Order Workflows

A workflow is the reusable recipe that turns a business process into a concrete, repeatable pipeline. Every deal follows one. This guide explains the four building blocks — template, step, item, and deal — then points you toward the guides that cover each item type in detail.

The four building blocks

Four words are the entire vocabulary of the system. Keep them straight and everything else follows.

Word	What it is
Workflow template	The reusable blueprint for a process. Built once, used for every deal that follows that process.
Step	One stage in the process — the columns on the deal board. Each step has a name, description, colour, stage type, and the list of items to do in that stage.
Item	A single unit of work inside a step — a form to fill, a document to sign, an automation to run, and so on.
Deal	One live run of the workflow — a real application moving through the steps.

The relationship is strictly nested: a template owns steps; a step owns items. A deal is an independent instance that walks through those steps one at a time.

Workflow templates

A template is org-level: defined once and inherited by every child organisation. When you build a template you give it a name, description, icon, and colour for the board. A template is always in one of three states:

Status	What it means
Draft	Under construction. Only test deals can use it; not visible to applicants.
Published	Live. Production deals use this version.
Archived	Retired. No new deals; deals already in flight keep their version.

Steps in detail

Every step you add to a template has:

• Name and description — shown on the board and inside the deal.
• Colour — visual marker for the Kanban column.
• Stage type — classifies the step semantically (see table below).
• Terminal flag — marks a step as an end state (no further progression expected).
• Allow manual entry — whether a deal can be moved here by dragging on the board, or only by automation.

Stage types

Stage type	Behaviour
Normal	A regular in-progress step. Deals are visible in the Kanban, lists, and search.
Lead	A pre-conversion step. Deals here are hidden from org members until the deal moves to a non-Lead step — useful for anonymous web enquiries that haven't been qualified yet.
Won	A terminal success step (for example, "Settled").
Lost	A terminal failure step (for example, "Declined").

Items inside a step

An item belongs to exactly one step. Each item has:

• Type — the building block category (form, document, automation, etc.).
• Name — displayed to the user working through the deal.
• Settings specific to its type.

You can reorder items within a step by dragging them, and you can move an item to a different step entirely — both are done in the workflow builder. Most items also support visibility rules that show, hide, or require them based on answers elsewhere in the deal.

How a deal moves

A deal sits in exactly one step at a time. To progress it either:

1. A user clicks Continue inside the deal after completing the required items for that step.
2. The deal is dragged to a new column on the board (if the target step allows manual entry).
3. An item in the step fires an automatic transition.

Once a deal moves into a Won or Lost step, it is considered closed.

Building your first template

A practical starting point for a lending workflow:

1. Create a Lead step — a lightweight entry point for new enquiries.
2. Add Normal steps for each stage of your process (for example, Fact Find, Assessment, Conditionally Approved).
3. Add a Won step (Settled) and a Lost step (Declined).
4. Inside each step, add the items that represent the work to do there.
5. Publish the template when you're ready for production deals.

Item types — where to go next

Items are the real workhorses. They come in several categories, each with its own guide:

• Collecting and signing — Form, Live Document, and Signing Package items that gather information and signatures. See Workflow Items: Collecting & Signing.
• Automation and flow — Action, Integration, Decision, Distribution, and other items that run automations and route deals. See Workflow Items: Automation & Flow.
• More item types — Outstanding Documents, Validation Gate, Quick Capture, Checklist, Carry Forward, and Results Display. See Workflow Items: More Item Types.

For controlling which applicants see which items, and how many times an item repeats per person, see the Scope & Cardinality guide. For conditional logic that shows, hides, or requires items based on deal data, see the Item Rules guide.

Beyond Build — the workflow's other tabs

A workflow is more than its steps and items:

• Roles — assign work to the right people. See Applicant Roles & Team Roles.
• Settings, History & Self-Registration — deal context, versioning, going live, and public self-registration links. See Workflow Settings, Publishing & Self-Registration.
• Preview — style and test the deal experience across devices. See Preview: Control the Look & Feel.