The CraftOps Job Lifecycle: From Quote to Delivery

A fabrication job is more than just pressing print or starting a cut. It is a chain of decisions, handoffs, and checkpoints that determines whether your customer gets a quality product on time and whether your shop makes money on the order. CraftOps structures this entire chain into a clear lifecycle so that nothing falls through the cracks. In this post, we follow a single job from the moment a customer submits a request all the way through to final delivery and payment, showing how each stage works in practice.

Request, Quote, and Approval

The lifecycle begins when a customer submits a job request. Through the CraftOps customer portal, they upload their design files, select the desired material and finish, specify the quantity, and indicate their preferred deadline. CraftOps validates the uploaded files and flags any obvious issues, such as non-manifold geometry in STL files or unsupported file formats. The request lands in your Pending Review queue with all the details organized in a single view.

From the pending queue, you or your team reviews the request and generates a quote. CraftOps calculates the estimated material cost based on file analysis and your material pricing, adds machine time based on the estimated production duration, factors in labor and overhead rates from your configuration, and applies your markup. The result is an itemized quote that breaks down exactly what the customer is paying for. You can adjust any line item before sending. If the job requires design modifications or clarification, you can send a message to the customer directly from the job record, and the conversation stays attached to the quote.

Once you send the quote, the customer receives a notification and can review it in their portal. They can approve the quote, request changes, or decline. Approval triggers the next stage automatically: the job moves to the Scheduled status and enters your production planning queue. If the customer requests changes, the job stays in quoting until a revised quote is approved. CraftOps tracks every version of the quote, so you always have a record of what was proposed and what was agreed upon.

Scheduling, Production, and Quality Control

With an approved quote, the job is ready for scheduling. CraftOps shows your machine availability on a visual timeline, letting you drag the job into an open slot on the appropriate machine. The scheduler accounts for each machine's current queue, estimated run times for queued jobs, and the customer's deadline. If the deadline cannot be met with current capacity, CraftOps highlights the conflict so you can either negotiate a new date with the customer or shift priorities on existing jobs.

When the scheduled time arrives and an operator begins the job, they move it to In Production status. For connected machines like OctoPrint-enabled 3D printers, CraftOps can detect that a print has started and update the status automatically. The production stage is where real-time monitoring comes into play: you can watch print progress, check temperatures, and receive failure alerts from your dashboard. For laser and CNC jobs, operators log the start and end times, and CraftOps records the actual machine time for accurate cost tracking.

After production, the job moves to Quality Check. This stage is where your team inspects the finished product against the job specifications. CraftOps provides a QC checklist that you can customize per job type. For 3D prints, this might include checking for layer adhesion, dimensional accuracy, and surface finish. For laser cuts, it might cover edge quality, dimensional tolerance, and material integrity. Operators can attach photos of the completed work to the job record, providing documentation that is valuable both for your records and for resolving any future customer disputes. If a part fails QC, the job can be sent back to production for a reprint or recut, and CraftOps tracks the rework cycle separately so you can measure your first-pass yield rate over time.

Delivery and Invoicing

Once a job passes quality control, it moves to Ready for Pickup or Ready for Shipping, depending on the customer's preference. For local pickups, CraftOps sends the customer a notification that their order is ready, and you mark the job as completed when they collect it. For shipped orders, CraftOps integrates with shipping label generation so you can print labels, record tracking numbers, and notify the customer with shipment details, all from the job record. The customer sees the tracking information in their portal.

With delivery confirmed, CraftOps generates an invoice from the approved quote. The invoice includes all itemized costs, any adjustments made during production such as additional material used for rework, and applicable taxes. Customers can pay through the portal using their stored payment method, or you can mark the invoice as paid for offline transactions. The payment status syncs with your accounting integration, keeping your financial records current without manual data entry.

Tip: Use the QC photo feature on every job, even when the quality is perfect. Building a library of completed work photos gives you marketing material, helps train new team members on quality standards, and provides evidence if a customer ever questions the condition of a delivered product.

What's Next

The job lifecycle is the backbone of CraftOps, and understanding each stage helps you identify where your shop can improve. In upcoming posts, we will dive into machine integration to show you how real-time monitoring works during the production stage, and we will cover material tracking to explain how CraftOps calculates those per-job costs so accurately. If you have not set up your CraftOps account yet, start with our getting started guide to build your foundation before your first jobs come in.