From Quote to Project: Automatic Conversion
What happens when your client accepts a quote — automatic project creation, task generation, and Kanban board setup
What You'll Learn
- How quote acceptance triggers automatic project creation
- How line items become actionable tasks
- How AI breaks complex items into detailed sub-tasks
- What the Kanban board looks like after conversion
- What your client sees during and after acceptance
Automatic Quote-to-Project Conversion
One of WorkCentral's most powerful features is the automatic quote-to-project conversion. When a client accepts your quote, a project is created with tasks, a Kanban board, and time tracking — all without manual setup.
If you have AI task breakdown enabled, complex line items are automatically split into 3-7 actionable sub-tasks. The entire process happens in the background while your client sees a progress indicator.
What Triggers the Conversion
Conversion is automatic — it happens when a client accepts your quote through the public quote link. There is no manual "Convert to Project" button.
How It Works:
- Client clicks "Accept" on your quote and submits their name, email, and optional notes
- Quote status immediately updates to "Accepted"
- Project creation runs in the background — neither you nor the client waits
- Client sees a real-time progress indicator while tasks are generated
Note: The auto-create projects setting (enabled by default) controls this behavior. You can toggle it in Settings → AI & Quote Settings if you prefer to create projects manually.
What Gets Created — The Project
A new project is automatically created with details pulled directly from your quote.
Project Details from Your Quote:
- Project Name: Your quote title
- Client: Same client from the quote
- Budget: Quote total amount
- Budget Type: Matches your billing type (Fixed, Not-to-Exceed, or Time & Materials)
- Hourly Rate: Blended rate from line items — if all rates are the same, uses that rate; otherwise calculates a weighted average
- Estimated Hours: Sum of all line item quantities
- Status: "Not Started"
- Start Date: Set to the acceptance date
Always linked: The quote is linked to the project — you can always navigate back to the original quote from the project page, and vice versa.
What Gets Created — Tasks
Your quote line items become actionable tasks. There are two paths depending on your AI settings.
Without AI Task Breakdown (Simple Conversion)
One task is created per quote line item:
- Task Title: Line item description
- Estimated Hours: Line item quantity
- Hourly Rate: Line item rate
- Board Column: "To Do"
- Status: "Not Started"
- Priority: Medium
- Assigned To: Unassigned
With AI Task Breakdown (When Enabled)
Each line item is broken into 3-7 actionable sub-tasks by AI:
- AI uses action verbs in task titles (Create, Develop, Design, Implement, Test)
- Individual tasks are kept under 8 hours each
- Total hours across sub-tasks match the original line item's hours
- If AI fails or returns fewer than 2 tasks, the system falls back to one task per line item
Requires setup: AI task breakdown requires an OpenAI API key and the "AI Task Breakdown" toggle enabled in Settings → AI & Quote Settings. See the AI Setup Guide to configure this.
The Kanban Board
After conversion, your project has a ready-to-use Kanban board with four columns. All new tasks start in "To Do".
To Do
All tasks start here
In Progress
Currently working on
Review
Needs review
Done
Completed
How It Works:
- Drag and drop tasks between columns to update their status
- Moving all tasks to "Done" automatically marks the project as "Completed"
- Tasks can also be marked as "Blocked" (with a reason) from the task detail view
Your daily workspace: The Kanban board is your daily workspace. Each task has a built-in timer for time tracking — click the play button to start tracking time on any task.
What Your Client Sees
After clicking "Accept Quote", your client is taken to a confirmation page with real-time progress updates.
Client Confirmation Page:
- A progress indicator that updates in real-time (polls every 4 seconds)
- Status: "Generating tasks from your quote..."
- Status: "Creating project and attaching tasks..."
- Status: "All set! Your project and tasks are ready."
Also Displayed:
- Quote summary (title, number, total, acceptance date)
- "What Happens Next" steps explaining the project kickoff process
- Your organization's contact information
If something goes wrong: If task generation fails, the client sees a friendly error: "We hit a snag. Our team has been alerted." The system automatically falls back to simple one-task-per-line-item creation.
Important: The client does NOT get access to your project or Kanban board. They only see the acceptance confirmation page and any future invoices you send them.
What You See
On your end, the new project appears in your dashboard and is ready for work immediately.
After Conversion:
- New project appears in your project list
- Quote detail page shows a link to the created project
- All tasks are ready on the Kanban board — start working immediately
- Time tracking is available on every task
- Budget tracking shows the quote total as the project budget
From Quote to Working Project!
You now understand the full quote-to-project conversion flow. When your next client accepts a quote, a project with tasks and a Kanban board will be waiting for you — ready to track time, manage tasks, and generate invoices.