A simple, consistent way to name things so the business works without depending on what's in any one person's head.
What we're really after. Right now, finding the right project or quote in Scoro often means asking Michael — because Michael's the one who knows which "TSC Construction LLC quote" is the handrail one, which is the main job, which 1NH6392B is the 2024 work vs the 2020 work. That works fine while Michael's there. It doesn't work when:
The goal isn't to add work for Michael. The goal is to capture in the system what's currently only in Michael's memory — so the next person can pick up where the last one left off without playing 20 questions.
How we get there. When you make a quote in Scoro, there's a Quote name box. Right now it's been our habit to type "CompanyName quote" there (over 99% of all our quotes are named this way). Instead, type a short label that says what THIS quote is actually for. Five seconds per quote. Everything else on this page is just showing you which label to pick.
Here's what it looks like right now on Project NF232 (Jacobs) in your Scoro. The naming problem isn't just on quotes — it cascades through orders, invoices, and prepayment invoices too. Literally everything on this project is named "Jacobs":
Click the image to see it full size. From a single project: 7 quotes, 4 orders, 5 invoices, 2 prepayment invoices — all named "Jacobs quote" or just "Jacobs." Without opening each one, you can't tell what any of them are for.
This page focuses on fixing the Quote name field (top section of that screenshot). Once we've got that habit in place, the same idea extends to orders and invoices — we'll work that out as part of the V2 rollout. Start with quotes; the rest follows.
One other example worth noting: Project PHI SOUTH RIVERTON (Nat Com) has three quotes for $27,550, all the same day, all named identically. Probably should have been one quote — but nobody could tell from the list, so the duplicates just sat there.
When you make a new quote in Scoro, this is the form you fill in. Five boxes are numbered. #4 (Quote name) is the only one this page is about.
Open the project in Scoro first, then click "New Quote" from inside the project. That way Scoro pre-fills the Project box (#5) for you and the quote is properly linked from the start.
This is what Michael does today. Anyone else on the team making quotes should do the same. If you start a quote from somewhere else (like the main Quotes screen), you'll have to manually search for and select the project — easier to forget, easier to mis-link.
Type a short label that answers one question: what makes THIS quote different from the other quotes on the same project?
For the first quote on a job. Or the only quote if it's a simple job.
Example: Initial
When you're redoing a quote you already made. Same work, just updating it (price changed, customer asked for an edit, etc.).
Example: Rev 2
When you're quoting extra work that came in on a job that's already running. The customer asked for something additional.
Examples (from your NF232 job): Add: stub ups, Add: FRP supports, Add: shim plates
When you're giving the customer two options for the same work, like a galvanized price and a stainless price, so they can pick.
Examples: Alt: HDG, Alt: Stainless
When a big job was planned in stages from the start. Each phase gets its own quote.
Example: Phase 2
Doesn't fit any of these five? Just type something short that says what's different. Aim for under 20 characters.
The whole point of picking a small, fixed set of labels — and using them the same way every time — is that the system can then find them.
Add: stub ups when you're adding stub-up work, you can search Scoro for "stub ups" and find every quote across every customer where that came up. Same for Rev 2, Alt: HDG, etc. Today, with everything named "Jacobs quote", those searches return nothing useful.Inconsistency kills this. If half the team types "Rev 2" and the other half types "revision" or "v2 of quote", the search stops working. The five labels above are the agreed-on words — use them as-is.
When a new request comes in, it'll be one of these three situations. Find the one that matches, do what it says.
The customer is calling about a site or job we have nothing on file for.
1NH0912E) or the descriptive site name (like Beaver Stadium) into the project name.Initial.We're already working this site. The project's still in pending or in-progress status. The customer wants to add to the work, or wants a re-quote on something we already quoted.
Add: [what]Rev 2 (or Rev 3, Rev 4…)Alt: HDG + Alt: SSWe have an old project for this site in Scoro, but it's completed/closed. This is fresh work, months or years later. Real example: site 1NH6392B had work in 2020, then more work in 2022, then more in 2024.
1NH6392B - 2024
Initial.Three actual cases from your work, showing what the names would have been if we'd been using the labels from day one:
What it looks like today (real screenshot from Scoro)
Every single quote says "Jacobs quote". To find out which one was the main job and which was the FRP supports add-on, you have to click into each one. Seven clicks just to remember what they were for.
What it would look like with the convention
Now anyone can scan the list and immediately see: this was a main antenna frame job, plus six follow-on add-ons. No clicking. The labels are pulled straight from the line items on Michael's actual quotes — these are his own words.
The NF232 example above only used Initial and Add: [what] because those were the situations that actually came up on that job. Here's an imagined Jacobs project, "Atlantic Tower Mount", showing what every label looks like in context — so you can see them all in one place.
These quotes don't exist in your real Scoro — this is a made-up project, here just to demonstrate.
Atlantic Tower Mount — imagined quote list, each row demonstrating one label
| When | Quote name | What's happening |
|---|---|---|
| Jan '25 | Initial | Main job — first quote on the project. |
| Feb '25 | Rev 2 | Customer asked for a price update on the main job. Same scope as Initial, just redone. |
| Mar '25 | Add: backing plates | Job is running. Customer asked for backing plates on top of the main scope. |
| Apr '25 | Alt: HDG | Customer wanted to see what HDG costs for an upcoming sub-frame… |
| Apr '25 | Alt: Stainless | …and what stainless costs for the same sub-frame. Two options for them to pick from. |
| May '25 | Phase 2 | Second phase of the work begins — was planned in stages from the start. |
All five labels in one project. Anyone scanning this list immediately sees the full story: main job, a redo, an add-on, two material options for the customer to pick from, and a planned second phase.
What it looks like today
What it would look like
What the projects are named today
What they'd be named
The one thing to remember
When you make a quote, type a short label in the Quote name box that says what's different about this quote — instead of "CompanyName quote".
If you're not sure which label to use, Initial, Rev 2, and Add: [what] cover almost every case.
| Today | After |
|---|---|
| Need to ask Michael which quote is the handrail one, or which 1NH6392B is the current job. | Anyone can answer that just by looking at the Scoro list. Michael's memory isn't the bottleneck. |
| 5 quotes on the same project, all named the same. Have to open each one to figure out which is which. | Each quote name says what it's for: Initial, Add: handrail, etc. You read the list, you know. |
| Same site has 3 projects from different years, all named identically. Can't tell which is the current one. | Each project name has the year, so the current one is obvious to anyone. |
| Three duplicate same-day quotes that should have been one. Easy to miss the duplication. | Forces you to pick Rev 2 / Rev 3 — and at that point you'd notice and probably consolidate. |
| If a new person joins the team, they have to learn Michael's mental model before they can be useful. | The system itself tells them what every quote and project is for. They're useful on day one. |
| When Michael's out, Scoro becomes harder to use for everyone else. | Scoro stays usable. Knowledge is in the system, not in any one person. |
Want it on the wall?
There's a one-page printable cheat sheet that covers both project naming and quote naming — the patterns, the labels, the three scenarios, and the key reminders — designed to fit on a single sheet of paper for the shop wall or by the computer.
Open Scoro Naming Cheat Sheet →