Getting Started

Quick Start Guide

Follow these steps to create the first client, project, and invoice records in your workspace.

Signing in for the first time

Open the Belvak PM app in your browser and enter the email address and password provided by your administrator. If your organization uses Google sign-in, you can also click the Google button on the login screen. After a successful login you will land on the first page available to your role, usually Overview.

Navigating the sidebar

The left-hand sidebar is your primary navigation. It shows the areas available to your role, grouped so you can move between daily work quickly:

• Overview: Check key business metrics, upcoming deadlines, unpaid invoices, and recent priorities.
• Analytics: Review deeper reporting when your role includes access to it.
• Referrals: Track referral partners and commissions.
• Clients: Store client details, contacts, and related records.
• Suppliers: Maintain a directory of your vendors and service providers.
• Proposals: Draft proposals and convert approved ones directly into projects.
• Projects: Track active work, deadlines, and team assignments.
• Maintenances: Set up recurring service contracts and monitor servicing work.
• Invoices: Create and track invoices, then export invoice PDFs with customizable templates.
• Payments: Record incoming payments and monitor collection progress.
• Purchases: Log company expenses and vendor purchases.
• Commissions: Review referral commission payments.
• Payroll: Manage employee payment records.
• Seekers: Track job applicants through your recruitment pipeline.
• Employees: Manage your team roster, compensation, and documents.

Use the account menu for Settings. If your role includes administration access, you will also see Roles and Users there.

Creating your first client

1. Click Clients in the sidebar to open the Clients page.
2. Click the add button in the top-right corner.
3. A multi-step form drawer will slide in from the right. Fill in the required fields: client name, the date you first knew the client, and who introduced the client.
4. Optionally add phone, email, address, contact people, and a client logo.
5. Click Submit to save the record. The new client will appear in your clients table immediately.

Creating your first project

1. Navigate to the Projects page from the sidebar.
2. Click the add button.
3. In the form, select the client you just created from the client dropdown.
4. Enter the required details: project name, start date, project status, and project type.
5. Optionally add a contract value, end date, currency, tags, team members, and project documents.
6. Click Submit. Active projects appear in Overview and in your projects table.

Creating your first invoice

1. Go to the Invoices page.
2. Click the add button and link the invoice to a project.
3. Enter the amount, payment type, status, and due date. The invoice currency follows the selected project when available.
4. Optionally add a description, start and end dates, or upload invoice documents.
5. Click Submit to create the invoice.
6. Open the invoice by clicking its row. In the detail drawer, choose Invoice PDF, then use Export PDF, Approve, or Approve & Export.

Setting Up Your Workspace

Before your team starts using the platform day-to-day, take a few minutes to configure your workspace. Open Settings from the account menu to manage organization details, preferences, invoice templates, activity history, and data export.

Company details

Open Settings and fill in your company name, address, phone number, and logo. Your company name and logo help identify your organization in shared proposal experiences. Invoice PDFs use the branding saved in your invoice templates, so review those templates before sending invoice documents.

Default currency and available currencies

Under the Preferences tab in Settings, you can set a default currency for new records and define which currencies are available across the platform. Belvak PM supports multi-currency operations - each project, invoice, payment, and proposal can use its own ISO 4217 currency code.

• Default currency: The currency pre-selected when creating new financial records (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP).
• Available currencies: The full list of currencies your team can choose from in dropdown menus. Add only the currencies you actually work with to keep forms clean.

Invoice template customization

Belvak PM ships with 12 built-in invoice template presets. To customize your template:

1. Go to Settings and open invoice templates.
2. Choose a preset as your starting point - options range from minimal to detailed layouts.
3. Duplicate or create a template when you want an editable version.
4. Adjust colors, fonts, column visibility, footer text, company branding, and payment details to match your brand.
5. Save the template and set it as the default if you want new invoice PDFs to start from that design.

Upload limits and file management

The platform supports file uploads in areas that include document or image fields, such as employee files, project attachments, invoice documents, proposal documents, and client logos. Supported document formats include PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPG, PNG, GIF, and WEBP, with a 5 MB per-file limit.

You can upload files in three ways:

• Drag and drop - Drag files from your desktop onto an open drawer that has upload support. A full-drawer overlay appears to confirm the drop zone.
• Click to browse - Click the upload area or the "click to browse" hint in the documents section to open your file browser.
• Form upload - Use the upload field in the add/edit form to select files during record creation or editing.

Inviting Team Members

Belvak PM uses role-based access control so every team member sees only what they need. Here is how to bring your team on board.

How user accounts work

New team members join by invitation. They can create an account with their invited email address and a password, or use Google sign-in when it is available for your organization. Belvak keeps signed-in users connected securely so they can work without re-entering their password for every action.

Inviting new users

1. Open the account menu and go to Users.
2. Click Invite User.
3. Enter the new user's email address.
4. Select a role from the dropdown.
5. Click Send Invitation. The invitee receives a link to join your workspace.

Assigning roles

Every user must be assigned a role. Roles determine which modules a user can access and what actions they can perform. You can create custom roles or use roles that are already available in your workspace.

Understanding access levels

Access is organized by business area and action. For each area, such as Projects, Clients, or Invoices, you can grant or revoke four access levels:

• View: See records and open detail drawers.
• Add: Add new records via the add form.
• Edit: Modify existing records.
• Delete: Remove records permanently.

To configure access, open Roles from the account menu, select a role, and toggle the checkboxes in the access grid. Changes take effect immediately - no restart or re-login required.

Best practices for role setup

• Start restrictive: Grant the minimum permissions needed and expand as users request access.
• Separate financial access: Not everyone needs to see invoices and payments. Create a role for operations staff without financial permissions.
• Use a dedicated admin role: Reserve full-access admin privileges for one or two people. Day-to-day users should have scoped roles.
• Review periodically: As your team grows, revisit roles every quarter to ensure permissions still match job responsibilities.

Understanding Overview

Overview gives you a high-level snapshot of your business operations when your role includes access to it. It helps you spot overdue items, review current work, and jump into action quickly.

Overview layout

Overview is organized into summary cards and data widgets. At the top you will find Active Projects, Overdue Deadlines, Unpaid Total, Pending Proposals, and Monthly Recurring. Below that, widgets highlight action-needed items, project status, upcoming deadlines, servicing revenue, unpaid invoices, and proposal activity.

Key metrics and statistics

• Active projects: The number of projects currently in progress.
• Overdue deadlines: Active projects whose end date has passed.
• Unpaid total: Remaining collection value across active projects.
• Pending proposals: Proposals that are still waiting for a decision.
• Monthly recurring: Current monthly value from active recurring services.

Navigation structure

From Overview, summary cards and widget rows help you jump into the related area. For example, project cards open Projects, proposal cards open Proposals, and unpaid invoice rows open the matching invoice details. The sidebar remains available for direct navigation to the modules your role can access.

Using the AI assistant

Belvak PM includes a built-in AI assistant when your plan and role include access. Access it two ways:

• Floating button: Click the chat button in the bottom-right corner of any page.
• Keyboard shortcut: Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) to open the assistant instantly.

You can ask the assistant natural-language questions such as "How many invoices are overdue?", "Show me projects for Client X", or "What is our total revenue this month?" The assistant checks the relevant records you can access and returns a focused answer.

Common table features

Main record pages in Belvak PM use data tables that share a consistent set of features. Learning these once means you can work efficiently across clients, projects, invoices, payments, and similar pages:

• Column visibility toggle: Click the eye icon above the table to show or hide columns. This lets you customize the view to focus on the data that matters most to you.
• Right-click context menu: Right-click any table row on pages that support row actions to see available actions - the same actions that appear in the row action menu.
• Sorting: Click sortable column headers to sort the table ascending or descending. Click again to reverse the order.
• Filtering: Use the filter bar above tables to narrow results by the criteria available on that page.
• Pagination: Tables choose a comfortable starting page size for your screen, and you can change the number of rows when needed.
• Column resizing: Drag the border between column headers to adjust column widths. This is useful when a column contains long text or when you want to give more space to a specific field.
• Page help button: On pages that include it, look for the small "?" icon next to the page title for contextual tips.

Page Help Button

Several record pages include a small "?" icon button positioned next to the page title. Clicking this button opens a "Page Tips" popover with a bulleted list of contextual hints tailored to the page you are viewing. These hints provide quick orientation and reminders without requiring you to leave the current page.

Pages that include this help button include Employees, Clients, Projects, Invoices, Seekers, Proposals, Referrals, Suppliers, Payments, Employee Payments, Referral Payments, and Maintenance Payments. Each page surfaces different tips relevant to its specific workflows. For example:

• Employee Payments: Tips explain the different compensation types (monthly, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly) and how bulk actions work for processing payroll.
• Clients: Tips explain attention chips, follow-up timing, quiet active clients, new clients, and clear client status.
• Invoices: Tips remind you that invoices are automatically marked completed when payments reach the invoice amount.

The page help button is especially useful for new team members who are still learning the platform. It also serves as a handy reference for less frequently used pages where you might not remember every detail. For deeper questions that go beyond the quick tips, you can always open the AI assistant with Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) and ask it questions about your business data.

Activity log

Many key actions in the platform - creating records, updating records, deleting records, approving invoices, attaching files, and sending proposal links - are recorded in the activity log. You can view the full log from Settings. Each entry shows the date, user, action, record type, record name, and expandable details when more information is available. Use the activity log to audit changes, troubleshoot discrepancies, or simply keep track of what your team has been working on.