Overview

Overview / Roadmap / System Workflow

📊 System Workflow Overview

WordPress MVP → Future Custom Application

This document outlines how our system works today in WordPress and how it is intentionally structured to scale into a future custom web and mobile application.

Here’s the Workflow at a glance.

A) Vendor Purchasing & Inventory Control (Money Out)

Purpose: Track supplies, costs, and stock levels accurately.

Workflow

  • Create Vendors/Suppliers in ATUM
  • Create Purchase Orders (POs) in ATUM
  • Send PO to vendor
  • Receive items into inventory
  • Inventory stock levels increase automatically
  • Low-stock and reorder alerts trigger when thresholds are reached

Result

  • Accurate inventory counts
  • Real product cost tracking
  • Clean data for job costing and profitability

B) Work Orders & Scheduling (Office-First)

Purpose: Control job creation, technician assignments, and scheduling.

Workflow

Primary (Default – Office Created):

  • Office creates Work Orders
  • Assigns one or more technicians
  • Sets appointment date and time window
  • Adds internal job notes and instructions
  • Work Orders appear on admin and technician calendars

Optional (Customer Booking – Controlled):

  • Customers can view availability
  • Customers submit appointment requests
  • Requests are always created in Pending status
  • Office reviews, assigns technician(s), and confirms or reschedules
  • Customers have limited cancel/reschedule permissions

Result

  • Full office control over scheduling
  • No auto-assigned technicians
  • Scales cleanly for dispatch-style operations

C) Time Tracking (Separate “Time” Tab)

Purpose: Track technician labor in a flexible, mass-market way.

Workflow

  • Technicians log Time Entries from a dedicated Time tab
  • Time can be entered:
    • Manually (hours worked), or
    • Via start/stop timers (future enhancement)
  • Time entries can be:
    • Linked to a specific Work Order (recommended), or
    • Logged as general labor time
  • Hours are grouped by pay period (weekly, biweekly, or monthly)

Result

  • Accurate labor tracking per technician
  • Supports both job-based time and time-clock style workflows
  • Clean for payroll and job costing data

D) Customer Invoicing & Billing (Money In)

Purpose: Bill customers for completed work and materials.

Workflow

  • Work Order is converted into a WooCommerce Order (Invoice)
  • Add:
    • Service items (consultation, labor, delivery, etc.)
    • Product items (inventory tracked via ATUM)
  • Generate professional Invoice PDF
  • Send invoice to customer via email or download link

Result

  • Centralized invoicing system
  • Clear audit trail per Work Order
  • Orders function as invoices

E) Payments & Invoice Status

Purpose: Close invoices and sync inventory and reports.

Workflow

  • Customer pays online OR office marks invoice as paid
  • Invoice status updates automatically
  • Inventory levels adjust for sold items
  • Reports update in real time

Result

  • Real-time visibility into paid, unpaid, and overdue invoices
  • Automatic inventory synchronization

F) Job Costing & Profit Tracking

Purpose: Understand profitability at the job and company level.

Workflow

  • Revenue pulled from customer invoices
  • Material costs pulled from ATUM purchase prices
  • Labor costs calculated from:
    • Technician time entries × hourly wage
  • Profit calculated per Work Order

Result

  • Gross profit per job
  • Labor and material cost transparency
  • Monthly operational profitability insights

G) Payroll & Accounting (Handled Externally)

Purpose: Keep WordPress focused on operations, not tax compliance.

Workflow

  • Export technician hours for payroll processing
  • Export sales and cost data for accounting
  • Payroll processed in external systems (QuickBooks, Gusto, etc.)

Result

  • Payroll and tax compliance handled externally
  • Clean separation of operations and accounting

H) Reporting & Dashboards

Purpose: Provide leadership with real visibility.

Available Insights

  • Inventory levels & low-stock alerts
  • Job schedules and technician assignments
  • Labor hours by technician and pay period
  • Revenue by job, customer, and date range
  • Job-level and monthly profitability

I) Future-Ready Architecture (Custom App Path)

Purpose: Ensure the system is built once and scaled later.

This WordPress MVP mirrors a future custom application structure:

  • Vendors → Vendors module
  • Purchase Orders → Procurement module
  • Work Orders → Job management system
  • Time Entries → Time tracking engine
  • Invoices → Billing system
  • Inventory → Inventory service
  • Reports → Financial dashboards

Result

  • Smooth migration to a custom web & mobile application
  • No wasted setup or rework

✅ Summary

This system:

  • Tracks inventory, labor, Work Orders, and revenue in one place
  • Supports real-world workflows for technicians and office staff
  • Produces accurate job costing and operational profit data
  • Is intentionally designed to evolve into a custom application

How the System Scales Into a Custom Application