the engagement team · Scope · v1.1

[Client]
GHL Build Scope

ForClient Lead
[Client]
Prepared byProject Lead
the engagement team
Date2026-05-22
Version1.1 (post-client-review)

Contents

  1. Executive summary
  2. How this delivers what was agreed
  3. What we're building
  4. Build estimate
  5. What's out of scope
  6. What we need from you
  7. Compliance and client responsibilities
  8. Timeline and next steps

Executive summary

This document is the formal scope for replacing Pipedrive with GoHighLevel (GHL) across [Client]'s full operation. It covers the three current business chains (Chain 1, Chain 2, Chain 3), the active member base, and your sponsor, corporate partner, charity, and ambassador relationships.

The build is designed around how you run the business today. It keeps the parts that work, automates the manual chasing that currently eats Client Admin's time, and gives you visibility into where every lead sits without having to hunt for it. It also moves the application form, member onboarding, and renewal handling out of Pipedrive and into a single connected system.

The scope is drawn from the discovery workshop with Project Lead, the Whimsical diagram you and Project Lead built together, and the follow-up review where the architecture was confirmed. Everything below is what the external builder will deliver. Anything not in this document is out of scope unless added by a formal variation.

A note on the engagement shape. This is a scope-only piece of work for the engagement team. We've designed the system; an external builder will execute it. Training Lead from our team returns to run the team training session once the build is complete and verified.

How this delivers what was agreed

The table below maps the commitments in the proposal you approved to where each is covered in this delivery.

Agreed in proposalHow it was delivered
2× 60–90 minute strategy and system design sessionsTwo 90-minute workshops held with Client Lead. The first captured current state, team structure, and growth ambitions. The second worked through the system architecture in detail, using the Whimsical board as the live design canvas.
Deep dive into your current processes, team structure, bottlenecks, and growth goalsCaptured throughout the builder scope: pipeline architecture per chain, BDM ownership routing, custom-field set lifted from Pipedrive, the chain-expansion pattern, and the explicit migration approach.
Strategic mapping of your member pipeline and sponsorship pipeline, with an incremental build approach focused on core priorities firstSeven-pipeline architecture: three application + three active member + one combined Sponsor and Partner. Incremental "add-a-chain" pattern built in for chains 4 and 5.
Review of how your CRM should support lead nurturing, sales flow, follow-up, conversion, and team visibilityCovered across the application journey, the Waitlist Nurture sequence, the auto-lose stale-stage handler, and the smart views per chain.
High-level design of the GoHighLevel framework, based on how your business operates day to dayDelivered as two artefacts: a builder scope document (the technical source of truth) and a system flowchart in HTML and PDF format.
Clear direction for handover to a builder or VA for technical implementationThe builder scope is the handover document — five phases, 27 client-dependency items, compliance disclaimers, an out-of-scope list, and success criteria. A builder can quote off it and execute without coming back to the engagement team.
Scope of exclusions. As agreed in the proposal, this engagement does not include the technical build, workflow implementation, software setup, or ongoing support. Those happen at the builder phase. Training Lead's training session covers the team handover post-build.

What we're building

Seven pipelines covering the full operation

P1 · P2 · P3
Three Application pipelines
Chain 1, Chain 2, Chain 3. Each runs the same 10 stages from initial lead through to vote approval. Kept separate so each chain's BDM has a clean view. When you add a fourth or fifth chain later, the builder duplicates the pattern.
P4 · P5 · P6
Three Active Member pipelines
Chain 1, Chain 2, Chain 3. Each runs Onboarding through Active to Renewal. Members sit at the Active stage indefinitely until they renew or lapse.
P7
One Sponsor and Partner pipeline
Covers paid sponsors (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Executive, Prestige, Elite) plus charities and ambassadors. Tiers are the stages; movement only happens on upgrade or downgrade.
Forms · Calendar · Engine
Plus the cross-cutting layer
Three lead-capture forms, one Interview Calendar with Zoom, automated stale-stage handling, lost-reason routing, Waitlist Nurture sequence, and Documents & Contracts for Policies & Procedures.

Three lead sources brought into GHL

The application journey, automated

When a lead lands, the assigned BDM gets a notification on their phone and a task to call. A short three-email sequence runs in parallel to keep the lead warm. The BDM holds the discovery call by phone and moves the lead through the stages manually as the conversation progresses.

When the BDM books the lead for Visit 1, GHL creates a task for the chain admin to send the Visit Booked email with the Xero invoice attached. We've kept this step manual because Xero remains the invoicing system. GHL then auto-fires a confirmation email on the Monday before the visit date.

If the lead joins after Visit 1 (or after Visit 2 if they wanted a second look), the system auto-sends them the application form link. Completing the form auto-redirects to the interview calendar, where the assigned BDM hosts a 30-minute Zoom interview. After the interview, the BDM gets a task to email you with applicant details. When you decide the outcome, you mark the opportunity Won (Approved) or Lost (Vote Declined). If approved, the system creates a parallel record in the matching Active Member pipeline at the Onboarding stage and fires the welcome sequence.

Member onboarding, simplified

When a new member lands at Onboarding, GHL fires the full set of tasks Client Admin currently runs through manually in Pipedrive. The builder lifts the exact task list from your current Pipedrive setup so nothing is lost in translation. As part of onboarding, the system also sends the new member your Policies and Procedures document via GHL's native Documents & Contracts feature. They sign inside GHL with no external software needed, and the signed copy is stored against their contact record automatically. If they haven't signed after 7 days, the system creates a task for Client Admin to follow up. Once you populate the Membership Start Date on the contact, the system moves the member to Active and creates check-in tasks at 3, 6, and 9 months from the start date.

Renewal handling

Thirty days before a member's Renewal Date, GHL moves them to the Renewal stage and creates a task for the chain admin to send the renewal notice and invoice (generated in Xero). When you update the Membership Renewal Date with the new annual window, the system moves them back to Active automatically. If a member doesn't renew, you mark them Lost and choose between re-engagement nurture or no further marketing.

Sponsor and partner management

Sponsors and partners sit in their tier (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Executive, Prestige, Elite, Charity, Ambassador) indefinitely. You and the BDMs manually update a Last Check-In Date field on the contact whenever you have a meaningful touchpoint. A built-in smart view surfaces anyone you haven't contacted in 30 days. For paid sponsors, a workflow fires 30 days before their Sponsor Renewal Date to remind you to start the renewal conversation.

Calendar setup

One Interview Calendar with all three BDMs configured as hosts (Round Robin). GHL routes each booking to the BDM who owns the prospect's opportunity, so prospects only ever see the right BDM's availability. Each BDM connects their personal Zoom account, and the calendar's meeting location is set to Zoom so a unique link is generated for every booking. Reschedules, cancellations, and no-shows are handled with separate workflow variants so prospects never receive duplicate reminders, and your team never misses a follow-up.

Email, SMS, and per-user signatures

All outbound email runs from a sending subdomain of your domain. We supply the DNS values; Web Vendor adds them. Twilio provides the SMS sender for Australian carriers, registered to your ABN. SMS send costs are billed through Twilio at current Australian rates — review pricing at twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/au. the engagement team does not quote or mark up SMS fees. Each user (you, Client Admin, and the BDMs) gets a professional branded signature with name, role, contact details, and brand assets.

Lost reason routing and Waitlist Nurture

Six standard lost reasons drive what happens next. Five (Not A Business Owner / Double Up Industry / Not A Good Fit / Not Interested / Vote Declined) enter the Waitlist Nurture sequence and remain marketable. One (Do Not Market) is fully suppressed across all channels. The Waitlist Nurture sequence is six emails over several months, with optional SMS sends you can switch on or off. Content is yours to supply during the build.

Stale stage handling, custom fields, reporting

Every stage in the application pipeline has two thresholds: a task threshold (creates a review task for the BDM) and an auto-lose threshold (marks the opportunity Lost if no movement). Custom fields on contacts cover everything Pipedrive currently holds. Dashboards are deferred until GHL has real data flowing through. At launch you get Kanban views per pipeline, smart views per chain, a "Renewal in next 60 days" view, "Sponsors not contacted in 30 days" view, and the Conversations inbox as the daily-use surface.

Data migration from Pipedrive, then big-bang cutover

Active members come across with full fidelity. In-flight applications come across at their current stage. Sponsors and partners are added manually because they aren't stored as structured records in Pipedrive today. Nurture leads, ex-members, and cold leads come across as contacts tagged appropriately. Notes are migrated; email and SMS thread history is not. You and Client Admin clean the nurture export before import and confirm consent status per contact. Big-bang cutover one weekend, Pipedrive switched to read-only the following Monday, kept accessible for reference for 12 months.

Build estimate

The build sizes to ~52 hours end to end. The external builder you select will quote their own number from this scope.

Subtotal hours
~45 hr
Sum of Phase 1–5
+ Contingency (15%)
~7 hr
Pipedrive extraction & AU SMS unknowns
PhaseContentsEst. time
1. FoundationCustom values, fields, tags, 7 pipelines, lost reasons, calendar, 3 forms, template shells, Documents & Contracts~8.5 hours
2. Workflows~26 workflows covering lead intake, application pipeline, member lifecycle, sponsor flows, auto-lose, lost-reason routing, Waitlist Nurture, signed-document webhook~16 hours
3. Pipedrive extractionTemplate migration + reverse-engineer onboarding task set~5 hours
4. Data migration~90 active members, in-flight applications, sponsors (manual), nurture leads, notes~9 hours
5. Testing + handoverEnd-to-end test pass, cutover, handover to Trainer for training~7 hours
Subtotal~45 hours
+ 15% contingency~7 hours
Total estimated build~52 hours
Important: The engagement team’s scope-only work is complete on sign-off of this document. The build hours above are the external builder’s work. Trainer-led post-build training is scoped separately at completion of build (typical 90-min session, recorded).

What's out of scope

To keep the first version focused and deliverable, the following are explicitly not in this phase. They can be added later as variations or future projects.

What we need from you

The detailed list of decisions, inputs, and access we need from you sits in the companion builder scope document under "Client dependencies." It contains 27 items in total. The big-ticket ones are:

  1. GHL account provisioning via the engagement team’s affiliate link, set up under your name. You pay HighLevel directly each month. Minimum plan tier: Unlimited.
  2. BDM identities for each of the three chains. Can be the same person across multiple chains or different people.
  3. Brand assets. Logo, brand colours, fonts. Plus per-BDM details (name, role, direct phone, social links) for the email signatures.
  4. Sending email subdomain picked by you, with DNS records added by Web Vendor. We supply the exact values.
  5. ABN and business details for Twilio Australia SMS sender registration. Submitted in Week 1 of the build (5 to 10 business days for carrier approval).
  6. Sponsor and partner list as a spreadsheet (since these aren't in Pipedrive today). Tier, contact details, and sponsor renewal date where applicable.
  7. Consent confirmation for migrated contacts. Written confirmation (email is fine) that nurture-pool contacts have opted in to marketing communications.
  8. Welcome video URL, private directory URL, policies document URL. Anything the system links out to.
  9. Auto-lose thresholds per stage. Confirm or adjust the defaults proposed in the builder scope.
  10. Waitlist Nurture content. Copy for the six re-engagement emails (subject, preview text, body).
  11. Policies and Procedures document. Your current PDF that new members sign, plus a quick confirmation of which fields the document requires.

Most items take 30 seconds each (a URL or an email address). A handful require some thought (which BDM covers which chain, which thresholds feel right). None require technical knowledge.

Compliance and client responsibilities

Three things to flag before the build runs. These sit with you, not with the engagement team or the builder.

Spam Act and Privacy Act compliance. You are responsible for ensuring all email and SMS sends from the system comply with the Australian Spam Act 2003 and the Privacy Act 1988. This includes maintaining records of opt-in consent for contacts in your database, providing a working unsubscribe mechanism on every send, and handling personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. the engagement team and the builder build the mechanisms; we are not legally qualified to advise on compliance, and accept no liability for breach.
Brand and content ownership. You warrant that all brand assets supplied to the builder (logos, brand colours, photography, signature designs, email content) are owned by [Client] or appropriately licensed. The builder loads what you supply.
Third-party platform risk and pass-through costs. The system runs on GHL, Twilio, Zoom, and Microsoft 365. These are third-party platforms. the engagement team and the builder don't control vendor pricing changes, feature changes, or downtime. You pay HighLevel monthly for the GHL location, Twilio for SMS at current Australian rates, Zoom for the BDM accounts, and Microsoft 365 as you do today. None of these are included in the build fee.

A handful of secondary items also apply (email deliverability is not guaranteed at the inbox level; ongoing data backups are your responsibility post-handover; if the builder changes any item in the scope without prior approval, additional Training Lead training time and cost may be incurred). The full list of disclaimers and responsibilities lives in the builder scope document.

Timeline and next steps

Target live date: to be confirmed once we know your preferred go-live window. The build above sizes to ~52 hours of builder time, which typically lands within a 6-week calendar window once Twilio AU compliance approval (5–10 business days) and email DNS propagation (24–48 hours) are factored in.

  1. Scope sign-off
    You review this document and flag any changes before we hand the build to the external builder.
  2. First two weeks
    Client dependencies landing in parallel. Twilio Australia SMS sender registration is submitted in Week 1. Sending email subdomain DNS records are added by Web Vendor. You supply brand assets, sponsor list, and consent confirmation in the first two weeks.
  3. Builder engagement
    You either select an external builder yourself or we recommend one. They quote off the builder scope. The builder must use the engagement team’s affiliate link when provisioning the GHL location.
  4. Build · ~4 weeks
    The builder works through the five phases laid out in the builder scope. Client Admin is available for the Pipedrive walkthrough during the onboarding reverse-engineering phase.
  5. Testing
    The builder runs the full end-to-end test pass. You run a 10-minute day-1 smoke test on cutover Monday.
  6. Cutover
    Big bang weekend. GHL goes live Monday morning.
  7. Training
    Training Lead from our team runs a 90-minute training session with you and your team, recorded. Cost for training is confirmed at completion of the build.
If anything in this document doesn't match how you want the system to work, flag it now. Once you sign off, the builder is locked in to deliver to spec. Changes after sign-off may incur additional time and cost.
Client sign-off — Client Lead
Date