Pipelines and Stages

Pipelines organize records into ordered stages. They can model a contact lifecycle, a deal process, ticket resolution, project delivery, or order fulfillment.

Open Settings → Pipelines to create a pipeline or select an existing one.

Supported record types

Pipeline type	Typical use	Stage configuration
Contacts	Qualification and prospect lifecycle	Name, order, and color
Deals	Sales opportunities	Name, order, color, probability, and Won/Lost outcome
Tickets	Service workflow	Name, order, color, probability, and Open/Closed category
Projects	Delivery workflow	Name, order, color, probability, and Open/Closed category
Orders	Fulfillment workflow	Name, order, color, and Open/Closed category

Each record belongs to at most one pipeline of its type and one stage in that pipeline. Deals require both a pipeline and a stage. Other supported record types may be left without a pipeline or stage where their module allows it.

Creating a pipeline

Go to Settings → Pipelines.
Enter a pipeline name.
Choose Contacts, Deals, Tickets, Projects, or Orders.
Select the add button.
Open the new pipeline and add its stages.

Create separate pipelines when the stages or movement rules genuinely differ, such as direct sales versus partner sales. Use saved views when only the audience or filters differ.

Configuring stages

Open a pipeline and use the Configure tab.

Add and edit stages

Every stage has a name and a position. Depending on the pipeline type, it can also have:

A display color
A default probability
A Won or Lost outcome
An Open or Closed status category

Drag stages to reorder them. Name and outcome changes save from the stage editor. Color and probability changes are collected until you select Save at the bottom of the stage card.

Deal outcomes

A deal pipeline can have one Won stage and one Lost stage. Marking another stage as Won or Lost replaces the previous stage with that outcome.

Moving a deal into an outcome stage triggers the corresponding won or lost behavior. Keep ordinary sales steps as neutral stages and reserve outcome flags for the final result.

Probability

Probability is available on Deals, Tickets, and Projects. For Deals, it supports weighted pipeline reporting:

Weighted value = Deal amount × Stage probability

For example, a 10,000 deal in a 60% stage contributes 6,000 to a weighted forecast.

Open and closed categories

Ticket, Project, and Order stages use an Open or Closed status category. This lets each module distinguish active work from completed work even when organizations use different stage names.

Pipeline rules

Open a pipeline and select Pipeline Rules.

Transition mode

Free Mode lets records move to any other stage.

Strict Mode allows only transitions enabled in the matrix. Each row is the current stage and each column is a destination stage. Select a cell to allow or block that move. Enable All allows every cross-stage move; Restrict All clears the matrix.

Use Strict Mode only when skipping or reversing steps should be prevented. Otherwise, Free Mode is easier to maintain.

Conditional stage properties

For Contact and Deal pipelines, a stage can require standard or custom fields before a record enters it.

Open Pipeline Rules.
Choose a stage under Conditional Stage Properties.
Select the standard and custom fields required for that stage.
Move a test record into the stage and confirm the expected validation.

Stage requirements are different from always-required properties. Use Properties when a field must be present on every create or update, and use stage requirements when it becomes necessary only at a particular process step.

Using pipelines on record lists

Contacts and Deals support list and Kanban views. In Kanban:

Choose the relevant pipeline when grouping by Stage.
Drag a card to move it when the configured transition allows the move.
Fill any required stage properties before the move completes.
Use other supported properties as the Kanban grouping when available.

Saved table views can remember the view mode, filters, columns, and Kanban grouping. They do not change pipeline definitions.

Deleting a stage

When a stage contains records, Workstation asks what to do with them:

Deals must be moved to another stage.
Contacts, Tickets, Projects, and Orders may be moved to another stage or set to no stage.

Review automations, reports, and conditional logic that reference the stage before deleting it. The Properties screen’s Stage options and pipeline metadata update with the active configuration.

Deleting a pipeline

When a pipeline contains records, Workstation asks for reassignment:

Deals must move to another Deal pipeline that already has at least one stage.
Contacts, Tickets, Projects, and Orders may move to another same-type pipeline or be set to no pipeline.
A Deal pipeline cannot be deleted if it contains deals and no valid destination pipeline exists.

Records moved to another pipeline are assigned to that pipeline’s first stage. Confirm the destination stage and its requirements before deleting the source pipeline.

Recommended practices

Use stage names that describe an observable state, not an activity someone intends to do.
Keep the number of stages small enough that users can choose the correct one quickly.
Set stage probabilities to match historical conversion where possible.
Add required fields gradually so pipeline movement does not become unnecessarily difficult.
Review workflows, reports, Properties conditional logic, and saved views before renaming or deleting stages.
Test Strict Mode from both list and Kanban views before rolling it out.