Written guides

How it works

Your firm's Victor address is in Settings, Victor address, with a Copy button beside it. Forward a customer's request to that address. Victor keeps the original message, with its own sender and the time it was first sent, and opens a request. A fact the price needs that isn't there becomes a question. Victor asks rather than guesses.

The same address takes the rest of the mail:

• When you reply to a customer, BCC the Victor address. Victor reads the request and keeps the thread together.
• When a supplier sends a rate, forward it.
• For a rate sheet in Excel, forward it, or use Add files at the top of the page, or Upload a rate sheet on Rates.
• For a WhatsApp message or a phone call, choose Add a message on Requests, on a request, on Rates or on Add files. Say where it's from (WhatsApp, Phone call, WeChat or Other), who it's from, and when.

A shared mailbox can forward on its own. Settings, Victor address, under Setting up forwarding, has the steps for each mailbox. Gmail and Google Workspace:

1. In Gmail, choose Settings (the gear), then "See all settings".
2. Open "Forwarding and POP/IMAP", choose "Add a forwarding address", and enter your Victor address.
3. Gmail sends a confirmation to Victor. Victor shows its code on that page. Enter it in Gmail, and choose "Verify".
4. Open "Filters and Blocked Addresses", and choose "Create a new filter".
5. In "From", enter your suppliers' and customers' domains, or leave the filter to match every email if the mailbox is only for quotes.
6. Choose "Create filter", tick "Forward it to", choose your Victor address, and choose "Create filter".

Outlook on the web: Settings, Mail, Rules, "Add new rule". Name it "Victor", add the condition, add the action "Forward to" with your Victor address, and choose "Save". Microsoft 365 blocks forwarding to outside addresses unless the admin allows it. The admin opens Microsoft Defender, then Email & collaboration, Policies & rules, Threat policies, Anti-spam policies, the outbound policy, and sets "Automatic forwarding rules" to "On - Forwarding is enabled", for this mailbox or the firm.

Classic Outlook: Home, Rules, Manage Rules & Alerts, New Rule, "Apply rule on messages I receive", then "forward it to people or public group" with your Victor address. On Microsoft 365 the rule runs on the server, so it works with Outlook closed. The admin's forwarding setting above still applies.

On Home, the setup step "Forward your quote emails" links to Set up forwarding. It is done when Victor has seen an email from your own team.

How it works

Open the request from Requests. The left side is the source: the customer's email, a supplier's rate or a spreadsheet. The field you're on is marked on that source. A fact someone typed shows who typed it and when.

The right side, from the top:

1. Things to check lists what to settle, problems first. A confirmation offers Matches. A fact Victor isn't sure of says "Check this". Two confirmations every quote needs are "Confirm the customer" and "Confirm the chargeable weight" (or the revenue tons, or the containers), unless Victor has already confirmed them. When it's done, the row says who checked it and when.
2. Request lists each fact and where it was found, such as "Found in the customer's email". Change beside a fact lets you type a value, and that value stays if Victor reads the document again. How this was worked out opens the chargeable weight's workings.
3. Options lists each priced option, with its supplier, routing, validity, selling total and margin. One says Recommended. Choose any option with its radio. Rates left out shows each rate Victor didn't use, and the reason.
4. Lines are the chosen option's charges, grouped under Origin, Freight and Destination. Totals in different currencies stay on their own lines. They are never added together.

While anything is left on Things to check, the main button is Next check. Then it becomes Approve quote, or Send for approval when a manager must approve the quote.

If Victor couldn't price the request, the page says "Victor couldn't price this request." and offers Add a rate. A missing rate is left blank, with the reason. Victor does not fill it in.

The tabs along the quote are Lines, Staff's quote when Victor checked a quote your team priced, Preview and History.

How it works

Forward Victor a quote your team priced, or BCC the Victor address when you send it. Victor reads the quote, links it to the customer's request, and checks it against the rates offered at that time and your firm's rules as they were then. A quote Victor itself made, sent back as the same PDF, is not checked again as yours: Victor marks that quote sent.

On Requests, the row says "Your quote: 2 problems" while two findings are unanswered, and "Your quote: 1 problem" for one. It says "Your quote: checked, no problems" when the check found none.

Open the request. Staff's quote sets each of your figures beside Victor's, with the difference. The same findings are first in Things to check. Each finding is a chip with its words: Problem, To look at, or Note, plus where it was found.

Answer each finding:

• Fixed and resent on a quote that was sent, or Fixed on a draft.
• Customer already accepted, on a quote that was sent.
• Not a mistake, which asks why. That answer carries to the next version when the line is unchanged.

A viewer can't answer. The person who answered can undo until they leave the request. A manager, an admin or the owner can reopen an answer, with a reason.

Victor emails the person who sent the quote when it finds a problem or something to look at, and only to an address at your firm's own domains. Under Settings, Your account, "Email me when Victor finds a problem in my quote." starts on. You can turn it off there.

How it works

Work through Things to check first. The main button is Next check until that's done, then Approve quote.

When one of your firm's limits applies, staff see Send for approval instead. The request becomes Waiting for approval, and the screen says who sent it and when. A manager, an admin or the owner then has Approve quote, and Send back, which asks "Why are you sending it back?"

The limits are in Settings, Approval: "A margin is below your rule", "The profit is below your minimum", "The total is over" an amount, and "It's the first quote to a customer". The screen says "Needs a manager:" and the reasons.

A problem, such as a part of the trip with no rate, a missing exchange rate or a GST treatment still to confirm, stops anyone approving until it's fixed. A margin below your rule, or a profit below your minimum, can be approved by a manager, an admin or the owner, who answers "Why is this all right?"

Approve quote locks that version, gives it a quote number and makes the PDF. Victor never sends it. Download PDF and Copy email text are for an email you send from your own mailbox. Paste the text, attach the PDF, and send it yourself.

After you have sent it, Victor records that in one of two ways. BCC the Victor address as you send: Victor recognises its own quote PDF, or the quote number in the subject. An email that also carries a different file is checked as a quote your team priced, rather than only marking this one sent. Or choose Mark as sent. When? starts at now, Singapore time. The note says "Victor doesn't send quotes. This records that you sent it from your own mailbox."

Then record what became of it. On a sent quote, Mark as won and Mark as lost sit beside Download PDF.

How it works

Rates, in the sidebar, lists every rate your firm has. Victor reads rates from forwarded emails, PDFs and spreadsheets, and keeps each charge's source: the email line, the page, the sheet's cell, or the person who typed it.

To type a rate, such as one agreed by phone, choose Add a rate. Fill in the supplier, the mode, the route and the charges. Under More, Where did this rate come from? is WhatsApp, Phone call, An email I didn't forward, or Other. When was it offered? is the time you had the rate. Choose Save rate.

A charge Victor read but could not find in the document says "Not found in the document" and is not used until someone chooses Confirm amount.

A newer offer for the same route, mode and equipment replaces the older one. Nothing is deleted. A quote made before the new offer arrived still uses the older rate. Two offers that disagree at the same time are a Conflict. Open the pair and choose Use this one, or "Both are right: different services".

Edit, Archive and Restore change the book, and each change keeps who made it. Copy as a new rate starts from an existing one. This replaces another rate lets you say one rate replaces another that Victor didn't match. An archived rate stops pricing quotes.

Upload a rate sheet goes to Add files. A spreadsheet Victor isn't sure of says "Victor couldn't work out this sheet's layout. Check the columns." Check the columns is where you say which column is which.

Anyone who makes quotes can add and change rates. A viewer can look.

How it works

Open Settings, Pricing, Margin rules. Choose Edit on a rule. When is the mode, the side, the segment and the charge. Then is what the rule does: Margin, Markup, Add an amount, Pass through at cost, or Fixed price. A margin is a share of the selling price and a markup is a share of the cost. Victor shows an example under the rule so the two aren't confused. For the starting freight rule that example is "A cost of 100.00 sells for 117.65 (15% margin)."

Move up, Move down and Remove are inside the editor, not on the row. The last rule, "Everything else", can't be removed or moved, and it covers every line no rule above matches. Choose Save margin rules. The page says "Saved. Quotes priced from now on use these rules."

Victor starts with permits, duty and import GST passed through at cost, freight-side lines at a 15% margin, and everything else at a 10% markup. On Home, the setup step "Your pricing" has Keep the usual rules when you want those, and Review your pricing when you want to change them.

Minimum profit a shipment starts at 50.00 SGD. Choose Edit, type the amount, and Save minimum profit. Zero shows "Off" and turns the minimum off. A selling price you type below the rule makes the quote need a manager.

How it works

Open Settings, Pricing, Exchange rates. Rates are kept against your quote currency. The page's example, when you quote in SGD, is "1 USD = 1.3500 SGD". Victor uses the latest entry on or before the quote's date, and no rate from anywhere else. An old quote keeps the rate it was priced with.

Add a currency adds one. The usual ones are listed first: USD, EUR, CNY, MYR, JPY, IDR, THB, VND, HKD, AUD, GBP and INR. Update on a row adds a new dated entry for that currency. Rate is how many of the quote currency one unit buys, with up to 6 decimal places. As of can't be after today. Note (optional) is for words such as "DBS board rate". Choose Save rate. Entries are never edited: a correction is a new entry, and the latest saved for a date counts.

The status is a chip in words: Up to date, or Older than 7 days with the starting limit. If your firm changed "Warn when an exchange rate is older than", under Advanced settings, the chip uses that number instead. History lists every entry, and who saved it.

With no rate for a currency, a line in that currency can't be priced. The page says "No exchange rates yet. Add a currency before you quote in it." A manager, an admin or the owner can add a rate. On Home, the setup step "Exchange rates" links to Update exchange rates.

How it works

Settings, Firm asks whether the firm is GST registered. Saying yes asks for the GST registration number and opens GST in Settings. GST in Settings shows only when that answer is yes. A firm that isn't registered has nothing to confirm: the setup step says "Not needed".

Your accountant decides these. The page says so, and links to IRAS's guide for logistics businesses. The map has six rows:

• Freight you carry (main carriage)
• Local charges when you also carry the freight
• Local charges when you don't carry the freight
• Insurance
• Permits, duty and import GST you pay on the customer's behalf
• Anything else

Each row is Zero-rated, Standard-rated (9%), No GST or Not sure yet. The list shows 9% because that is the rate from 1 January 2024. A quote uses the rate for its own date: 9% from 1 January 2024, 8% in 2023, and 7% before. Victor works GST out on each currency's standard-rated total. It does not put GST on each line.

A row starts on To confirm until you change it or choose Confirm, which records who confirmed it and when. A row still on To confirm, or set to Not sure yet, counts as unclear. The page says "GST isn't set up yet. Quotes with charges you haven't confirmed can't be approved." The line under the rows says "Not sure yet" stops a quote with such a line being approved, until your accountant decides.

Add an exception sets one charge's treatment ahead of its row. The owner and admins change the map. Everyone else can read it.

How it works

Open Settings, Team, in Your firm. Invite a colleague asks for a work email, a name and a role, then Send invitation. The roles you can choose are:

• Admin: sets up Victor, the team and billing, and approves any quote
• Manager: approves any quote, including those over your limits
• Staff: prepares quotes, and approves those within your limits
• Viewer: sees requests and quotes, and changes nothing

Owner is not in that list. A firm has one owner. To hand the firm on, the owner chooses Transfer ownership.

Makes quotes sits on the form for everyone but a viewer. Staff's box is ticked and can't change: "Staff always make quotes." An owner, admin or manager can turn it off if they only approve. The page says "It doesn't change what your firm pays."

They get an email with a link to join, and set a password. The row says "Invited" until they join, and until which day. If the link has stopped working, choose Send again. When the invitation ran out, the row says "Ran out" and the button is Invite again. Remove takes someone off the team. They can't sign in after that. What they did stays, and you can invite them again later.

On Home, "Invite your team" is optional. It's just me finishes that step when there is no one else to invite. Leave for later sets it aside without calling it done.