Workflow (Basic): What Are Pipelines, Stages, Jobs, Tasks

What’s the difference between Pipelines, Jobs and Tasks? We break it all down by showing you the overall structure of the TaxDome workflow system:

Level 1: Pipelines

Pipelines are at the top level of the workflow hierarchy. Each pipeline is a work process for a specific service. For example, you might want a 1040 Return Pipeline, a W-2 Pipeline, and a Payroll Pipeline, each containing its own set of procedures. The overall function of a pipeline is to help you easily track the progress of like jobs while allowing them to smoothly flow toward completion. Here's more on creating pipelines.

Level 2: Stages

A pipeline is divided into stages. These are the various steps that must be taken to move a job toward its completion. For example, a 1040 Return Pipeline might have four stages: Review Docs, Prepare Engagement Letter, Prepare Return and Review.

Stages include automations that simplify routine tasks, such as sending organizers, messages or invoices.

Level 3: Jobs

Each job is an individual service a client pays for. A job goes into a pipeline specifically designed for the service it requires. For example, all of your clients’ 1040 returns for 2022 will go into your 1040 Return Pipeline.

Each time you receive a job from a client, you add it to the first stage of the appropriate pipeline. Then, you move the job through the stages of the pipeline, either manually or via automation. Here's more on adding jobs to pipelines.

You can move a job to another pipeline at any time -- or when it reaches the last stage. For example, when a bookkeeping lead becomes a client, you may want to move that job from the lead pipeline to a bookkeeping pipeline.

Level 4: Tasks

Tasks are to-do items that you or your team members perform for a job. Learn more about creating tasks and using tasks in jobs.

You can set up your pipelines so that each time a job enters a new stage, automatic actions are triggered: e.g., a task is created for a team member, or an organizer is sent out to a client.

All auto-created elements for a job—organizers, tasks, messages, invoices, etc.—stay linked to it. (You can also link elements manually.) This way, each job always contains everything you need to complete it.

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