1. What is this module about

The Project management module enables employees/users to manage all (big or small) projects. With Via project templates, various project types can be created with all relevant project phases. New projects can be simply created from a project template with a pre-defined set of project phases. Request, approve, and allocate your project budget over the various project phases and register actual costs with work orders created from the project phases. Keep track of the project timeline via various reports and a Gantt chart.

The next parts will go into more detail on explain some of the core concepts of this module. For a complete overview of using this module see: Project management module for users

1.1 Project and project phase templates

Project templates allow users to quickly create a new project based on a project template with relevant project phases pre defined. For example, if a renovation project always or usually consists of 10 main project phases and each of the main project phases have 4 sub phases, it will be a hassle to create every project’s main and sub phase over and over again for each new project. A project template can be created for this “type“ of project. When a new renovation project needs to be created, a renovation project template (with all project phases pre defined) can be used to create the new project, where all project (sub) phases from the project template are taken over to the new project.

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On a project template it is possible to enable or disable project budget approval. Via this way, the project budget approval can deviate from the general client settings for project budget approval. Additional project budget approval system groups can be created and can be used for every project template.

Users with the system group 'Manage project templates' (FMB-G157) can create and manage project- and project phase templates. Project- and project phase templates can be created from:

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• New project (a new empty project needs to be manually entered)

• New project from template (Project details (name, description, etc.), project (sub) phases and documents are automatically taken over from the template)

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1.2 Project participants

Next to the projects main responsible (registered on the ‘General’ tab of the project), additional project participants can be added via the projects 'Team' tab. There are two types of project participants which can be added:

• Project responsibles: Add additional project responsibles who are able to execute project workflow tasks, request project budget, add project participants, manage all project phases etc.

• Project participants: Add project participants who can be linked to project phases making them responsible for those project phases. The project participants can only edit project phases they are responsible for.

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1.3 Project budget

On project level, the project budget can be registered. The project budget is a cost estimation associated with succesfully successfully completing the project. It includes all expenses necessary to achieve the project objectives, such as labor, materials, equipment, services, and any other resources.

Enable project budget approval

Project If the options has not been enabled from the start (via the module activation), project budget approval can be enabled via ‘Module settings' → ‘Projects’. The project budget approval system group can be selected. By default the system group '4. Project budget approver’ is available and can be assigned to the relevant user.

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The project templates automatically take over the general project budget approval settings, but it is possible to deviate from these general settings. For specific project templates, the project budget approval can be disabled or can be done by a different budget approval system group. The client A level 3 admin can create custom system groups under the system group '4. Project budget approver’, which then can be selected as project budget approval system groups.

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Via the projects 'Budget' tab, a project budget can be requested by the projects responsible(s). If project budget approval is enabled, the requested project budget needs to be approved by a user from the pre-defined project budget approval system group after the project is submitted.

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After the project is submitted, the relevant project budget approval system group will get the task to review the project budget and either approve or reject the requested budget. If the project budget is rejected, a mandatory reason needs to be entered. If the project budget is approved, this will also be shown on the 'Budget' tab of the project.

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If a project is in the execution phase, it is possible that the intially initially requested project budget is insufficient to complete the project. In this case, a project budget adjustment can be requested. The project responsible(s) can enter and confirm a new (usually higher) project budget. The project budget approvers need to approve this budget adjustment request.

The previous approved project budget stays applicable until the requested project budget adjustment is approved.

1.4 Project phases

A project usually consists of one or more project phases. Each phase has its tasks and goals to complete in order to successfully complete the whole project. Common examples of project phases are initiation, planning, execution, monitoring/controlling and closure.

If a new project is created from a pre-defined template, then the project phases from the template are automatically taken over to the new project. Additional project phase can be added manually or can also be generated from the available project phase templates.

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The approved project budget can be assigned to the various main project phases. The total budget assigned to the main project phases can not exceed the approved project budget. The budget assigned to the main project phases can be assigned to the sub phases. The total budget assigned to the sub project phases can not exceed the main project phases assigned budget. An error is shown if the budget exceeds the applicable budget.

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Members of the project team (project responsibles responsible and project participants) can be added as the project phases responsible. The user responsible for the project phase can:

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The sub phases created from the main sub phase the user is responsible frofor, can also be managed by this user.

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User 3 can manage sub phase 2, sub phase 2.1 and sub phase 3.

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1.5 Project work orders

The actual execution of the work that needs to be done to complete all project phases and the whole project can be project as a whole, is done via project work orders. Project work orders can be created from the lowest hierarchical level of the project phases.

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When creating a project work order, the cost items can be added, an internal responsible can be assigned and the contractor can be selected. The project work order process is pretty similar to the corrective work order process.

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Project work orders can only be submitted or forwarded to a contractor after the project budget has been approved.

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The project work orders actual costs are considered the realization of the budget. In the project phase overview of the project it is directly insightful what the assigned budget was, the realization (from the project work orders) and the budget left per project phase.

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All project work orders are also visible on the projects 'Work orders' tab to have a quick view of all work orders involved in the entire project.

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1.6 Workflow processes

1.6.1 Project workflow process

The following part describes the workflow for a project from a high-over point of view. For a detailed description, see the user manual Project management module for (end) users.

Create and submit the project
A user can create a new project from scratch or based on a project template. The user creating the project is automatically set as the main responsible (via the corresponding field on the project). The user can enter the project details (name, description, start date, end date, etc.), request a project budget, add project participants, and create the project phases. Once the project is filled in completely, the project can be submitted.

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The project can be closed as soon as the project is finished and all project phases are completed.

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1.6.2 Project phase workflow process

The project phases also have a workflow, but this workflow is only used to enable and disable the editable fieldsdistinguish between open vs closed phases. The percentage completed of a project phase can be entered manually. Closing the project phase can be done via a button, which automatically sets the project phase to 100%. Via the Re-open button, the project phase is editable again and the percentage completed is reset.

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1.6.3 Project work order workflow process

The following part describes the workflow of a project work order from a high-over point of view. For a detailed description, see the user manual Project management module for (end)users.

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Optional: Start tendering process
A tendering process can be started if a contractor needs to be selected from a list of potential contractors. The tendering process can either be a new process in Workplace Management or completely outside of the application. The contractor with the best quotation can be selected and assigned to the work order.

Project work Work order in progress
The project work order is in progress, and the contractor needs to handle the work specified in the work order. If the contractor has a user account, the contractor can directly handle the work order in the application. If the contractor does not have a user account, then the internal responsible need to handle the work order on behalf of the contractor. The actual quantity and prices used during the handling of the project work order can be registered.

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Optional: Financial administration
If the executed work is approved, the financial administration surrounding this work order can be executed as a task in the workflow (depending on the settinggeneral work order settings). The contractor might send an invoice that must be registered and paid.

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1.7 Other relevant options

Gantt chart

Via the projects 'Gantt chart’ tab, the project phases are visible in a calendar view.

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Workflows can automatically send emails after a certain task is executed or a workflow has been in a status for a certain amount of time. The default emails need to be activated per workflow. For more information on how to enable the default workflow emails, see Workflow emails.

For the project module, an overview of the default workflow emails can be found in the user manual: Project workflow emails

3. General project module settings

To navigate to all the general project model settings, go to Modules settings → tab Projects. Hover over the available settings to get more information about a specific setting:

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4. Additional information on this module

More information on the Project management module can be found via the following related articles:

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