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RDLA User Guide · Companion to Stage 4 (Quotes & the Calculator)
This is a detailed companion to the Stage 4 guide (Quotes & the Calculator), focused entirely on the RDLA Quote Calculator – the most involved tool in the whole process. Use it alongside Stage 4 whenever you need a deeper, step-by-step walkthrough of splitting a Quote's total across its funding sources. You do not need any Salesforce experience; just follow the screens and the on-screen labels shown here.
Golden rule for the calculator
Type your amounts, then click the 'Calculate ... Funding' button for the section you changed – and finally click 'Save Funding Allocations' at the bottom.
The multi-funder sections (Faculty RPF Account, Area, Library, Center and Institute, and Other) do not recalculate when you add, remove, or edit a funder row until you click that section's 'Calculate ... Funding' button. When in doubt, click Calculate for every section you touched.
Nothing is saved to the Quote until you click 'Save Funding Allocations'. You can close the window at any time before then without changing anything.
1. What the Quote Calculator is for
The Quote Calculator takes a Quote's total dollar amount and helps you split it across the different sources that will pay for it – a College, a Dean, one or more Faculty RPF Accounts, and so on. As you enter amounts, it keeps a running tally of how much of the Quote is funded and how much is still left, and it flags when you go over. When the split looks right, one click saves each funding line back to the Quote as a Fund Source Use record.
You open the calculator from the Quote you want to fund; it works on top of that Quote and, when you finish, returns you to the same Quote record.
2. Getting started
The calculator opens as a single, long screen with the database (Faculty Resource) name shown at the top. Work down the screen from top to bottom. Near the top, a short How to Use the Quote Calculator panel repeats the key points:
- Use the fields below to calculate the funding breakdown.
- You must click the 'Calculate' button to see the total calculations update for each section. (shown in red on screen)
- You can close this window at any time without making any changes to the Quote fund sources.
- Use the 'Save Funding Allocations' button at the bottom of the screen to save your entered calculations to the Quote. (shown in red on screen)
3. Reading the “Quote Funding Status” panel
The Quote Funding Status panel appears twice – once near the top and again near the bottom – so you can watch your progress without scrolling far. It shows:
- Total Quote Amount – the full amount you are funding (taken from the Quote).
- Calculated Amount Funded and Calculated Amount Remaining – dollars allocated so far vs. dollars still needed.
- Calculated Percent Funded and Calculated Percent Remaining – the same figures as percentages.
Below the figures, a color-coded message tells you exactly where you stand:
- Green – “You have fully funded the Quote Amount.” (Quote Amount Remaining: $0.00)
- Red – “You have allocated less funds than the Quote Amount.” (shows the Quote Amount Deficit)
- Orange – “You have allocated more funds than the Quote Amount.” (shows the Quote Amount Overage)
Aim for the green message. If you see red, add or increase funders; if you see orange, reduce them – then click Calculate on the section you changed and check the panel again.
4. The seven funding sections at a glance
The calculator groups funding into seven sections, always in this order. Fill in only the ones that apply to your Quote.
Section | How you enter funding | Recalculates when |
|---|
College Funding | A single amount – College Funding Amount and/or College Funding Percent. | You click Calculate College Funding. |
Dean Funding | A single amount – Dean Funding Amount and/or Dean Funding Percent. | You click Calculate Dean Funding. |
Faculty RPF Account Funding | One or more funder rows you add, remove, or edit. | You click Calculate Faculty RPF Account Funding. |
Area Funding | One or more funder rows you add, remove, or edit. | You click Calculate Area Funding. |
Library Funding | One or more funder rows you add, remove, or edit. | You click Calculate Library Funding. |
Center and Institute Funding | One or more funder rows you add, remove, or edit. | You click Calculate Center and Institute Funding. |
Other Funding | One or more funder rows you add, remove, or edit. | You click Calculate Other Funding. |
The first two – College Funding and Dean Funding – are single-funder sections: you type one amount (or one percent). The remaining five are multi-funder sections, where you build a list of individual funders.
5. Single-funder sections: College and Dean
College Funding and Dean Funding work the same simple way. In each section you enter either:
- the Funding Amount – the dollar amount from that source (a currency field), or
- the Funding Percent – the share as a percentage (a number field). Enter one and the calculator can work out the other.
Then click the section's Calculate College Funding or Calculate Dean Funding button so the Quote Funding Status updates. Neither field is required – leave a section blank if it does not apply.
6. Multi-funder sections: Faculty RPF Account, Area, Library, Center and Institute, Other
These five sections all follow the same pattern – each lets you record several individual funders and then totals them up. Using the Faculty RPF Account section as the example (the others are identical apart from the wording):
Step 1 – Say how much and how many funders you expect
Read the short instruction at the top of the section (for example: “Enter the Faculty RPF Accounts that are funding this Quote. Ensure you select the Faculty RPF Account Fund Source and enter the amount funded.”). Then fill in:
- Anticipated Number of [Section] Funders (required) – how many separate funders you expect in this section.
- Anticipated [Section] Funding Amount and/or Anticipated [Section] Funding Percentage – the total you expect this section to contribute.
The section then displays the Anticipated Total and the Anticipated Individual funding amount and percentage (the total shared out across the number of funders) so you can sanity-check the split before you enter each funder.
Step 2 – Add the individual funders
Tick Assign [Section] Funders to open the funder list. For each funder, add a row and complete:
Field | What to enter | Required |
|---|
[Section] Fund Source | Pick the specific fund source from the dropdown. | Yes |
[Section] Amount | The dollars this funder contributes (a currency field). | No |
[Section] Percent | Or the funder's share as a percentage. Enter one and the calculator fills in the other. | No |
Add as many rows as you need; you can also edit or remove existing rows. As you go, the section keeps a running Total Input [Section] Funding Amount and Total Input [Section] Funding Percentage from the rows you have entered.
Step 3 – Calculate the section
Don't forget to Calculate the section
After you add, remove, or edit any funder row, click that section's 'Calculate ... Funding' button (for example, 'Calculate Faculty RPF Account Funding'). The section totals and the overall Quote Funding Status will not include your changes until you do.
The screen spells this out: “To update the funding calculations, you must use the Calculate ... Funding button below. This only applies to the [section] Funders. All other amount inputs will automatically update the calculations.”
7. Saving your allocations
When every section you need is filled in, the totals add up, and the Quote Funding Status shows green, scroll to the Save Funding Allocations section at the bottom and click the Save Funding Allocations button. On screen it explains that this will:
- create Fund Source Use records associated with the Quote record, and
- return you to the Quote record.
A confirmation screen then reads: “The Fund Source Use records were saved to [your Quote]. Click Finish to return to the Quote record or close out of this screen.” Click Finish.
Good to know
When you reopen the calculator later, the fund sources you saved pull back in, so you can review and change any allocation before the Quote is converted to a Contract.
Closing the window before you Save changes nothing. No Fund Source Use records are created or altered until you click Save Funding Allocations, so it is always safe to close and come back later.
8. Behind the scenes – what the calculator works out
Each time you click a Calculate ... Funding button (or Save), a helper does the arithmetic for you: for every funder it works out both the amount and the percent (whichever you did not type), then adds up the section's total amount, total percentage, and number of funders and refreshes the on-screen figures. When you Save, it gathers the funders that have a non-zero amount and turns each one into a Fund Source Use record on the Quote. You never work with this directly – it simply keeps the totals and the saved records accurate.
Closing tip: Set the Quote Amount on the Quote first, then work top to bottom – fill each funding section that applies, click its Calculate button, watch the Quote Funding Status turn green, and finally click Save Funding Allocations. You are then ready to convert the Quote to a Contract.
Walkthrough