Project and phase statuses

Every job has two levels of status. The project has one, and so does each phase inside it. Nobody picks a status from a dropdown. A status moves when the record behind it appears: a logged call, a sent estimate, a booked visit, a paid invoice. If you want to move a job forward, record what happened.

Action, Waiting and Done

Each status has a type, shown as a small colored pill:

• Action means your team has a move to make.
• Waiting means the ball is with someone else: the client, the crew, the insurer.
• Done means nothing is left to do.

The type tells you where to look first. The projects list groups jobs by status, and the Action ones are the ones that need you.

Project statuses

• Insured Not Contacted (Action). A new project starts here. The prompt is "Call the insured". It is flagged after 20 minutes. Log the call and it moves on. Ticking "I've already spoken to the insured" when you create the project skips this status.
• Insured Contacted (Action). The first call is logged. The prompt is "Book the inspection". It is flagged after one business hour with no inspection booked. You can book it right from the Log contact sheet.
• Inspection Required (Action). An inspection is booked. The project manager is reminded a day after and again on the inspection day, and it is flagged if the day passes with no phase created. Creating the first phase moves it on.
• Active (Waiting). The project has at least one phase. From here the phases carry the moves. If every phase is cancelled, the project is flagged so someone closes or cancels it.
• On Hold (Waiting). Someone put the project on hold with a review date. It is reminded on that date and flagged if the date passes.
• Closed (Done). Every phase is finished and the close-out items are met. See Closing, holding and cancelling.
• Cancelled (Done). The job is not going ahead.

Projects that existed before statuses changed started at Insured Contacted or further. Only projects created after the change start at Insured Not Contacted.

Phase statuses

A phase walks up a ladder, and its card on the Phases tab shows where it stands. The prompt under the ladder says what is being asked and who is being asked.

• Estimate Required (Action). A new phase. "Build the estimate". Flagged after 2 days.
• Internal Review (Action). The estimate was submitted for approval, or approved but not yet sent. "Approve the estimate or send it back". Flagged after 1 day, and the reviewer is reminded when it lands.
• Awaiting Authorization (Waiting). The estimate went to the client. The project manager is reminded at 3 and 7 days. A phase whose estimate step is skipped starts here.
• Authorized (Action). The client approved an estimate. "Assign a crew and date, create the work order". Flagged if nothing is scheduled in 3 days. A later revision of the estimate doesn't undo this.
• Scheduled (Waiting). A work order visit is booked. The crew is alerted the day before, and it is flagged if the start date passes.
• In Progress (Action). The first booked visit has started, by its start time, not by clock-in. A visit marked all day starts at 8:00 in your company's time zone. "Mark the phase complete when the work is done". Flagged if the phase's end date passes.
• Phase Review (Action). Someone marked the phase complete. "Complete the phase review". Flagged after 2 days.
• Requires Invoicing (Action). The review is finished. "Send the invoice for this phase". Flagged after 2 days. Nothing blocks you from invoicing earlier; the review checklist is only a checklist.
• Awaiting Payment (Waiting). The invoice was sent. The project manager is reminded at 30, 45 and 60 days.
• Holdback Pending (Waiting). Everything is paid except a holdback. Reminded when the release is due.
• Paid / Closed (Done). The invoices are paid, holdback included.
• On Hold (Waiting) and Cancelled (Done). Moves a person made.

Some things never move a phase. A deductible or deposit invoice is ignored, and a progress invoice sent while work is underway leaves the phase at In Progress.

Statuses can step back. If you void a payment or an invoice, the phase goes back to where its records now put it.

Flags and reminders

A flag means a status has waited longer than your company's limit. A flagged phase or project shows the time in red on its card, creates a task for whoever owns the move, and sends them an in-app notice.

A reminder is a nudge before it gets that far, such as 30 days after an invoice goes out. Reminders go to the status owner, the project manager, or owners and admins, depending on the status.

A Contents delivery can flag too, even though it is not a status. If a delivery is still unsigned after 3 days, the project manager gets a task and an in-app notice, and it shows in the morning email. The days count from when the delivery was saved, or from when its signature request last went out. A signature, a recorded reason for no signature, or a new signature request clears the flag. The Projects list has a Deliveries awaiting signature tile that counts the jobs with an unsigned delivery.

All of it is internal. Nothing goes to the insured, the insurer or the adjuster. "Business hours" means Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 17:00 in your company's time zone.

The morning email

Each morning, anyone with flagged items gets one email. It lists only the items that are theirs to move, grouped by project, the longest-waiting first, with a link to where the move is made. If nothing of yours is flagged, you get nothing.

Setting a status by hand

Sometimes the records are wrong or late. A project manager, admin or owner can open a phase's Status menu and choose Set status by hand. You can only move a phase ahead of where its records put it, and never to On Hold or Cancelled. The reason is optional.

The card says who set it, when, and why. The phase lets go of it on its own once the records catch up. Choose Follow the records again to drop it sooner.

Steps a phase skips

Not every phase needs an estimate, an approval, work, an invoice or a payment. Open the Status menu and choose Steps this phase skips to mark the ones that don't apply. The ladder shows a skipped step with a slash through it.

A skip only counts once the steps before it are done. Marking Authorization as not required on a phase with no estimate does nothing yet: the phase stays at Estimate Required until the estimate has passed internal review, or been sent. Marking Work as not required waits the same way for the phase to be authorized.

Each step on the ladder gets a tick only when its own record exists. A step that is skipped shows its slash. A step below the current one that was neither done nor skipped, for example after you set a status by hand, shows an empty dot and is read out as "Not done".

Changing the rules for your company

Go to Settings, Project Statuses. There are three tabs.

• Project and Phase list every status. For each one you can rename it, change its type between Action and Waiting, set how long before it flags, choose reminders and who gets them, and turn it on or off. Done statuses are fixed. Only Internal Review, Scheduled, Phase Review and Holdback Pending can be turned off. A phase skips an off status and lands on the next one, or the one before for Internal Review and Holdback Pending.
• Checklists sets each item to Required, Optional or Off. Phase review items are final photos, the completion certificate and, on water mitigation, drying logs. Close-out items cover closing, holding and cancelling a project. Under the contents item you can also set how many days a delivery may go unsigned before it is flagged. The default is 3.

Renamed statuses keep their new names everywhere: the pills, the projects list tiles, the morning email and the activity log.