Workflows & Stages
Workflows are how Laminar tracks where a matter is in its lifecycle. If you’ve ever wished you could answer “where is this file at?” with something more specific than “it’s open,” workflows are the solution.
What a Workflow Is
Section titled “What a Workflow Is”A workflow is a defined sequence of stages that a matter moves through from beginning to end. A residential purchase workflow might look like:
Leads, Information Gathering, Preparation, Signing, Closing, Archive
A private lending workflow might look different:
Intake, Review, Approved, Funding, Complete
Different types of work get different workflows, because a purchase doesn’t move through the same steps as a refinance or a private lending deal. Most firms use the workflows Laminar provides out of the box; custom ones can be set up when your practice has specific needs.
What a Stage Is
Section titled “What a Stage Is”A stage is one step within a workflow. “Searches” is a stage. “Closing” is a stage.
Behind the scenes, every stage belongs to a category that tells Laminar what kind of state it represents:
- Unstarted: the matter exists, but active work hasn’t begun (a “Lead” stage, for example).
- Started: active work is happening. Most stages live here.
- Completed: the matter is finished.
- Canceled: the deal died. It happens.
Stage names are configurable per workflow, but the categories are what Laminar uses to organize views: they’re how it distinguishes pending work from active work from finished work.
Moving Through Stages
Section titled “Moving Through Stages”Matters move forward when someone decides to advance them. Always a human action: Laminar doesn’t auto-advance matters based on task completion or elapsed time.
Why? Because advancing a matter is a judgment call. You might have completed every task in “Searches,” but if something in the title search looks off, you hold the matter there until you’ve resolved it. The stage reflects reality, not a checklist.
To advance a matter, change its status in the matter detail view. The transition is saved and logged immediately. Matters generally move forward, not backward; going back is possible but uncommon, and it’s logged in the activity timeline when it happens.
Flows: Stages as Columns
Section titled “Flows: Stages as Columns”The Flows view arranges your matters into columns, one per stage. It answers at a glance:
- How many matters are waiting on searches? (look at that column)
- What’s close to closing?
- Is anything stuck? (look for cards that haven’t moved in a while)
If you’ve seen a Kanban board, Flows works the same way. If not, think of sorting physical file folders into labeled trays on a desk. The difference: Flows updates in real time. Advance a matter and it changes columns immediately, on your screen and everyone else’s.
Workflows Are Not Checklists
Section titled “Workflows Are Not Checklists”A workflow doesn’t tell you which tasks to do at each stage, doesn’t enforce a sequence within a stage, and doesn’t block you from advancing if tasks are incomplete.
This separation is intentional. It keeps workflows simple (six or seven stages, not forty) and flexible: two matters in the same workflow might need different tasks depending on their services and circumstances. The workflow stays the same; the work underneath varies.
How This Connects to Everything Else
Section titled “How This Connects to Everything Else”Tasks have their own, much shorter workflows (the default task workflow is just Unresolved and Resolved). Task workflows track individual pieces of work; matter workflows track the deal as a whole.
Trust transactions also have their own workflows, independent of the matter’s.
Flows displays matters by current stage; it’s how most people interact with workflows visually.
Activity logs every stage transition: who, when, from which stage to which.