Make repeatable work explicit.
Templates turn a process into an ordered flow with named steps, accountable owners, and time expectations. Apply one when work starts so the team can see what comes next and what belongs together.
Create the flow once, then reuse it
Open Settings → Templates and create a template for an Opportunity, Task, or Customer Onboarding. Give it a name and description, then add the steps in the order the work should move through. Each step can have a default owner and an SLA; Telos adds Completed and Cancelled as terminal outcomes.
Assign a template while creating the work, choose one of the workspace defaults, or add one from the entity's detail surface. The resulting flow is visible on the work itself, where people can reassign a step, advance it, or hand it off with context.
Use phases to group delivery work
An opportunity template lays down an ordered delivery arc. Its non-terminal steps become phases on the opportunity, each with an owner and target point. Tasks belong to a phase, so the opportunity detail and Planning Delivery view can show the work grouped beneath the milestone it supports instead of as one flat list.
The phase is a milestone and grouping surface, not a task. Add or move tasks under it as the delivery shape becomes clearer; completed work contributes to the phase's progress while the opportunity remains the outcome being delivered.
Track the contract all the way to live
A Customer Onboarding template defines the customer's path from contract and requirements through implementation and go-live. The onboarding stepper keeps the stages in order, while the customer work view groups linked opportunities and bespoke tasks under the stage they support.
This is where contractual commitments become operational work. Keep the promised milestone visible, attach the opportunities and tasks that deliver it, and record the value or ARR tranche unlocked at each stage when applicable. A customer can therefore be reviewed by both relationship status and the concrete work still needed to reach live.
Start from a default response flow
Task templates act as playbooks. When creating a task, choose a task template and Telos pre-fills editable subtasks, the suggested owner, category, and due dates from the step SLAs. The template remains provenance for the task; the subtasks are real work that can be adjusted before saving.
New workspaces include an Incident Responseplaybook with the default flow: Triage, Escalate, Investigate, Resolve, and Retrospect. Teams can adapt that flow to their own incident process while keeping the response stages, ownership, and follow-up actions visible in one task.