q-00025.
    This quote has no quote line groups, but contains products from three product families: Hardware [1], Consumable [2], and Support [3].
    
13. Click Edit.
14. For the Order By field, choose SBQQ__ProductFamily__c.
15. Check the Ordered checkbox.
16. Click Save.

Like before, Salesforce CPQ starts working in the background to generate orders. In a few moments, you’ll see three order records appear in the Orders related list. If you click on the first order, you’ll find it includes only order products for Copy Machine and Copy Machine Binding module, our hardware products.

You used Product Family to distinguish between quote lines, but any field would do. You can even use formula fields that programmatically categorize quote lines so that you have a truly automated order generation process.

Keep in mind that blank values count as a category when using Order By. So in our Color__c example, all quote lines without a color would go into one order. This could be used effectively to tag “special” quote lines that need their own order, while leaving all of the “normal” lines unmarked to default into one catch-all order.

Finally, be aware that it’s possible to use the Order By field with the Order By Quote Line Group field. If both are used, an order is generated for every combination of group and distinguishing value. So two groups and three Color__c values could result in six orders.

Good work! You’re now an order-generating pro. Whether you use fancy automation to automatically create split orders, or you use the Create Order button to manually select order products, you can count on Salesforce CPQ to make order generation fast and accurate. Your Sales Ops team will thank you!

Resources

• Trailhead: Picklist Administration
• Salesforce Help: Build a Formula Field