Workflows

Business flow

Understand how projects, inquiries, offers, work orders, invoices, work times, and payments fit together without forcing a single rigid pipeline.

Business flow

Einblick supports a normal sales-to-delivery path, but it does not force every customer interaction through that path. Create the record you need, link it to a project when shared context helps, and skip steps when the work is already clear.

Business flowA project can collect inquiries, offers, work orders, and invoices. Each business record can also be created directly and used on its own.ProjectOptional container1Inquiryrequestscopepositions2Offerquotepricesterms3Work Orderexecutionphaseswork times4Invoicedraftsendpaid5Paymentbank matchreconcilereminders

The core idea

  • A project is an optional container. Use it when several records belong to the same customer job, internal initiative, event, or delivery package.
  • Inquiries, offers, work orders, and invoices can all stand alone.
  • Linking records gives you traceability, project tabs, reporting, and useful defaults. It is not a prerequisite for doing the work.
  • A direct invoice is valid. If the customer already ordered and you only need to bill, create the invoice, send it, and reconcile the payment.

Typical handoffs

Use the full path when the work benefits from each stage:

  1. Capture the customer request as an inquiry.
  2. Create an offer from the inquiry when you need a formal proposal. Inquiry positions copy into the offer, except positions marked as not quoted.
  3. Create a work order from an accepted offer when the scope moves into execution. Offer positions can be copied into the work order.
  4. Create an invoice from the inquiry, offer, or work order when it is time to bill. The invoice keeps source links and copies active source positions into invoice positions.
  5. Match the sent invoice to a bank transaction or mark it as paid when payment arrives.

Shortcuts are expected

  • Create an offer directly from the offer list or from a project when the request is already qualified.
  • Create a work order directly when there is execution work but no proposal flow.
  • Create an invoice directly when no inquiry, offer, or work order is needed.
  • Create an invoice from an inquiry or offer without creating a work order when the work should be billed immediately.
  • Keep a work order projectless when it is a standalone execution package.

What projects add

Projects group linked records into one workspace. A project can show related inquiries, offers, work orders, invoices, tasks, work times, files, and planner data. When a project has exactly one customer organization, new inquiries, offers, and invoices created inside the project can prefill that customer.

Projects also collect derived customer context from linked inquiries, offers, and invoices, so you can see customer relationships even before every organization has been promoted into the project record.

Operational work

Work orders are the main execution package. They can carry planner phases and milestones, reports, work times, and copied positions. Work times can be assigned to a project or work order and later selected for invoice lines when you bill by time.

Changing a work order's project also keeps linked work times aligned with the new project, so project reporting stays consistent.