# Pipelines and Stages

> Configure record pipelines, stages, transition rules, and stage requirements.

Pipelines organize records into ordered stages. They can model a contact lifecycle, an account lifecycle, a deal process, ticket resolution, project delivery, order fulfillment, or a property listing's market status.

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 |
| Accounts | Company lifecycle, such as Lead, Customer, or Former customer | Name, order, color, and Open/Closed category |
| 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 |
| Listings | Property market status, such as Active, Under Contract, or Sold | Name, order, and color |

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

1. Go to **Settings → Pipelines**.
2. Enter a pipeline name.
3. Choose Deals, Contacts, Accounts, Tickets, Projects, Orders, or Listings.
4. Select the add button.
5. Open the new pipeline and add its stages.

Every workspace starts with a **Listing Pipeline** for [Listings](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/listings): Coming Soon, Active, Under Contract, Pending, Sold, Withdrawn, and Expired.

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:

```text
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

Account, 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.

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

Stage requirements are different from always-required properties. Use [Properties](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/administration/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.

## Stage Health

Stage Health flags records that stall in a stage, then runs follow-up actions. It is available for Deal, Ticket, Project, Order, and Listing pipelines. It is not available for Contact pipelines.

Open a pipeline, select **Pipeline Rules**, and find the **Stage Health** card.

1. Choose **Pipeline default** to set the rule for every stage, or pick a stage to override the default for that stage only.
2. Turn on **Enable stale detection**.
3. Set **Mark record as stale after** a number of days.
4. Under **Based on**, choose one or more criteria and whether to match **any criterion** or **all criteria**:
   - **Time in stage**: the record entered the stage more than that many days ago.
   - **No activity**: no activity was logged in that many days.
   - **No next task**: the record has no open task and has been in the stage at least that many days.
5. Add **Actions** to run, in order, when a record goes stale:
   - **Notify owner** sends a "Pipeline Record Went Stale" notification.
   - **Create follow-up task** creates a task on the record for its owner.
   - **Move to stage** moves the record to another stage.
   - **Move to terminal stage** closes the record, such as moving a deal to Lost with an optional lost reason.
6. Select **Save**.

Workstation checks open records every hour. Records in Won, Lost, or closed stages are skipped. When a record goes stale it gets a **Stale** badge on lists and Kanban cards, and the actions run once. The badge clears when the record moves to another stage or no longer meets the criteria. Stale records also appear as findings in [Radar](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/analytics/radar).

Start with **Notify owner** only. Add automatic stage moves after the team agrees the thresholds are right.

## Using pipelines on record lists

[Contacts](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/contacts) and [Deals](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/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, Orders, and Listings 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, Orders, and Listings 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](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/administration/properties#conditional-logic), and saved views before renaming or deleting stages.
- Test Strict Mode from both list and Kanban views before rolling it out.

## Related documentation

- [CRM Setup](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/crm-setup)
- [Contacts](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/contacts)
- [Deals](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/deals)
- [Listings](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/sales/listings)
- [Radar](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/analytics/radar)
- [Properties](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/administration/properties)
- [Data Validation](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/administration/validations)
- [Table Views](https://workstation.repzo.com/docs/administration/table-views)