Clients and contacts
Client-centric work is the point of InHive. Projects group under a client. Reporting and invoices roll up there.
Two different records. Do not put a client contact in People — People is the hive roster (logins).
| Record | What it is | Login? |
|---|---|---|
| Client | The company you bill | No |
| Contact | An external person (usually a requester) | No |
Clients (managers)
Section titled “Clients (managers)”Open Clients in the left rail (building icon). Click a company to open their file: projects, support people, and the retainer live there. + still adds a client.
Required: company name, a main contact person, and their email. Phone and billing address are optional. The billing address prefills the “bill to” on a new invoice draft. Edit those on the file under Details.
The name you see on a project is the company, falling back to the person’s name if company is empty.
The list has this month’s hours. Time report on the list or the file is the sheet you send a client: pick the company first (skipped from the file), then their retainer cycle — or a month, quarter, or custom window. Used-versus-over hours and ticket names. Print the report or export a ticket CSV. Per-entry minutes are a separate CSV when they ask.
Keep the client active while you are working with them. Deactivating does not delete projects. It stops using that company as a live billing target.
Why the client matters
Section titled “Why the client matters”- Project list and pulse group under it.
- Invoices and retainers attach to it.
- Attention can flag a client gone quiet (no public comment, email, or project call for a while).
A project can exist without a client. Most should not — invoicing and quiet-client signals get weaker.
Contacts
Section titled “Contacts”Contacts live with the support desk.
- Created by hand, or automatically when an unknown address emails the hive’s support inbox.
- The same email cannot exist twice in one hive.
- Link a contact to a client so inbound mail and tickets know which company they belong to.
- A ticket can also pick a client on its own (create and the drawer), even when the requester is not linked.
A contact is not a user. They cannot sign in. Public ticket replies can go back out by email to that address.