FAQ for production teams using Flightcase

What is Flightcase?

Flightcase is a communication-first production platform for rental shops, warehouse teams, crew coordinators, and event operators. It connects quoting, inventory, shows, crew, and internal coordination in one operational system.

Who is Flightcase for?

Flightcase is built for live production companies, AV providers, rental houses, theaters, touring teams, and lean event operations that need one place to run jobs from the first quote through returns and follow-up.

How do I get started?

Start by choosing a plan, verifying your email code, building your gear and labor catalog, and sending a first quote. From there you can convert approved work into invoices, show records, warehouse prep, and crew workflows.

What changed recently?

Recent work added general crew availability requests, monthly availability calendars in Crew Quarters, clearer crew scheduling and call workflows, multi-date calendar holds, stronger show-file visibility controls, equipment kits, quote templates, and continued quote, invoice, warehouse, and mobile improvements.

What can I do on the Free plan?

The Free plan is meant for solo operators kicking the tires. You can build quotes, manage a basic catalog, send client approval links, and test the core workflow before bringing in a bigger team.

How does signup work?

Signup starts with plan selection, then uses an email verification code before the workspace is created. Staging can expose a test code for internal QA without changing the production flow.

How does billing work?

Paid plans are billed monthly. Team and Pro workspaces are self-serve. Enterprise setups stay support-managed so pricing, onboarding, and seat sizing match the operation.

Can I change plans later?

Yes. You can move between plans as your team grows. If you need a larger rollout, custom seats, or onboarding help, support can handle the transition with you.

How do quotes become live jobs or shows?

Quotes can be approved through the client portal, converted into invoices, and linked to show and warehouse workflow. Multiple quotes and invoices can live on the same show while the primary commercial document remains clear.

Can I organize documents by section?

Yes. The builder supports department-aware sections, custom sections, drag and drop between sections, compact section headers, and click-to-edit section titles.

Can I manage custom pricing, tax, and discounts?

Yes. Flightcase supports line-item pricing, document discounts, section-level discounts, separate discount and tax controls, and clearer percent-versus-dollar discount mode controls.

Can I control how much pricing a client sees?

Yes. Display modes let you show detailed pricing, detailed items without line pricing, or section totals only, depending on how you want the quote or invoice to read.

Can clients approve quotes online?

Yes. Clients can review and approve quotes through a shareable approval link. Quote sends and approvals are tied to a specific revision so older forwarded links do not quietly change underneath a client.

Can I save quote changes without clients seeing them?

Yes. Quote builder saves are internal drafts by default. A client approval link is tied to a specific saved revision, so later internal edits do not change what the client sees until you intentionally push a new client version or send a fresh link.

How are quote revisions protected from clients?

Flightcase stores immutable quote revision snapshots. Internal saves create revision history for your team, but only revisions marked as client-visible, generated into a live link, or sent to the client are exposed through the portal. Approved links stay tied to the version the client approved.

How do invoice saves work?

Invoices save into the builder and keep revision history for the workspace. Client invoice links are share-controlled separately from editing, so teams can keep refining an invoice internally and share it only when it is ready.

What happens if two people edit the same document?

The builder includes edit presence, section activity badges, and stale-save protection. If an older tab is about to overwrite newer work, Flightcase warns the editor and gives an intentional force-save path.

Can invoices show case contents or replacement values?

Yes. Invoices and pull sheets can show case contents when useful, and invoice builders can control whether replacement values appear. Case item details can also be collapsed so builder rows stay readable.

Can I quote and invoice in a currency other than US dollars?

Yes. Workspaces can be set to USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, or AUD, and tax is labeled appropriately for the region so VAT reads as VAT where that applies. Documents record their currency when created, so historical quotes and invoices keep rendering the way they were issued.

Can I build show files in Flightcase?

Yes. Show records can hold venue info, run-of-show milestones, linked docs, crew context, and production notes so internal teams have one operational reference.

Can I assign workspace users to a specific show?

Yes. Admins already have every show, and admins can assign staff, PMs, warehouse users, or viewers to individual shows with show-level roles and capability checkboxes.

What can a show PM do?

A PM is a paid workspace user designed for show-scoped work. When assigned to a show, they can be allowed to create and send docs, add expenses, manage crew, upload files, and participate in show messages without getting global admin access.

Can I add expenses from a show?

Yes. Show-scoped expense entry is available from the show view so operational costs can be captured in the same place the team is already working.

Can crew access their own event information?

Yes. Crew-facing flows let people see the information you choose to share, confirm calls, and stay aligned without exposing the full back-office system.

Can I ask crew for availability before making a booking?

Yes. From the crew roster or calendar, you can request general availability for a date range, optionally add a day or night shift preference and a note, then select crew by search or role. Crew can answer each requested date as available or unavailable.

Can crew maintain their own availability calendar?

Yes. Crew Quarters includes a monthly availability calendar where each person can mark dates available, unavailable, or leave them unset. Requested availability windows also appear there so responses and general preferences stay close together.

Does an availability response book the crew member?

No. General and monthly availability are planning signals, not confirmed bookings. Event assignments and call confirmations remain separate so a coordinator can distinguish who may be free from who is actually booked.

How do crew confirm or decline an event call?

After a crew member is assigned to a show, the crew-facing call flow lets them confirm availability or say they are not available. That event response is separate from their general availability calendar.

Does Flightcase handle calendars and scheduling?

Yes. Flightcase includes a production calendar, show-specific scheduling surfaces, and Gantt-style calendar alignment improvements so teams can see what is coming and what still needs attention.

Can I manage warehouse prep and returns?

Yes. Flightcase is built to support prep, pull sheets, scan workflows, returns, and operational visibility between warehouse and production.

Do pull sheets support department grouping?

Yes. Pull-sheet and scan workflows can be organized by department so teams can move through prep in the same structure they use on the floor.

Can I track serialized gear and asset tags?

Yes. Inventory supports serialized units, asset tags, case groupings, and scan workflows so physical gear can stay tied to the job data.

Can case contents appear on builder rows and documents?

Yes. Standard case contents can appear as builder subrows, on invoices, in client-facing invoice views, and on pull sheets. You can hide case contents per document when the extra detail is not needed.

Does Flightcase support phone scanning?

Yes. The current scanner foundation includes smartphone QR scanning, serialized unit and case QR identity, mobile scan mode, scan audit logging, and groundwork for dedicated scanner workflows.

What communication tools are built in?

Flightcase includes internal comms and show-specific communication surfaces so updates, operational chatter, and production context stay closer to the work itself.

Can I share event files with crew?

Yes. Show files and linked resources can be marked crew-visible when they are added, and that visibility can be changed later. Crew-limited event and mobile file flows only return files that have been shared with crew.

Can I keep a file internal and share it later?

Yes. Files can remain internal, be shared with crew, or be shared with clients. The show workspace displays those audience states and lets an authorized user turn crew or client visibility on and off as the job changes.

How does that make crew communication easier?

Schedules, notes, updates, and crew-visible files stay attached to the event instead of being resent through separate email and text threads. The team has fewer handoffs, and the person updating the show controls which information is ready to share.

Are internal comms realtime?

Internal comms use a React workspace, a session-authenticated API, SSE-backed room refresh, active-chat delta refresh, and unread hardening, including thread replies.

Does Flightcase send mobile push notifications?

The mobile API supports push token registration and notification routing, and push payloads now include message previews so mobile alerts are more useful at a glance.

Does SMS work yet?

The SMS foundation is in place with Twilio configuration, outbound logging, inbound/status webhooks, an admin test surface, workspace feature flags, and privacy/terms language. Crew alerts, consent polish, and delivery visibility are the next product slices.

Can I keep client-facing and internal communication separate?

Yes. Flightcase is designed so internal-only notes and channels stay separate from what gets shared out to crew or clients.

Can I invite other users into my workspace?

Yes. Workspaces support multiple users with role-based access so you can add admins, staff, PMs, warehouse users, and viewers as the operation grows.

How are workspace roles different?

Admins control the workspace, staff can work broadly without admin controls, PMs are show-scoped operators, warehouse users focus on warehouse workflows, and viewers get light-touch read access. Crew are managed through roster and show-call flows rather than as workspace users by default.

Can I control who sees financial data?

Yes. Admins always have financial access, staff and other regular roles can be controlled with finance visibility where allowed, and PM users do not receive financial visibility by default.

Can I reset my password?

Yes. Workspace login includes a forgot-password flow so users can request a reset link by email without opening a support ticket first.

Can I run more than one office or location?

Multiple offices are available as an optional add-on. When enabled, a workspace can hold several offices with a top-bar switcher, and each office can carry its own currency. Workspaces that do not need it are unaffected and keep working as a single office.

How should I evaluate Flightcase against my current tools?

Start with one real project and trace the handoffs from quote approval through show setup, crew, files, warehouse preparation, invoicing, and closeout. The useful comparison is how many records need to be rebuilt or resent, not simply which product has the longest feature list.

Can I book a workflow-specific demo?

Yes. The demo request form lets you choose quotes, crew, inventory, warehouse, projects, billing, or the complete quote-to-show workflow so the walkthrough can focus on your operation.

What information should we prepare before onboarding?

A practical starting set is your equipment and labor catalog, departments, common quote sections, user roles, crew roster, warehouse location, tax and currency settings, and one representative project.

Can we start with one workflow instead of moving everything at once?

Yes. Teams can begin with quoting, inventory, crew, or a controlled group of projects, then expand once the working conventions are clear. A phased rollout is often easier to verify than a broad migration.

How long does implementation take?

Implementation time depends on catalog size, data quality, workflow complexity, and the number of users involved. A small team with a clean catalog can start quickly; larger operations should plan time for data review, roles, testing, and team training.

How is access controlled?

Flightcase uses workspace roles, show-scoped assignments, capability controls, financial visibility settings, client links, crew-facing access, and file audience controls so different users do not need the same level of access.

Does Flightcase support privacy and security controls?

Flightcase includes secure sessions, CSRF protection, throttling, role-based access, audit-oriented records, privacy request workflows, consent-aware public analytics, and protected file and client-sharing paths. Security requirements should still be reviewed against your organization’s specific policies during evaluation.

Can Flightcase replace payroll, HR, Paycom, or Tripleseat?

No. Flightcase coordinates production work, crew availability and calls, project context, quotes, inventory, warehouse operations, invoices, and communication. It does not claim to replace payroll, HR, Paycom, Tripleseat, or a complete venue-management system.

How do I contact support?

Use the Support page to submit a ticket. Include the issue type, urgency, and enough detail for the team to reproduce the problem or understand the operational need.

What kinds of issues should I submit?

Billing questions, bug reports, feature requests, account access problems, user permission questions, quote or invoice issues, mobile app problems, SMS/comms issues, and workflow questions are all good fits for the support queue.

Can I check a ticket after submitting it?

Yes. The Support Status page lets you look up a ticket by reference and email address, then view its current status and reply history.

How fast does support respond?

Normal requests are typically reviewed within one business day. Urgent operational issues should be marked urgent so the team can triage them more quickly.