How to switch parts of Tideswell on and off

Settings › Modules decides which parts of Tideswell your workspace has. The page opens with "Everything Tideswell can do is listed here. Your operating model set the starting point; you decide the rest." Switching a module off takes it out of the menu and never deletes anything inside it.

Before you start

Settings is for admins only, so this page is an admin's job. See What is workspace admin?.

What is an operating model?

The Operating model section at the top answers two questions: how you get product, and whether you also sell wholesale. Your answers set the starting modules, so a brand that does not sell wholesale does not begin with a Wholesale menu.

How you get product is one of three cards:

• Reseller (Multi-brand retailer): you buy finished goods from brands you do not own and sell them on.
• Brand owner (DTC brand, finished goods): you design and own the product, and a factory makes it and ships it to you finished. This is Fairgreen Golf Co.
• Vertically integrated (DTC manufacturer): you make what you sell, from components you buy.

The Also sells wholesale switch sits below the cards. Pick a card first: until you do, the switch is greyed out with the hint "Choose how you get product first."

What happens when you change the model?

Nothing changes until you confirm. Picking another card, or flipping Also sells wholesale, opens a dialog titled with the model's name, such as Change to DTC brand, finished goods?

The dialog lists what is Switching on, what is Switching off, and any background work that Also stops. Read it, then press Change model, or Cancel to leave everything as it was.

Does a model change override my own switches?

No. A module you switched by hand keeps its setting when the model changes later. The dialog names each one under Your own choices stay.

The line under the operating model shows your current model and how many modules you have changed from its defaults. Reset to model defaults throws away your own changes and goes back to what the model says, for a clean slate.

How are modules grouped?

Into Core, Commerce, Supply, Manufacturing and Wholesale. Each group's header shows how many of its modules are on.

A badge on each row says where its setting came from:

• Always on: Home, Chat and Tasks. These stay on in every workspace.
• From your model: on because your operating model switches it on.
• On by default: on because no operating model has been chosen yet.
• Changed: somebody switched it by hand.

What does each module add?

Each module adds menu rows, and some also run work in the background. Switch one on and its rows appear for everyone who has permission to use them.

• Documents: Work › Documents. See What are documents?.
• Automations: Brain › Automations and Brain › Workflows, and every automation and published workflow in the workspace, including task due-date reminders. See What are automations?.
• Brain: lets the Agent suggest changes for a person to approve, and runs the Agent in chat. See How to approve, refuse or undo a suggested change.
• Store: the Selling area, starting with Selling › Analytics and Selling › Inventory. Every Buying row also needs it. See What is Store analytics?.
• Customers: Customers › Customers. See What is the Customers area?.
• Brief: the daily brief and its email. See How to read your updates and the daily brief.
• Decisions: Brain › Decisions. See What are decisions and track records?.
• Reports: Selling › Reports, and the report emails people schedule from it. See How to build, save and schedule a report.
• Special orders: Selling › Special orders, and register sales noted SPL becoming special orders. See What are special orders?.
• Suppliers: Buying › Suppliers. See How to add and set up a supplier.
• Purchase orders: Buying › Purchase orders, Buying › Bills, Buying › Approvals, Buying › Buying calendar and Selling › Stock value. See What are suppliers and purchase orders?.
• Production orders: Buying › Production orders. See How to run a production order.
• Bills of materials: Buying › Bills of materials. See How to keep a bill of materials.
• Inventory: Selling › Counts, which also needs Store, plus stock count sign-off notifications and the Low stock alert. See How to count your stock.
• Forecasting: Selling › Demand and the Settings › Forecasting row, plus the nightly demand numbers. See How to read demand and set your forecast.
• Wholesale orders: Wholesale › Orders and Wholesale › Accounts. See What is wholesale?.
• Invoices: Wholesale › Invoices. Switch Wholesale orders on as well. See How to invoice a wholesale order and record payment.

Approvals has no switch of its own. It comes with Purchase orders, and it also lists stock count sign-offs while Store and Inventory are both on.

What happens when you switch one off?

Switching a module on happens at once. Switching one off first opens a dialog titled Turn off and the module's name, which lists what Stops running and what is Kept, and back the moment you switch it on again.

Press Turn it off to go ahead, or Keep it on. The module leaves the menu for everybody and its background work stops. Nothing inside it is deleted, and switching it back on returns everything as it was.

What stops depends on the module. These are the ones with the most behind them:

• Automations stops every automation in the workspace, including task due-date reminders, and every workflow you have published. The Agent in chat and its check-ins on late tasks, scheduled report emails and register special orders all run as automations, so they stop too. Shopify data keeps syncing.
• Purchase orders stops the late purchase order alert, the overdue supplier bills alert, the sweep that scores a purchase order against what it promised, and approval notifications.
• Store stops the fulfilment backlog alert, the notable order alert, the check that store data is fresh, and order push alerts.
• Brain stops the Agent suggesting changes, the Agent in chat with its check-ins on late tasks, and the nightly check for what needs attention.
• Inventory takes Counts out of the menu and stops the low-stock alert, its push alerts and stock count sign-off notifications. Stock levels stay browsable in Selling › Inventory.
• Forecasting stops the demand numbers refreshing.

What should you switch off?

The parts you do not use, because an unused module is a menu row that makes Tideswell harder to learn. A brand that does not sell wholesale needs no Wholesale rows, and a workspace with no Shopify store needs no Store.

Use permissions, not modules, to hide something from certain people. A module is on for everybody or off for everybody; How to set who can do what decides who sees what.

What changes for people when a module goes off?

Anything that depended on it changes straight away, so tell the team before you switch one off in a busy workspace.

An automation whose module is off records a skipped run that says the module is switched off, as How to check whether an automation worked shows. The Agent's starter topics leave out a switched-off module, and so do the digest buttons on the iPhone app's Home tab.

When somebody reports a missing button, this page is the first place to look. See Why a button or section is missing.