Getting Started

Quick Start Guide

Follow these steps to go from zero to your first invoice in under ten minutes.

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. Authentication is handled through Firebase, so 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 main dashboard.

Navigating the sidebar

The left-hand sidebar is your primary navigation. It gives you one-click access to every module in the platform:

• Projects: Track active work, deadlines, and team assignments.
• Clients: Store client details, contacts, and related records.
• Invoices: Create, send, and track invoices with customizable templates.
• Payments: Record incoming payments and monitor collection progress.
• Proposals: Draft proposals and convert approved ones directly into projects.
• Employees: Manage your team roster, compensation, and documents.
• Seekers: Track job applicants through your recruitment pipeline.
• Maintenance: Set up recurring service contracts with automated status tracking.
• Purchases: Log company expenses and vendor purchases.
• Suppliers: Maintain a directory of your vendors and service providers.
• Referrals: Track referral sources and partnerships.

Creating your first client

1. Click Clients in the sidebar to open the Clients page.
2. Click the Add Client button in the top-right corner.
3. A multi-step form drawer will slide in from the right. Fill in the required fields - company name, contact person, email, and phone number.
4. Optionally upload a company logo or attach documents in the later steps.
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 Add Project.
3. In the form, select the client you just created from the client dropdown.
4. Enter the project name, contract value (the agreed price the client pays), start date, and deadline.
5. Assign team members from your employee list.
6. Click Submit. Your project is now active and visible on the dashboard.

Sending your first invoice

1. Go to the Invoices page.
2. Click Add Invoice and link it to your project and client.
3. Add line items with descriptions, quantities, and unit prices.
4. Review the totals, then click Submit to create the invoice.
5. Open the invoice by clicking its row. In the detail drawer, use the Generate PDF action to produce a professional PDF you can download or email to your client.

Setting Up Your Workspace

Before your team starts using the platform day-to-day, take a few minutes to configure your workspace. All configuration options live on the Settings page, accessible from the sidebar.

Company details

Open Settings and fill in your company name, address, phone number, and logo. These details appear on generated invoices, proposals, and PDF exports, so make sure they are accurate before you start sending documents to clients.

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 the invoice template editor.
2. Choose a preset as your starting point - options range from minimal to detailed layouts.
3. Adjust colors, fonts, column visibility, and footer text to match your brand.
4. Save the template. All future invoices and PDF exports will use your customized design.

Upload limits and file management

The platform supports file uploads across most entities - client documents, employee files, project attachments, and more. Files are stored securely on the server with UID-based filenames. Supported 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 any open drawer (view or edit). 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

User authentication is powered by Firebase. When you create a new user account in Belvak PM, a corresponding Firebase account is provisioned automatically. Users sign in with their email and password (or Google sign-in if enabled). After the initial login, the platform maintains a secure server-side session so users stay logged in without re-authenticating on every request.

Creating new user accounts

1. Navigate to the user management section in Settings.
2. Click Add User.
3. Enter the new user's name, email address, and a temporary password.
4. Select a role from the dropdown (see below for role details).
5. Click Submit. The user can now log in with the credentials you provided.

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 the built-in defaults.

Understanding the permission matrix

The permission system is organized as a matrix of entities and actions. For each entity (Projects, Clients, Invoices, etc.), you can grant or revoke four permissions:

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

To configure permissions, go to Settings, select a role, and toggle the checkboxes in the permission 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 the Dashboard

The dashboard is the first screen you see after logging in. It provides a high-level snapshot of your business operations so you can spot trends, identify overdue items, and jump into action quickly.

Dashboard layout

The dashboard is organized into summary cards and data widgets. At the top you will find key metrics - total active projects, outstanding invoices, recent payments, and upcoming deadlines. Below that, detailed widgets provide breakdowns by status, client, or time period.

Key metrics and statistics

• Active projects: The number of projects currently in progress.
• Outstanding invoices: Total value of unpaid invoices across all clients.
• Recent payments: Payments received in the current period.
• Collection progress: Visual indicators showing how much of each project's contract value has been collected.

Navigation structure

From the dashboard, you can click any metric card to jump directly to the relevant module. For example, clicking the outstanding invoices card takes you to the Invoices page pre-filtered to show only unpaid records. The sidebar remains accessible at all times for direct navigation to any module.

Using the AI assistant

Belvak PM includes a built-in AI assistant that understands your business data. 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 queries your live data and returns answers in seconds.

Common table features

Every module in Belvak PM uses data tables that share a consistent set of features. Learning these once means you can work efficiently across all modules:

• Column visibility toggle: Click the columns icon above the table to show or hide any column. 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 to see available actions - the same actions that appear in the three-dot "..." menu. This provides a faster way to access edit, delete, and entity-specific actions.
• Sorting: Click any column header to sort the table ascending or descending by that column. Click again to reverse the order.
• Filtering: Use the filter bar above tables to narrow results by status, client, date range, or other criteria relevant to the module.
• Pagination: Tables automatically calculate page size based on your viewport, adjusting to your screen size so you always see as many rows as comfortably fit.
• 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: Look for the small "?" icon next to the page title for contextual tips specific to the page you are on.

Page Help Button

Every entity page in Belvak PM includes 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.

The pages that include this help button are Employees, Clients, Projects, Invoices, Seekers, Proposals, Referrals, Employee 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 clarify what engaged vs. idle client status means and how client records connect to projects and invoices.
• Invoices: Tips walk through the approval workflow, recurring invoice handling, and how invoice templates affect PDF output.

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 anything about your data or workflows.

Activity log

Every significant action in the platform - creating a record, editing a field, deleting an entry - is recorded in the activity log. You can view the full log from the Settings page. Each entry shows the user who performed the action, the entity type and name, a timestamp, and a snapshot of the data at that moment. Use the activity log to audit changes, troubleshoot discrepancies, or simply keep track of what your team has been working on.