# How Ziffa works

Start with a Service. Connect the client, the documents, the work, and the fees.

Source: https://ziffa.io/user-guide/quickstart

## Two main workflows

Ziffa connects two everyday workflows:

- **Documents:** collect files, classify their type, extract their details, check them, and file them in connected storage.
- **Jobs:** organise work that happens once or repeats, assign it to colleagues, and track its progress.

**Services connect the two.** A Service describes what your firm does for a client, which documents it needs, which Jobs apply, and what it charges.

You then add a client and assign the Services they receive.

## Start with a Service

Suppose Harbour Accounting offers monthly bookkeeping to limited companies.

In [Services settings](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/settings/services), the firm sets up:

1. The Service name, client types, and frequency.
2. The documents needed for that Service and the client status at which shared-folder collection begins.
3. The Job Templates that create the work.
4. The default fees and, where Billing is enabled, how those fees are billed.

The Service frequency and the Job schedule are different settings. A monthly Service can have several Jobs with their own due dates. Read [Services explained](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/services).

![Monthly bookkeeping in the firm’s Service catalogue, showing its frequency, document requirements, and linked work.](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/images/service-settings.webp)

*A Service is the link between the documents you need, the work you schedule, and the client’s fees.*

## Add the client

[Add Joshua Gauci as the Contact and Seabreeze Trading Ltd as the Entity](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/add-client). Joshua is the person you communicate with. Seabreeze is the business receiving the Service.

An Entity can also have other people involved, such as a second director or finance contact. Read [Supporting Contacts](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/supporting-contacts) for how these people are recorded and selected for communications.

Assign monthly bookkeeping to Seabreeze. Keep the default fee or agree a client-specific fee. You can prepare a proposal or engagement document at this stage, or do it later.

## What happens after setup?

**Document collection follows the Service's settings.** In **Settings → Services**, choose the client status at which shared-folder collection begins. For example, your firm might start bookkeeping collection at **Active**, but due diligence collection at **Pending Review**. Check the setting for each Service; they do not all have to start together. See [when document collection begins](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/settings/services#choose-when-document-collection-begins).

**Job generation has its own eligibility checks.** The Service must apply at the Entity's current status, and the Job Template's client types, scope, and required dates must also match. Read [Jobs and Job Templates](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/jobs-and-job-templates) for the scheduling details.

A signed proposal is not the same as accepting the client. Your firm still reviews due diligence and makes its own decision to activate the Entity.

Where Billing is enabled and configured, Ziffa creates invoice **drafts** according to the Service's billing settings. Someone reviews and issues them. Adding a client does not, by itself, send an invoice.

## The day-to-day routine

1. Open your [Jobs view](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/filters-and-saved-views) to see the work that needs attention.
2. [Request missing documents](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/request-and-review-documents).
3. Check files that need human review, correct their details, and organise them.
4. Complete the work and keep its work state up to date.
5. [Review and issue bills](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/create-and-issue-bills) when due.

Files are organised in the firm's [connected storage](https://ziffa.io/user-guide/settings/integrations). Clients can respond to requests without needing a Ziffa account for normal document collection.