Creating an Event

Every project in BackOps starts with an event. A short guided wizard captures what the platform needs to get started, and then the event is ready to be built out with areas, collaborators, crew, and everything else that follows.

Starting the Creation Flow

From the main Events page inside your organization, click Add event in the toolbar above the events table. This opens the Create event wizard. If your organization has no active license yet, the button reads Buy license instead, and you purchase a license before creating an event.

The wizard has up to four steps: Basics, Intake, Setup, and Review. The Intake step only appears when the event type you choose has an intake form. Use Continue to move forward and Back to return to an earlier step, or jump back to a step you have already completed from the step list at the top of the wizard.

Basics

The first step asks for the event's name, its type, and its license.

Event Name

The event name is how this event will appear throughout the platform: in your events list, in navigation, and in any shared views. Choose a name that will be clear and recognizable to everyone who will be working on the event.

Event Type

An event type is a kind of job your organization runs, such as a full production, a rental, or a labor-only call. Types are set up by your organization admins, and each one decides which attributes and roles the event captures, which intake questions get asked, and which base template the event is built from. Once you pick a type, the wizard tells you whether it has an intake form and whether a base template sets up the event's structure.

Choosing a type is recommended. If you leave Event type empty, the event is created without one, shown as No type (freeform) on the Review step. A freeform event has no intake form and no automation, which makes it mostly useful for building a template or trying things out. You can give an event a type later from event settings. To learn what types are and why they matter, see Event Types.

Changing the type after you have moved past Basics clears the intake answers and template inputs you entered, since those belong to the previous type.

License

Each event requires a license, which determines what features and capabilities are available within that event. You select from the licenses your organization has already purchased. When only one license is available, it is selected for you.

Intake

When the type has an intake form, the Intake step shows its questions in order. Intake forms are internal: they are answered by whoever creates or is responsible for the event, not by clients. Depending on how your organization admins set up the type, your answers can fill in attributes, fill roles, and decide which parts of the base template get built.

You do not have to finish the intake before moving on. You can continue to Setup and come back to the questions later. The event cannot be created until every question marked required is answered, and when the form has Require all turned on, every question must be answered. File questions are skipped during intake.

Setup

Setup is where the event's configuration comes together.

At the top, the Template group collects what the template needs. A typed event is built from its type's base template, so you fill in any template inputs it asks for here. Inputs the type already maps to an attribute or role are filled automatically and are not shown. For a freeform event, Template (optional) lets you pick a template to apply, or leave it on No template.

Below the template, the type's sections list its attributes and roles, so you can fill in event details and assign people to roles before the event exists. Required items are marked with an asterisk. Required attributes must be filled in before you can continue, and the event cannot be created until every required role is filled. A freeform event shows your organization's attributes in a single Details group instead.

When your intake answers fill in an attribute, that attribute appears read-only under Set by intake. Its value comes from your answers and is applied when the event is created.

The Default Collaborator

Every event requires at least one collaborator from the moment it is created. This is because every person on an event, including the person creating it, must belong to a collaborator. Without one already in place, there would be no group for the creator to belong to.

The first collaborator is called the default collaborator. When the event is built from a template, the template provides it. When no template is used, Setup asks for a Default collaborator name, filled in with your organization's name to start. There is no required convention for what to call it; it should reflect how your organization structures its teams. Common approaches include using a company name, a department name, or a production team name.

Review

Review summarizes what will happen before you commit: the event's name, type, license, and template, your intake answers, and, for types with an intake form, the setup your answers produce, such as template parts that will be skipped, roles marked required, and attributes filled in. If required intake questions are still unanswered, Review lists them with a Go to intake button.

Select Create event to create the event. You are taken directly to its dashboard.

Drafts

A typed event becomes a draft as soon as you continue past Basics. From then on, your attribute values, role assignments, and intake answers save automatically as you work, so closing the wizard loses nothing. When you close it, a Draft saved message appears with a View event link to reopen it.

If you close the wizard before a draft exists, it asks whether you want to exit. You can Discard your progress or Keep editing, and when a type is chosen you can also Save as draft.

Drafts do not expire. They appear on the main events table with a Draft status and Needs intake in the Intake column. Select a draft to resume it: the wizard reopens past Basics with your work in place. A draft without a type opens on Basics so you can choose one first. If you change the type of a draft that already has intake answers, the wizard asks you to confirm with Change event type?, because switching clears those answers.

To drop a draft you no longer need, use Discard draft from its row actions. The draft is archived and its intake progress kept, but it no longer appears as a draft to complete.

After Creating the Event

Once the event is created, the recommended next steps for setting up your event structure are covered in the Getting Started guide.