Types of clients
Workflow supports several types of client records, at a high level this is individuals and entities:
Individuals and Joint / Multiple Individuals
An individual is a natural person — a human being acting in their own capacity. Most residential real estate vendors and buyers are individuals.
Examples:
- A vendor selling their home
- A buyer purchasing an investment property
- A solicitor's personal client in a conveyancing matter
An individual client record stores their full name, date of birth, contact details, and identity verification result.
Entities
An entity is a business, company, trust, estate, charity or other non-individual legal structure. Entities require different verification. You verify the entity itself and typically also verify the beneficial owners or controlling individuals behind it. You will need to verify any Director that has more than 25% holding in the entity.
Examples:
- A company selling a commercial property
- A family trust purchasing land
- A self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) acquiring an investment
An entity client record stores the business name, ABN/ACN, registered address, and the details of associated individuals (directors, trustees, or beneficial owners).
If you're unsure whether to set up a client as an individual or entity, use the type that matches how they're entering the transaction. A person buying in their own name is an individual; the same person buying through their company is an entity.
How clients relate to cases
A client record exists independently of any single case. One client can be linked to many cases across their relationship with your business.
Example: Jane Smith sells her family home, she's linked to a Property Sale case. Six months later, she buys an investment property, she's now linked to a new case. Jane's client record is the same both times; only the cases are different.
This means you don't need to re-enter client details every time they transact with you. You search for the existing client and link them to the new case.
Client records are account-specific
Client records belong to your Workflow account and are not shared with other businesses on the platform. If another agency or law firm uses Workflow, they cannot see your client records, and you cannot see theirs. Each business maintains its own independent client database.
Where to find your clients
Click Clients in the left-hand navigation menu to see all client records in your account. You can search by name or filter by type, risk or assignee.