Understanding Order Pipelines

In this article

When a customer drops off a bag of laundry, EasyBiz needs to know what happens next — is it going into washing, then packing, then waiting for pickup? That is what an Order Pipeline does. It is a series of stages you define, and EasyBiz moves each order through them automatically as things get done. This article explains how the three pipeline types fit together and helps you figure out what you need to set up before you start building.

Contents

What Is an Order Pipeline?

Without a pipeline, every order sits as "Confirmed" until it is manually closed. There are no in-between stages and no way to offer customers a choice between home delivery and store collection.

With a pipeline, every order moves through named stages that reflect your actual workflow. You and your staff can see at a glance where every order is right now.

💡 Example: Confirmed (Service In Progress) or Confirmed (Pending Packing). Clicking that status on any order opens a timeline showing every stage, which ones are done, and which ones are still ahead.

📸 Screenshot: Order list showing orders with stage labels like "Confirmed (Service In Progress)" visible on each row

📸 Screenshot: Order detail with status badge clicked showing the vertical timeline popup with completed stages ticked in green and pending stages in grey

Why Set This Up?

Think about how you track orders today. Most shops use a whiteboard, a paper list, or try to remember which bags are ready. That works for 10 orders. When you have 50, things start to slip — a customer calls to ask "is my laundry ready?" and your staff has to physically search the shelves to find out.

Order Pipelines solve this:

Every order's current stage is visible on your orders list at a glance.
EasyBiz can notify your customer automatically when their order reaches a stage, no phone calls needed.
Your team always knows what to do next, the system moves orders forward when the right things happen

It takes about 10 minutes to set up for the first time. After that, it runs on its own.

The Three Pipeline Types

Phase	What it covers	Do I need this?
Pre-Production	How online or WhatsApp orders come in and get quoted before work starts	Only if you take online or WhatsApp orders
Production	The cleaning and processing stages your team works through	Yes — required for pipelines to activate
Fulfillment	How finished orders get back to the customer	Yes for most shops — without this customers cannot choose how they receive their order (delivery or store pickup)

⚠️ Important: Production is technically required for the pipeline engine to activate. Without it, no other phase will work. But for most laundry shops, Production is just three simple stages — it does not need to be complex to get everything running.

📝Note: Walk-in POS orders skip Pre-Production automatically — they come in already confirmed. Pre-Production is only for orders placed through your online store or WhatsApp.

How the Three Pipelines Connect

Example :

For a POS walk-in order:

Customer drops off laundry at the counter → order confirmed → enters Production at Pending Service
Laundry washed and packed → moves through Service In Progress → Pending Packing
Customer collects or delivery arranged → enters Fulfillment → order complete

For an online order with home pickup:

Customer books online → enters Pre-Production at Pending Pickup
Staff collect the laundry from the customer's home → moves to Pending Quotation → priced → Pending Confirmation → customer confirms
Order confirmed → enters Production → washed and packed
Enters Fulfillment → delivered or collected → order complete

How Stages Move Forward

Every stage moves forward using an Auto Trigger. You set a trigger on each stage, and when that event happens, the order moves to the next stage automatically — no one needs to do anything manually.

Trigger	When it fires
None	The stage stays as-is — wait for the next trigger
Order Created	The moment an order is created
Order Quoted	When a price is sWhen staff sets a price and marks the order as Quotedet and the order is marked Quoted
Order Confirmed	When the order is confirmed, paid at POS or approved online
Order Fulfilled	When the fulfillment job is marked complete
Job Completed	When a logistics job (pickup or delivery) is marked complete
Work Order Completed	When a work order for this stage is marked done. See [Setting Up Work Orders] (Coming Soon)

Do I Need All Three Phases?

Your situation	What to set up
Walk-in customers, store collection only	Production + Store Pickup Fulfillment
Walk-in customers, some want home delivery	Production + Store Pickup Fulfillment + Home Delivery Fulfillment
Online orders with home delivery	Production + Pre-Production + Home Delivery Fulfillment
Walk-in and online, both delivery and collection	Production + Pre-Production + Store Pickup Fulfillment + Home Delivery Fulfillment

What's Next

Start by building your Pre-Production pipeline if you take online orders, or go straight to Production if you only have walk-in customers. See [Setting Up Your Pre-Production Pipeline]

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Up next

Setting Up Your Pre-Production Pipeline

Set up the stages your online or WhatsApp orders go through before cleaning begins — skip this if all your customers walk in.