Paperwork follows a structured workflow that takes a piece of work from initial enquiry through to payment. Understanding this flow helps you get the most from the platform.

The intended flow

The end-to-end path through Paperwork looks like this:

Opportunities → Sales (Price Lists / Quotes / Agreements) → Jobs → Invoicing & Purchase Orders

Each stage feeds into the next. An opportunity becomes a sale, a sale generates one or more jobs, and completed jobs produce invoices. Not every stage is required -- you can skip optional stages and start wherever makes sense for your business.

Opportunities (optional)

Opportunities let you capture potential future work before it becomes a confirmed sale. Use them to track enquiries, log notes from conversations, and monitor your sales pipeline.

Opportunities are not required. If you already have confirmed work, you can skip straight to creating a sale. However, if you want visibility into your pipeline and conversion rates, opportunities give you that tracking.

Sales (required)

Sales are the core starting point for all work in Paperwork. Every job must originate from a sale. There are three types of sale, each suited to different situations:

Price Lists -- standard rates for recurring work. Use these when you have an ongoing arrangement with a customer at fixed prices. Price lists make it quick to generate jobs without re-entering pricing each time.
Agreements -- contract-based arrangements with specific terms and conditions. Use agreements for formal contracts where the scope of work and pricing are defined upfront.
Quotes -- one-off pricing for specific jobs. Use quotes when a customer requests a price for a particular piece of work that doesn't fall under an existing price list or agreement.

Jobs

When a sale is won, it converts to one or more jobs. Jobs represent the actual work to be done -- collections, deliveries, or services. Each job tracks:

What waste is being collected or processed
Where the work is happening (customer site)
Who is carrying out the work (operatives and vehicles)
What compliance documents are needed

Jobs generate the compliance documents required for waste transfers, including waste transfer notes (WTNs) and hazardous waste consignment notes (HWCNs).

Scheduling

Once jobs are created, you assign them to operatives and vehicles. Scheduling lets you:

Plan collection routes across multiple customer sites
Allocate resources based on availability and capability
Track which operatives are assigned to which jobs on any given day

Finance (optional)

The finance stage covers invoicing and purchase orders:

Invoices -- create invoices from completed jobs. Paperwork pulls through the job details, waste lines, and pricing from the original sale, so you don't need to re-enter data.
Purchase orders -- record supplier costs against jobs. If you use subcontractors or pay disposal fees, purchase orders let you track those costs alongside your revenue.

Finance data can be exported for integration with accounting systems via detailed reports.