Concepts
Before starting to use ENSPACE, it’s worth understanding the concepts that support the platform. There are only a few, and the logic is straightforward. This guide explains each of them and how they relate.
Level 1: Workspace
The isolated ecosystem of your company. Everything happens within it.
Level 2: Categories
The “folders” or types of processes (e.g., Contracts, HR, Sales).
Level 3: Fields
The structure of each piece of information (text, date, value columns).
Level 4: Items
The actual data filled in (e.g., Contract #102 itself).
Access and permissions
This section covers the concepts that define who can access ENSPACE and what each person can do within it.
User
A user is a person who has an account in ENSPACE. The account is created at the time of registration and is identified by a unique email.
A user can participate in multiple workspaces at the same time. In each workspace, they become a member — and it is as a member that they interact with the data and features of that environment.
Member
A member is the link between a user and a workspace. When someone is invited to a workspace, they become its member.
Each member has a role that defines what they can see and do in that workspace. The same user can have different roles in different workspaces — for example, being an administrator in one and only a viewer in another.
To learn how to invite and manage members, see the Members documentation.
Role
Roles are the functions that members assume within a workspace. Each role groups a set of permissions that determine which areas, features, and actions are available to those who have it.
ENSPACE allows you to create as many roles as needed. Common examples: “Administrator”, “Manager”, “Analyst”, “Viewer”.
To learn how to create and configure roles, see the Roles and Permissions documentation.
Permission
Permissions are the rules that define what a role can or cannot do. They control access to features, categories, records, and specific actions within the workspace.
The control is granular: it is possible to allow a role to view a specific category but not edit its records, or to allow it to create records but not delete them.
Permissions are configured within each role. See the Roles and Permissions documentation for more details.
Organization and data
This section covers the concepts that define how information is structured and stored on a daily basis.
Workspace
A workspace is the environment where everything happens. It represents your company, department, or project within ENSPACE — and it is completely isolated from other workspaces.
Each workspace has its own data, members, settings, permissions, and automations. Nothing from one workspace is accessible by another, even if they belong to the same account.
A single user can participate in multiple workspaces. When logging in, you choose which workspace you want to work in.
The number of available workspaces depends on the subscribed plan. See the available plans for more details.
Categories
Categories are the data models of the workspace. Each category defines a type of information you need to manage — and the structure of that information is fully customizable.
You create the categories that make sense for your operation. Some examples: “Contracts”, “Customers”, “Tickets”, “Legal Cases”, “Purchase Orders”, “Employees”.
Each category has its own fields, items, permissions, and workflows. It appears as an item in the workspace navigation and is the central unit for organizing your data.
To learn how to create and configure categories, see the Categories documentation.
Fields
Fields define the structure of each category — that is, which information will be filled in each item. Each field has a specific type.
For example, a “Contracts” category may have fields such as: “Customer name” (text), “Contract value” (number), “Due date” (date), “Status” (option list), “Active” (yes/no).
ENSPACE offers various field types: text, number, date, selection, boolean, attachment, among others — including special fields with advanced behaviors, such as digital signature and custom ID.
To learn how to create and configure fields, see the Fields documentation.
Items
Items are the actual data within each category. If the category is the model, each item is an individual entry that follows that model.
In a “Contracts” category, each contract is an item. In a “Customers” category, each customer is an item. It is where the fields are effectively filled with information.
Items can have status, assignees, attachments, and change history. When the category has a configured workflow, items move through stages automatically.
Automation
In addition to the fundamental concepts, ENSPACE offers two levels of automation that move data along your processes.
Category workflows
Each category can have its own workflow — a sequence of steps through which items progress, with rules that define who is responsible for each action and what happens at each moment.
A contract, for example, may follow a workflow that goes from “Draft” to “Legal Review”, then “Approval” and finally “Signed” — with tasks automatically assigned to each responsible person at each stage.
To learn how to configure workflows within a category, see the Flow documentation.
Spaceflow
Spaceflow is ENSPACE’s visual automation system. Unlike category workflows, which operate within a single category, Spaceflow operates at the workspace level and can orchestrate actions across multiple categories at the same time.
With Spaceflow, you create broader automations — for example: when an item in “Contracts” is approved, automatically create an item in “Billing” and notify the responsible person in “Finance”.
Spaceflow is at the same hierarchical level as categories within the workspace — it does not belong to any specific category.
To learn how to create automations with Spaceflow, see the Spaceflow documentation.
How everything connects
The relationships between the concepts follow this logic:
- A user participates in one or more workspaces. In each workspace, they are a member.
- Each member has a role, which groups permissions over what they can see and do.
- Each workspace contains categories. Each category defines its structure through fields and stores data in its items.
- Items can move through category workflows (internal automations) or be orchestrated by Spaceflow (automations across categories).
Example: law firm
Imagine a firm that manages contracts and legal cases in ENSPACE:
- Workspace: “Legal — Company ABC”
- Members: 3 lawyers (role “Lawyer”), 1 assistant (role “Assistant”), 1 manager (role “Administrator”) — each with different permissions over the categories
- Category 1: “Contracts” — with fields such as Contracting party, Value, Term, Contract type, Attached document
- Category 2: “Legal Cases” — with fields such as Case number, Court, Opposing party, Status, Claim value
- Workflow in Contracts: Draft → Legal Review → Approval → Signature → Active
- Workflow in Cases: Filed → In progress → Awaiting decision → Closed
- Spaceflow: when a contract reaches the “Active” stage, it automatically creates an item in “Financial Obligations” with the contract data and assigns a task to the finance team