> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How does NextLevel MCA fit into your CRM?

> Which menu items are the CRM's and which are NextLevel MCA's, how a lead in the Lead Pipeline becomes a deal, and the screens that come in twos.

NextLevel MCA lives inside your CRM. Some items in the left menu are the CRM's own screens and some are NextLevel MCA's. The CRM runs your leads, conversations and marketing. NextLevel MCA runs your deals, from the application to funding and renewal. They share your contacts, but they are separate tools, and this article shows which is which.

## The left menu

From top to bottom:

| Menu item | Whose | What it's for |
| - | - | - |
| **Ask AI** | CRM | The CRM's own AI assistant. See **Ask AI and the ? button** below. |
| **Dashboards › MCA Dashboard** | NextLevel MCA | Your day's to-dos and the business numbers. See [The dashboard](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/dashboard.md). |
| **Dashboards › CRM Dashboard** | CRM | The CRM's own dashboard. |
| **Conversations** | CRM | Texts, emails and calls with your contacts. |
| **Merchants › Leads** | CRM | Your CRM contacts: everyone you're talking to, with or without a deal. |
| **Merchants › Lead Pipeline** | CRM | The CRM's opportunities pipeline, for leads before there's an application. |
| **Merchants › Businesses** | NextLevel MCA | Merchants you've taken an application from: the business, its owners, deals and advances. |
| **Deals › Deals** | NextLevel MCA | Every deal, as a list or as a board by stage. See [Deals and the pipeline](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/deals-and-pipeline.md). |
| **Deals › Submissions** | NextLevel MCA | Every deal you've sent to a lender, across all deals. |
| **Deals › Offers** | NextLevel MCA | Every offer lenders have made. |
| **Deals › Advances** | NextLevel MCA | Funded deals being paid back, with the renewal-ready ones flagged. See [Renewals](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/renewals.md). |
| **Lenders** | NextLevel MCA | Your lenders and what each one funds. See [Lender criteria](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/lender-criteria.md). |
| **Accounting › Lender Commissions** | NextLevel MCA | What funders pay your brokerage. See [Lender Commissions](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/lender-commissions.md). |
| **Accounting › Rep Commissions** | NextLevel MCA | How commissions split to your team. See [Rep Commissions](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/rep-commissions.md). |
| **AI Suite** | CRM | The CRM's AI agents that talk to your leads, such as chat and voice bots. |
| **Meeting Room** | CRM | Video meetings. |
| **Marketing** | CRM | Social posts, email campaigns and other marketing. |
| **Automation** | CRM | Workflows, including ones that use NextLevel MCA's triggers. See [CRM workflow triggers](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/workflow-triggers.md). |
| **Sites** | CRM | Funnels, websites and forms. |
| **Calendars** | CRM | Booking calendars and appointments. |
| **Reputation** | CRM | Reviews. |
| **Reporting** | CRM | The CRM's own reports. NextLevel MCA's reports are on the MCA Dashboard. |
| **Dialer** | CRM | The CRM's phone dialer. |
| **Extras › MCA Settings** | NextLevel MCA | NextLevel MCA's settings: your team, pipeline stages, application fields, templates and integrations. When a Help article says **Settings → …**, it means this. See [Settings and integrations](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/settings-and-integrations.md). |
| **Extras › App Marketplace** | CRM | Apps you can add to your CRM. |
| **Settings** (bottom of the menu) | CRM | The CRM's own settings. |

What you see depends on your role, so a rep may not see Accounting or MCA Settings. See [Roles](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/roles.md).

## The top of the CRM

From left to right:

| Button | Whose | What it does |
| - | - | - |
| **New application** | NextLevel MCA | Starts an application for a merchant. See [Creating a deal](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/create-deal.md). |
| Round teal **?** | NextLevel MCA | Help & support for NextLevel MCA. See [Getting help](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/getting-help.md). |
| Bell next to it | NextLevel MCA | Your deal notifications. See [The notifications bell](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/notification-bell.md). |
| Phone | CRM | Calls. |
| Sparkles | CRM | Ask AI. |
| Megaphone | CRM | The CRM's latest changes. |
| Orange bell | CRM | The CRM's own notifications. |
| Blue **?** | CRM | The CRM's support menu. |
| Your picture | Both | The profile menu, which includes **MCA Settings** and **Mobile App**. |

## Leads and deals are separate

* **A lead lives in the CRM.** It's a contact under **Leads**, and you can track it as an opportunity in the **Lead Pipeline**. Its stages are set up in the CRM's **Settings → Opportunities & Pipelines** (Settings is at the bottom of the menu).
* **A deal lives in NextLevel MCA.** It's one funding request for one business, from the application to funded. Its stages are set up in **MCA Settings → Pipeline**. See [Deals and the pipeline](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/deals-and-pipeline.md).
* **Nothing moves between them by itself.** Moving a deal to a new stage doesn't move the lead's opportunity, and moving an opportunity doesn't create or move a deal.

### How a lead becomes a deal

A deal is created when there's an application, in one of these ways:

1. **You start it.** Click **New application** at the top of the CRM, or **New deal** on the Deals page, and pick the CRM contact. You can also start from the contact's merchant page. See [Creating a deal](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/create-deal.md).
2. **The merchant applies.** They fill in your application form from your link. See [The application form](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/application-form.md).
3. **A CRM workflow creates it,** with NextLevel MCA's **Create Deal** action.

From then on the deal is linked to that CRM contact. Texts to the merchant go through your CRM, and NextLevel MCA's workflow triggers run on that contact.

### Keeping the Lead Pipeline in step

If you want the opportunity to follow the deal, build a CRM workflow that starts on a NextLevel MCA trigger and moves the contact's opportunity. For example:

* **New Deal** moves the opportunity to an "Application in" stage. It fires for every new deal, including online applications.
* **Deal Funded** moves it to won.

Each trigger runs on the deal's CRM contact. See [CRM workflow triggers](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/workflow-triggers.md) for every trigger and its filters.

## Things that come in twos

| | In the CRM | In NextLevel MCA |
| - | - | - |
| **Pipeline** | Lead Pipeline (opportunities); stages in Settings → Opportunities & Pipelines | Deal stages, in MCA Settings → Pipeline |
| **Dashboard** | CRM Dashboard | MCA Dashboard |
| **Settings** | Settings, at the bottom of the menu | MCA Settings, under Extras |
| **Reports** | Reporting | The MCA Dashboard's **Business** tab. See [Reports](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/reports.md). |
| **AI assistant** | Ask AI | The teal **?** button (Help & support) |
| **Support** | The blue **?** | The teal **?** |
| **Notifications** | The CRM's own notifications | The NextLevel MCA bell. See [The notifications bell](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/notification-bell.md). |
| **Merchants** | Leads (CRM contacts) | Businesses, and the people on them |

## Ask AI and the ? button

* **The teal ? button** is for help using NextLevel MCA and the CRM. It answers from these Help articles and the CRM's own help, and can look at your deals, only as far as you're allowed to see them. See [Getting help](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/help/getting-help.md).
* **Ask AI** is the CRM's own assistant. Connect it to NextLevel MCA and it can read your deals, lenders and offers too. It connects the same way as Claude: see [Connect from Claude](https://docs.nextlevelmca.com/developers/mcp/connect-from-claude.md).

## When the CRM uses other names

Your menu renames or moves some of the CRM's items. The CRM's own screens and help articles use the original names:

| The CRM calls it | Where it is for you |
| - | - |
| Contacts | Merchants › Leads |
| Opportunities | Merchants › Lead Pipeline |
| Pipelines (setting up stages) | Settings → Opportunities & Pipelines |
| Dashboard | Dashboards › CRM Dashboard |
| Workflows | Automation |
| Funnels and websites | Sites |
| AI Studio | A tab in Sites |
| App Marketplace | Extras › App Marketplace |
| Mobile App | The profile menu (your picture, top right) |

Launchpad, Payments, Memberships and Media Storage aren't in your menu. The menu is the same for every NextLevel MCA account, so if you need one of these, ask NextLevel MCA support through the teal **?** button.

> [accordion] Page addresses
>
> Each menu item opens an address inside your CRM. When you share a link or ask for help, this tells you which page it is.
>
> | Address ends in | Page |
> | - | - |
> | `/custom-menu-link/dashboard` | MCA Dashboard |
> | `/custom-menu-link/business` | Businesses |
> | `/custom-menu-link/deals` | Deals, and any deal you open from there |
> | `/custom-menu-link/submissions` | Submissions |
> | `/custom-menu-link/offers` | Offers |
> | `/custom-menu-link/advances` | Advances |
> | `/custom-menu-link/lenders` | Lenders |
> | `/custom-menu-link/lender-commissions` | Lender Commissions |
> | `/custom-menu-link/rep-commissions` | Rep Commissions |
> | `/custom-menu-link/mcasettings` | MCA Settings |
> | `/dashboard` | CRM Dashboard |
> | `/conversations/…` | Conversations |
> | `/contacts/…` | Leads |
> | `/opportunities/…` | Lead Pipeline |
> | `/automation/…` | Automation |
> | `/funnels-websites/…` | Sites |
> | `/calendars/…` | Calendars |
> | `/ai-agents/…` | AI Suite |
> | `/settings/…` | The CRM's Settings |


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