Documentation & knowledge base
Everything your team needs to run a job
The workflow end to end, who does what, what every status means, how each module works, and answers to the questions that come up in the first week. Practice any of it in the demos first.
The workflow at a glance
A job passes through six roles, from quote to paid invoice. The gray band is set up once and reused by every job; everything below it happens per job, in order. Operators repeat steps 7–9 at every station on the traveler.
Who does what
Find your role, then start with the demo listed for it.
| Role | Steps they own | Where they work | Start with this demo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales / customer service | Client, quote, sales order (1–3) | Office PC | Quotes to Invoice |
| Planner | Work order, receiving, travelers (4–6) | Office PC | Quotes to Invoice, Create a Process |
| Operators | Scan, work log, complete each station (7–9) | Station PC or tablet with a USB barcode scanner | Floor Stations |
| Supervisor / QA | Review travelers, hold, rework, reject (10) | Office or floor | Floor Stations |
| Shipping | Record shipments, mark delivered (11–12) | Shipping desk | Quotes to Invoice |
| Accounting | Invoice, submit, record payment (13–14) | Office PC | Quotes to Invoice |
| Admin | Parts, processes, users, permissions, option sets, invoicing | Office PC | Settings, Create a Part |
Running a job, start to finish
A job moves Client → Quote → Sales Order → Work Order → Traveler → Floor Stations → Shipment → Invoice. Each step is created from the one before it, so the records stay linked and show on each other's Connections tab.
One-time setup (admins)
Do this before the first job. To load a lot of clients, stations, inventory, parts or processes at once, use Admin → Data Import instead of typing them in.
- Company profile — company name, plant, address and contact details that print on your documents.
- Option sets — the dropdown lists: payment terms, materials, coatings, conditions, containers, order statuses, ovens.
- Floor stations — one station per workstation on the shop floor (Work → Floor Stations).
- Shifts, users and permissions — create each person, give them a role, and assign workers to their stations and shift.
- Operation inputs — the readings operators must record at each station, such as oven temperature.
- Statements and charge products — standard terms and extra fees for quotes.
- Processes — the routing library. Each process is a specification plus coating, with its stations and operations in order.
- Parts — the parts you coat, with the processes each one normally runs.
Every job
- Client — Clients → + New. Name, phone and payment terms, then Save; add addresses and at least one contact after saving. Skip if the client already exists.
- Quote — Quotes → + New. Pick the customer and contact, fill Term length and RFQ received date (both required), then Save. On the saved quote add each part and quantity, any charges, and your statements. Send the customer the PDF from ⋮ → PDF.
- Win the quote — when the customer accepts, set Outcome to Won, fill the actual closing date and Save.
- Sales order — on the quote, ⋮ → Create: Sales order. Parts and statements carry over. Enter the customer's P.O. number, check the deadline, Save.
- Work order — on the sales order, ⋮ → Create: Work order. It starts in Receiving.
- Receive and plan — when the parts arrive, move the work order through Receiving and Planning. Print container labels from the work order's ⋮ menu. Each part line gets a traveler; open each one, add its process and job notes, then Save to put it on the floor.
- Run the floor — operators go to Scan, scan the traveler or type the order number, and open their station. On the Work Log they work through each operation, record required readings, and click Complete. The traveler shows each station's start, end and elapsed time.
- Inspect and certify — a supervisor opens the traveler and clicks Review. Use Hold, Rework or Reject if something is wrong. The work order moves to Certified.
- Ship — on the work order's Shipping tab, record the shipment with ship date, method, tracking number and quantity. Status goes Out for shipping → Delivered.
- Invoice — on the sales order, ⋮ → Create: Invoice. Check parts, charges and due date, set the status to Submitted, and send the PDF from ⋮ → PDF. Mark it Paid or Partly paid when payment arrives.
- Close — set the work order to Completed. The dashboard, reports and the accounts receivable report pick it up.
If a finished job has to be fixed, open the work order and click Correction rather than editing it directly — the correction is tracked, a silent edit is not.
Status reference
What each status means and what moves a record to the next one.
| Record | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Work order | Receiving | Created, waiting for the customer's parts to physically arrive and be counted in. |
| Planning | Parts are in. A traveler now exists for each part line, waiting to be routed. | |
| In Progress | Operators are working the traveler through its stations. | |
| Certified | A supervisor reviewed and signed off the finished travelers. | |
| Out for shipping / Delivered | Shipment recorded; delivered once the carrier confirms. | |
| Completed | Job closed. It now counts in the dashboard and reports. | |
| Traveler | Open / In Progress | Routed and moving through its stations. |
| Hold | Work stopped on the whole order until someone resolves it. | |
| Rework | Sent back to the floor to be run again. | |
| Reject | Ended. The part will not be certified. | |
| Quote | Open | Sent or being built; no outcome yet. |
| Won | Customer accepted. Create the sales order from the ⋮ menu. | |
| Lost | Closed without an order. | |
| Invoice | Draft | Created from the sales order, not sent yet. |
| Submitted | PDF sent to the customer, payment outstanding. | |
| Overdue | Past the due date and unpaid. | |
| Partly paid / Paid | Payment received in part or in full. | |
| Return / Cancelled | Reversed or voided. |
Getting around the system
Every page follows the same layout: the menu on the left, the page title and action buttons at the top right, content below. Learn these controls once and they work everywhere.
The left-hand menu
Overview: Dashboard, Clients.
Sales: Quotes, Sales Orders, Invoices.
Work: Scan, Floor Stations, Inventory.
Planning: Work Orders, Parts, Processes, Process Usage, Travelers.
Admin: Reports, Attachments, Data Import, Settings.
Collapse at the bottom shrinks the menu to icons. If a module is missing from your menu, your role has no access to it — ask an admin to check Settings → Permissions.
On every list page
+ New opens a blank form. Refresh reloads from the server. ⋮ → CSV report downloads what the list is showing. Summary cards count the records matching your current filters. Date chips (Today, 7 days, 30 days, This month, All) and filter boxes narrow the list as you type; the × in a box clears it. Status chips turn statuses on and off — Open selects everything still in progress. List / Kanban switches between a table and a board.
On every record page
Save turns blue when there is something to save. Refresh reloads and throws away unsaved edits. ⋮ holds the less common actions: create a linked record, download a PDF, print labels, page settings and Delete. The Connections tab shows the linked records for the job; Audit History lists every change with who, when, and old → new value.
The unsaved-changes prompt
Leaving a page with unsaved edits shows “N unsaved change(s)” listing each field's old → new value, with Cancel, Discard changes and Save and continue. If it appears on a record you did not edit, discard — nothing is lost.
Questions people ask first
Why can't I add an address or a contact to my new client?
Save the client first. Addresses and contacts attach to a saved record, so Add Contact stays unavailable until the client exists.
The process search says “no processes match” — what now?
From a quote line or a traveler, the search starts pre-filtered to that part and specification. Clear the Part filter with the × to search every process for that spec.
Why is “Create: Work order” grayed out on my sales order?
A work order needs parts. If the sales order has no part lines (because the quote had none), add them to the quote first.
An operator finished a station but the traveler still shows it open.
Check that they clicked Complete, not just Next. Next moves to the following operation inside the station; Complete closes the station and returns to the scan page.
What is the difference between Hold, Rework and Reject?
Hold pauses all work on the order until someone resolves it. Rework sends the part back to the floor to be run again. Reject ends it — the part will not be certified. All three ask for your ID badge and a comment.
Nobody can create an invoice.
An admin has to fill in Settings → Invoice Settings first — next invoice number, default terms, accounting IDs and the invoice email. Until that is done, invoicing stops with “Invoice settings are not configured.”
Where do the dropdown choices come from?
Nearly all of them come from Settings → Option Sets: payment terms, materials, coatings, conditions, containers, ovens and more. Add a choice there and it appears everywhere that list is used.
How do I find everything connected to one job?
Open any record in the chain and use the Connections tab — the quote, sales order, work orders, travelers and invoice all link to each other. The app-wide search box at the top finds orders, parts and clients from any page.
Glossary
Traveler
The routing sheet for one part line on a work order. It carries the process, the station route and the job notes, and it is what operators scan on the floor.
Process
A specification plus a coating, with its stations and operations in the order they must run — for example PR-009 Cadmium Plate to SAE AMS2400.
Operation
One task inside a station, such as degrease, alkaline clean or abrasive blast. Operators click Next to move through them.
Operation input
A reading the operator must record at a station, such as oven temperature or rinse time. Admins define them per operation.
Specification
The customer or industry standard the job must meet, such as SAE AMS2400. It drives which processes are valid for the part.
Statement
Standard terms that print on the quote and carry to the sales order — standard terms, hydrogen embrittlement, certification.
The full documents
Two living documents sit behind this page. They are kept in Claude Docs, so they stay current — open them for the complete detail, including every screenshot.
Illustrated Job Walkthrough
The step-by-step, screen-by-screen path a job takes: create the client, quote it, turn it into a sales order, release the work order, plan the traveler, run every station with the scanner, review, ship and invoice. Every screenshot was taken in the live system.
Open the walkthrough →User Guide
Page by page through the whole system in menu order: Start here, Overview, Sales, Work, Planning, Admin and Settings. Use it as the reference when you need the detail of one screen rather than the flow of a job.
Open the user guide →Training demos
Six practice copies of the real screens with sample data and step-by-step coaching: quotes to invoice, create a part, create a process, inventory, floor stations and settings. Nothing you do touches live data.
Open the demos →