Log an opportunity and work the pipeline

Work enters STrOp in two shapes. An opportunity is a job you've heard about but haven't been invited to bid — a rumor with a name on it. A pursuit is a project you're actually chasing. The radar keeps the rumors from dying in a notebook; the pipeline moves the real ones to award. Thirty seconds at either end is the whole habit.

Log what you hear

1. CRM → Opportunities (/crm/opportunities). The Radar section is the rumor list.
2. + Log opportunity. Only one field is required — What did you hear about? — so log it from the parking lot. Heard from, the GC or owner if known, segment, rough value, expected bid date, and any intel are all optional and all searchable later.
3. Log it. The item sits on the radar. Flip it to Pursuing when you start working the relationship; Mark dead (with a why) when it fizzles — dead items teach your win-rate later.

Convert when the invite lands

On the radar card, Convert to bid → turns the rumor into a real pursuit: STrOp creates the project in the Qualify stage, carries the value, bid date, notes, and the company link across, and drops you on the new project. Nothing gets retyped.

One detail worth knowing: the company lands in the right slot by its type — a General Contractor becomes the project's GC, an Owner becomes its owner. That's why companies get a type when you create them.

Work the board

Pipeline (/pipeline) is the home view. Stage 1 is the pursuit kanban: Qualify → Budget → Bidding → Bid Submitted → Awarded (plus Closed Lost). Drag a card to move it — the stage is data, not decoration: it drives the funnel counts on your dashboard and the stage lanes across the app.

• Have an invite with no radar history? + New Pursuit (top of the board) opens the project form directly — name is the only required field.
• Estimating and proposal work happen on the project as it moves (the estimate is your earliest budget; then send the proposal).
• When you win, the card in Awarded grows an Award Job → button — that moment is its own article: Award a job.

Common mistakes

• Only logging sure things. The radar's value is the maybes. If it's real enough to mention at lunch, it's real enough for the one required field.
• Skipping straight to a spreadsheet bid list. Stages on the board feed everything downstream — a bid tracked outside the pipeline is invisible to your own funnel.
• Letting dead deals rot in Bidding. Close them lost, with the reason. The board is only as honest as its right-hand columns.

See also

• Companies and contacts — who you bid, who pays
• Send your first proposal
• Award a job — what flips when you win