Three ways to count a line
A line is tracked in one of three ways, and choosing the right one is the only setup decision that matters.
Unique. One of a kind. A plot, a property, a serial numbered machine. There is one, it is either available or it is not.
Quantity. A stock of identical things. Shirts, licences, parts. It goes down as you sell and up as you restock.
Capacity. A number that refills each period: per week, per month, per quarter or per year. Forty engagements a month is inventory in exactly the sense that matters, and it is what lets a business that sells its time use this module at all.
What happens when one sells
Each line says what its sale sets off:
- Nothing. You supply it and the sale is the end of it.
- The buyer joins this line's project. For something an existing project is already building, where everybody who buys one is delivered by the same project.
- Each sale starts its own project. For work you do once per client. Selling one creates a project named for them with the stages already on it.
Availability is a consequence
Nobody maintains a status field here. An offer issued in Leads holds units. A lapsed offer releases them. A sale takes them. That is what makes this screen trustworthy: it reports what the rest of the workspace has done rather than what somebody remembered to update.
A unique line reads as Available, Reserved, Allocated or Sold. A counted line does not pass through reserved and allocated, so it is described differently: how much is left, and whether that is healthy.
A capacity line with nothing left has sold out its month. That is success, and it is shown as success.
The filters
- Everything.
- Can sell today. What is actually available right now.
- Needs attention. Nearly gone.
- Sold out.
- Someone is interested. Lines a lead is pointing at. This cuts across the others and is the question you ask before releasing a line, and before deciding what to build or stock more of.
- No longer sold. Retired lines, kept for the records that point at them.
A line
Opening one shows its reference, its price, how it is tracked, what is left, the project behind it if there is one, the leads interested in it, and any documents filed against it.
How it connects
- Leads and pipeline points at a line when an enquiry is about it, and holds units when an offer goes out.
- Clients and accounts takes units when a sale closes.
- Projects is what a line is delivered by, or what a sale of it creates.
- Price and availability feed Finance and Insights.
Common questions
I sold something and the count did not change. The count changes when the sale is recorded, which happens by winning the lead and opening the account. Inventory reads that, it is not told separately.
Can I change how a line is tracked after selling some? Changing the tracking changes what the numbers mean, so do it only on a line that has not sold. Retire the old line and add a new one if you need to.
Why is a sold out line green? Because for a capacity line, sold out means the month was filled. An empty shelf and a full diary are not the same news.