Digital Dreamers · Operating System · Target design

Six departments, one app.

Every part of how we run — inventory, programs, partnerships, money, projects and hiring — behind one login. The team works in the app. The data lives in Airtable. Nobody keeps a second copy in their head.

Reference · 26 July 2026

For: Robert, Andrea, Jovi

Status: design for approval

The plan, end to end

How the six departments hand work to each other.

One school, followed from first contact to renewal. This is the intended flow — what should happen, in order, and which department owns each move. Read it top to bottom.

01 · Partnerships

A school becomes a signed partnership

Lead in, discovery call, track decided, proposal sent with a follow-up date, contract and clearances completed, signature.

Produces → a partner, a subject, a start date and a value

02 · Programs

The program is created and its setup checklist opens

Dates, sessions and roster are laid down against the school calendar. The checklist immediately shows two empty slots it cannot fill by itself.

Requests → an instructor, and a kit

In parallel

03a · Recruitment

The role is filled and cleared

Role posted against the start date, applicants screened, candidate interviewed, offer accepted, then documents, clearances and orientation.

Returns → an assignable instructor

03b · Inventory

The kit is claimed, packed and sent

Materials requested against the program, stock reserved, packed, receipt drawn and signed, dispatched to the site before the first session.

Returns → kit on site, with a named holder

Gate · before a program may start

Three things true, or the start date is at risk

  • A cleared instructor is assigned
  • The kit is dispatched and received on site
  • Enrolment is above the minimum

Any one missing → the program turns red on the board, with days remaining

04 · Programs

The program runs

Sessions happen. Instructors file a report each time — attendance, photos, what went well, what went wrong. This is the only thing anyone types.

Emits → session reports, attendance, issues

While it runs

05a · Projects

Anything broken becomes owned work

An issue a session report raises — damaged kit, low enrolment, a missing document — becomes a task with one owner and a next action, or a decision with a name on it.

Resolves back into → the program

05b · Partnerships

Programme quality becomes partner health

Reports and issues feed the health read on the partner, so an unhappy school is visible from the data long before it says anything.

Drives → the renewal conversation

06 · Programs

The program ends and closes

Final sessions, culminating event, roster and hours confirmed. Closing the program is what releases the last three moves.

Triggers → three departments at once

All three

07a · Inventory

Kit comes back

Returned, checked for damage, counted in or written off, and made available to the next program.

07b · Finance

Money settles

Invoice raised on the closed program and chased to received. Sessions taught drive the instructor pay owed. Damage becomes a replacement cost.

07c · Partnerships

Next season is asked for

Renewal proposed before the memory of this program fades, ranked by the expansion we want: another subject here, then another school in the district.

Loop

A renewal re-enters at step 01 as a warm deal, and the whole flow runs again — this time with the school, the kit list and the instructor already known.

Two departments also run on their own clock

Finance and Projects are not only downstream of programs. Payroll, budget and internal builds have their own cycles and appear on the home screen regardless of what any program is doing.

Every step above is a record moving, not a message sent

The handovers happen because a record changed stage. Nothing in this flow depends on someone remembering to tell the next person.

The shape of it

One shell, six doors, the same record underneath.

You log in once and land on a home screen that answers what needs me today. Six departments sit down the side. Every department is a different view onto the same set of records — a school appears in partnerships, in programs, in finance and in dispatch without ever being typed twice.

Home — what needs me today

Due todaySessions running, dispatches leaving, deadlines landing
At riskAnything the system turned red or yellow overnight
Waiting on meDecisions, approvals and replies with my name on them
StalledNo owner, no next action, or untouched two working days

Below the fold, one card per department showing its single most important number. Tap a card and you are inside that department, already filtered to what is wrong.

The spine

Four rules every department obeys.

The six departments differ in vocabulary, not in structure. Keeping the structure identical is what makes one app possible instead of six.

One owner, one next action

Nothing active exists without a person and a verb. If either is missing the record is stalled and surfaces on its own.

A stage, always

Every record sits at exactly one point on its department's lifecycle. Movement between stages is the unit of progress.

Status is computed

Green, yellow and red come from dates and gaps in the data — never from someone reporting how they feel it is going.

Sensitive fields never arrive

The app can only ask for an approved list of fields. Documents, IDs and pay detail stay in Airtable and cannot reach a screen.

The six

What each department is for.

Each one below: the job in a sentence, who lives in it, the lifecycle it tracks, the screens it needs, and the thing it must never let you miss.

01 · CIM

Inventory Management

Know what we own, what can go out, when it leaves, where it is, and who is holding it — with a receipt for every handover.

Lives in: Inventory lead · read by programs and instructors

01In stockCounted, at the warehouse, available
02RequestedA program has claimed it for a date
03PackedPicked against the request, receipt drawn
04DispatchedLeft the building, signed for
05On siteIn a named person's hands at a named school
06ReturnedBack and checked for damage
07RestockedCounted back in, or written off

Screens

  • Stock on hand. Every item with quantity available, quantity out, and quantity due back this week.
  • Dispatch queue. What leaves next, sorted by date, with the program and the site attached.
  • Dispatch sheet. One dispatch, its line items, the receiver, the date out and due date — printable as a receipt, signed on collection and on return.
  • Where is it. Search any item and see the site and the person currently holding it.

Never miss

  • A program starting with kit still unpacked.
  • Items overdue back after a program ended.
  • Stock dropping below what next month's programs already need.
  • Damage logged on return but never replaced.

Data behind it

  • Assets and quantities
  • Dispatch records and line items
  • Movement and restock history
  • Links to program, site and holder
02 · OPS

Daily Operations — Program Management

The program manager's whole desk. Carry a program from the day it is won to the day it closes, without anything falling through in between.

Lives in: Program Manager · read by leadership and instructors

01UpcomingWon, dated, nothing staffed yet
02Setting upInstructor, roster, schedule, materials, clearances
03RunningSessions happening, reports coming in
04EndingFinal sessions, culminating event, kit return
05ClosedWrapped, invoiced, handed to renewal

Screens

  • Program board. Every program as a card in its stage, with days-to-start and what is still missing on the face of the card.
  • Program page. One place holding schedule, partner and contact, instructor, roster, materials, session reports and issues.
  • Today. Sessions running right now, who is teaching, who has not checked in.
  • Setup checklist. The fixed list a program must clear before it starts — each line either done or naming who owes it.

Never miss

  • A start date approaching with no instructor assigned.
  • Enrolment at zero after a posting went live.
  • A session with no report filed.
  • An issue raised by an instructor and never answered.
  • A school break that quietly moves the end date.

Data behind it

  • Programs and their stages
  • Session schedule and no-class days
  • Instructor assignment and attendance
  • Session reports and photos
  • Issues raised against the program
03 · CRM

Partnerships

Every school relationship from first contact to signed renewal, plus an honest read on how healthy each live partnership is.

Lives in: Operations Manager · supported by the team

01LeadIdentified or inbound, not yet spoken to
02DiscoveryCall held, need and track understood
03ProposalSent, with a follow-up date attached
04ContractPaperwork, clearances, insurance, signatures
05ActivePrograms running, health being watched
06RenewalNext season proposed before this one ends
07DormantParked with a season to revisit

Screens

  • Pipeline. Deals by stage with value, track and the next action due — nothing sits in a column without a date.
  • Partner page. Contacts, contract terms, every program we have run there, and the health read.
  • Health board. Live partners scored from programme quality, issues and check-in recency — because the only reason we lose one is that the program went badly.
  • Renewal calendar. What ends when, and whether next season has been asked for yet.

Never miss

  • A proposal past its follow-up date.
  • A partner not spoken to in a fortnight.
  • A program ending with no renewal conversation.
  • Contract or clearance paperwork outstanding as a start date closes.

Data behind it

  • Schools, districts and contacts
  • Deals with track and stage
  • Contracts and compliance documents
  • Check-in log and health signals
04 · FM

Finance Management

All cash in and all cash out, tied to the program or project that caused it — so a number on screen can always be traced to something real.

Lives in: Leadership and ops lead · closed to everyone else

IN 1CommittedContract signed, revenue expected
IN 2InvoicedSent, with terms and a due date
IN 3ReceivedMoney in the account
OUT 1RequestedSomeone needs to spend
OUT 2ApprovedSigned off against a budget line
OUT 3PaidCleared, receipt filed

Screens

  • Cash position. In, out and the balance — this month, next month, and what is already committed beyond that.
  • Receivables. Invoices sent, aged, with the partner and the person chasing.
  • Payables and payroll. What is owed, to whom, by when — instructor pay held to its own schedule.
  • Per-program economics. What a program brought in against what it cost to run.

Never miss

  • An invoice unsent after a program closed.
  • An invoice aged past its terms.
  • Payroll approaching without the cash to cover it.
  • Spend approved against a budget line already exhausted.

Data behind it

  • Receivables and invoices
  • Payables and reimbursements
  • Instructor pay records
  • Budget lines by program and project
05 · PM

Project Management

Everything we are building that is not a program — systems, campaigns, curriculum, compliance — each with an owner and a finish line.

Lives in: Operations Manager · visible to the whole team

01ProposedAn idea with a problem attached
02ScopedOwner, outcome and target date agreed
03ActiveTasks moving, updates landing
04BlockedNamed blocker, named person, follow-up date
05DoneOutcome met, or deliberately killed

Screens

  • Project board. All projects by stage, each showing its owner, target date and last movement.
  • Project page. The outcome in one sentence, the task list beneath it, and the decisions it is waiting on.
  • My work. Every task assigned to me across every project and department, in one list.
  • Decisions queue. What is parked waiting on leadership, and how many days it has waited.

Never miss

  • A project with no movement in two working days.
  • A blocker with no follow-up date.
  • A decision waiting on one person for over a week.
  • A project past its target date and still open.

Data behind it

  • Projects and outcomes
  • Tasks with owner and due date
  • Decisions and who owes them
  • Daily commitments and results
06 · RCT

Recruitment & Onboarding

From an open instructor role to a cleared, trained person standing in a classroom — with the runway to the start date visible the whole way.

Lives in: Recruitment lead · programs read the runway

01Role openPosted, tied to a program and a start date
02ApplicantApplied, not yet screened
03CandidateScreened in and being pursued
04InterviewScheduled, held, decided
05OfferMade and accepted
06OnboardingDocuments, clearances, orientation, training
07ActiveCleared and assignable to a program

Screens

  • Role runway. Every open role sorted by days until its program starts, coloured by whether the pipeline can still fill it.
  • Applicant inbox. New applications with the screening decision as a single action — promote or decline.
  • Interview schedule. Who is booked, with whom, and what came of it.
  • Onboarding checklist. One row per hire, one column per requirement, showing exactly what is still missing.

Never miss

  • A role whose start date arrives before clearances can complete.
  • An open role with nobody in the pipeline.
  • An applicant unanswered for days.
  • A hire assigned to teach with a document outstanding.

Data behind it

  • Instructor roles and their runway
  • Applicants and candidates
  • Interview records
  • Onboarding requirements and clearances

The wiring

Why they belong in one app.

These are the handovers that today happen in messages and memory. Inside one app they happen because a record moved.

CRM → Programs, Recruitment

A deal reaching Contract creates the program and opens the instructor role it will need, with the start date already on both.

Programs → Inventory

A program entering Setting up raises its materials request, and the dispatch date is set against the first session.

Recruitment → Programs

A hire reaching Active becomes assignable; until then the program's setup checklist keeps showing an empty instructor slot.

Programs → Finance

A program closing triggers the invoice, and its session count drives the instructor pay owed.

Programs → CRM

Session reports and issues feed partner health, and a program entering Ending opens the renewal conversation.

Inventory → Finance

Damage and write-offs on return become a replacement cost against the program that caused them.

Everything → Projects

Anything that cannot be solved inside its own department becomes a task or a decision with an owner and a date.

How we know it worked

Six tests, one per department.

  1. Anyone can answer “where is that kit” in one search, and hand over a printed receipt for it.
  2. A program manager can open one page and see everything a program is missing before it starts.
  3. No proposal, follow-up or renewal is ever remembered — the app raises it on its date.
  4. Leadership can see cash in, cash out and what is committed without asking for a spreadsheet.
  5. Every open project has one owner and one next action, and stalls surface themselves.
  6. No program ever starts without a cleared instructor, because the runway was visible weeks earlier.