Service Manager - Projects

Overview

Projects are used to manage at a high level - days rather than hours. 

Projects support three indented levels as follows

• Milestone (grey) - Project Phase or Major Deliverable

  • Task Groups (blue) - Key Activities or Work Packages

    • Tasks (green) - Specific Tasks or Actions

Projects can be used to generate:

• Quotations - Transaction Items are created from the Root Level Items on the Project as follows:

  • Project Milestone Items are added to the Quotation as Items including the Description and Note.

  • Qty = Hours.

  • Unit Price = Hourly Rate from Resource.

• Progress Invoices - Transaction items are created from Components based on their Completion % and the difference between the Completion Percent on the Last Invoice.

  • Components are added to the Invoice as items.

  • Qty = C% on Project

  • Completion % = C% on Project - C% on last invoice

  • Fixed Price = Total x Completion %

Actions 

• Add Project Templates

• Batch Update

• Update Start and End Dates (ASAP from first Start Date) - ASAP = As Soon As Possible. 

• Update Start and End Dates (ALAP from first Required Date) - ALAP = As Late As Possible

• Update Status from Template/s - This Action will update the Status list of the Project from the linked Project Templates.

• Update Schedule - Updates the Start and End Dates based on Fix Dates.

• Set start-to-finish Predecessor (SF)

• Clear Predecessor

• Delete - Used to delete multi-selected items. This action will also delete root items that contain child items. You are not able to directly delete the root item if it contains child items. 

• Set Audit Dates to Start Dates -  Used to reset the Audit Date to the current Start Date. 

Task Actions

• Create New Task

• Open linked Task

Fields

• Level - The indentation (Level) is represented by the grey, blue and green icons.  Drag-and-Drop is only available on All,  Milestones and Milestones & Task Groups.

• Status - The Status list is derived from the Template. Multiple Templates can be added to a Project, each with its own Status list.

• Description

• Tags - Tags are mostly used for filtering and reporting. Right-click to Add/Remove Tags to the selected item.

• Fix Dates - Checkbox editor. If the Fix Date is checked, changes to the End Date will update Days/WorkDays, else changes to the End Date will update the Start Date.

• Resource - Select from the dropdown list.

• Billing - Select from None, Fixed, or Variable. Applies to the Milestones only.

• Required - The Required Date

• Start - The Start Date

• End - The End Date

• Work Process (Lookup) - Used to select a Work Process. 

• Work Process - Description and hyperlink to the Work Process Documentation.

• Qualified - Lists the Staff that are qualified to perform the task (from Work Processes)

• Audits - This field contains the first Start Date of an Item and is used to measure the days that the Start Date has been Moved (d) from the original planned Date (hidden by default). The Action (button) > Reset Audit Dates can be used to reset the Audit Date to the current Start Date. 

• Moved (d) - Amount of days moved from the original planned date (hidden by default). The Action (button) > Reset Audit Dates can be used to reset the Audit Date to the current Start Date. 

• Days - The expected Duration (decimals and negative values are not supported). 

• Est Hrs - The Hours estimated to complete the Task and is used for Costing purposes.

• Act Hrs - The actual time it took to complete 

• Var Hrs - The variance between the estimated and actual hours. 

• Note - Right-click an item to View/Edit Note

Footer

• Total Hrs: The Total is updated when the Schedule is updated.

• Days The Total is updated when the Schedule is updated. 

Project Resources

List of your company's Resources including Departments, Work Centres and Staff. 

The Hourly Rate is used for Costing purposes, for instance, when you generate a Quotation from the Project.

Resources can be applied to

• Milestones - for Quoting/Costing purposes - ideally a generic Resource will be applied - eg. Consultant.

• Task - for assigning Tasks.

Components

An ordered list of Components can be integrated into the Project Plan. 

Components can be added directly to the Project or imported from the Items of a transaction linked to the Project and linked to the Transaction Setting > Transaction used for Quotations.

Components can be used to generate Progress Invoices using the Total and Completion %. The Invoiced % field can differ from the Complete % and is used to create the Progress Invoices. Use the Batch Update to update multiple items or use the Action > Set % Invoiced = % Complete. 

Component Example (Joinery):

• Groups: Floor 1, Floor 2

• Components: Wardrobe, Bar Cabinets, Kitchen Units 

Fields

• % Var - % Complete - % Invoiced

• Total (Var) - % Var x Total / 100

User Settings

User Setting > Service Manager > Components - Access Allowed (Y/N - Default = No) - When No, the Components tab is hidden. (Note: Users will still be able to see the Components on the Email) 

Project Templates

The Project Templates are linked to a Class and consist of Items and a Status list that can be appended to a Project.

The Items are a mini project that starts at a Milestone and can optionally contain Task Groups and Tasks. Multiple Milestones items can be added to create a template that is effectively a complete project plan.

Status 

Draft, Review and Ready. The Template lookup in Projects only displays templates in a Ready Status. 

Components

The Components field is used to enable a Component Placeholder and set the Level at which components will be merged. Options include:

• Don't Use - the template will not be merged with Components.

• Milestone - The Component will replace the Milestone. 

• Task Groups - The Component will replace the Task Groups item. 

Notes

• When a template is added to a Project, the Items and Status list is copied to the SM so that changes to the template won't affect historic Projects.

• Only one Component Placeholder is allowed in a Template. 

Rules for updating the Project Start and End dates

Calculation is applied to Tasks and rolled up to Task Groups and Milestone .

The update starts at the bottom or top depending on Tracker Fix Dates: ASAP - Top (Start Date on Tracker) or ALAP - Bottom (required)

Weekend Days and Holidays are considered when updating Days and End Dates. For instance, if a Task takes two days and starts on a Friday, the End Date will be set to Monday. ie. Days = Working Days.

Item Updates

• Start - Updates End

• End - Updates Start

• Days - Updates End

Fix Dates

Milestone s

• Fixed - The Start, End and Days is fixed in all the descending items.

• ASAP - As Soon As Possible

• ALAP - As Late As Possible

Task Groups & Tasks

• None

• Fixed - Start, End and Days are fixed.

NB. If an Item is Fixed with blank Start and End dates, the cascading Items will not be scheduled.

Predecessors

• Predecessors can be applied at the same level in the same group only

• Predecessors are cleared when the Predecessors are below the item (after moving the item or dependent item) or the Fix Dates is set to Fixed.

Project Summary Report

Navigation: Menu (button) > Reports > Project Summary. 

Data Filters: Date (Created, Updated, Required, Start), Resource, Tags.

All the fields in the project table are available in the Report.

Tasks

When a Task is created from the Project, the URL to the Work Process is added as an Attachment/Link to the Task. 

The Task Description is a concatenation of the Parent Description and the Item Description (max 100 characters). 

Timekeeping

The Timekeeping functionality links timekeeping to the Tasks in a Project. You are only allowed to do Timekeeping against Project Tasks. 

1. How to Start Timekeeping: Select a Task, click the Start (button).

2. How to Stop Timekeeping: Click the Stop (button). The Start (button) will change to a Stop button if there is an open timekeeping record. 

A column, with a stopwatch icon in the header, indicates against which task you are currently timekeeping. 

Settings

Transaction Settings > Service Manager 

• Transaction used for Progress Invoices - (Can add multiple settings)

• Transaction used for Quotations (Can add multiple settings) - Used to import Components and to generate Quotations from the Project.

General Settings

• Service Manager > Projects - Ignore Weekends and Public Holidays (Y/N) - This setting is applied when you update a Task directly and when you execute the Update Schedule Action. When No, the caption Days changes to Workdays.

User Settings

• Mobile App > Timekeeping Mode. Options include: 

  • Projects - Active Tasks on Active Projects assigned (Resource) to User.

• Projects - Access Allowed

• Components > Access Allowed

Both of the above settings contain the following options:

• None

• View Only - Default

• Full Access (Pending only) - You are only allowed to edit Components/Projects if the SM is in a Pending Status.

• Full Access

If a user does not have access to Projects or Components, they are not added to the standard Email which you can send from the Service Manager.

Output - Data Pipelines

• SM_Components

• SM_ProjectLevel1

• SM_ProjectLevel2

• SM_ProjectLevel3