# Operations Manager Guide How the system works end-to-end — from first contact with a prospect through project delivery, billing, and beyond. This guide is for the person running the business. No code, no technical jargon. Just the workflow, the tools, and where everything lives. --- ## Table of Contents 1. [The Big Picture](#the-big-picture) 2. [Your Toolkit at a Glance](#your-toolkit-at-a-glance) 3. [Phase 1 — Prospecting & First Contact](#phase-1--prospecting--first-contact) 4. [Phase 2 — Qualifying & Nurturing](#phase-2--qualifying--nurturing) 5. [Phase 3 — Proposals & Contracts](#phase-3--proposals--contracts) 6. [Phase 4 — Project Kickoff](#phase-4--project-kickoff) 7. [Phase 5 — Project Execution & Tracking](#phase-5--project-execution--tracking) 8. [Phase 6 — Delivery & Handoff](#phase-6--delivery--handoff) 9. [Phase 7 — Billing & Accounting](#phase-7--billing--accounting) 10. [Phase 8 — Post-Delivery & Retention](#phase-8--post-delivery--retention) 11. [Daily Operations Rhythm](#daily-operations-rhythm) 12. [Where Everything Lives](#where-everything-lives) 13. [The AI Assistant](#the-ai-assistant) 14. [Notifications & Alerts](#notifications--alerts) 15. [Permissions & Access](#permissions--access) 16. [Common Scenarios](#common-scenarios) --- ## The Big Picture The system connects five external services and one internal platform into a single workflow. Each service has a specific job. None of them work in isolation — they pass information to each other so you never have to enter the same data twice. ``` Prospect → Lead → Deal → Contract → Project → Delivery → Invoice → Retention │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Pipedrive Pipedrive Pipedrive PandaDoc Linear Linear Zoho Pipedrive │ Obsidian (notes & context through every stage) ``` **The golden rule:** Each tool owns one part of the process. Pipedrive owns the sales pipeline. PandaDoc owns contracts. Linear owns project work. Zoho owns accounting data. Obsidian holds the story — meeting notes, decisions, context, and everything that doesn't fit neatly into a form field. --- ## Your Toolkit at a Glance | Tool | What It Does | You'll Use It For | |------|-------------|-------------------| | **Pipedrive** | Sales CRM & pipeline | Tracking leads, managing deals, logging sales activities | | **PandaDoc** | Document signing | Creating proposals, sending contracts, collecting signatures | | **Linear** | Project management | Tracking tasks, sprints, milestones, team workload | | **Zoho CRM** | Back-office CRM | Bulk data, reports, invoicing data, custom modules | | **Obsidian** | Knowledge vault | Meeting notes, decision logs, client context, daily journals | | **Internal App** | Your command center | AI chat, task management, alarms/reminders, blog/content | Think of it this way: - **Pipedrive** is your sales dashboard — what's in the pipeline, what needs follow-up, what closed this week. - **PandaDoc** is your document desk — proposals go out, signatures come back. - **Linear** is your project board — what's being built, who's doing it, when it ships. - **Zoho** is your filing cabinet — structured records, bulk exports, reports. - **Obsidian** is your notebook — everything you'd normally write on a legal pad, sticky note, or whiteboard. - **The App** ties them all together with an AI assistant that can search, create, and update across all of them from a single chat window. --- ## Phase 1 — Prospecting & First Contact ### Where It Starts A prospect comes in through any channel: a website form, a referral call, a LinkedIn message, a conference meeting. The first thing that happens is they enter Pipedrive as a **Lead**. ### What Happens 1. **Create the lead in Pipedrive.** A lead is someone you've had initial contact with but haven't qualified yet. Include their name, company, email, phone, and where they came from (referral, website, event, etc.). 2. **Log your first interaction as an Activity.** Did you have a call? Send an email? Meet at an event? Create a Pipedrive activity tied to the lead. Set the type (call, meeting, email) and the date. 3. **Start a client note in Obsidian.** This is where you write the context that doesn't fit in a CRM field — what they're looking for, what their tone was like, what they mentioned about budget or timeline, who referred them. Create it at `CRM/Clients/{CompanyName}.md`. 4. **Set a follow-up alarm.** If you promised to call back Tuesday, set it now. The system will send a push notification to your phone when it's time. ### What You See In Pipedrive, the lead appears in your Lead Inbox — a simple queue separate from the main pipeline. No stages, no complexity. Just a list of people to follow up with. In Obsidian, you have a running narrative about this prospect that grows with every interaction. ### Key Principle **Pipedrive stores the data. Obsidian stores the story.** The CRM knows "call scheduled for Tuesday." Your Obsidian note knows "Sarah mentioned they're frustrated with their current vendor's response time — lead with our SLA guarantees." --- ## Phase 2 — Qualifying & Nurturing ### When a Lead Becomes a Deal Once you've determined the prospect has real potential — they have budget, authority, need, and timeline — you **convert the lead to a deal** in Pipedrive. ### What Happens 1. **Convert the lead.** Pipedrive moves the lead out of the inbox and creates three things: a **Deal** (the opportunity), a **Person** (the contact), and an **Organization** (their company). This happens in one action. 2. **The deal enters your pipeline.** Pipedrive pipelines have stages that match your sales process. A typical setup: | Stage | What It Means | |-------|---------------| | **Qualified** | They have budget and need, worth pursuing | | **Meeting Scheduled** | Discovery call or demo booked | | **Proposal Sent** | They have our proposal/quote | | **Negotiation** | Back and forth on terms | | **Contract Sent** | PandaDoc contract out for signature | | **Won** | Signed and ready to start | | **Lost** | Didn't close (log why) | 3. **Attach products to the deal.** If you're selling specific services or packages, attach them from Pipedrive's product catalog. This sets the deal value and tracks what you're actually delivering. 4. **Update your Obsidian note.** The client note at `CRM/Clients/{CompanyName}.md` now gets a deal section. Add discovery call notes, their pain points, decision-making process, competitors they're considering, and internal stakeholders. 5. **Sync to Zoho (automatic).** When a person or organization is created/updated in Pipedrive, the system automatically pushes it to Zoho CRM for reporting and record-keeping. You don't need to do anything — the sync is one-way from Pipedrive to Zoho. ### Activities to Track For every interaction during this phase, create a Pipedrive activity: - **Calls** — Log duration, outcome, and next steps - **Meetings** — Log attendees, topics covered, action items - **Emails** — Pipedrive can track email opens if integrated - **Tasks** — Internal to-dos related to this deal ("prepare demo," "check references") ### Deal Value and Forecasting Pipedrive shows you: - **Pipeline value** — total value of all open deals - **Weighted value** — adjusted by probability per stage - **Velocity** — how fast deals move through stages - **Goals** — set revenue targets and track against them This is your sales forecast. When someone asks "what's our projected revenue for Q2?" — this is where the answer lives. --- ## Phase 3 — Proposals & Contracts ### Creating the Proposal When a deal reaches the "Proposal Sent" stage, you create a document in PandaDoc. ### What Happens 1. **Create the document from a template.** PandaDoc has reusable templates for proposals, SOWs (Statements of Work), NDAs, and contracts. Select the template and the system fills in the client name, deal value, and other fields from Pipedrive. 2. **Customize the document.** PandaDoc's editor lets you adjust scope, pricing tables, terms, and deliverables. The pricing table is live — change a line item and the total recalculates. 3. **Add recipients.** Who needs to sign? Add their name, email, and role (signer, approver, CC). You can set a signing order if multiple people need to sign in sequence. 4. **Send for signing.** PandaDoc emails the recipient(s) a link to review and sign. No printing, scanning, or faxing. 5. **Track the document.** PandaDoc shows you: - **Uploaded** → document is being processed - **Draft** → ready to edit and send - **Sent** → out for signatures - **Viewed** → the recipient opened it (you'll know they've seen it) - **Completed** → all signatures collected - **Expired/Declined** → they didn't sign or rejected it 6. **Log it in Obsidian.** A contract note is created at `Contracts/{DocumentName}.md` with the PandaDoc document ID, current status, and key terms. As the status changes (sent → viewed → completed), the note updates automatically. 7. **Link it to the deal.** PandaDoc's "Linked Objects" feature connects the document back to the Pipedrive deal. You can see all documents associated with a deal without leaving Pipedrive. ### Important: The Waiting Game After sending, you'll get notified when: - The recipient **views** the document (they opened the email and clicked through) - The recipient **completes** signing - The document **expires** without action If someone viewed but hasn't signed after a few days, that's your cue to follow up. Move the deal to "Negotiation" in Pipedrive and reach out. ### When the Contract is Signed 1. **Download the signed PDF** from PandaDoc for your records. 2. **Move the deal to "Won"** in Pipedrive. 3. **Update the Obsidian note** — the contract note now shows "Completed" status with the signed date. 4. **You're ready for project kickoff.** --- ## Phase 4 — Project Kickoff ### Transitioning from Sales to Delivery Once a deal is won, the work shifts from Pipedrive (sales) to Linear (project management). This is the handoff between the sales process and the delivery process. ### What Happens 1. **Create a project in Linear.** The project represents the entire scope of work for this client engagement. Name it clearly: "Acme Corp — Enterprise License Implementation." 2. **Link it in Obsidian.** An engineering note is created at `Engineering/Projects/{ProjectName}.md` with the Linear project ID, linked to the client note and contract note. This is where the project brief, requirements, and scope live in narrative form. 3. **Break the project into issues.** Each deliverable, feature, or work package becomes a Linear issue. Issues have: - **Title** — what needs to be done - **Description** — context, requirements, acceptance criteria - **Priority** — urgent, high, medium, low, none - **Assignee** — who's responsible - **Labels** — categories (bug, feature, design, documentation) - **State** — where it is in the workflow (see below) 4. **Set up the workflow.** Linear issues move through states: | State | What It Means | |-------|---------------| | **Triage** | New, not yet reviewed | | **Backlog** | Accepted but not scheduled | | **Todo** | Scheduled for upcoming work | | **In Progress** | Actively being worked on | | **In Review** | Done, awaiting review/QA | | **Done** | Completed and verified | | **Canceled** | Not going to happen | 5. **Organize into cycles (sprints).** If your team works in time-boxed sprints (typically 1-2 weeks), create cycles in Linear. Assign issues to cycles to plan what gets done each sprint. 6. **Set a project target date.** This is the delivery deadline. Linear tracks progress as a percentage based on completed vs total issues. ### What the Operations Manager Sees You don't need to manage individual issues — that's the team's job. What you care about: - **Project progress** — is it on track? Linear shows a progress bar and burn-down. - **Blocked issues** — are there dependencies or decisions holding things up? - **Upcoming milestones** — what's due this sprint? - **Team workload** — is anyone overwhelmed or idle? Linear's project view gives you all of this at a glance. If a project falls behind, you see it before the deadline, not after. --- ## Phase 5 — Project Execution & Tracking ### Day-to-Day Project Management This is where the work actually happens. The team works through issues, the operations manager monitors progress, and the client gets updates. ### What Happens 1. **The team updates issue states.** As developers and designers work, they move issues from Todo → In Progress → In Review → Done. Each transition is timestamped. 2. **Comments on issues.** Team members discuss problems, share screenshots, link to PRs. This is the technical conversation — you don't need to read every comment, but it's there if you need to understand what happened. 3. **Sprint reviews.** At the end of each cycle (sprint), review what was completed vs planned. Linear shows: - Issues completed this cycle - Issues that carried over (weren't finished) - Velocity trend (are we getting faster or slower?) 4. **Client updates.** When the client asks "how's the project going?" you can: - Open the Linear project view and share the progress percentage - Pull up the Obsidian project note for a narrative summary - Reference specific completed milestones 5. **Architecture decisions.** When the team makes a significant technical decision, it gets logged as an ADR (Architecture Decision Record) in Obsidian at `Engineering/ADRs/{NNN} - {Title}.md`. These link back to the Linear project. If a client asks "why did you build it this way?" — the answer is documented. 6. **Retrospectives.** After each sprint, the team writes a retrospective in Obsidian at `Engineering/Retrospectives/Sprint {N}.md`. What went well, what didn't, what to improve. This is how the team gets better over time. ### Escalation Patterns When something goes wrong: | Situation | What to Check | Action | |-----------|---------------|--------| | Project falling behind | Linear project progress + cycle velocity | Adjust scope, add resources, or extend timeline | | Client unhappy | Obsidian client note + meeting notes | Schedule a call, reference specific commitments | | Team member blocked | Linear blocked issues | Resolve the dependency or re-assign | | Scope creep | Compare Linear issues vs original contract | Refer back to PandaDoc SOW, negotiate a change order | | Critical bug in production | Linear issue with "urgent" priority | Triage immediately, push to current cycle | ### Using the Internal Task Manager The app has its own task manager (separate from Linear) for internal operations tasks — things that aren't client projects but still need tracking: - "Send monthly invoice to Acme Corp" - "Renew SSL certificate by March 15" - "Prepare Q1 sales report" - "Follow up on open proposals" These have priorities, due dates, subtasks, tags, and a query system with 60+ pre-built reports. Use this for your personal and team operational to-dos. Use Linear for client project work. --- ## Phase 6 — Delivery & Handoff ### Completing the Project When the team finishes the work, here's the delivery process. ### What Happens 1. **Final review in Linear.** All project issues should be in "Done" or "Canceled" state. The project progress shows 100%. If there are open issues, they need to be resolved or explicitly descoped. 2. **Create delivery documentation.** This might include: - User guides or training materials (created as blog posts in the app or as Obsidian notes) - Technical documentation - Handoff notes 3. **Client acceptance.** Send the deliverables and get formal sign-off. If a sign-off document is needed, create it in PandaDoc — it tracks who approved and when. 4. **Update Obsidian.** The project note at `Engineering/Projects/{ProjectName}.md` gets a "Delivered" status in its frontmatter. Add final delivery notes, any outstanding items, and warranty/support terms. 5. **Update Pipedrive.** If there are follow-up opportunities (maintenance contract, phase 2, additional services), create a new deal in Pipedrive linked to the same organization. 6. **Archive in Linear.** Archive the project in Linear. It's still searchable and accessible but moves off the active board. Never delete — archive. The history is valuable. ### Deliverables Checklist Before closing a project: - [ ] All Linear issues resolved (Done or Canceled) - [ ] Signed acceptance document in PandaDoc (if required) - [ ] Final invoice sent (see next phase) - [ ] Delivery note added to Obsidian project page - [ ] Client note updated with relationship status - [ ] Follow-up deal created in Pipedrive (if applicable) - [ ] Retrospective written in Obsidian --- ## Phase 7 — Billing & Accounting ### How Money Flows Through the System Billing data comes from three places: the deal value in Pipedrive, the pricing tables in PandaDoc, and the invoicing records in Zoho. ### Invoicing Workflow 1. **Deal value is set in Pipedrive.** When you attach products to a deal and close it, you know exactly what was sold and for how much. 2. **Contract terms are in PandaDoc.** The signed contract specifies payment schedule, milestones, and amounts. Refer to the contract note in Obsidian or download the PDF from PandaDoc. 3. **Invoice records go in Zoho.** Zoho CRM has an Invoices module that stores: - Invoice number and date - Client (linked to the Zoho account synced from Pipedrive) - Line items, quantities, amounts - Status: Draft, Sent, Overdue, Paid - Payment terms (Net 30, etc.) 4. **Track payment status.** Zoho lets you query across all invoices: - "Show me all unpaid invoices over 30 days" - "What's our total accounts receivable?" - "Which clients have overdue balances?" ### Why Zoho for Invoicing (Not Pipedrive) Pipedrive is great for tracking the sales pipeline — deals, stages, and forecasting. But once a deal closes and becomes an operational/financial record, Zoho's generic module system handles it better: - **Custom invoice fields** — add any data your accountant needs - **COQL queries** — run SQL-like queries across invoices, contacts, and deals at once - **Bulk exports** — pull all invoices for a quarter into a CSV for your bookkeeper - **Multi-module relationships** — link invoices to accounts, contacts, deals, products, and custom modules ### Recurring Revenue For subscription or retainer clients: 1. The deal in Pipedrive shows the contract value and renewal date. 2. Set a recurring alarm in the app to remind you before renewal. 3. When renewal comes, create a new PandaDoc document (renewal agreement). 4. Track the recurring invoice in Zoho. ### Expense Tracking Zoho's custom modules can be used to create an Expenses module for tracking: - Vendor payments - Subcontractor costs - Project-specific expenses Link expenses to the relevant deal/project for profit margin analysis. ### Financial Reporting | Report | Where to Get It | |--------|-----------------| | Sales pipeline forecast | Pipedrive — pipeline value by stage | | Revenue this quarter | Zoho — COQL query on paid invoices | | Accounts receivable | Zoho — query unpaid invoices | | Client profitability | Zoho invoices vs Zoho expenses per account | | Sales team performance | Pipedrive — deals won per person | | Cash flow projection | Zoho — invoice due dates + amounts | These reports can be pulled on demand through the AI assistant or exported from Zoho as CSV/PDF. --- ## Phase 8 — Post-Delivery & Retention ### Keeping Clients Happy After Delivery The project is done, the invoice is paid, but the relationship continues. ### What Happens 1. **Schedule a check-in.** Set an alarm for 30/60/90 days post-delivery. When it fires, reach out to the client. Ask how things are going, if they need anything, if there's feedback. 2. **Log everything in Obsidian.** Every post-delivery interaction goes in the client note. This builds a relationship history that's invaluable when: - A different team member takes over the account - The client comes back a year later and you need to remember their preferences - You're preparing for a renewal conversation 3. **Watch for upsell opportunities.** After delivery, you'll often hear "this is great, can you also do X?" Create a new lead or deal in Pipedrive and start the cycle again. 4. **Track NPS or satisfaction.** If you collect satisfaction scores, add them to the Obsidian client note and the Zoho account record. 5. **Maintain the warranty.** If your contract includes a support or warranty period: - Create a Linear project or issues for support requests - Track hours/effort separately from the original project - Set an alarm for warranty expiration ### The Flywheel ``` Win Client → Deliver Well → Earn Trust → Get Referral → Win New Client ↑ │ └───────────────── Repeat ─────────────────────────────────┘ ``` Every touchpoint is tracked. Every conversation is noted. When a client refers someone new, you know the full story of why they're recommending you. --- ## Daily Operations Rhythm Here's what a typical day looks like for the operations manager. ### Morning (15 minutes) 1. **Check your daily note in Obsidian** — `Daily/{YYYY-MM-DD}.md`. It auto-populates with deals that closed yesterday, contracts that changed status, and issues that were completed. Start here for your situational awareness. 2. **Review Pipedrive pipeline** — any deals that need follow-up? Activities overdue? Deals stuck in a stage too long? 3. **Glance at Linear projects** — any blocked issues? Any projects falling behind their target date? ### Throughout the Day 4. **Take meeting notes in Obsidian** — create notes at `CRM/Meeting Notes/{Date} - {Client}.md`. Link them to the client note, the deal, or the project. These notes are searchable and linked — they're not thrown into a black hole. 5. **Log activities in Pipedrive** — every call, email, and meeting with a prospect or client gets logged. This builds the activity history that tells you (and your team) what happened and when. 6. **Update deal stages in Pipedrive** — when a proposal is sent, move the deal to "Proposal Sent." When a contract is signed, move it to "Won." Keep the pipeline honest. 7. **Check PandaDoc status** — any documents viewed but not signed? Follow up. Any documents expired? Resend or close the deal. ### Weekly (30 minutes) 8. **Pipeline review** — look at all deals in Pipedrive. What's the total value? What's the weighted forecast? Which deals have been in the same stage for too long? 9. **Sprint review** — what did the team complete this week in Linear? What carries over? Are any projects at risk? 10. **Invoice check** — query Zoho for overdue invoices. Follow up on anything past due. 11. **Write a weekly summary** — put it in Obsidian at `CRM/Reports/Week {N}.md`. Include pipeline health, delivery progress, and financial snapshot. This is your management report. ### Monthly 12. **Revenue report** — pull from Zoho: invoices paid this month, revenue by client, recurring vs one-time. 13. **Pipeline health** — Pipedrive goals: are you on track for the quarter? 14. **Team velocity** — Linear: are sprints getting more efficient? What's the average cycle time? 15. **Client health check** — review Obsidian client notes. Any relationships going cold? Any warranty periods expiring? --- ## Where Everything Lives A quick reference for "where do I find X?" | I Need To... | Go To | |---------------|-------| | See the sales pipeline | Pipedrive → Deals | | Find a contact's email | Pipedrive → Persons | | Check if a contract was signed | PandaDoc → Documents | | See how a project is progressing | Linear → Projects | | Find meeting notes from last month | Obsidian → CRM/Meeting Notes/ | | Pull an invoice report | Zoho → Invoices module | | Search for anything about a client | Obsidian vault search or AI assistant | | Set a reminder | Internal App → Alarm | | Track an internal to-do | Internal App → Tasks | | Ask the AI to look something up | Internal App → Chat | | Read a blog post or internal article | Internal App → Blog | | Check who has access to what | Internal App → Permissions | --- ## The AI Assistant The app includes a built-in AI chat that can search and act across all connected services. Instead of logging into five different tools, you can type a question or command in plain English. ### What It Can Do | You Say | It Does | |---------|---------| | "What's the status of the Acme Corp deal?" | Searches Pipedrive for the deal, returns stage, value, and recent activities | | "Show me all overdue invoices" | Queries Zoho for unpaid invoices past due date | | "What do we know about Acme Corp?" | Searches Obsidian vault for all notes mentioning Acme Corp | | "Create a proposal for Acme Corp" | Starts a PandaDoc document from template with client details | | "How is the Q1 Launch project doing?" | Pulls Linear project progress, open issues, and upcoming milestones | | "Set a reminder to follow up with Sarah on Friday" | Creates an alarm that sends a push notification Friday morning | | "What meetings did we have last week?" | Searches Obsidian meeting notes from the past week | | "Draft a meeting notes template" | Creates a new Obsidian note from the meeting template | | "Who hasn't signed their contract yet?" | Checks PandaDoc for documents in "Sent" status | | "Show me my tasks for today" | Lists internal app tasks with today's due date | ### How It Works You're not learning five different interfaces. You're having a conversation with an assistant that knows how to use all five tools on your behalf. It respects the same permissions you have — if you can't see a deal in Pipedrive, the AI can't either. The AI can also chain actions together: "When the Acme Corp contract is signed, create a project in Linear and set up the first sprint." Instead of doing five manual steps across three tools, you describe what you want and it handles the rest. ### When to Use the AI vs. the Tools Directly | Situation | Recommendation | |-----------|----------------| | Quick lookup or status check | Ask the AI — faster than navigating to the tool | | Browsing the pipeline visually | Use Pipedrive directly — the visual pipeline is hard to beat | | Editing a document | Use PandaDoc directly — you need the rich editor | | Managing sprint boards | Use Linear directly — drag-and-drop is intuitive | | Writing detailed meeting notes | Use Obsidian directly — the markdown editor is designed for this | | Cross-service question ("which clients have open deals AND overdue invoices?") | Ask the AI — it can search multiple services in one query | | Bulk operations | Ask the AI or use Zoho — individual tool UIs aren't built for bulk | --- ## Notifications & Alerts You won't miss important events. The system sends push notifications to your phone and desktop through Pushover when: ### Automatic Notifications | Event | Source | You'll See | |-------|--------|-----------| | Document viewed | PandaDoc webhook | "Acme Corp just viewed the proposal" | | Document signed | PandaDoc webhook | "Contract signed by Sarah at Acme Corp" | | Deal moved to Won | Pipedrive webhook | "Acme Corp deal ($50K) marked as Won" | | Deal moved to Lost | Pipedrive webhook | "Acme Corp deal marked as Lost — review reason" | | Issue blocked | Linear webhook | "Issue ENG-42 is blocked by ENG-38" | | Sprint ended | Linear webhook | "Sprint 14 complete: 18/22 issues done" | | Invoice overdue | Zoho scheduled check | "Invoice #1042 for Acme Corp is 15 days overdue" | ### Manual Reminders Set alarms for anything time-sensitive: - "Remind me to call Sarah Thursday at 2pm" - "Remind me to send the renewal notice 30 days before contract expires" - "Remind me to check on the Acme project every Monday at 9am" Alarms survive system restarts — they're stored in the database, not just in memory. --- ## Permissions & Access Not everyone sees everything. The system has permission controls that determine who can access which services and features. ### How Permissions Work Each service and feature has a **permission key**. Users are granted keys by an admin. If you don't have the key, you can't access the service — not through the web interface, not through the API, and not through the AI assistant. ### Typical Permission Setup | Role | Has Access To | |------|---------------| | **Operations Manager** | Everything — Pipedrive, PandaDoc, Linear, Zoho, Obsidian, Tasks, Blog | | **Sales Team** | Pipedrive, PandaDoc (create & send), Obsidian (CRM notes only) | | **Engineering Team** | Linear, Obsidian (Engineering notes), Tasks | | **Accounting** | Zoho (invoices, reports), PandaDoc (view only) | | **External Client** | None — clients interact through PandaDoc signing links and scheduled meetings | ### Audit Trail Every action is logged with who did it, when, and from where. This isn't just for security — it's for accountability. If someone asks "who updated that deal?" or "when was this contract sent?" — the answer is in the audit log. --- ## Common Scenarios ### Scenario: New Inbound Lead 1. Prospect fills out website form 2. You create a **Lead** in Pipedrive with their info 3. You write a note in **Obsidian** at `CRM/Clients/{Company}.md` with first impressions 4. You set an **Alarm** to follow up in 2 days 5. You log the first **Activity** in Pipedrive (email sent or call made) 6. If qualified, **convert** the lead to a Deal in Pipedrive ### Scenario: Deal About to Close 1. Deal is in "Negotiation" stage in **Pipedrive** 2. You create a proposal in **PandaDoc** from template, fill in pricing 3. You send it for signing, move deal to "Contract Sent" in **Pipedrive** 4. A contract note appears in **Obsidian** at `Contracts/{DocumentName}.md` 5. You get a push notification when the client **views** the document 6. You get a push notification when it's **signed** 7. You move the deal to "Won" in **Pipedrive** 8. You create a project in **Linear** for the work ### Scenario: Client Asks "How's My Project?" 1. Open the project in **Linear** — check progress percentage and current sprint 2. Search **Obsidian** for the project note — read the latest status update 3. Or just ask the **AI assistant**: "What's the status of the Acme Corp project?" 4. Compose your update and send it to the client 5. Log the client communication as an **Activity** in Pipedrive ### Scenario: Invoice Is Overdue 1. You get a notification that Invoice #1042 is overdue (from **Zoho** scheduled check) 2. Look up the invoice details in **Zoho** — amount, due date, client 3. Check **Obsidian** for the client note — any context about payment issues? 4. Check **Pipedrive** for recent activities — have we been in touch? 5. Call or email the client, log the **Activity** in Pipedrive 6. Set an **Alarm** for follow-up if they promised to pay by a specific date ### Scenario: Team Member Leaves 1. Reassign their **Linear** issues to other team members 2. Review their **Obsidian** notes for institutional knowledge 3. Transfer their **Pipedrive** deals to another salesperson 4. Update **permissions** — remove their access 5. Their work history remains in the system — nothing is lost ### Scenario: Preparing a Quarterly Business Review 1. Pull **pipeline health** from Pipedrive — deals won/lost, total revenue 2. Pull **delivery metrics** from Linear — projects completed, average velocity 3. Pull **financial data** from Zoho — revenue, accounts receivable, expenses 4. Pull **client narratives** from Obsidian — key wins, challenges, relationships 5. Combine into a report (or ask the AI to draft it from the data) --- ## Summary The system works because each tool does what it's best at and passes information to the next tool when needed: ``` Pipedrive: Who are we talking to? What are we selling? Where is it in the pipeline? ↓ PandaDoc: Here's the proposal. Has it been signed? ↓ Linear: What are we building? Who's doing what? When does it ship? ↓ Zoho: What do we owe? What are we owed? What does the data say? ↓ Obsidian: What's the story? What did we decide? What do we know? ↓ Internal App: The AI that searches all of them and the glue that connects them. ``` You don't need to understand how the technical integrations work. You need to know: 1. **Where to put information** — leads and deals in Pipedrive, contracts in PandaDoc, project work in Linear, financial records in Zoho, everything else in Obsidian. 2. **Where to find information** — search Obsidian for context, check Pipedrive for pipeline status, check Linear for project progress, check Zoho for financial data, or just ask the AI. 3. **What happens automatically** — contact syncing (Pipedrive → Zoho), status notifications (all services → push), daily summaries (all services → Obsidian daily note), and permission enforcement (everywhere). The system remembers everything so you don't have to. Your job is to make decisions, build relationships, and keep things moving. The tools handle the rest.