Lorne & Vale
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How it works

Follow one request, step by step.

Take each step yourself. Nothing is sent.

Try the concierge

Pick a request, then take each step yourself.

The demo needs JavaScript. How it works describes each step.

Step 1 of 7Monday, 08:12

Ask for a result, in your words.

Pick a request, or describe one of your own.

On screen: a new, empty request.

Illustrative example. No email is sent. This example follows a set script. Shown in the iPhone app, which is not on the App Store.

In detail

The rules behind each step.

  1. Handing it over

    Handing over a request is your go-ahead to email the addresses written in it or in your answers, at most six emails over seven days.

    Before each email, the database checks the recipient, the count, the expiry and the role of the person who handed it over. Only an owner, an admin or a manager can hand over email. For anyone else’s request, no email is sent.

    You do not approve each email. The limits above apply instead. Anything that would commit you, such as accepting a price, a booking or a contract, is designed to wait for your approval of that exact email.

  2. The question

    When something essential is missing, such as the supplier’s email address or which date you mean, it asks you instead of guessing, and sends nothing until you answer.

    It asks only what it needs to continue, never more than three questions at a time. When a request needs your answer, Lorne & Vale tells you by email.

  3. Sending

    Once it has what it needs, it writes and sends the email straight away. Emails go out from a Lorne & Vale address, not from your own mailbox. It writes in the language you use in the app, English or French.

    Sent means the sending service accepted the message. Lorne & Vale does not track whether it was opened. Each email it sent can be read word for word in the request.

  4. Follow-ups

    If no reply is recorded 24 hours after its last email, it follows up, at most twice. Then it stops and asks you how to proceed. To write to someone else, you hand over a new request.

    It keeps working when you close the app. Follow-ups run on our servers, weekends included.

    The follow-up email, with an example subject. The original message is quoted below it.

    Follow-up: Linen delivery this Thursday

    Hello,

    I’m following up on the message below. Could you let us know where the request stands or when we can expect your reply?

    Thank you.

  5. Replies

    Replies are designed to come back into the request when they come from the address it wrote to and pass the sender’s email authentication. This has not yet been tested with a real supplier. Until it has, a reply can be missed and a follow-up can still go out.

    It only picks up a reply from the address it wrote to. If the supplier answers from another address, you can pause or cancel the request.

  6. Closing

    A request is designed to close only once its outcome is recorded, and you receive an email when it does.

    The person who made a request can pause, resume or cancel it until it ends. Emails already sent stay sent.

What it cannot do

  • It cannot book, pay, order, make phone calls or manage your calendar. When a request needs one of those, it stops and tells you what is left for you to do.
  • It works by email. It does not send texts or use messaging apps.
  • Lorne & Vale does not connect to Gmail, Outlook or Google Calendar, and sends no push notifications.
  • An email already sent cannot be recalled.

The record

Every step, on the record.

Every step is written to a tamper-evident record. Each workspace has its own chain, and every entry carries the SHA-256 fingerprint of the one before it.

Each step is recorded: your request, the authority it gives, each question and answer, each check before sending, each email the sending service accepted, and each wait for a reply. Entries are append-only: the service does not allow them to be changed, and no job deletes them.

Each night, when your workspace’s record passes its check, its latest entry is signed. If the record fails its check, nothing is signed and owners are told in the app. Owners and admins can see in the web app whether the latest signature passed our server’s check.

How the record is signed

What would you hand over first?

Once we approve your address, you create your account and name your workspace.

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