Worked example: Nova's first week

The fastest way to understand Kordless is to watch one business use it from start to finish. This page follows Nova Auto Studio — a small detailing business — through their first week, from creating an account to sending a quote with a deposit. Every step links to the full reference page, so you can jump to the detail whenever you need it. This story matches the price list path. If your situation is different, see start with no price book or quote from experience — the story below still shows you the shape of the whole journey.

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The business

Nova Auto Studio is a two-person detailing shop. Owner Alex does the quoting, and one technician does the work. Alex has a simple price list on their website:

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Day 1 — Create the account

Alex signs up at the Kordless sign-in page, creates a workspace named Nova Auto Studio, and activates the plan. The workspace starts in Test mode. The environment indicator in the top bar shows Test with a flask icon. Everything in Test is a sandbox — no real customers, no real data. See Create or switch workspace and Test and Live.

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Day 1 — Start a Book

Alex opens Book and clicks Start a new Book, then chooses Import existing pricing. The uploaded website price list is read, and the Book status chip shows Extracting. After about a minute, the status changes to Needs review. Alex opens Review and sees the draft as plain-language sentences:

• “Interior detail base price is $150.”
• “Trucks and SUVs add $50 to the interior detail price.”
• “Ceramic coating price is $800 for a sedan.”

Alex fixes one mistake (the website says $800 for sedans, but Alex actually charges$850 for the 1-year coating) with Edit, and adds a missing rule for bed-liner coating with Add rule. See Review the draft.

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Day 1 — Answer questions

Review shows some open questions: “What is the price for a ceramic coating on a truck?” and “Does the $50 truck surcharge apply to paint correction?” Alex answers both — the first with a value, the second with Not needed (the surcharge is only for detailing). See Answer questions.

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Day 2 — Calibrate

Alex opens Calibrate and works through the generated boundary cases: Alex also adds two past quotes as historical cases so the Book matches how they priced those jobs before. See Calibrate scenarios.

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Day 3 — Verify and publish to Test

Alex opens Verify and reads through every material rule, choosing Verify for each. The totals show all rules verified. Then Alex opens Preview & publish, sees Ready to publish with no blockers, and publishes to Test. They immediately create a sample quote from the Test workspace to check the prices look right. See Verify Statements and Preview and publish.

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Day 4 — Go Live

Alex opens Preview & publish again and publishes to Live. The environment indicator in the top bar changes to Live. The workspace now shows real customer data when the Live environment is selected.

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Day 5 — A customer asks for a quote

A customer emails: “How much for a full detail on my 2019 Ford F-150?” Alex opens Quotes, creates a quote from the Live Book, and the Book produces a price with the derivation shown. Alex reviews the quote, then sends it to the customer. See Quotes overview and Review a quote.

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Day 6 — The customer accepts

The customer replies the next day to accept. Alex opens the quote and accepts it, then turns it into a booking with a deposit request. The customer pays the deposit online, and the commitment shows Deposited. See Approve or correct and Holds, booking, and deposits.

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Day 7 — The job is done

After the job, Alex marks the commitment complete. The booking is finished, and the deposit is released. See Expiry, release, and handoff.

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What Nova learned

1. Test first, Live later — every rule was corrected and calibrated in Test before any customer saw a price.
2. Calibration is where the Book gets good — two corrections and two routing rules made the Book match how Alex actually prices.
3. Quotes have a paper trail — the customer’s quote showed exactly how the price was derived, which built trust.
4. Deposits reduce no-shows — the booking with a deposit is the same amount of work as a plain quote, but the customer is committed.

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Your turn

Now run your own first week. Pick the path that matches your situation: