Stage progression

An engagement moves through a lifecycle: Discovery → Proof of Concept → Active → Complete. Each stage records its own objective and scope of work, so you keep a true history of how the work evolved instead of overwriting a single “moment in time” description.

Who this is for: Editor / Admin / Owner with client_manager.manage.

Advancing a stage

1. Open the engagement.
2. Click Advance stage.
3. Pick the new stage (the next stage is suggested for you).
4. Review the objective and scope of work — both are pre-filled from the current stage:
   • Keep them to carry the scope forward unchanged, or
   • Edit them to revise the scope for this new stage.
5. Optionally add a transition note explaining why you’re moving on.
6. Advance stage.

The previous stage keeps its own snapshot of the objective and scope as they were at the time — visible on the Progression timeline. The engagement’s current objective and scope always reflect the open stage, and are what document generation uses.

Pausing and resuming

Paused is not a stage — it’s an overlay. Pause when work is on hold (e.g. awaiting client sign-off) without losing your place in the lifecycle:

• Pause — optionally record a reason. The engagement keeps its stage (e.g. Active) and shows a Paused badge.
• Resume — clears the pause. Advancing a stage also resumes automatically.

The Progression timeline

The Progression card shows every stage in order, with:

• the stage and its date range (and how long it lasted),
• who moved the engagement into it,
• the transition note, and
• the objective and scope as they were at that stage (expand “Show scope at this stage”).

Common issues

• I edited the scope but the old stage changed too — it didn’t. Editing via Edit updates the current stage in place. To revise scope for a new phase, use Advance stage so the prior stage keeps its snapshot.
• Can’t pick “Paused” as a stage — by design. Use the Pause button instead.

Last updated: 2026-06-28 · Applies to: CartonCrew v1.136+