Projects

From Admin > Settings > Projects you can access the lookup list values for the Type, Category and Status fields.

Click on any of the field names from the list to open a pop-up window to edit the field.

You can then use the + New Option button to add more values to the list and reorder the values by clicking and dragging the 6 dots on the right hand side of each value.

The Open option can be toggled to indicate whether each value leaves the Project with a Status of Open and you can use the bin icon to remove a value from the list.

This is an important step because it allows you to apply your specific terminology and internal process to Projects in CRM so that they are easy to track and segment.

There are a number of ways to create a new Project:

• From Operations > Projects by clicking on the New Project button.

Creating a new Project in Operations

• From a customer record (Company or Contact) by using the Project button on the activity toolbar.

Creating a Project from a Company record

• You can also set up a Web Form to automatically create a new Project and customer/lead record in CRM.

A Web Form related to Projects

Just click on the paperclip icon to select the files you want to attach.

Adding attachments to a Project

You can quickly create an Activity for a Note, Call, Task, Meeting, Email or SMS using the toolbar buttons. You can also bill for the time you spend on Activities associated with Project – see the section on Time Billing for Activities.

Creating Activities on a Project

Activities you create will then display on the record in one of the following areas:

• Upcoming meetings, calls or tasks will show in the Planned Activity area to the right of the timeline.

• The top right-hand corner of the record will also quickly show you what the next step for the Project is.

• Past or completed activities will show on the Timeline.

• You can also see all Tasks associated with the record by navigating to the Tasks tab where you can filter and search the records.

You can also set reminders for a range of Activities so that you and your team can receive notifications and alerts – see this guide to Notifications and Reminders for more information.

You can create an Opportunity using the toolbar button. Note that you can have multiple Opportunities attached to a Project record.

Creating Opportunities from a Project

You can then quickly see all Opportunities associated with a Project from the Opportunities tab.

Viewing Opportunities linked to a Project

You can quickly add Quotes, Sales Orders and Invoices by navigating to the relevant tab and then clicking on the Add button.

Adding sales to a Project

You can also add or view associated Payments from the named tab.

You can quickly add Requests For Quote, Purchase Orders and Supplier Bills by navigating to the relevant tab and then clicking on the Add button.

You can enable Time Billing in CRM with these instructions, which will allow you to quickly generate a time bill from the activity toolbar.

Generating a Time Bill on a Project

The top right-hand corner of the record will also show you the amount of time spent for the Project and how much of that time is unbilled.

You can navigate to the Tickets tab to add and view Tickets associated with the Project.

If you are using our Outlook add-in Inbox Insights, you will be able to track emails back to Project timelines so that they form part of the record history, which will help you to centralise your data. When you sync the Outlook email to CRM:

• Click on the Add button next to the Related box.

• Select Project from the dropdown list of options and then use the search box to find the Project you want to sync the email to, select and and press OK when you are done.

• The selected Project will then show in the Related box and you can click OK to complete the sync.

The synced email will then be visible on the Project timeline.

To the right of the Timeline is an area for Attendees where you can add other CRM Users or Teams to the Project.

To the right of the Timeline is an area for Contacts where you can link multiple Contact records to the Project so that you can quickly identify stakeholders.

You can set up a Project deadline reminder in CRM for the person the record is Assigned To by using the Planned End Date field.

On the Planned End Date the user that the record is Assigned To will receive a notification in CRM.

You can also set reminders for a range of Activities so that you and your team can receive notifications and alerts – see this guide to Notifications and Reminders for more information.

You have 3 different view options in Projects and you can switch between the views by using the selector icons above the activity toolbar, as per the following examples.

• List view – displays a list of records you can search and sort. Setting up Filters and Layouts here will make it easy to track and manage your workflow in future.

List view

• Map view – if you have added address information to your records, each Project will display as a pin on the map.

Map view

• Kanban view – this will display your records according to their Status, or you can click on the gear icon to change the view so that it is sorted by who the records are Assigned To.

Kanban view

Adjusting Kanban view to sort by Status or Assigned To