Create a project with team, phases and budget

Before you start

What you need

• The Projects manager permission, plus Budgets manager and access to Project financials for the budget step.
• The client already created in Flowtly, and the people who will work on the project with their hourly rates.
• The phases you plan, with their dates, and the budget lines you expect to bill and spend.

1. 1

   Open Projects and start a new project

   In the menu, open Projects. Click Add project in the page header. The Create new project dialog opens on the Blank tab, which is the one this tutorial uses. The button is shown only to people with the Projects manager permission or administrators.

   Tips

   • From a template is the second tab in the same dialog. Use it when your organisation keeps a ready-made project structure.
   • If you do not see Add project, you can view projects but not create them. Ask an administrator for the Projects manager permission.

   • Open Projects
2. 2

   Fill in the client, type and dates

   Enter the Name. Flowtly proposes a Reference from it as you type, and you can type over it or leave it empty. Pick the Client from the list. Under Billing, choose the Type: Fixed price, Time and material, Non billable or Internal, and optionally a Currency. Under Schedule, set Date from and Date to. Click Create project, and Flowtly opens the new project page.

   Tips

   • Name and Type are the only required fields. If you click Create project with something missing, the footer of the dialog says how many fields still need fixing.
   • If the client does not exist yet, choose Add client in the client list. The new client is filled in for you. Creating a client needs the Clients manager permission, and the Client field itself is shown to people with Clients manager or Debt collections manager.
   • Leave Client empty for an internal project. You can set or change the client later.
3. 3

   Add the team

   In the project page header, click Members. The Members panel opens on the right. Click Add member, then pick one or more people in the Team member list. Choose a Role: Project lead, Account manager, Team member or Viewer. The role applies to everyone you selected. Click Add team member.

   Tips

   • Only roles that none of the selected people already hold on this project are offered. If no role is left for all of them, remove someone from the selection.
   • Where your organisation uses agreements, a person without a current agreement is listed but cannot be picked. Their row says why.
4. 4

   Set each member's project rate

   The Members panel shows a Rate column for each person added directly to this project. A dash means no rate is set yet. Click the rate value to open Billing rates for that person, then click Add rate. Enter the Rate, which is per hour in the currency shown beside the field. Pick the Team member position if you want one, set Date from and optionally Date to, and click Add rate.

   Tips

   • When a rate changes, use Extend rate instead of overwriting it. The old rate stays in the history for the period it covered.
   • The Team member position is shown as the default on the invoice.
   • Adding rates needs the Projects manager permission. Someone with the Projects lead permission can see rates but not change them.
5. 5

   Break the work into phases

   Open the Phases tab and click Add project phase. Enter the phase Name. The Type starts as the project's own type, and Date from and Date to start as the project's dates. Change them as needed, then click Save. Each phase appears in the list on the Phases tab with its type, dates and status.

   Tips

   • A phase can only be scheduled inside the project's dates. Days outside them are not offered in the date pickers.
   • People on the parent project also appear in each phase's Members panel. Their rate is set on the parent project, not on the phase.
6. 6

   Record the initial budget

   Open the Project financials tab. It opens on Initial budget. Click Create initial budget, then Add item. The new line opens ready to edit: enter its Name, the amount you expect to charge under Billed and the amount you expect it to cost under Cost, and pick a Tag if you use them. Save the line with the check mark. Planned total above the table adds up every line.

   Tips

   • Creating and editing the initial budget needs the Budgets manager permission. Without it, you can see the budget but not create or change it.
   • If the budget already lives in a spreadsheet, use Import a spreadsheet instead of typing every line.
   • The Budget section on the Overview tab is a different thing. Its Add new button links the project to an existing budget from the Budget module.