Projects & Services — User Guide

Recommended roles:

• Projects Admin
• Owns project templates, statuses, permissions, and governance rules.
• Project Manager
• Creates projects, defines milestones, assigns tasks, tracks progress, escalates blockers.
• Team Member
• Executes tasks, logs time, updates status, adds comments/files.
• Timesheet Reviewer (optional)
• Reviews time entries for accuracy and approvals (if your process requires).
• Customer Viewer (optional, if enabled)
• Sees approved project progress/files only.

Best practice:

• Separate “project creation/governance” from “task execution” permissions.
• Keep a standard status vocabulary (avoid too many statuses).

### 1) Define project statuses and templates (recommended)

• Set standard project statuses: Planned → In progress → On hold → Completed (example).
• Create templates for recurring projects:
• standard milestones
• standard task lists/checklists
• standard owner roles

### 2) Configure roles and access

• Decide who can create projects.
• Decide who can edit milestones and close projects.
• Decide whether customers can view projects and what they can see.

### 3) Define task rules

• Required task fields: owner, due date, priority.
• Decide if overdue tasks must be escalated automatically (manual policy is OK).
• Define checklists for complex tasks (recommended).

### 4) Timesheets policy

• Decide whether time tracking is required for:
• all tasks
• customer-facing projects only
• internal projects only
• Set minimum rules:
• time entry must have description
• time entry must be linked to task or project
• cutoff date for weekly review

### 5) Delivery reporting cadence

• Daily: project manager checks blockers and overdue tasks.
• Weekly: milestone review + effort review.
• Monthly: utilization / time spent by project.

### Workflow 1: Create a project and plan milestones

1. Create a project
2. Define:

• owner (project manager)
• start and target end dates
• scope notes and key outcomes

1. Add milestones (phases)
2. Assign project members
3. Confirm progress view is ready before execution starts

### Workflow 2: Create and assign tasks

1. Add tasks under the project
2. For each task, set:

• owner
• due date
• priority
• checklist (optional)

1. Add attachments or requirements in comments
2. Track execution via task status updates

Tips:

• Keep tasks small enough to be completed within a few days.
• Use milestones as “delivery checkpoints”.

### Workflow 3: Track progress and manage blockers

1. Review project overview
2. Check:

• overdue tasks
• tasks with no owner
• milestone slippage

1. Add blocker notes and assign follow-ups
2. Update project status when materially blocked or resumed

### Workflow 4: Log time (timesheets)

1. Open the task or project time tracking area
2. Add time entry:

• duration
• date
• description (what was done)

1. Review weekly timesheet summary
2. Correct missing/incorrect entries before the cutoff

### Workflow 5: Close a project

1. Confirm milestones are completed
2. Confirm all tasks are done or explicitly cancelled with notes
3. Attach final deliverables (if applicable)
4. Mark project completed
5. Optional: add a short closure note (what was delivered and key outcomes)

Common project reports:

• Project progress summaries
• Tasks by status and overdue list
• Milestone status review
• Time spent by project
• Team workload / utilization (where used)
• Weekly timesheet summaries

Recommended cadence:

• Weekly: project status and milestone review
• Monthly: time spent + workload review

### Project pages look inconsistent across teams

• Use templates and standard status definitions.
• Train teams to always set owner, due date, and priority.

### Timesheets are incomplete

• Require time entries for specific project types.
• Set a weekly cutoff and review cadence.
• Make time entry descriptions mandatory.

### Too many tasks are overdue

• Break large tasks down.
• Reduce WIP per person.
• Add milestone-level checkpoints and escalation rules.