Client Discovery

What This Feature Is For

Client Discovery is the structured intake form used before full onboarding begins.

It is intended to collect the practical facts the warehouse team needs before configuring ParcelPilot for a new client. That includes contacts, products, stock-loading expectations, order sources, shipping requirements, returns, Dangerous Goods, and supporting files.

This is not where the warehouse team decides how ParcelPilot will be configured. The client supplies facts here. Internal setup decisions still belong to the warehouse team.

What Phase 2A Supports

Phase 2A lets warehouse users:

1. create a discovery request in the admin panel
2. share a secure public link with the client
3. let the client save a draft and return later
4. let the client submit final answers and uploads
5. review responses section by section inside Filament
6. add internal notes and section notes
7. track request status through draft, sent, in progress, submitted, reviewed, and archived

Creating A Discovery Request

1. Go to Admin > Client Discovery.
2. Create a new discovery request.
3. Enter the prospective client or company name.
4. Add the main contact name and email if known.
5. Set a due date or expiry if you want the link time-limited.
6. Save the record.

After creation, the record will contain a secure public link.

Sending The Link

Use the public link from the discovery request record when emailing the client.

Recommended guidance to send with the link:

1. explain that the form can be saved and resumed later
2. ask the client not to enter passwords or payment card details
3. ask them to upload any product, stock, returns, Dangerous Goods, or packaging files they already have available
4. explain that the form is completed section by section and that Save & Continue will guide them through it

What The Client Sees

The public form is tenant-branded and covers:

1. business information and contact roles
2. useful links
3. commercial and timeline information
4. products and handling
5. Dangerous Goods
6. storage and inbound expectations
7. order sources and sales-channel details
8. SKU, catalogue, and stock-loading preferences
9. shipping and delivery promises
10. packaging, inserts, and dispatch rules
11. returns
12. customs and compliance
13. extra services and uploads

The public experience is designed to feel guided rather than overwhelming:

1. only one section is expanded at a time
2. the section cards at the top act as navigation
3. each section ends with Save Draft and Save & Continue actions
4. discovery territory questions use grouped regions such as United Kingdom, European Union, USA, and Rest of the World where that level of detail is sufficient
5. the File uploads section includes a dedicated Company Logo upload with preview and replacement support

Reviewing Responses Internally

When a client submits the form:

1. open the discovery request in Filament
2. review each section in order
3. check uploads for any missing product, stock, or compliance files
4. add internal notes where follow-up is needed
5. add section notes for specific concerns or actions
6. update the status as the review progresses

Operational Notes

1. Product-loading preference and opening-stock-loading preference are facts-gathering questions only.
2. Carrier, routing, stock-master, and ParcelPilot workflow decisions remain internal.
3. Dangerous Goods answers should always be reviewed carefully before onboarding.
4. New uploads are stored on private storage and remain attached to the discovery request through controlled download links.
5. Historical uploads may remain on the legacy public disk until php artisan client-discovery:migrate-files --apply is run.

Current Limitations

Phase 2A does not yet:

1. convert the discovery request into a live client setup
2. generate AI summaries
3. calculate readiness scores
4. create onboarding tasks automatically
5. keep version history for each answer revision