User journeys — step-by-step flow guides
Where the module pages explain everything a module offers, these guides walk one flow at a time, click by click — from the sidebar item to the finished document — and always say who performs each step. Follow them in order the first time; afterwards they work as a checklist.
The personas
Every step is labelled with a persona. A persona is simply a user group in your BusinessIntents installation — a task addressed to a group appears in the Inbox of everyone in that group (and of administrators). One person can of course wear several hats in a small company.
| Persona | Group | What they do |
|---|---|---|
| Employee | Employee / personal | Claims expenses, requests vacation, fills in timesheets — always from the Personal shell (/services/web/personal/), where they see only their own records. |
| Manager | Manager | Approves vacation requests and employee timesheets. |
| Approver | Approver | Approves invoices, orders and expense claims; posts goods documents, stocktakes and payroll runs. |
| Issuer | Issuer | Issues approved sales invoices, credit and debit notes — the step that stamps the real number. |
| Sender | Sender | Sends the issued invoice and records how it went out. |
| Payer | Payer | Pays purchase invoices and reimburses expense claims. |
| Billing clerk | (any office user) | Creates and maintains sales invoices, payments, credit/debit notes, proformas. |
| AP clerk / Buyer | (any office user) | Enters supplier invoices; raises purchase orders and RFQs. |
| Sales rep | (record owner) | Works leads, opportunities and quotations — their own pipeline appears in the Personal shell. |
| Storekeeper | (any office user) | Receives, issues, transfers, returns, adjusts and counts stock. |
| Support agent | Agent | Triages, works and resolves service tickets. |
| Project manager | (any office user) | Plans projects, assigns people, invoices approved timesheets. |
| Payroll officer | (any office user) | Maintains salary data and runs the monthly payroll. |
| Accountant | Accountant | Posts journal entries and reviews automatic postings and stornos. |
| HR / back office | (any office user) | Maintains vacation entitlements and employee records. |
Prerequisite for every Personal-shell journey: the signed-in user must have an Employee record whose Username equals their login — that is how the suite knows who "me" is. Without it the personal pages are simply empty. (The match is on Username, not on the e-mail: a login need not be e-mail-shaped, and the Email field enforces an address format.)
Entering data for someone else ("act as"). Where the crew never touches a computer, an entitled user can work the personal pages in a chosen employee's name: pick Enter data as… in the user menu and type that employee's username. A coloured banner then reads "Acting as … — entries are recorded in this person's name; the log keeps yours", every personal page and the Inbox serve that person's world, and Exit returns you to yourself. It is not a login as them: your own permissions still apply and the audit trail keeps your real user. This is also the way an administrator with no Employee record of their own can walk any personal journey below. Details in How it works.
The journeys
Sell and get paid
- Issue a sales invoice — Billing clerk → Approver → Issuer → Sender
- Set up recurring billing — Billing clerk (then the normal invoice flow)
- Chase overdue invoices — Billing clerk / Accountant (+ the weekly automatic reminder)
- Record a customer payment — Billing clerk / Accountant
- Void an issued invoice — Billing clerk
- Correct with a credit or debit note — Billing clerk → Approver → Issuer
- From proforma to invoice — Billing clerk → Approver
Win the deal
- Capture and qualify a lead — Sales rep
- Work an opportunity through the pipeline — Sales rep
- Prepare and send a quotation — Sales rep
- Source with an RFQ — Buyer
Buy and pay
- Enter and approve a purchase invoice — AP clerk → Approver → Payer
- Raise and approve a purchase order — Buyer → Approver
Run the store
- Fulfil a sales order — Salesperson → Approver → Storekeeper
- Replenish with a purchase order — Buyer → Storekeeper → Approver
- Move and count stock — Storekeeper
- Check stock on hand — Storekeeper / Manager
People
- Claim an expense — Employee → Approver → Payer
- Request vacation — Employee → (capacity check) → Manager
- Maintain vacation entitlements — HR / back office
- Run the monthly payroll — Payroll officer → Approver
Projects and time
- Plan a project — Project manager
- Fill in your timesheet — Employee
- Approve and invoice a project timesheet — Manager → Project manager
Serve the customer
- Work a support ticket — Support agent
- Book an appointment — Coordinator
Keep the books
- Post a manual journal entry — Accountant
Conventions: each guide opens with its personas and the modules it covers (with a coverage marker, like the module pages). The guides describe the generated web UI — the application shell at /services/web/application/ and the Personal shell at /services/web/personal/.