> ## 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 do I get started as a rep?

> Find your way around NextLevel MCA and take a deal from new application to submitted.

This is the quick tour for reps, closers and managers: where things are, and the five steps that take a deal from a new application to the lenders. Your admin sets up the workspace; you don't need any setup to follow along.

To open the app and sign in, see [Opening NextLevel MCA from the CRM](/help/open-from-crm).

## Your first visit

The first time you open the app, a **Welcome** window offers **Show me around**, which walks you through the Deals page. After that, each screen shows a short tour the first time you reach it. You can replay any of them from the **?** menu at the top of the page. See [Guided tours](/help/guided-tours).

## The layout

Inside the CRM, NextLevel MCA's pages are items in the CRM's left menu. NextLevel MCA chooses the exact names and grouping, but you'll find:

* **Deals**: the pipeline board and the deal list.
* **Businesses**: merchants, with their people, deals and advances.
* **Submissions** and **Offers**: everything in flight across all deals.
* **Advances**: funded deals being paid back, with the renewal-ready ones flagged.
* **Lender Commissions** and **Rep Commissions**: what the funder pays your brokerage, and how it splits to the team.
* **Lenders**: your lender list and each lender's criteria.
* **Settings**.

On the phone app the same pages sit in the bar at the bottom of the screen. What you see depends on your role and permissions; a rep may not see Lender Commissions or Settings at all. See [Roles](/help/roles).

<Frame caption="The Deals page: every deal with its stage, primary offer, paper grade and originator.">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/nextlevel-mca/zKDgELl8M8ulfBuT/images/deals-list.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=zKDgELl8M8ulfBuT&q=85&s=cdf53228e1eb6ed20f20399d05b60958" alt="The Deals page: every deal with its stage, primary offer, paper grade and originator." width="1696" height="1032" data-path="images/deals-list.png" />
</Frame>

## Your first deal

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open a deal">
    Deals arrive three ways: you click **New deal** on the Deals page, a merchant fills in your application form, or an automation creates one. The deal starts in the first stage of your pipeline, usually **New app**. See [Creating a deal](/help/create-deal) and [The application form](/help/application-form).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check the business and the people">
    On the deal's **People & Business** tab, confirm the legal name, EIN and the owner's details. The EIN matters: lender matching and DataMerch key on it. A business with the same EIN is reused rather than duplicated.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Collect the documents">
    Click **Request docs** in the deal header to ask the merchant for bank statements, a voided check or ID. They upload through the merchant portal and the files land on the deal. Or drop files straight onto the **Documents** tab. See [Requesting documents](/help/request-documents).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Run the bank statement analysis">
    On **Underwrite**, click **Analyze statements**. A few minutes later you have verified revenue, NSFs, negative days and the existing positions, and lender matching switches from what the merchant said to what the bank says. See [Uploading statements](/help/upload-statements) and [Reading the analysis](/help/underwrite).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Submit">
    On **Submissions**, tick lenders in the ranked list and click **Submit to selected**. The package goes out by email from your mailbox, or straight into the lender's system when they have an API. See [Submitting to lenders](/help/submitting-to-lenders).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The deal window

Every deal has the same tabs: **Overview**, **Conversation**, **People & Business**, **Documents**, **Underwrite**, **Submissions**, **Offers & Contracts**, **Notes**, **Tasks** and **Activity log**.

The header shows the business, the deal's dates and primary offer, and its originator and closer. The buttons on the right are **Call**, **Message**, **Request docs**, **Submissions**, **Portal link**, **Refresh** and a **More** (⋯) menu. A red dot on **Request docs** means the merchant still owes you documents. **Call** is greyed out when there's no phone number on file.

<Frame caption="A deal: stage progress across the top, the tabs below, and the header actions on the right.">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/nextlevel-mca/zKDgELl8M8ulfBuT/images/deal-overview.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=zKDgELl8M8ulfBuT&q=85&s=f40d7d6e85bee02f32ab1fddfb25e9c8" alt="A deal: stage progress across the top, the tabs below, and the header actions on the right." width="1696" height="1032" data-path="images/deal-overview.png" />
</Frame>

<Tip>
  **Conversation** shows texts and emails with the merchant in one thread. Texts go through your CRM; emails go from your connected mailbox. If the email option is greyed out, nobody on the workspace has connected a mailbox yet. See [Email or text?](/help/email-vs-texts).
</Tip>

## Staying on top of your deals

When a lender replies, a merchant signs or a deal funds, you get a notification in the NextLevel MCA bell at the top of your CRM. You can also get pop-up alerts on your computer or phone. See [The notifications bell](/help/notification-bell) and [Desktop notifications](/help/desktop-notifications).


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