The engagement flow
The engagement flow takes a client from the first conversation to finished work in six steps. The engagement page shows where you are on a step bar, with one Waiting on: line under it that names whatever is holding things up.
Who this is for: editors and above run the flow. Connecting Jira needs an admin or owner.
The step bar
The steps, in order, are Discovery, MSA, Questionnaire, Workback, Delivery and Complete. The bar moves on its own as each thing happens. You do not move it by hand.
| Step | What moves it on |
|---|---|
| Discovery | Done as soon as the engagement exists. Log the discovery conversation as notes under Audit trail — stages & history. |
| MSA | The client signs the Master Service Agreement. |
| Questionnaire | The client confirms the discovery questionnaire. |
| Workback | The client approves the workback schedule. |
| Delivery | You work through the schedule until the engagement is complete. |
| Complete | The engagement reaches its final stage, Complete (set with Advance stage). |
The Waiting on: line says whose move it is, for example “Waiting for the client to sign the MSA.” or “Send the discovery questionnaire for confirmation.” During Delivery it counts the deliverables still to finish.
MSA
- On the engagement, in the Documents card, click + Generate and generate the MSA from your MSA template.
- Open the document and click Send for signature. The client gets an e-signature invite by email and signs there.
When the signature is complete, the bar moves to Questionnaire. If Jira is connected, a Jira project is created for the engagement at the same moment.
The MSA step only counts a document made from a template whose category is
msa. The template editor has no field for the category, so if a signed MSA
does not move the bar on, contact CartonCrew support.
Questionnaire
- Generate the discovery questionnaire from its template with + Generate in the Documents card.
- On the Waiting on: line, click Send for approval.
- Check the Recipient email (it defaults to the client’s primary contact), add a Recipient name if you like, and use Attach document to pick the questionnaire.
- Click Send for approval.
The client gets a link that needs no login. They read the document and choose Looks good — confirm or Request changes, with a note (the note is required for changes). You are emailed either way.
Workback
The Workback schedule card on the engagement is where you plan the work:
- Type a milestone title, choose its Owner, and click + Milestone.
- Under each milestone, type a deliverable in Add a deliverable… and click Add.
- Every milestone and deliverable is owned by either your team (shown as ChAImp) or the Client.
When the schedule is ready, click Send for approval on the Waiting on: line. It works the same way as the questionnaire approval.
Once the client approves, and Jira is connected, milestones are pushed to Jira as Epics and deliverables as Issues. The engagement’s Jira card shows the project, how many epics and issues have been pushed, and when it last synced.
Delivery
Set each milestone and deliverable’s status from its dropdown: Pending, In progress, Complete or Blocked.
Marking one Complete emails the client a short “this is done” note. It is sent only after the status has saved. If Jira is connected, the matching Jira issue moves too, and moving an issue in Jira updates the status here and sends the same email. Only status syncs. Title and description edits in Jira do not come back.
Approval links
The questionnaire and workback approvals use the same no-login link. Only the first response counts: after the client confirms or requests changes, the page is read-only. To run another round, send a fresh approval.
If your workspace has no email provider set up, approvals run in demo mode: “Approval prepared (demo mode — no email sent).”
Declining: Close (lost)
If the answer is no, do not create an engagement. Open the client and click Close (lost). The Close as lost window takes an optional Reason, then Close as lost confirms it. Nothing else is created, and the client page shows a Closed (lost) banner with your reason.
Connecting Jira
Jira is optional. Without it, everything above works and the Jira steps simply do not happen. An admin or owner connects it under Settings → Jira with the Jira site URL, Account email and API token, then clicks Connect Jira. The token is encrypted and never shown again.
Last updated: 2026-09-23 · Applies to: CartonCrew v1.643+