Each kind of work has stages its matters move through — from file opening to completion. This lesson explains what stages are in MatterFirst and why setting them up is the fastest way to make your firm's process consistent.
Stages are the path of a matter
In MatterFirst each kind of work has an ordered set of stages that its matters pass through. Each stage can hold a matter back until something is true, add tasks for the team, and run automations when a matter arrives or leaves. You manage them in Settings › How your work runs › Kinds of work: open a kind of work and its first tab, Stages & tasks, lists them. Every matter of that kind follows the same path.
Why stages matter
Without stages, every matter depends on someone remembering the next step. Stages make the process explicit, repeatable, and measurable: the stage bar shows on the matter, tasks are added automatically, and reporting counts matters as they move between report groups. New team members can follow the firm's process from day one.
Two views: List and Diagram
Stages & tasks shows the stages as a List, each opening to the tasks it adds, or as a Diagram: boxes (stages) joined by arrows (the ways out of each stage). A stage can have one way out, or several, where a person or MatterFirst's rules choose which path the matter takes. Later lessons cover a stage's settings, what it runs, and the separate Automations page.
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See a kind of work's stages
Open Settings › Kinds of work and choose a kind of work. Stages & tasks lists its stages; switch to Diagram to see them drawn out. Each box is a stage and each arrow a way out — this Conveyancing example runs File opening → Contract review → a choice → Settlement → Completed.
Tips & pitfalls
- Changing stages needs admin access. Staff and read-only users follow the stages on a matter, but only admins can change them.
- Stages that open matters are using can be changed in a draft of changes and published with Publish changes when you're ready, so work already under way isn't changed by accident.
Key takeaways
- Stages are the ordered path a kind of work's matters move through
- Stages can hold a matter back, add tasks, and run automations; ways out join one stage to the next
- Stages live in Settings › Kinds of work › Stages & tasks, as a List or a Diagram
Put the lesson into practice.
Book a guided session and our team will help you configure MatterFirst for your own practice.
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