Appearance
Find your way around Flowstate
This page shows you where things are, so you can find your work on your first day. What you see depends on the parts of Flowstate your organisation uses and what your role lets you do, so your screen may have fewer items than this page describes.
Anyone signed in to Flowstate can do this. To sign in, see Sign in to Flowstate.
The first time you sign in
Flowstate asks three quick questions before you start.
- Under What should we call you?, enter your name and select Next.
- Under Choose a language, select English (UK), English (US) or Português (Portugal), then Next. The screens change language straight away.
- Under Choose a colour scheme, select Light, Dark or Auto (which matches your computer's setting), then Finish.
Flowstate shows All done! and takes you in. You can go Back a step, or select Skip for now on any screen. If you skip without giving your name, Flowstate asks again the next time you open it.
You can change your name, language and colour scheme later. See Manage your profile and security.
Each time you sign in, Flowstate opens on Eddy if your organisation uses it. Otherwise it opens on the last page you used, or on your Inbox.
The sidebar
The sidebar on the left is how you move around Flowstate.
At the top are your own items:
| Item | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Eddy | Ask a question in plain words and get taken to the screen that answers it. See Eddy. |
| Inbox | Tasks and updates waiting for you. The number beside it shows how many. See Inbox. |
| My budget | Your team's budget. |
| My scenarios | Your scenarios, where you try out changes without touching live data. |
| My AI agents | Your own use of AI tools, and requests for access to them. |
Below them are four groups:
| Group | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Delivery | Roadmap, Effort reporting, Functional groups |
| Resourcing | People and teams, Agents & copilots |
| Insights | Analytics & reporting, Agent insights, Business metrics, Engineering insights |
| Finance | Budgets, Capitalisation, Forecast, R&D tax claims |
Many of these open a page with tabs across the top, such as People, Teams and Vacancies under People and teams.
To change the sidebar:
- Fold a group away: select the group's heading. Select it again to open it.
- Hide the whole sidebar: select the sidebar button at the top left of the page (Toggle sidebar), or press Cmd+B on a Mac or Ctrl+B on Windows. Do the same to bring it back.
- Make it wider or narrower: drag its right-hand edge.
Flowstate remembers these choices in your browser.
At the very top of the sidebar is your organisation's name. It opens a menu for your preferences, organisation settings, switching organisation and logging out. At the bottom is a switch between light and dark mode. See Manage your profile and security.
The top bar
Along the top of the page you'll find:
- Plan a scenario, to try out changes in a scenario. See Plan a scenario.
- The bell, which shows how many tasks are waiting for you. See Inbox.
- Ask Eddy (the Eddy icon), which opens Eddy beside the page you're on.
- Help (the question mark), with Documentation to open this help centre, Report an issue to tell Flowstate what went wrong, and Contact support to email Flowstate support. See Get help.
- Who else is online. Pictures of up to three other people from your organisation who are using Flowstate right now, with a number if there are more. Point to them to see their names. You only see this when someone else is online.
- Go back and Go forward arrows, to move between pages you've visited.
Plan a scenario
A scenario is a copy of your plan where you can try changes, like hiring or moving people between teams, without changing live data. See Scenarios.
- Select Plan a scenario in the top bar.
- Select a scenario in the list to work in it. To find one, type in Search scenarios....
- Or, to start a new one, select +, enter a Scenario Name and, if you like, a Description (Optional), then select Create Scenario.
Flowstate takes you into the scenario. You see Plan a scenario only if your organisation uses scenarios, and + only if you can create them.
Inside a scenario:
- The sidebar shows the scenario's own menu, with Exit scenario at the top.
- The top bar has a changes menu (the clipboard icon). It has View All Changes, Compare with... and, for a draft scenario you're allowed to merge, Merge Scenario.
To go back to live data, select Exit scenario, or press Cmd+Shift+M on a Mac or Ctrl+Shift+M on Windows.
Find something in a list
Pages with tabs have a Find in view... box to the right of the tabs.
- Select Find in view....
- Type what you're looking for. The tab you're on narrows to match.
- To clear it, select the X.
Your search is part of the page's link, so if you share the link, the other person sees the same search.
Keyboard shortcuts
To jump to a page, press G, let go, then press the second key within a second and a half.
| Press | To |
|---|---|
| G then I | Open your Inbox |
| G then T | Open your Inbox |
| G then S | Open My scenarios |
| G then R | Open the Roadmap |
| G then F | Open the Forecast |
| G then P | Open People and teams |
| G then D | Open R&D tax claims |
| Cmd+B (Mac) or Ctrl+B (Windows) | Show or hide the sidebar |
| Cmd+Shift+M (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+M (Windows) | Leave the scenario or budget you're working in |
Shortcuts don't work while you're typing in a box or have a window open on top of the page.
Locked and missing items
The sidebar only shows the parts of Flowstate your organisation uses and your role lets you open.
- Something you expected isn't there. Your organisation doesn't use that part of Flowstate, or your role doesn't include it. Ask your Flowstate admin.
- An item has a lock. Your organisation doesn't have that part of Flowstate. Only your organisation's key contacts for billing see locked items. Pointing to one shows Not enabled for your organisation. Selecting it opens a page that explains what it does, with Contact Flowstate to enable, which starts an email to Flowstate. Tabs can be locked in the same way.
If something's not right
The sidebar has disappeared. It's hidden. Press Cmd+B or Ctrl+B, or select the sidebar button at the top left of the page.
A shortcut does nothing. Click an empty part of the page so you're not typing in a box, then try again. Check the key against the table above.
You can't see Plan a scenario. You're already in a scenario, or your organisation doesn't use scenarios.
The welcome questions keep coming back. Enter your name on the first screen.