1Overview #
The board is the pipeline made visible: one column per stage, one card per deal, the money totalled at the head of each column. A morning look tells you what a list never will - that eleven deals have been sitting in *Quotation* for a month, or that *Negotiation* is empty and next month will be thin.
Dragging a card is not a cosmetic move: it is the same stage change as Move stage on the deal, with the same rules, the same approvals and the same history.
2Who it is for #
- See the whole open pipeline by stage, with totals and weighted totals per column.
- Move a deal on by dragging its card - or by the Move to list on the card itself.
- Log a follow-up on the selected deal without leaving the board.
- Narrow the view by person, team, source, type, territory, rating, industry, budget band or probability.
3What it is not for #
- Editing a deal's details. Double-click the card to open it.
- Closed deals. Won and Lost are columns of their own; the registers and reports are the place to study them.
4Step by step #
- Open CRM > Board. Cards load per column, newest stage activity first. - Press Load more at the foot of a column when it says there are more.
- Set Show to your own deals or to everyone's you may see. - Person and Sales team appear for a team lead or a sales manager.
- Set the filters, then press Apply. - No filter changes the board on its own: pick as many as you need - show, person, team, source, type, territory, rating, industry, budget, probability, the search text - and press Apply (or Enter in the search box). Apply turns blue and says 'Apply (changed)' while a change waits. Clear empties every filter and reads the board again. On a phone the filters fold into a Filters bar that shows how many are on; open it to set them (two to a row), and Apply or Clear folds it back.
- Drag a card to another column to move the deal. - Dropping on a Lost column asks for the reason first.
- Click a card to select it, then Follow-up (F7). - Or use the ✎ button on the card itself.
- Double-click a card to open the deal.
5The fields #
- Filters - None of these widen what you may see - they only narrow it.
- Show - My deals, or Everyone's I may see. Two choices
- Person - One owner's deals. Shown to a team lead or a sales manager. Anyone within your reach
- Sales team - One team's deals. From CRM > Sales Teams
- Source / Lead type / Territory / Industry - The lead-side groupings, carried on the deal. From CRM > Masters
- Rating - Hot, Warm or Cold, from the lead. Three choices
- Budget - A band - below 1 lakh, 1 to 5 lakh, and so on up to above 1 crore, plus Not stated. Eight bands
- Probability from / to % - Only deals whose probability falls in the range. Press Enter or Apply. 0 to 100
- Find a deal - Part of the name, party or owner - then Enter. Searched on the server, not just in the loaded cards. Free text
- What a card shows
- Owner initials - A coloured avatar; hover for the full name.
- Deal name, party and contact - Who it is with.
- Amount and probability - With a small bar for the probability.
- The foot line - Next or Overdue with the date, or Nothing planned - plus the days in this stage. "Nothing planned" is the one to act on.
- Move to - A list on the card that moves the deal without dragging. Same rules as a drag - Lost still asks for its reason. Any stage
- Each column's head
- Stage name and count - How many cards are in the column.
- Total - The money in that stage.
- w (weighted) - The total weighted by each deal's probability. Not shown on Won and Lost. The honest version of the pipeline figure.
6Rules and integrity #
- A drop is a command, not a cosmetic move - The server decides: it can refuse the move, ask for a lost reason, or hold it for approval. The card snaps back if the move is refused.
- Lost asks first - Dropping on a Lost column opens a small dialog for the reason and remarks before anything is moved.
- You can only move what you may edit - A deal shared with you to read cannot be dragged, and neither can anything without the Alter right on CRM Opportunities.
- Columns load in pages - Long columns show the newest cards and a Load more button - the totals at the head always count the whole column, not just what is loaded.
- Filters never widen - They narrow what you are already allowed to see. Two people with the same filters can still see different boards.
7Shortcut keys #
- F3 - New deal.
- F7 - Follow-up on the selected card.
- F5 - Refresh.
- Esc - Close the tab.
- Arrows - Move between cards; Enter opens one.
- Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right - Move the selected card one stage back or on.
8If something does not work #
"The deal is already at ..."
- Why
- The card was dropped on the stage it already stands in.
- What to do
- Nothing to fix; drag it to another stage to move it.
"CRM is not licensed for this company ... Contact your software vendor."
- Why
- The company's licence has no CRM module.
- What to do
- Ask your vendor to add CRM, then sign out and in.
"Requested action denied due to security restrictions. The board needs the View right on 'CRM Opportunities' in User Manager (CRM module)."
- Why
- The board is the deals list drawn as cards, so it needs the deals right.
- What to do
- An administrator grants View on CRM Opportunities.
The board has columns but no cards
- Why
- Nothing open matches the filters, or no deal is within your reach.
- What to do
- Clear the filters; a sales manager sees every executive's deals.
"You do not have the Alter right on CRM Opportunities - cards cannot be moved."
- Why
- Dragging a card changes the deal, which needs the Alter right.
- What to do
- An administrator grants Alter on CRM Opportunities; you can still read the board.
"This deal is shared with you to read - it is not yours to move."
- Why
- The card was shared with you for reading only.
- What to do
- Ask its owner for Edit access, or ask them to move it.
"Say why the deal was lost." after dropping a card on a Lost stage
- Why
- A deal is never lost without a reason - it is what the lost-reason report reads.
- What to do
- Pick the reason in the dialog; the card stays where it was until you do.
"Say which deal moves to which stage."
- Why
- The drop did not carry the deal or the stage - usually a drag that ended off the board.
- What to do
- Drag the card onto the column itself and drop it there.
"That stage is not in use any more." / "That opportunity is no longer there."
- Why
- Somebody deleted the stage or the deal while the board was open.
- What to do
- Press F5 to redraw the board.
"This opportunity is not yours to move."
- Why
- You are neither the owner, nor an Edit share, nor a manager.
- What to do
- Ask its owner or a sales manager.
"... needs approval here (workflow '...')." when a card is dropped on Won or Lost
- Why
- Winning and losing can be held for approval; the drag raises the request rather than doing it.
- What to do
- The card returns and the deal waits - follow it on CRM > Approvals.
"This deal is closed - a follow-up is logged on an open deal."
- Why
- The pencil was used on a Won or Lost card.
- What to do
- Re-open the deal by moving it to an open stage, if it really is live again.
"This deal is shared with you to read - its follow-ups are its owner's to log." / "You do not have the Create right on CRM Activities."
- Why
- Logging a follow-up needs edit access to the deal and the Create right on activities.
- What to do
- Ask for Edit access, or an administrator grants Create on CRM Activities.
The totals at the top of a column look wrong
- Why
- The plain total adds every deal in the column; the second is weighted by each deal's probability.
- What to do
- Hover the figures - each says which it is. They count only the cards the filters show.
A card will not drag on a phone or a tablet
- Why
- Dragging needs a pointer; a narrow screen shows the board as a list instead.
- What to do
- Open the deal and use Move stage - it does exactly what the drag does.
This is the help InvoiceNET® ERP shows beside the Board screen. Whether you have the screen depends on the modules of your licence and the rights your administrator has given you.
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