Client Completion Dashboard

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WHY THIS MATTERS

Unfinished galleries are the number one thing photographers worry about while on leave. Seeing every open client in one place turns a cloud of worry into a list you can actually finish.

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WHAT TO DO

Add every client who has anything still open: a session to shoot, a gallery to edit, an album to design, a payment to collect. Tick the boxes as each piece is done.

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WHEN TO DO IT

Set it up 12+ weeks before your due date. Then check the ⚠️ Needs Attention view once a week until leave starts.

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How this dashboard works

One row per client (or per booking, if a client has more than one).
Tick the checklist as you go: contract, questionnaire, session, culling, gallery delivered, follow-up. The Progress bar fills in automatically.
Must Finish Before Leave marks the clients you've committed to finishing yourself. Everything else can be delegated, delayed with a kind email, or handled after you return.
Leave Alert watches your gallery deadlines. Anything undelivered with a deadline in the next 14 days shows 🟠, anything overdue shows 🔴.
Overall Status is the big-picture answer to "where is this client?"

What the statuses mean

Status	Means
Not Started	Booked, nothing done yet
In Progress	You (or your editor) are actively working on it
Waiting on Client	Ball is in their court: selections, payment, questionnaire, album approval
Needs Attention	Something's stuck, late, or worrying you
Complete	Delivered, paid, followed up. Nothing left to do.

The views, and when to use them

View	Use it to
All Clients	Add new clients and see everything at once
⚠️ Needs Attention	Your weekly check: deadlines approaching or passed, or marked Needs Attention
Must Finish Before Leave	Your committed list, sorted by deadline
Galleries to Edit	Sessions shot but not yet delivered
Waiting on Client	Who to nudge (or let your automations nudge)
Payments Outstanding	Balances still due before you go
Status Board	Drag clients between statuses
Complete	A quiet record of everything you finished. Look at it on hard days.

If you can't finish everything

That's normal, and it's why this page exists. Work through it in this order:

Contractual deadlines first. Weddings and anything with a delivery date written into the contract.
Paid-in-full sessions next. Clients who have given you all their money deserve their photos first.
Then delegate. Send culling or editing to a trusted editor using the Editing SOP (Delegation + Outsourcing Hub).
Then communicate. For anything that will be late, send the Client gallery delay email from the Template Vault before the deadline passes, ideally with a sneak peek of 5–10 images.
Then let it wait. Albums and print orders can almost always wait until your return with a clear, kind message.

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A client who receives a warm, honest message and a sneak peek rarely minds waiting. A client who hears nothing does.

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