Getting Started

Core Concepts

Understand the fundamental concepts and architecture that power ACME Company.

Understanding these core concepts will help you make the most of ACME Company and use it effectively for your team's needs.

Architecture Overview

ACME Company is built around four main concepts that work together seamlessly:

Workspaces - Your team's central hub
Projects - Organized work containers
Workflows - Customizable process flows
Integrations - Connected ecosystem

Workspaces

A workspace is your team's central hub where all collaboration happens. Think of it as your organization's digital headquarters.

Key characteristics

Single source of truth for all team activity
Unified permissions and security settings
Shared integrations across all projects
Consolidated billing and usage analytics

Most teams need only one workspace, but larger organizations often create separate workspaces for different departments or business units.

Workspace structure

Your Company Workspace
├── Projects/
│   ├── Product Launch Q1
│   ├── Marketing Campaign
│   └── Engineering Sprint 23
├── Team Members/
│   ├── Admins (full access)
│   ├── Members (create & edit)
│   └── Viewers (read-only)
├── Integrations/
│   ├── Slack
│   ├── GitHub
│   └── Google Calendar
└── Settings/
    ├── Security & Permissions
    ├── Billing & Usage
    └── Branding & Customization

Projects

Projects are containers for related work. They help organize tasks, conversations, and files around a specific goal or initiative.

Project types and use cases

Use case: Building and launching new features or products

Typical workflow: Ideation → Design → Development → Testing → Launch

Common features:

Feature specifications and requirements
Design mockups and prototypes
Development tasks and bug tracking
Testing checklists and QA processes
Launch coordination and rollout plans

Project lifecycle

Planning phase: Define goals, scope, and initial tasks
Active phase: Team collaboration and task execution
Review phase: Quality assurance and stakeholder approval
Completion phase: Delivery and retrospective analysis
Archive phase: Historical reference and learnings

Workflows

Workflows define how work moves through your process. Every project can have custom workflows that match your team's methodology.

Common workflow patterns

Kanban Workflow:
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Backlog │→│ To Do   │→│In Progress│→│  Done   │
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Best for: Continuous flow work
Examples: Support tickets, ongoing maintenance

Sprint Workflow:
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│Planning │→│Development│→│ Testing │→│ Review  │→│Deployed │
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Best for: Software development cycles
Examples: Feature development, bug fixes

Content Review Workflow:
┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐
│ Draft   │→│ Review  │→│Revisions│→│Approved │→│Published│
└─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘

Best for: Content creation and approval
Examples: Blog posts, marketing materials

Workflow automation

Set up automatic actions to reduce manual work:

Auto-assign tasks based on type or creator
Send notifications when tasks enter specific stages
Update status when related tasks are completed
Create follow-up tasks automatically
Archive completed work after a set time

Team Collaboration

Roles and permissions

ACME Company uses a flexible role-based system:

Permission	Viewer	Member	Admin	Owner
View projects	✅	✅	✅	✅
Create tasks	❌	✅	✅	✅
Edit any task	❌	✅	✅	✅
Manage projects	❌	❌	✅	✅
Workspace settings	❌	❌	❌	✅
Billing & usage	❌	❌	❌	✅

Communication patterns

@mention team members in comments to ensure they see important updates. Use @everyone sparingly to avoid notification fatigue.

Real-time collaboration:

Live cursor tracking when multiple people edit
Instant comment notifications and responses
Automatic conflict resolution for simultaneous edits
Activity feeds showing recent team actions

Asynchronous collaboration:

Detailed comment threads on tasks and projects
File attachments and link sharing
Status updates and progress reports
Email summaries for offline team members

Integrations Ecosystem

Native integrations

ACME Company connects with tools your team already uses:

Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord
Development: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jira
Design: Figma, Adobe Creative Suite, InVision
Productivity: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Notion
Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude

Integration patterns

How it works: Changes in either platform automatically update the other

Example: GitHub pull requests create tasks in your project, and completing tasks updates the PR status

Benefits:

No duplicate data entry
Single source of truth across tools
Automatic progress tracking

API and webhooks

For custom integrations, use our comprehensive API:

// Example: Create a task via API
const response = await fetch('https://api.acme.com/v1/tasks', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: 'Review API documentation',
    project_id: 'proj_123',
    assignee_id: 'user_456',
    due_date: '2024-02-15',
    priority: 'high'
  })
});

const task = await response.json();
console.log('Task created:', task.id);