On its own schedule — not tied to the accept_470 click — El Nova pushes district and contact data into the CRM. It checks for existing records first; new Accounts (board 18176632844) and Contacts (board 18176633260) are only created if they don't already exist (dedup logic). Sales reps never manually create these records.

When vtg-bid-intake fires after accept_470, it performs a district name search to auto-link the Account and Contact to the new Bids #3 item. The 5-second retry loop in vtg-bid-intake exists specifically because El Nova may not have written the Account/Contact yet at the exact moment the bid item is being created. This is the dependency between Phase 0 and Phase 1.

When an Account or Contact is created or updated on their respective monday.com boards, vtg-sf-account-sync fires via webhook. It upserts both the Account and Contact objects into Salesforce using Monday_Item_ID__c as the external ID — creating new SF records or updating existing ones idempotently. After the SF upsert, the Worker writes the Salesforce Account ID back to the UID column (text_mm6s8adk) on the monday.com Accounts board, completing the cross-system link. A backfill script (backfill.mjs) ran against all 791 existing accounts to populate Salesforce and stamp the UID column. Complements vtg-monday-sf-sync which syncs Bids — this Worker handles the CRM Account/Contact layer.

El Nova pushes inbound Form 470 opportunities to the El Nova Leads board (ID 18181651809). Each lead carries a district name, 470#, and Opportunity Score extracted from the USAC PDF via two-layer decode (ASCII85 + FlateDecode).

Rep clicks accept_470. A monday.com automation sets Status → Accepted, which fires a webhook to vtg-bid-intake. The Worker opens the intake form in a new browser tab. Rejected leads simply close the lead — no webhook fires, no Bids item created.

The vtg-bid-intake form now includes all intake fields in one place: Sales Executive, ScopeStack Blueprint(s), delivery method, partner, manufacturer, distributor, bid due date, and bond required. Blueprint selection inside the form triggers the ScopeStack API to auto-create a proposal. On submit, the Worker patches all columns to Bids #3, writes the SOV Builder link to link_mm591mdg, and creates a bond subitem + email if bond is required. The accept also sends a trigger to El Nova, which creates the Accepted Monitor board item.

The accept trigger sent to El Nova causes El Nova to create an item on the Accepted Monitor board. This board runs in parallel to the main bid flow — it polls USAC automatically on a schedule to watch whether the 470 is funded. It is an FYI / watchdog board; the main Bids #3 flow does not gate on it. Rejected leads do not appear here — reject simply closes the lead.

Worker creates a new item in Bids #3 (board 18176633000) under New Bid Folder Creation. Auto-links Account (18176632844) and Contact (18176633260) via district name search with 5s retry. Writes "📋 Open Intake Form" link to the bid item.

Rep opens the form link and completes: delivery method, partner, manufacturer, distributor, bid due date, bond required. Worker patches all columns. If bond required, subitem created and email fires to bonds@vtgus.com + CHC-Surety@alliant.com.

Branden submits to manufacturer portals (Ruckus, Cisco, etc.). dealreg.py (Playwright) is built and field-mapped but not fully live — dynamic portal elements on Ruckus are causing failures.

When a bid item is created, automation 482374765 immediately creates 23 subitems covering every stage from Folder Creation through Awaiting Results. Each task is pre-tagged with its Bid Stage, pre-assigned to the relevant person, and given a due date calculated as a countdown from the bid due date. Tasks are never re-created per stage — the full lifecycle checklist exists from day one, with future tasks in "Still To Do" or "Create Item" status until needed. The three per-person parent columns (Alan / Jake / Dylan Subitem Status) are driven by automations: they flip to Due Today at 11am ET when a task's date arrives, and clear when the task is marked Complete.

Mark pulls distribution pricing and builds cabling scope. vtg-sov-builder is available for multi-tab SOV creation — generates a jsPDF SOV and uploads to Bids #3 Files column. SOV payload includes vendorPOs array pre-grouped by vendor for future NS PO creation.

Dylan compiles all components and submits on the USAC EPC portal. Each stage change syncs to Salesforce via vtg-monday-sf-sync (upsert on Monday_Item_ID__c).

USAC issues FCDL. Won bids → Post-Sale. Lost bids → Lost sub-board. Wins also archived in Wins Archive sub-board.

When Bids #3 → Post-Sale (webhooks 562741747 + 483153616), vtg-cs-form generates a CSOP PDF, emails to erateops@vectortechgroup.com and Sales@vtgus.com (both TO) with KV deduplication, and auto-creates a monday subitem checklist. On form submit, vtg-cs-form creates a Projects #4 item, appends 6 PM subitems (Project Kickoff Meeting, Site Access Coordination, Installation Scheduling, Weekly Status Updates, Project Documentation, Project Closeout) tagged 'Project Management — E-Rate' — skipped only for Equipment Only bids or when Network Infrastructure Deployment – PM is already selected — and stamps the UID on the new Projects #4 item by reading the Account's UID (text_mm6s8adk) and writing it to text_mm76zvbz. Updated Sep 10 2026; UID stamp added Sep 14 2026. Simultaneously, automation 482374746 creates 6 Post-Sale subitems on the bid item: (1) Letter of Intent signed + uploaded to SharePoint (Jon), (2) Create Contract in ConnectWise Sell — gap: dead task, CPQ direction uncertain, (3) If SPI: FCDL uploaded to SharePoint or N/A if BEAR (Alan+Jake), (4) If SPI: FCDL templated email sent or N/A if BEAR (Alan+Jake), (5) Purchase Order issued by customer + uploaded to SharePoint (Alan+Jake), (6) Update SOV, get Disty quote to match, upload to SharePoint (Alan+Jake).

Two paths currently under evaluation:

Rep or Kevin confirms customer PO and E-Rate funding. vtg-po-sync (live Aug 25 2026) syncs NS PO number and approval status back to Projects #4 via cron every 4h + webhook on NS SO# column change.

Jon creates the Projects #4 item (board 18176626554) linked to the winning bid. Project Year dropdown auto-set by vtg-set-project-year. Stages advance (live labels): Accept → Procurement → Installing → Closeout → Ready for Invoicing → Closed. Deactivated but still on the board: Waiting for Product → All Product Received → Kick Off → Pre-Install Staging → Installing.

Field crew installs. When stage → Installing, automation (ID 7922447604) auto-populates the Materials Log link column (link_mm6mhdcx). Jon or PM opens vtg-materials-log, selects fiber/copper parts from SKU_CATALOG, and submits. The project card shows Client, Stage, UID, NS Sales Order #, and Monday Item ID pulled live from Projects #4. v4 (Sep 16 2026): On submit, cabling lines are PATCHed directly onto the NS Sales Order and an Item Fulfillment is created — drop-ship SOs get a warehouse note instead. NS result (IF# or confirmation) is posted to the monday thread and stored in KV. Re-push to NS button available on the locked page for retries.

Materials log submission advances stage to Ready for Invoicing, stamps date_mm54qwps, posts thread update, and triggers vtg-billing-ready → email to eratebilling@vtgus.com. Automations: 7920569056, 7920172789, 7917999463, 7920230690.

Finance receives billing notification email and manually creates the NetSuite invoice. No automated handoff from monday.com to NS for invoice creation today.

When Projects #4 → Ready for Invoicing, vtg-ns-mcp-sync fires the Ready to Invoice → NS Invoice flow. Auth is live (prod cert ID _Xm9jPsUb1H7DXPj5SmbJQNNKy3l7VU05MVPgGG4TSk). Blocked by: customer ID mapping (vtg-ns-compare paused post sandbox refresh) + NS service item internal ID needed from Kevin/Cari.

Once invoiced and paid, Projects #4 → Closed. Stage-change automation populates Actual Revenue Month (date_mm4tatyy) feeding the Forecast vs. Actual widget on the Pipeline dashboard (board 18419943586).

When a Bids #3 item enters the Post-Monday group, automation 559103546 creates an item on the E-Rate Deals board (18406412794) in the E-Rate Operating System workspace. Fields populated: District, FRN, Contract Value, Funding Year, Category, Sales Owner. Status starts at Pipeline. This is the current active flow — the older automations that created a Projects #4 item directly (482374713) and notified CS/PM (482374738) are both inactive.

The E-Rate Deals status (Pipeline → Submitted → Awarded → Booked) is not consistently maintained — it's unclear who updates it and when. This status is the trigger for the next step, so inconsistent updates mean the E-Rate Projects item may not be created reliably.

When E-Rate Deals Status changes from Pipeline → Awarded, automation 7917669964 creates an item on the E-Rate Projects board (18406413755). The item mirrors data from both Bids #3 (Account, Contact, Bid Value, 470#, SharePoint Link, Projects #4 link, Bid Name) and E-Rate Deals (District, Booking Date, Contract Value, Funding Year).

Jon maintains the E-Rate Projects item as the financial and scheduling view of the project — distinct from Projects #4 which tracks physical delivery. Fields managed: Execution Status (In Execution / Ready / Substantial Completion / Complete / Billed), Billing Status (Ready / Sent / Paid / Not Ready), Planned Start Window (Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4/Summer/Post-Funding), Planned + Actual Start Dates, Completion Date, Risk Flag (Delayed / At Risk / Missing Start / None), PM, Project Owner, Notes.

When E-Rate Deals Status → Booked, automation 7917670450 automatically stamps today's date into the Booking Date column, which mirrors into E-Rate Projects via the Linked Deal relation.

Salesforce is VTG's system of record for commercial (non-E-Rate) pipeline. The rule the sales team works to: "If it's not in Salesforce, it didn't happen." Routing — no E-Rate / FCC funding → the deal lives in Salesforce; E-Rate work → monday.com; on a split-funded deal the non-E-Rate portion is tracked in Salesforce separately from the E-Rate side. Reps do not double-enter: vtg-sf-account-sync pushes Accounts and Contacts, and vtg-monday-sf-sync pushes Bids as Opportunities, both keyed on Monday_Item_ID__c. Written up in full in the VTG Salesforce SOP (VTG_Salesforce_SOP.html, v2.1 — Sep 9 2026).

Commercial leads come through the MSP portal, which triggers the vtg-msp-csop Worker. Unlike E-Rate, this flow bypasses Bids #3 entirely and lands directly in Projects #4. The CSOP form auto-builds the task list (subitems) for the project.

Commercial track skips the entire Bid Building phase. Task list built by the CSOP form serves as the project scope and work order from day one.

Jon works the subitems in Projects #4 as a task checklist. No separate bid compilation or SOV step. Stage advances through the same Projects #4 stages as E-Rate (New → Installing).

Same flow as E-Rate: stage → Ready for Invoicing fires vtg-billing-ready → billing email to eratebilling@vtgus.com. Ready for Invoicing Date stamped (date_mm54qwps).

Finance receives billing notification and manually creates the NS invoice. Same planned automation path as E-Rate: vtg-ns-mcp-sync Ready to Invoice → NS Invoice flow once unblocked.