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An independent concept project by 4sidedevelop. Screens and data are illustrative.

Concept project

CRM & Business Automation

FlowDesk

CRM for service businesses

A CRM concept that keeps inquiries, deals, projects, and invoices on one client record, so a handoff carries the full client history.

Category
CRM & Business Automation
Proposed stack
Next.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Role-based access control, Email and calendar integrations
Status
Concept — not a client project
Pipeline with an open client record. Deals by stage, each with an owner and a next action. The selected deal opens the client record beside the board.

01

The challenge

A service company takes inquiries by email and phone, tracks projects in a spreadsheet, and chases payments in a separate chat. Each tool holds part of the picture, and none of them holds all of it.

When a deal is won and passed to the person doing the work, the client history rarely travels with it. The team needs one shared context for every client: what was asked, what was promised, and what happens next.

02

Who it’s for

  • Owner

    Sees the pipeline, team workload, and unpaid invoices without asking for a status update.

  • Account manager

    Takes inquiries, prepares proposals, and hands won work to delivery with the client history attached.

  • Specialist

    Sees assigned projects and tasks with the client context, and nothing that is not theirs to change.

03

The proposed solution

The concept is organised around the client record. Every inquiry, deal, project, and invoice links back to it, and every open record carries a next action with an owner and a date.

  • Sales pipeline

    Stages with an owner and a next action on every deal.

  • Client record

    Inquiries, calls, proposals, and notes on one timeline.

  • Projects and tasks

    Deadlines, assignees, and a handoff note from sales.

  • Invoices

    Draft, sent, paid, and overdue states tied to the project.

  • Next-action reminders

    Open records without a next step are flagged.

  • Roles

    Separate permissions for owner, manager, and specialist.

04

Key workflows

  1. 1From inquiry to deal

    1. Step 1: An inquiry arrives from the website form or email and lands in the inbox.
    2. Step 2: The manager links it to an existing client or creates a new client record.
    3. Step 3: A deal is created in New inquiry with an owner and a first next action.

  2. 2Proposal and approval

    1. Step 1: The manager drafts a proposal from a service template.
    2. Step 2: The deal moves to Proposal sent, and a follow-up date is set.
    3. Step 3: When the client approves, the deal moves to Won.

  3. 3Handoff to delivery

    1. Step 1: Winning a deal opens a handoff form: scope, assignee, and a note.
    2. Step 2: A project is created with tasks from the service template.
    3. Step 3: The specialist receives the project together with the client history.

  4. 4Invoice follow-up

    1. Step 1: An invoice is drafted from the project milestones.
    2. Step 2: Its status moves from Sent to Paid or Overdue.
    3. Step 3: An overdue invoice creates a reminder for the account manager.

05

Screens

Illustrative screens with sample data, designed for this concept.

Project and tasksThe project created from a won deal: tasks by status, the handoff note, and the client history one tab away.
Invoices and payment statusEvery invoice is tied to a project milestone. Overdue invoices schedule a reminder for the account manager.
Next actions by roleA manager’s day as a list of next actions, with the permissions each role has shown side by side.

06

Design decisions

The client record is the anchor

Deals, projects, and invoices open in the client’s context instead of separate modules, so the history is one click away from any task.

A next action on every card

Pipeline cards show the next step and its date. A card without one is flagged instead of quietly ageing in its column.

Handoff is a step, not a status

Moving a deal to Won asks for an assignee, the agreed scope, and a note. The specialist starts with context rather than a forwarded thread.

Payment status next to the work

Invoice state appears in the project header, so delivery and billing look at the same information.

07

What to validate

The concept is a starting point. These questions would be tested with users and resolved during implementation.

  • Whether managers keep next actions current, or whether each stage needs a default reminder.
  • Which parts of the client history a specialist needs, and which only add noise.
  • How existing spreadsheets and inbox threads can be imported without duplicating clients.
  • Whether invoicing belongs in the CRM or should sync with the accounting tool already in use.
  • Permission edge cases: specialists who also sell, and owners who also deliver.

Proposed stack: Next.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Role-based access control, Email and calendar integrations. The screens on this page were built with React and Tailwind CSS for this demonstration.

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