Projects view

A Project is a category of tasks or activities, a scheme or design requiring considerable concerted effort. If you work on projects for clients, you can assign multiple projects to each client.

Enter at least one project in this view.

To customize terminology according to your needs, select Tools, Database Options, Database Terminology or Other Terms.

Add Project information:

1. Select View, Projects, Projects from the menu (or click the Projects button $image\project.jpg$ on the side shortcut bar).

2. Click Add $image\add.jpg$ to add a new project to the list.

3. Optionally select the Client name from the list. When you select a new Client, the Project Name is added (or appended) to the Client Short Name to form one word. This new word is used in Track-IT timesheet entry tools (Track-IT light and Track-IT web edition) to display in lists to record hours worked. The three first letters of the Client name plus a hyphen is used by default. However, you can enter up to 250 characters in total for the client+project name.

4. Enter a unique Project name (up to 250 characters).

The following instructions are optional:

5. Select a Manager from the employee list. This is the project manager or person in charge of monitoring the project. To add or edit employee information, select View, Employees, Employees from the menu (or click the Employees button $image\employee.jpg$ on the side shortcut bar).

6. Select a Project Status from the list. The status is the state of the Project. Except for Estimate and Active, all other statuses are used for reporting and general information purposes only. To customize the wording used in this list, select Tools, Database Options, Other terms.

7. Select the Group by category from the list. The Project Group is used to group projects considered as a collective unit because of common characteristics. When projects are grouped, reports and graphs show hours or costs according to each group. To add or edit project groups, select View, Projects, Project Groups from the menu (or click the Project Groups button $image\project_group_icon.jpg$ on the side shortcut bar).

Ü Example: Projects dealing with administrative matters might be grouped as "Intracompany".

8. Select the Billing by method from the drop-down list. To customize the wording used in this list, select Tools, Database Options, Other terms.

9. Select the Start date of the Project.

10. Select the End date of the Project.

11. Enter a brief Description of the project.

12. Check the Hide box if you want to hide this name from lists when preparing reports.

13. Check the Flag for archive box if this item is to be archived when the Archive Database option is selected in the Track-IT pro Database Manager software.

14. Linked To is used for information purposes. If this project was created using Microsoft Project, the .mpp file name will be displayed. See Microsoft Project or Microsoft Project Server for more information.

15. The Default Options area specifies if all time or expense entries relating to this project automatically appear in timesheet entry tools as billable. For example, if ‘Time entries billable by default’ is checked, a timesheet entry tool user selecting this project will have the billable option automatically checked. Check or uncheck each option as required for the project. Note that it is possible to set the billable/non-billable default for individual tasks within a project by using the Project Budgets, Assignments or Gantt views.

16. In the Task Assignments area, check the appropriate boxes in order that timesheet entry tools users only see their current assignments. See Show Only Current Assignments for more details.

Ü When the Hide Tasks box is checked, tasks that are outside the date range of the employee’s current view in the timesheet entry tool will not be displayed.

Ü When the Prevent Entries box is checked, the timesheet entry tool user will not be able to add time to a task that is outside the scheduled start and finish date for the task.

For more information on how to:

Ü Assign tasks and employees to the project (used for timesheet entry), click here.

Ü Automatically assign tasks to all employees using Global tasks, click here.

Ü Create sub-levels of information (phases, groups), click here.

Ü Enter or edit task information, click here.

Ü Enter estimated expenses for projects, click here.

Ü Enter actual expenses for projects, click here.

Ü Enter or edit project estimates (budgets), click here.

Ü Enter or edit project actual or estimated costs, click here.

Ü Prepare reports, click here.

Tips:

Ü Use the $image\row_move.jpg$ buttons on the toolbar to move to the first, previous, next or last items in the list.

Ü Use the $image\hide.jpg$ button to show or hide columns.

Ü Use the $image\filter.jpg$ button to add a filter to show only items matching the selected criteria. To remove the filter, click the $image\filter_off.jpg$ button.

Ü To copy one or more items, select the item and right click to copy then right click to paste.

Ü Click the appropriate tab to add Notes and Risks, Phone Numbers and Addresses.