Vendors, licenses, and processes

Vendors, licenses, and processes are the three kinds of business record a client’s documentation needs beside its technical ones. A vendor is a supplier and the contract with it. A license is something the client bought, with its seats and renewal date. A process is a checklist your team follows, and each time you follow it for a client, Outpost keeps a record of who did each step. This page shows how to record each one.

Before you begin

• You need docs:write to create and change these records. docs:read is enough to view them.
• Vendors and licenses belong to one client. Open the client’s Documentation first.

Record a vendor

1. In the client’s Documentation, go to Vendors and select New vendor.
2. Under The vendor, enter the Name and any of Category, Account number, Website, Support portal, Support phone, Named contact, Contact email, Contact phone, and Notes. The named contact and their email and phone are stored encrypted.
3. Under The contract, enter the Starts and Ends dates.
4. In Warn this many days before it ends, enter how much notice the contract needs. Outpost raises the reminder alert for this vendor that many days before the contract ends. Leave it empty to use the reminder lead times in Documentation > Settings.
5. Optionally, enter Labels, separated by commas.
6. Select Save.

A vendor’s contract end date appears on Expirations as Vendor contract.

Record a license

The console lists licenses under Licenses.

1. In the client’s Documentation, go to Licenses and select New license.
2. Under The license, enter the Name, and optionally the Product and Notes.
3. In Vendor, choose the vendor the license came from, or None.
4. In The key, choose the credential that holds the license key, or No key stored. The key is stored as a credential, so revealing it is recorded like any other credential. See Credentials vault.
5. Under Seats and renewal, enter Seats bought and Seats in use.
6. Enter Bought on and Renews or expires.
7. If the license renews automatically, select It renews on its own.
8. Optionally, enter Labels, separated by commas.
9. Select Save.

The license list shows each license’s Vendor, Seats, and Renewal. A license that renews on its own says Renews on its own. Its renewal date appears on Expirations as License.

To delete a vendor or a license, open it and select Delete. The dialog says how many records link to it. Deleting cannot be undone.

Write a process

A process is a checklist, written once. On Home Lab, Essentials, and Enterprise, processes belong to your organization, and writing one needs docs:manage. On the MSP plan, a practice process is written at practice level and can be run for any client.

1. Go to Documentation > Process templates, or on MSP, at practice level, to Documentation > Processes. Select New process.
2. Under About this process, enter the Name, What it is for, and any Labels.
3. Under The steps, in order, select Add a step for each step and fill in What to do, Detail, and Who usually does it. Select This step can be skipped for an optional step.
4. Use Up and Down to put the steps in order.
5. Select Save.

To stop a process being started again, open it, select Archive it, so no new run can start from it, and select Save. Runs already under way keep the steps they copied when they started.

Run a process for a client

1. In the client’s Documentation, go to Processes and select Start a process.
2. In Which process, choose the process. The list holds the client’s own processes and the practice’s.
3. Select Start it. The run copies the process as it is at that moment, so editing the process later does not rewrite what you did.
4. Work through The steps. Check a step when it is done, and add a Note if it needs one. Outpost records who checked it and when. Select Skip it on an optional step you are not doing.
5. When you finish, select Mark it complete. Any step still to do stays as it is, and the run is stamped complete with your name. To stop a run without finishing it, select Abandon it and enter Why are you abandoning it?

Select Download the runbook for a PDF of the run and its steps. The Processes list for a client shows each run’s Progress, State, Started by, and Started, and Show filters it to In progress, Complete, Abandoned, or Everything.

Verify

Open the client’s Documentation > Vendors or Licenses and confirm the record is listed with its contract or renewal date. For a process run, open the run and confirm each checked step shows your name and the time.

If something goes wrong

Symptom	Cause	Fix
A process is missing from Which process.	The process is archived.	Open the process and clear the archive option.
The key has no credential to choose.	The license key has not been stored yet.	Store the key as a credential first, then choose it.
A step cannot be checked.	The run has ended, or you lack docs:write.	Start a new run, or ask an administrator for the permission.

Next steps

• Track expirations
• Credentials vault