---
title: "Understanding draft deals"
description: "Find and finish draft write-ups, and understand what moves them into the sales log."
source: "https://docs.aplt.ai/docs/understanding-draft-deals"
updated: "2026-10-13T21:56:25.52826+00:00"
product: Autopilot
content_type: documentation
---

# Understanding draft deals

Find and finish draft write-ups, and understand what moves them into the sales log.

A draft is a saved write-up that hasn’t become a live sale yet. It gives you somewhere to record the deal while you finish the details, get the customer’s signature and arrange approval.

```video
tutorials/draft-graduation-v1.mp4
A draft graduating to a sold deal
```

This video shows a draft on the **Drafts** page, its three checks being completed, and the deal graduating to a **Sold** deal.

## Find your drafts

Open **Drafts** in the workspace navigation. You can also open the **Command Center** from the Autopilot icon in the bottom-right corner, search for **Drafts**, and select it.

The drafts you can see depend on your account’s access. Select a deal’s name to open it.

## Continue working on a draft

Select the deal’s name to open its deal page, where you can review the record and work through its checks. Choose **Edit write-up** to add or change write-up information, then save your changes.

You can also open the draft’s menu and select **Open deal** to go to its deal page, or use **Edit** in the write-up column to edit the write-up directly.

You don’t need every detail to create the initial draft. Keep adding information as the sale develops, and use the deal’s checks to see what still needs doing.

## What moves a draft forward?

The normal path has three checks:

- **Customer signed:** the customer has signed the write-up.
- **Deposit paid:** the deposit has been received and recorded.
- **Manager approved:** an authorised manager has reviewed and approved the deal.

Record each check when that step has actually happened. Your permissions determine which checks you can change.

When all three checks are complete and the dealership’s required information is present, the deal leaves drafts and appears in the **Sales log** and **Pipeline** as a live sale.

## Drafts and monthly reporting

Draft deals do not count towards your reported monthly sales or gross profit (GP) totals and target progress. They start counting as sales after they graduate to Sold, under your dealership’s reporting settings. Forecast reports can show drafts separately as **potential GP**; that is not a completed sale.

## If the deal can’t move forward

Your dealership can require additional information before approval. If Autopilot shows missing details, complete them, save the deal and try the approval or remaining check again.

If you can’t edit a required detail or record a check, ask your manager for help.

## For managers: approval rules

Use **Approval rules** on the **Drafts** page to choose the information your dealership requires before saving a **Draft**, moving it to **Sold** or marking it **Delivered**. This option is available to accounts with permission to edit approval rules.

These rules work alongside the three checks above. For example, you can require a customer mobile number before the deal becomes Sold, or an actual delivery date before it becomes Delivered.

Draft requirements control the information needed before a write-up can be saved as a draft. Sold and Delivered requirements apply when the deal reaches those later stages.

Read [Approval rules](/docs/approval-rules) for how the rules work and how to adjust them.

An authorised manager can use **Mark all done & graduate** in the draft’s menu when all three steps have happened. This records all three checks together; it does not bypass them. Required information checks still apply.