TEC World User Guide

1. Getting started

1.1 Creating your account

• To start a new workspace for your organization, sign up at /signup with your company name and email. You will get an email invitation to set your password; the new workspace stays locked until you subscribe in Settings > Billing. You can also contact us (Section 7) and our team will set it up with you.
• Once your workspace exists, a workspace administrator adds you as a user. You will receive an email invitation; the link takes you to a Set your password page.
• Choose a password of at least 8 characters, confirm it, and click Save password. You are signed in immediately and land on your Home dashboard.

1.2 Signing in and password reset

• Sign in at the /login page of your workspace's web address with your work email and password, then click Sign in.
• Forgot your password? Click Forgot your password? on the sign-in page, enter your email, and click Send reset link. The page confirms: "Check your email for the reset link." (Check spam if it does not arrive.)
• Open the reset link on the same device and in the same browser where you requested it, within 5 minutes of requesting it. If you request another link, only the newest one works.
• The reset link opens the Set your password page. If your account uses two-step verification, you are first asked to Verify it's you with your authenticator app or text-message code. Then enter and confirm a new password (at least 8 characters) and click Save password.
• If the page says the link is invalid, expired, or has to be opened in the browser where you requested it, click Request a new link. Lost your authenticator? Ask your workspace administrator to reset your two-step verification first.

1.3 Your workspace

• After signing in you land on Home — a compact operating view with a "My Day" section, a Scoreboard of record counts, and pipeline-and-activity sections (which sections appear is configurable per workspace). Any tile can be renamed from its Appearance (eye) panel; admins can also set a name for everyone.
• Navigation is a single top bar. Depending on your role and workspace configuration, it includes: Companies, Calendar, Contacts, Quotes, Analytics, Sales, Commissions, Manufacturers, Pricing (Price Sheets, Commission Rate, SPA, Multiplier), Smart List, Activities, Tasks, Action Items, Inventory, Leads, Samples, and Aliasing.
• The top bar also has a quick-create menu (New Quote, New Company, New Contact, New Activity, New Task, New Sale, New Commission), a notifications bell, a Search CRM... button, and — for admins — a Settings gear and a Support & Help icon.
• Global search: press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on Mac) anywhere to search companies, contacts, quotes, sales, manufacturers, tags, leads, and activities by name or number.
• Most list pages share the same controls: a date-range sidebar with presets (Last 30 Days through Last 12 Months, YTD, and All Dates), a toolbar with an ✕ (clear filters), Save Filter, a Columns picker, an Actions menu (import, export, bulk edit), a Saved Filters menu, pagination, and a search box.

1.4 Supported browsers

• TEC World works in current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari: Chrome 111 or later, Edge 111 or later, Firefox 111 or later, and Safari 16.4 or later (on Mac, iPhone and iPad). Internet Explorer and older versions are not supported.
• Every update is tested in Chromium, the engine Chrome and Edge are built on, before it is released. Edge is supported and tested as Chromium, not as a separate browser.
• A weekly automated check of Firefox and Safari's engine, on a computer-sized screen and on an iPhone-sized one, in light and dark mode, is being introduced.
• On an iPhone or iPad, Safari updates with the device's software, so keep it up to date.
• If something looks wrong in one browser only, tell support which browser and version you use (Section 7).

2. Core features

2.1 Companies

Companies are your customer records — name, status, phone, address, territory, zone, company manager, and type — and they anchor everything else: contacts, quotes, sales, commissions, activities, and documents all link back to a company. Companies can be nested (parent and child locations).

• Create one: click + New Company (or New Company in the top bar's quick-create menu). The full New Company form opens: fill in Company Name (the only required field) plus any basics, the address and an opening note, then click Create Company; the new company opens in Companies. Save & add another keeps the form open for the next one.
• Find records: type in Search companies..., or use the filters and the date-range strip above the column headers; the toolbar ✕ clears the filters.
• Open a company to work it: the record opens in a side panel; click the title (or Full Screen) for the full-page workspace, which lands on the Home tab — a running feed of everything happening with that customer. Other tabs are Contacts, Activity, Tasks, Quotes, Opportunities, Sales, Manufacturers, Leads, Documents, and History. A distributor also gets a Business Plan tab.
• Branch structure: inside a company record, Create Child adds a location under a parent company; Make Top-Level detaches it.
• Bulk work: the Actions menu offers Import CSV, Import Excel, Bulk Edit Selected, and filtered CSV/Excel exports.

2.2 Contacts

Contacts are the people you work with. A contact links to one primary company and any number of additional companies, and carries emails, phone numbers (business, mobile, home), title, address, tags, engagement, and follow-up dates.

• Create one: click + New Contact (or New Contact in the top bar's quick-create menu; from a company it starts with that company picked). The full New Contact form opens: enter at least a first or last name, optionally the Primary Company, address and tags, or start from the Scan a Business Card panel, then click Create Contact; the new contact opens in Contacts.
• One person, one record: while you type a name, email or phone, a Similar leads found panel lists open leads that may be this person, strongest match first (name, company, email, phone; switch off any of them that means nothing here, such as a shared main line). Choose a lead to turn it into this contact, picking which value to keep for each field, or Dismiss it. A lead with the same email or phone must be chosen or dismissed before the contact saves.
• Quotes while you create: Save & add quote saves the contact and opens the quote builder with the contact and its company filled in. With a Primary Company picked, the form's Quotes section lists that company's open quotes; tick the ones the person belongs on and they are linked when you save (a quote that already names a contact asks before replacing it).
• Find people: Search contacts..., plus a Type filter that distinguishes contacts from leads.
• Open a contact: the full-page workspace lands on Home; the Companies tab lists every company the person is linked to (the primary one is badged).

2.3 Leads

Leads are early-stage prospects that are not customer records yet — company and contact names are free text until you link or convert them. Each lead tracks source, territory, priority (Hot / Warm / Cold), status (New, Attempting Contact, Qualified, Quoted, Converted, Lost), owner, follow-up date, and estimated value.

• Create one: click + New Lead; only Company is required (if you mark a lead Lost, a Lost Reason is also required). While you type, a Possible Duplicates panel warns about similar existing companies and contacts and offers Link Account so you do not create duplicates. A person who is already a contact is not added as a lead: work with the contact instead. Click Create Lead.
• Work the queue: the toolbar's view menu (it names the view you are on) — All Leads, Needs Follow-Up Today, Overdue, Qualified, Ready to Quote, Duplicate Warning, Unassigned, Recently Converted.
• Convert: open a lead and click Convert Lead to turn it into CRM records (confirmation required); Create Quote starts a quote from the lead.

2.4 Quotes

Quotes are your pipeline: each quote carries a quote number, date, manufacturer, company, stage, project, end user, contact, line items, and total. Stages are configurable per workspace, so your stage list matches how your team actually sells. From quote to sale, a quote generally moves through these steps:

• Create one: click + New Quote, fill in what you have, then click Create Quote. Line items unlock once the quote has a manufacturer and a distributor with its contact; tick Quote the end user too to quote the customer directly instead (the distributor then becomes optional). The new quote opens on Quotes, ready to work.
• Start from a company: + New Opportunity on a company (or + New Quote on a contact's Quotes tab, which also fills in that contact) fills in that company and ticks Quote the end user too, so you only need the manufacturer to start adding lines. Picking a distributor unticks it for you (the quote then goes through that distributor), or untick it yourself. Start quote on a pre-quote project card on Opportunities starts the same way from the project's company, also fills in its contact, its manufacturer (when it has just one) and its name, and links the new quote to the project.
• Price the lines. Add a part and its price starts from the manufacturer's list price, then applies your workspace's pricing rules for that customer — a multiplier, or a Special Pricing Agreement (SPA) where one exists — whichever gives the better price; you can also type your own unit price. Leaving a line's price blank saves it as Unpriced (TBD): the quote can still be saved and sent, but it cannot be marked Won until every line is priced. To check how a price was reached before you quote it, use Price Check (under Pricing) — a read-only lookup that shows the same list-price, multiplier, and SPA comparison the quote's line editor uses. In the quote builder (Item Details → End User Pricing), checking End User Pricing prints a customer-facing price built from list price, multiplier, and an optional per-line target margin (the form calls it Dist. Margin) instead of the net price.
• Produce the document. From the quote's document view, click Save PDF (choose Save as PDF in the browser's print dialog) or Print Summary for a shorter version. Save or revert your changes first: these print the saved quote, the same one Send Email attaches.
• Send it. Click Send Email to prepare an Outlook draft with the saved quote PDF attached, which opens in a new tab so you can review the recipient and message before sending — creating the draft does not send it or mark the quote sent. The draft is only ever created in your own Outlook mailbox. If TEC World cannot create one for you, it says why and offers Email without attachment, which opens the same message in your own mail app, and Save PDF to attach, so you attach the quote yourself. To give the customer a link instead, open the quote builder and click Share Link: it mints a public, read-only link they can open without signing in (Copy Link copies it, Revoke Link disables it).
• Record the send and track revisions. Send Email only prepares the draft; nothing records the send until you do. After you send the draft from Outlook, or email the PDF any other way, click Mark as Sent on the quote's card in the Quote Follow-Up Queue. That records that it went out and freezes a numbered revision (Rev 1, Rev 2, ...) of exactly what the customer received. A quote you dismissed from the queue must be restored from its Dismissed list first.
• Stay on top of follow-ups: the Quote Follow-Up Queue panel filters quotes needing attention with chips for All, Overdue, Due Soon, Stale, No Follow-Up, and Active.
• Open a quote: the Quote Command Center panel shows stage, total, quote date, prepared-by, and linked sales at a glance; fullscreen adds tabs including Line Items, Home, Documents, Contacts, Companies, Sales, Commissions, and History.
• Bulk work: Actions menu — Import CSV, Import Excel, Bulk Edit Selected, filtered exports.
• Won → Sale. Moving a quote's stage to a Won stage automatically creates a matching Sale record for it. That said, most Sales and Commission rows are not quote-derived — they come from uploading your manufacturers' invoice and commission statements (Sections 2.5 and 2.9), because a rep is often paid on business that was never quoted through TEC World.
• Move quotes through stages: the Board / List switch, the first control in the toolbar (where Opportunities has it), changes the view. Board is the same stage board as Opportunities: the open quotes (search, dates, and filters apply) in one column per stage, in your Settings → Picklists order. Each column header shows its total, number of quotes, and win % (hover it for the weighted total), and the Sort menu orders the cards. Drag a card to another stage (press and hold first on a phone), or select a card and press Alt+Left / Alt+Right. While you drag, a Won / Lost bar appears at the bottom: drop the card there to close the quote. Moving a quote to Won asks first, because that creates its sale. Won and lost quotes stay on the List view.
• See the whole pipeline: Opportunities in the left navigation lists every open quote plus pre-quote projects (a job before it is quoted), each with its win % and weighted value (amount × win %), and the totals at the top add both. Switch Me / Everyone, filter by rep, manufacturer, stage, or close month (the filters stay while you open a record and come back), and Export CSV. The Board (the default view) is the pre-quote project pipeline: each project stage is a column with its count, total, weighted total and win %. Move a project by dragging its card to the next stage (press and hold on a phone), with the card's Move menu (⇄, which also reaches Won and Lost), or with Alt+Left / Alt+Right on a focused card; while you drag, a Won / Lost bar appears at the bottom. Start quote on a project card opens a new quote with the project's company, contact and manufacturer filled in, linked to the project when you save it; quotes then move through their own stages on Quotes (its Board view). Click a card to open it, use + under a project stage to start a project there, and pick Sort to order the cards; the page remembers Board or List and your sort. The List shows projects and quotes together: set a win % or expected close right in the row. Cards and the List show Age (days since it was created) and Last touch (the latest call, meeting, email or note on its company in the last 180 days; tasks do not count): pick either in Sort, or click the Age or Last touch heading on the List. Once a quote is linked to a project, the quotes carry it and the project's estimate stops counting, so nothing is counted twice. Each stage's percentage is set in Settings → Picklists.

2.5 Sales

Sales are invoice-level records of what actually shipped and got paid: invoice number and dates, net sales, commission paid, manufacturer, company, territory, part, quantity, and customer PO.

• Create one: click + New Sale, add at least a company or an invoice number, then click Create Sale.
• From a quote: open the quote and click + Create Sale (next to Duplicate; shown while the quote has no sale yet). The form starts with the quote's company, manufacturer and total, today's invoice date and the company's territory, and shows the quote's line items; change anything, then click Create Sale to link the sale to the quote. Moving a quote to Won also creates its sale automatically, with no invoice date, from the quote's saved lines and total; a new quote saved as Won in the quote builder gets its sale the same way, once its lines are saved.
• Line items: a sale made from a quote (either way) gets a copy of the quote's lines, shown under Line Items on the sale's Overview. Optional lines are left off, as they are in the quote total. The copy is taken when the sale is made: later edits to the quote do not change it, and deleting the quote keeps it.
• Import in bulk: Actions menu → Import CSV or Import Excel; the same menu has Bulk Edit Selected and filtered exports.
• Open a sale: the fullscreen workspace lands on Home, with tabs for the linked company, quotes, commissions, documents, and history.

2.6 Products (Pricing → Price Sheets)

Products are your SKU catalog: manufacturer plus part number (both required), description, pricing (list, stock, price code), unit of measure, stock levels, and reorder settings. They live under Pricing → Price Sheets.

• Create one: click + New Product, fill manufacturer and part number, then click Save Product.
• Find records: Search products...; the filter toggle here is labeled Advanced.
• Track variants: inside a product record, Add Product Variant captures size, color, pack count, and similar attributes (Save Variant); a parallel Add Channel Listing form tracks sales channels.
• Open a product: tabs include Product 360 (with a computed record-health score), Match Center (duplicate signals), Pricing, Channels, Documents, and History.

2.7 Manufacturers

Manufacturers are the principal lines you represent: name, territory, regional manager, phone, location, expected-sales targets, and terms.

• Create one: click + New Manufacturer; only the name is required. Click Create Manufacturer.
• Set targets: in a manufacturer record's Targets area, Add Target records year- or month-level expected sales used in Analytics comparisons (Save Target). Only admins and super admins can add or change targets — the form says so on screen.
• Open a manufacturer: a focused record with Overview, Edit, Targets, Documents, and History tabs.

2.8 Activities

Activities are your team's shared record of customer touchpoints — notes, trainings, calls, emails, and meetings — shown as one feed, laid out like a company's Activity tab but covering every company. Posts can mention teammates with @, tag topics with #, and link to a company, contact, quote, or manufacturer.

• Log one: click + Add a note, call, meeting, or email (New Activity in the top bar's quick-create menu opens it too, already linked to the company or contact you were on), pick the type (+ Note, + Training & Events, + Call, + Meeting, + Email), add a subject and the details, link the company, contact, quote, or manufacturer it is about, then click Save. Nothing is saved until you click Save.
• Calls come with a follow-up: a logged call gets a follow-up date 3 business days out (weekends skipped, no reminder), the same rule as trade-show leads. In a record's activity composer, picking Call fills in the Follow-up Date so you can change or clear it before saving; on a quote or sale, a call saved with the date left blank gets the 3-day follow-up. The follow-up shows in your Due Today and Overdue queues until you mark the call complete.
• Find history: the type bubbles above the feed (Note, Training, Call, Email, Meeting, each with its count) show or hide each type, Search posts... filters the cards, and the date presets narrow the range; CSV / XLSX export buttons sit at the top. Click a card to open it beneath the card; the trash button on a card deletes it.

2.9 Commissions

Commissions track payouts per sale, organized by payment month. Each row carries invoice and payment dates, manufacturer, company, territory, net sales, multiplier, commission amount, status, and source report. The module appears in your navigation only if your role includes commissions access.

• Switch periods: the sidebar has a month picker and view modes — All Commissions, By Territory, By Source Report.
• Generate rows from Sales: the Actions menu's Calculate Commissions computes the current month's commission rows from your sales data.
• Import manufacturer reports: in the Import Reports area, click Add Reports to stage spreadsheet or PDF commission reports, review and edit the Staged Reports rows, then click Upload Reviewed Rows.
• Add a one-off row: + New Commission (invoice number required) → Create Commission.
• Protected financial fields: Invoice No., Net Sales, Multiplier, and Commission are read-only until unlocked with the commission edit password (Unlock button on the record) — everyone can see the values; only unlocked users can change them.

2.10 Analytics

Analytics is the reporting dashboard. Two data modes (Sales and Commissions) cross three report views — Dashboard (KPI cards, actual-vs-target chart, monthly performance table, top gains and losses, breakdown table), Scoreboard (team scoreboard with top customers and manufacturers, gains and losses), and Executive (leadership snapshot, concentration and risk, momentum, top reps/territories/manufacturers/product families). Sticky summary tiles show Actual, Target, Variance, and row counts.

• Slice the data: pick the year, group by Customer, Manufacturer, Territory, or Location, narrow with the Territories / Manufacturers / Customers filter panels (each searchable, with select-all and clear), set a from/to date range, or roll up parent/child records with the Hierarchy checkbox. The toolbar ✕ clears the filters.
• Save your view: click Save View, name it, and reapply it any time from the Saved views dropdown; a settings toggle lets you show or hide each dashboard section.
• Drill through: clicking a customer row in the breakdown deep-links to that company's records.

2.11 Inventory

Inventory tracks stock items — item name, manufacturer, part number, bin location, assignee — with per-location balances (On Hand, Reserved, Inbound, Damaged, Unavailable) and a full movement history. Summary cards flag Needs Reorder, Out of Stock, Missing Bin, and more, and the toolbar links to Orders & Fulfillment and Replenishment views.

• Add an item: click + New Inventory and fill in the item editor.
• Move stock: open an item, go to Stock Actions, enter a Quantity, and click Receive Stock, Remove Stock, Transfer Bin, or Assign Owner. A barcode workflow (Scan UPC, QR, or SKU, including Camera Scan) supports scan-driven receiving, moves, counts, and lookups.
• Export: Export CSV / Export Excel from the toolbar.

2.12 Samples

Samples is a loan tracker for demo units: each sample has a stock status, a workflow state (requested → approved → checked out → returned), an assignee, and a return-due date that flags overdue loans. The module is visible to designated roles, and only users selected in settings can make changes — viewers see: "You can view samples, but only users selected in settings can change them."

• Borrow one: open a sample and click Request Sample; an editor approves it with Approve Request (or checks it out directly with Assign To Me) and closes the loop later with Return To Shelf.
• Work in bulk: select rows and use Assign Selected to Me or Return Selected.
• Import/export: editors can Import CSV / Excel; everyone can Export CSV, Export Excel, or Export PDF.

2.13 Multiplier (Pricing → Multiplier)

Multiplier is the customer-pricing rule book: each row maps a company and manufacturer to a price multiplier, price code, and tier, so quotes price correctly per customer. It lives under Pricing → Multiplier, and the Pricing tab appears in navigation only for users whose role includes Multiplier access (or Price Sheets access).

• Add a rule: click + Add Record and fill in the company, manufacturer, and multiplier details — or click any row and edit the fields directly in the record panel.
• Bulk maintain: the Actions menu has Import CSV, Import Excel, and filtered CSV/Excel exports.

2.14 Also in your workspace

• Calendar — a workspace calendar view.
• Tasks and Action Items — follow-up and to-do queues; activities can carry follow-up tasks, including recurring ones. On Tasks, click + New Task (or New Task in the top bar's quick-create menu): the Activities page opens its composer as Add Task. Add a subject, link a company or contact (from a company or contact it is already linked), set the due date, reminder and Assigned to, then click Save.
• Smart List — saved cross-module list building.
• Documents — a document library; records also attach documents on their Documents tabs.
• Notifications — the bell in the top bar collects mentions and updates, with Mark all read and a full /notifications page.
• Settings → Integrations — a hub for connecting external tools such as Outlook and Dropbox (availability varies by workspace).

3. Team and workspace administration

• User management lives at Settings → Users and is restricted to super admins ("Only super admins can open this settings area.").
• Invite a teammate: click + Add User, fill in User Name, pick a Role and optional Profile, set Status (Active/Inactive) and Access Level (Super Admin, Admin, or User), enter the Email Address, tick any feature access (Commissions tab, Multiplier tab, Tags tab), and click Save User. The teammate receives an email invitation and sets their password via the Set your password page. If your plan has no free seat, the invite shows Choose a plan to invite your team, which opens Settings → Billing.
• Roles: three access levels (Super Admin, Admin, User) with named role presets — CRM User, Sales Support, Sales Manager, Operations Admin, and Super Admin — that bundle permissions like viewing commissions, managing settings, exporting records, and deleting documents. Admins can tune role presets under Settings → Roles.
• Change someone's access: click their row to open User Details, adjust Role, Access level, assigned territories and manufacturers, then Save changes.
• Remove someone: click Remove on their row (or open User Details), choose who takes over in Move their open work to, then click Remove user. Their companies, contacts, open leads, open quotes, open opportunity projects and open activities move to that person; closed leads and quotes, completed activities and sales and commission credit keep their name. The confirmation shows what will move and requires an approval reason. They are deactivated, not erased, and no longer use a paid seat. Removing someone who is already Inactive (or whose access has ended) still moves their open work and clears their membership and admin rights, but they stay listed under Inactive and can be set Active again. Inviting another super admin also requires an extra confirmation step.
• Changes, sign-ins and record opens are audit-logged. Super admins review them under Settings → Audit Trail; admins see each user's recent app activity, browser and trusted devices under Settings → Login History.

4. Plans and billing

• TEC World is one plan, priced per user per month: 120 USD per user per month before any discount, with everything included — every module, API access and outbound webhooks, and priority support. Any discount that applies to you, including a discount code entered at checkout, is shown on your Billing page and at checkout.
• Billing is processed securely by Stripe. TEC World never stores your card details.
• Workspace admins manage the subscription at Settings → Billing: the seat count, and a Manage billing button that opens the secure Stripe billing portal for payment method, invoices, and cancellation.
• During the founding-member period, self-serve checkout may not yet be enabled for your workspace — the billing page shows plans for reference and our team handles subscription setup with you directly.

5. Troubleshooting

5.1 Can't sign in

• Confirm you are using the work email your workspace administrator set you up with.
• Use Forgot your password? → Send reset link; check spam for the reset email.
• If the reset link says it is invalid or expired, request a new one — links are single-use, time-limited, and work only in the browser where you requested them.
• Still stuck? Contact support (Section 7) and include your workspace name.

5.2 Is TEC World down?

• If the app will not load, check your internet connection and try again in a minute. If the problem persists, email support (Section 7) — include the time and what you were doing, and we will investigate.

5.3 Billing issues

• Payment declined or plan questions: contact support with your workspace name. Card details are handled entirely by Stripe; we cannot see or edit your card directly.

5.4 Something looks wrong / data issue

• "Records are missing" is usually a filter: click the ✕ (clear filters) on the list's toolbar, and check the date-range sidebar — presets like Last 30 Days hide older records; choose All Dates to see everything.
• On Commissions, check the sidebar month picker — the list shows one payment period at a time.
• A quote showing "No company linked" was imported without a company connection; open the quote to link the right company.
• The Contacts Type column distinguishes contacts from leads — records created as leads can appear there marked Lead.
• Anything else unexpected: report it to support with the page URL and what you expected to see.

6. Security and data protection

• All traffic is encrypted in transit (TLS), and customer data is encrypted at rest.
• Each customer's workspace is isolated at the database layer with per-tenant row-level security.
• Security-relevant actions, sign-ins and record opens are audit-logged; super admins can review the trail under Settings → Audit Trail.
• Database backups with tested restore procedures protect against data loss.
• Payment card data is held by Stripe, our PCI-compliant payment processor — it never touches TEC World.
• Questions about security or data handling: contact us (Section 7). Our privacy notice: /privacy.

7. Support and contact

• Email: support@jmcmahanllc.com
• Help Center: /help — searchable support topics and direct contact links.
• Product updates: see our changelog at /changelog.