Status Manager

The Status Manager in Helm allows you to create and manage custom order statuses tailored to your operational workflows. Whether you need to reflect the stages of a fulfilment pipeline or distinguish between different types of orders, status tags provide clarity, structure, and automation potential across teams. Each status can be colour-coded for visual reference, and optionally linked to automated triggers or used manually

Last updated 3 months ago

When to Use

Use the Status Manager:

  • During initial system setup to define your fulfilment lifecycle stages

  • To support multi-team operations (e.g. picking, quality control, packing, despatch)

  • When integrating automation into order processing or hardware (e.g. auto-printing)

  • To visually distinguish orders from different sales channels or workflows

  • To enable more precise reporting on order progress and team efficiency

Steps to Create and Configure a Custom Status

  1. Navigate to:
    Settings → Status Manager

  2. Click Create Status

  3. Define the following:

    • Status Type: (e.g. Order Status, Purchase Order Status and Deliveries)

    • Status Name: (e.g. Ready for QC, Packed – Awaiting Dispatch)

    • Status Background & Text Color: (shows a preview for you to adjust)

    • Show on Dashboard: (Yes/No)

    • Dashboard Icon: (there is a link provided to choose some fontawesome Icons)

    • Sort: ( add a number from 0, where 0 is the most important and the order in which it will be displayed)

    • Hidden Status: (Yes/No)

    • Enable Pick Creation: (Yes/No)

    • Enable Print Creation: (Yes/No)

    • Enable Split: (Yes/No)

    • Allow Despatch: (Yes/No)

  4. Choose whether this status:

    • Should be applied manually, or

    • Is triggered automatically based on an event (e.g. stock assigned, label printed)

  5. Save the status and test it on an order to confirm behaviour

Example Scenarios

  • Automated Status Triggers
    When a courier label is printed, automatically switch the order status to Dispatched

  • Quality Control Queues
    Assign a Ready for QC status so quality assurance staff know when to begin their checks

  • Marketplace Order Identification
    Use unique statuses for orders originating from specific channels, such as eBay – Ready to Pack or Amazon Prime – Same Day Dispatch

  • Print Queue Management
    Send orders with the status Ready to Pick to a pick-list printer, streamlining physical paperwork

Tips & Best Practices

  • Keep Statuses Meaningful and Actionable
    Each status should reflect a clear point in the order lifecycle that aligns with a task or decision

  • Avoid Overcomplication
    Too many statuses can confuse users—stick to stages your teams actively work with and monitor

  • Use Colour Coding Strategically
    Choose colours that align with urgency or department ownership (e.g. red for errors, green for ready)

  • Limit Access to Status Changes
    Consider restricting manual status updates to team leads or automated logic to prevent missteps