This article describes functionality of our new project module. This module is being rolled out gradually in the upcoming months, so it is possible you do not have access to the features described here yet. If that is the case, you can still find documentation on the previous project module here.
The project module in Teamleader Focus allows you to create, organise and monitor your projects from start to finish. You can break down complex tasks into manageable components, set deadlines, assign responsibilities, and track progress—all in one place. Read all about it here.
The project module
In the realm of productivity and efficient task management, having a comprehensive system to organise and track projects is essential. By adding a project, you establish a dedicated space where you can outline project goals, define specific tasks, allocate resources accordingly or add materials. This not only helps you gain a clear understanding of the project scope but also enables you to identify potential roadblocks or areas that require additional attention.
You can also stay up to date with time management. By setting deadlines for individual groups, tasks or materials within the project, you can effectively manage your time, prioritise activities, and ensure that important tasks are met in a timely manner.
How To
You can create a project from scratch or you can create one based on a quotation. For the purpose of this article we’ll create one from scratch, but you can follow the flow described in this article if you want to convert a quotation into a project.
- Go to Projects > Add project or click on the + > Project in the top right-hand corner in your account
- Now you get to the project page. You will notice there is a header on top.
- Fill in the fields as this will give you a clear overview of the most important information about the project. Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner to find the following options:
- If you have different types of projects and you want to categorise them you can colour code them by clicking on Change colour.
- There are 4 default fields in the header: Owners, Customers, Assignees and Price. You can add extra fields to the header by clicking the three dots in the top right-hand corner > Customise header.
You can also find and display all of your project custom fields right here.
Notes:- Keep in mind you are editing the header for every user opening that project. So each project can have a different header, but all users will see the same header for that project.
- New projects will take over the same header and column setup from your most recent project. This means you don't need to customise every new project to your preferred setup: instead it will take over the setup of the most recent project that you are the owner of. Duplicated projects however would still use the same setup as the original project.
- Click on View timesheet to access an overview of the time tracking linked to your project. Time trackings can be edited from here as well, unless they have already been billed to the customer.
Note: Only accessible for project owners with access to time tracking. - Choose Export timesheet if you for example want to send your customers an update on the time tracking of a project without creating an invoice first. Or select this option to have an internal overview of the time already spent.
- This option is only accessible to admins or project owners
- You can export a report both to PDF and Excel
- Pick a language to match the language of your customer
- Click on Set user rates to set custom user rates per project. Find more information here.
- Manage preferences gives you the opportunity to define access/edit rights in a project. Discover more information about that here.
- Mark your project as template if you often reuse the same type of projects. Note that you can only do this if the project is closed. Read more here.
- Duplicate the project. Read all about that here.
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Close or Delete the project.
- Closed projects cannot be selected anymore when adding tasks, time trackings, deals or invoices later on.
- When closing a project, you have the option to immediately mark all open work as completed:
- You can always reopen the project afterwards.
- When closing a project, you have the option to immediately mark all open work as completed:
- Deleting a project is permanent, and you can’t recover it anymore via the recycle bin.
- Closed projects cannot be selected anymore when adding tasks, time trackings, deals or invoices later on.
- By clicking on Hide details, you can hide the header.
- An owner is responsible for the project, they receive notifications and have more rights than an assignee (participant). Read more about the different rights in a project here.
Note that an admin will always have the same rights as an owner, even though they are not set as an owner.
- An important field in the header is the billing method, you have three choices:
- Time and materials: If you choose this option, you will invoice the billable time and materials in the project.
- Fixed price: It doesn't matter how much time or money you actually spend on the project, you simply invoice the budget you set out initially.
- Non-billable: You have the option to set the entire project as non-billable, which means that all time tracking for that project is non-billable by default.
- Whatever billing method you pick in the header, this will become the default billing method for the whole project. Find more information on the billing method of a project here.
- Via the header, you can add a start and/or end date to your project. When editing the start or end date of a project or group, you will get the option to move all underlying dates along as well. This comes in very handy after duplicating a project for example.
- Fill in the fields as this will give you a clear overview of the most important information about the project. Click on the three dots in the top right-hand corner to find the following options:
- Below the header, you can find the ‘Work breakdown’ tab. This is where you will structure your project. You can add groups, tasks, materials and meetings to your project. Groups will help you categorise your project.
- Add a group by clicking on Add group.
- Add a title. If you click the group again, you can add assignees to it. The ones you add here will be auto assigned in the header.
- Add the start and end date.
- Since we want to keep the project module flexible, it is possible to pick a different billing method for the group than the default billing method you chose in the header.
- Add a task by clicking on Add task or +Add line.
- Add a title. If you click the task, you can select the work type.
- You can also add an assignee or multiple assignees to the task.
- All assignees added to a task in the project will automatically appear in the assignees field in the header.
- You can filter on multiple assignees next to the ‘show all’ field in the Work Breakdown overview.
- Fill in the start and end date.
Note: Newly added tasks will have their dates prefilled with the dates of their direct parent (project or group). - Even though you selected a project or group billing method in the header, you can still set a specific billing method for your task.
- Add time tracking on a task by clicking on a task and opening the side panel, and then:
- Clicking on +Add time tracking. Here you can decide if the time tracking should be billable or not; this makes it possible for example to add non-billable timetracking to billable tasks.
- Clicking on Start timer. This starts a timer with all the information of the task prefilled, which is a huge time saver!
All time tracked on a task will be visible via a progress bar too(provided you filled out the 'Time estimated' field):
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Notes:
- Adding a task to a project will automatically link the customer of the project to that new task.
- No task on a project yet to track time on? No problem! A new task can be added to a project from the time tracking dialogue (In a project, click on the + in the top right-hand corner > Time tracking > Task > New task).
- Add a material by clicking on the arrow next to Add task > Add material or +Add line.
- Start typing to select a product from your product catalogue, or just type a title
- Set the quantity
- When selecting a product from your products:
- You'll also be able to view the remaining stock of your product.
- The description, product unit, unit price and unit cost are taken over, but these can of course be edited.
- Fill in the start and end date
Note: Newly added materials will have their dates prefilled with the dates of their direct parent (project or group). - Choose the billing method
Find more information on adding materials to your project and invoicing them here.
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Add a meeting by clicking on the arrow next to Add task > Add meeting or +Add line.
- A meeting placeholder will be added to your project. A placeholder is actually a great way to already allocate resources for meetings, without adding an actual meeting yet. It allows you to plan a meeting in advance without having all the details yet for example.
- Next to the meeting placeholder, you'll find an exclamation mark stating no meeting has been added yet. You'll also see this reflected in the status of the item:
- Click on the placeholder to add a meeting to it. You can choose between an already existing meeting or create a new meeting.
- When a meeting is marked as done, the status of the meeting placeholder will be updated to 'Done' as well. You can't manually change the status here.
- By marking a meeting as done, you can track time on it as well.
- You can also add work orders to your project. Read more about it here.
- And not only that; after adding your items to your work breakdown, you an always inline edit them easily afterwards instead of having to completely reopen the item. Just click anywhere on the line item and change your title, assignees, status, start and end date etc.:
- To improve the flexibility of the project module, you can drag and drop groups, tasks, materials and meetings to alter the order or move something to another group.
- Depending on how things are going, you can change the status of the tasks and materials to: To do, In progress, On hold, Done. Note that the statuses are also colour coded. It's also possible to filter the work breakdown on status:
This way, you don't clutter your work breakdown with work that has already been done for example. This filter works in combination with the type and assignee filter. Also, when you're invoicing work, it's handy to only invoice work that is marked as done for example. - You can add columns to and delete them from the work breakdown overview. In order to do that, click on the cogwheel and add all the columns you want.
It is possible to scroll horizontally to see all information if you have too many columns. - Also note that you can always duplicate tasks, materials, meetings and groups one by one or altogether:
- One by one by clicking on the three dots next to the item > Duplicate:
- Select the whole group or several items by checking the box next to it:
- One by one by clicking on the three dots next to the item > Duplicate:
- Lastly, you can merge groups by dragging one group and dropping it into the other:
- Add a group by clicking on Add group.
- Next to the Work breakdown tab there's the 'Kanban' tab. The Kanban view on a project is focused on the statuses of project tasks & materials, allowing you to see the status of these items at a glance and determine which tasks should receive attention first. Read all about it here.
- Next to the Kanban view we have the ‘Project info’ tab:
- You find an overview on budget spent, margin and time tracked:
- Budget spent = (billable hours + material) * sale price.
- Margin = If the time tracking is marked as billable, the margin between the price and cost is added to your profit. If the time tracking is non-billable, costs will increase, but the profit will not.
- There's also a 'Description' field to provide more details about your project.
- Below the Description you'll find the field 'Customers', with an overview of the customers linked to your project. You'll be able to add a Primary customer to your project by clicking on the star icon next to the name of a customer:
- This will be the default linked customer for new tasks, time trackings and invoices on the project.
- The primary customer of a project will be indicated in bold in the customer data fields.
- Below the Customers you'll find an overview of the Files that have been added to this project. Or easily add new files here.
- At the bottom of the page, you'll find 'Activities':
- When a project is created, closed, reopened or renamed this will be mentioned here
- Notes can be added as well
- You find an overview on budget spent, margin and time tracked:
- The third tab on the project page is the ‘Invoices’ tab, in which you can invoice your project or find the invoices attached to your project. Read all about invoicing a project here.
Note
It’s not possible to add a meeting to your project. You can however invoice the time tracked on a meeting via Invoices > ‘Invoice unbilled time’, and while creating the invoice you can still link that invoice to your project. It will then show up in the ‘Invoices’ tab of the project.
Project overview
When navigating to your project module, you can find all your projects in a handy overview. This is valuable as it allows for effective follow-up on open or ongoing projects and enables efficient filtering according to some specific criteria. Read more about it here.
Next to a list overview of your projects, you can also find them on a timeline. Read all about the timeline view in projects.
That’s it, you’re all set to create your first projects in Teamleader Focus! Want to learn more about the project module? Click here.