bestdesq is a minimalist ERP/PM platform for freelancers, agencies, and project studios. The platform combines full project management with legally compliant invoicing and receipt capture in a single integrated solution.
Core process: Lead → Quote → Project → Tasks → Time tracking → Invoice → Payment → Liquidity → Simple as that.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| KPI dashboard | Central overview with revenue, open receivables, pipeline value, forecasts, and team utilisation |
| Role-based widgets | Dashboard content adapts to the user's role (Management, Sales, PM, Operations, Finance) |
| Tasks | All tasks of the current user as a Kanban view or calendar planning view |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Organisations | Manage clients, suppliers, and partners with categorisation |
| Contacts | Contact persons assigned to organisations |
| Employees | Internal staff with contract and availability data |
| Freelancer mode | Single-person organisations for solo freelancers |
| Hierarchical organisations | Fields for branch and department structures |
| Client activities | History of quotes and projects, annual revenue |
| Addresses & contact details | Embedded address management with multiple contact channels |
| Debtor/creditor assignment | Automatic classification for accounting |
| Leitweg-ID | For XRechnung submissions to public sector clients |
| Payment terms | Individual payment targets and early-payment discount rules per organisation |
| Avatar upload | Profile pictures for persons and organisations |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Lead management | Sales opportunities with estimated budget and expected project timeline |
| Client lists | Freely definable category fields for clients, CSV export of filtered client lists |
| Quote creation | Quotes with line items, outline levels, introductory and closing text |
| Quote PDF | Automatic PDF generation in DIN 5008 format |
| Service catalogue | Reusable product/service templates for fast quote creation |
| Quote line items | Detailed positions with quantity, hourly rate, and amount |
| Project from quote | One-click conversion: quote becomes project, line items become tasks |
| Sales pipeline KPIs | Overview of open quotes, win probability, and forecast |
| Number sequences | Configurable quote numbers (e.g. QT-260001) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Project overview | List of all projects with status, budget, and progress |
| Project details | Project hourly rate, deposit rules for invoicing, workflow settings |
| Budget tracking | Target/actual comparison for project budgets |
| Project members | Team assignment with project-specific roles |
| Project files | File storage per project with folder structure |
| GitHub integration | Link repositories to projects, assign commits to tasks |
| Financial overview per project | Budget vs. actual expenditure (hours and supplier invoices) |
| Number sequences | Configurable project numbers (e.g. 26-015) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Tasks for entities | Tasks can be linked to projects, leads, and quotes via settings |
| Hierarchical tasks | Parent tasks with subtasks (2 levels) |
| Task groups | Grouping and sorting of tasks into sections |
| Kanban board | Visual board with drag & drop |
| Calendar view | Time-based planning of tasks in a calendar |
| Dependencies | Task dependencies (blocked by, related to, duplicate) |
| Checklists | Hierarchical checklists with groups and individual items |
| Time estimate | Hour planning per task |
| Comments | Comments on tasks with replies and file attachments |
| Watcher system | Users can watch tasks and receive notifications |
| Workflow engine | Configurable status workflow per tenant – individually applicable per project |
| Task UUID | Unique, readable task identifiers |
| Copy/move tasks | Move tasks between groups and into other projects, or duplicate them |
| Task splitting | Calendar-based splitting of a task into time blocks |
| Task search | Full-text search across all tasks |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Personal to-do lists | Multiple lists per user |
| Quick capture | Easy creation of personal tasks |
| Toggle completion | One-click done |
| Scheduled tasks | Tasks with a planned date |
| Sortable lists | Custom sort order |
| Kanban view | Personal Kanban board |
| Calendar view | Calendar for personal tasks |
| Work–life balance | Don't let work make you forget the shopping |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Time entries | Manual recording of working hours with project/task assignment |
| Live timer / stopwatch | Start, pause, resume, finish — real-time time tracking |
| Cancel timer | Discard a running timer |
| Billable hours | Mark entries as billable/non-billable |
| Project time report | All time entries for a project aggregated |
| Timesheet | Export all or selected time entries for a project |
| Invoice from time entries | Invoice generation from time entries with timesheet attachment |
| Mobile time tracking | Dedicated mobile view for on-the-go use |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Invoice creation | Invoices with individual line items and PDF generation |
| Invoice PDF | DIN 5008-compliant with embedded logo |
| Invoice line items | Detailed positions with quantity, unit price, and tax rate |
| Invoice dispatch by email | Direct sending from the application (SMTP) |
| Invoice status | Draft → Sent → Paid → Cancelled |
| Credit notes & cancellation | Create credit notes, cancel invoices |
| Dunning | Three-stage dunning process for overdue invoices |
| Payment receipts | Record payments and assign them to invoices |
| Partial payment | Post partial payments |
| Open items list | Overview of all unpaid invoices |
| Number sequences | Configurable number formats with preview (e.g. INV-2026-0001) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| XRechnung generation | Machine-readable invoices in XRechnung format (mandatory for public sector clients) |
| ZUGFeRD support | Hybrid format: PDF with embedded XML data |
| XRechnung import | Read and process incoming XRechnung files |
| E-invoice visualisation | Render machine-readable invoices in human-readable form |
| Leitweg-ID | Support for routing to public authorities |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Incoming invoices | Capture and manage supplier invoices |
| Fetch from mailbox | Incoming invoices can be retrieved from a configured mailbox |
| Original document | Original document saved as attachment to the record |
| Mark as paid | Mark incoming invoices as paid |
| Supplier quotes | Record and compare quotes from suppliers |
| Open liabilities | Overview of outstanding payments |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Recurring invoices | Automatic invoice generation on a schedule |
| Recurring expenses | Plannable fixed costs and regular expenditures |
| Planned revenue | Expected income for liquidity planning |
| Planned expenses | Expected expenditure for budget planning |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| DATEV export | Data export for the tax adviser (DATEV format) |
| DATEV accounts | Debtor and creditor accounts in the DATEV schema |
| Chart of accounts | General ledger account management with personnel cost types |
| Batch account initialisation | Fast setup of the chart of accounts |
| P&L report (profit and loss) | Target/actual comparison of income and expenses |
bestdesq is a pre-accounting system - document capture and DATEV export, not a full bookkeeping solution. As a pre-accounting system handling records relevant to bookkeeping, the same GoBD requirements for immutability and traceability apply. An IDW PS 880 certification is not required.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Invoice lock after sending | Sent invoices cannot be edited - corrections only via cancellation or credit note |
| Immutable invoice PDF | PDF is generated and stored once at the time of sending - subsequent data changes do not affect the archived PDF |
| Immutable e-invoice XML | XRechnung and ZUGFeRD XML are stored at time of sending and never overwritten |
| Incoming invoice financial lock | Financial fields (document number, date, amount) are locked after approval or payment |
| GoBD document tagging | Bookkeeping-relevant attachments (originals, XRechnung, ZUGFeRD) are flagged with a GoBD badge |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Revenue report | Revenue overview by time period |
| P&L (profit and loss) | Detailed income/expense breakdown |
| Resource report | Team utilisation and availability |
| Revenue planning | Result planning with monthly granularity |
| Team capacity | Available vs. booked hours per employee |
| Project health | Status dashboard for all active projects |
| Lead-based forecast | Revenue forecast based on lead pipeline data |
| Working-day calculation | Automatic calculation of billable days |
| Working time recording | Automatic or manual working time recording in accordance with the Working Hours Act (ArbZG) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Leave calendar | Visual calendar view with morning/afternoon/full-day zones |
| Leave requests | Employees submit requests, managers approve |
| Approval workflow | Confirm/reject workflow for absences |
| Admin calendar | HR overview of all team absences |
| Categories | Annual leave, sick leave, other |
| Batch submission | Request multiple days at once |
| Public holiday calculation | Automatic detection of statutory public holidays (by federal state) |
| Availability calculation | Automatic calculation of availability per person |
| Drag & drop | Intuitive calendar interaction for absences |
| Mobile view | Leave calendar optimised for smartphones |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Hierarchical wiki pages | Tree structure for the knowledge base |
| Rich-text editor | Markdown-based editor with formatting, tables, and code blocks |
| Full-text search | Search across all wiki content |
| Drag & drop sorting | Reorder pages via drag & drop |
| Linking | Cross-link pages with each other |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Dedicated portal per tenant | Client-specific access area with its own login |
| Portal users | Separate user accounts for clients (no internal access) |
| Invitation system | Onboard clients to the portal via invitation |
| Portal tasks | Tasks that are visible to clients |
| Portal comments | Clients can comment directly on tasks, including file attachments |
| Task status for clients | Separate, simplified status workflow |
| Separation from internal workflows | Tasks from projects can be mirrored into the portal and vice versa |
| Portal settings | Portal configuration by the admin |
| Project view | Clients see their projects and associated tasks |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| File storage | Project-related file management with folder structure |
| Multi-file upload | Upload multiple files simultaneously |
| Folder hierarchy | Nested folders for structure |
| Default folders | Pre-defined folders for contract documents and specification documents |
| Centralisation | Files from task or portal comments also appear in the file list |
| File preview | Preview for common file types |
| Markdown preview | Display Markdown files directly in the app |
| Protected files | Token-based access to protected downloads |
| Bulk operations | Move, delete, or download multiple files at once |
| Soft delete | 30-day retention of deleted files |
| Storage backends | Local storage and S3-compatible backends |
| Avatar upload | Profile pictures for users and organisations |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Comments on entities | Comments for tasks, organisations and contacts, leads, and quotes |
| MD editor | Comfortable Markdown-based WYSIWYG editor |
| Replies (threading) | Single-level replies to comments |
| File attachments | Attach files to comments |
| @Mentions | Notify users via @-mention |
| Edit & delete | Modify own comments after posting |
| Mobile commenting | Optimised input for mobile devices |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Markdown editor | Professional block editor for all text content |
| Formatting | Bold, italic, headings, lists, quotes |
| Tables | Full table support with cell management |
| Code blocks | Syntax highlighting for developers |
| Task lists | Checkboxes directly in text |
| Embed images | Insert images into text |
| @Mentions | Mention users in text |
| Entity references | Link to projects, tasks, etc. |
| Wiki page linking | Reference knowledge base pages in text |
| Markdown import/export | Markdown compatibility |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| In-app notifications | Bell icon with unread counter |
| Email notifications | Configurable globally per tenant and individually per user |
| Mark individual as read | Mark notifications as read one by one |
| Mark all as read | Process all notifications at once |
| Reply to comment notifications | Email notifications for comments can be replied to directly |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| SMTP configuration | Set up custom email accounts (per tenant) |
| IMAP fetch | Pull emails into the application |
| Create tickets | An email sent to a project creates a new task |
| Create comment | An email sent to a task creates a new comment on that task |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| GitHub app | OAuth-based GitHub integration |
| Repository management | Link GitHub repos to projects |
| Commit tracking | Assign Git commits to tasks |
| Webhook receiver | GitHub webhooks for automatic updates |
| OAuth framework | Generic OAuth framework for further integrations |
| API tokens | Personal access tokens for API access |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| JWT authentication | Secure token-based login |
| HTTP-only cookies | XSS protection via secure cookies |
| Tenant isolation | Subdomain-based tenant separation |
| Role-based access control | 5 predefined roles (Management, Sales, PM, Operations, Finance) |
| Field-level permissions | Fine-grained visibility of individual fields |
| Permission overrides | Individual permissions per user in addition to their role |
| Email verification | Confirmation of the email address |
| 2FA | Two-factor authentication |
| Password reset | Password recovery via email |
| Change password | Self-service password change |
| Admin impersonation | Admins can log in as another user (for support) |
| CSRF protection | Cross-site request forgery defence |
| Rate limiting | API throttling against abuse |
| Session tracking | Manage active sessions |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Tenant settings | Company name, logo, language, subdomain |
| User management | Create, edit, and deactivate users (no hard delete) |
| Module management | Activate/deactivate packages |
| Number sequences | Configurable formats for invoices, quotes, and projects with live preview |
| Service types | Define and sort billable service types |
| Hourly rates | Manage default hourly rates, globally and per project |
| Employment contract data | Basic contract data per employee (annual salary, leave, etc.) |
| Permission matrix | Visual editor for role permissions |
| SMTP settings | Configure email dispatch |
| Catalogue management | Maintain the product and service catalogue |
| Integration settings | Configure GitHub and other integrations |
| Package-specific settings | Individual settings per module (Sales, Finance, Tasks, etc.) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Multi-tenancy | Full data separation per tenant (shared-DB architecture) |
| Subdomain routing | Each tenant has its own subdomain |
| Tenant registration | Self-service registration for new tenants |
| Subscription plans | Solo (1 user), Team (Maker/Pro roles) |
| Trial management | 30-day trial period for new tenants |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Cross-entity search | Full-text search across projects, tasks, contacts, invoices, etc. |
| Entity validation | Quick check whether referenced entities exist |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Responsive design | Optimised for desktop, tablet, and mobile |
| PWA | App can be installed on mobile/desktop |
| Mobile navigation | Bottom tab bar and mobile header |
| Restrained UI | Visually understated user interface |
| Dark mode | Switchable dark mode support |
| Multilingual | German and English (extensible) |
| WCAG 2.1 AA | Accessibility from day one |
| Gravatar integration | Automatic profile pictures via email |
| Inline editing | Direct editing in lists (currency, text, date) |
| Confirmation dialogs | Safety prompts for critical actions |
| Pagination | Page-by-page display of large data sets |
| Tooltips | Contextual help on hover |
| Status badges | Colour-coded status indicators |
| KPI cards | Dashboard tiles for key metrics |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| API-first architecture | Complete REST API — every function accessible via API |
| Modular package system | Plugin architecture — extensible and flexible, tenant-individual packages possible |
| DDD-oriented | Domain-driven design for sustainable code quality |
| Test-driven development | Complete test suite for backend and frontend |
| Audit trail | Automatic logging of all changes (created/modified by) |
| Polymorphic relations | Comments, files, and mentions attachable to any entity |
| Block-based content | JSON block format for structured content |
| GDPR-ready | Data hosted in Germany, no third-party dependencies |
| Made in Germany | Development and hosting in Germany |
