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Version: 8.0

Project management

Introduction​

At Axelor, a project and a business project are two distinct things and are managed differently. The purpose of a project is to be managed internally, whereas a business project is attached to a customer. As a result, certain functions are reserved for use on a business project form, and not on a project form.

Business project: a business project includes customer invoicing and supplier invoicing.

tip

In the Project menu, you will find another new feature:

  • The Job costing and Project menus have been merged into a single ‘Project’ menu. First, open the Project menu. Then, select either ‘Business project’ or ‘Project’.

  • Convert into business project: you can convert a project into a business project. The ‘Convert into business project’ button is available in the Configuration tab of a project.

Create a business project / a project​

A business project is linked to a customer. It's managed with invoicing (purchase and/or sale that were made with an external "partner").

tip

Note, it's possible to convert a project into a business project.

For all versions below v8.2, activate the option "Business project" on the Project file on the right side in the Characteristics section.

Access : Project → Project → +

Access : Project → Business project → +

Each business project has a workflow. The statuses are as follows: New → In progress → Done → Cancelled → Done paid

  1. On a new (business) project file, enter a code.

  2. Then enter a name.

  3. Select a company that is specific to this project.

  4. Select a customer.

  5. Select a customer contact.

  6. Parent project: select a parent project in the dedicated field in the Characteristics section.

  7. Show sub-projects: activate this option to display current sub-projects in the Characteristics section.

Tasks tree tab​

The tasks tree tab is used to manage all the tasks that are associated with the project.

You'll find :

  • The plus icon: create a new child task.

  • The caddy icon: generate a purchase (supplier order). Clicking on it opens the sale quotation form directly.

  • The cross icon: delete a task.

  • The square icon: opens a task in a new window.

You can also click on the buttons :

  • New task: to create a new task.

  • New Ticket: to create a new ticket.

  • All tasks: this button opens a new window in list view with all the tasks.

Planning tab​

Use this tab to schedule time for teams.

Reporting tab​

This business project specific tab allows you to monitor business project performance indicators. Here you'll find time tracking (estimated/updated task/planned/past times), consumption and progress percentages.

This tab allows you to monitor the business financially by looking at the sales figures, costs, margins and margin rates for the sold, forecast and actual budgets, in order to imagine clearly the financial management of a business project.

This tab also contains the invoicing indicators and the project history. Compare what has been sold, or compare the forecast with the actual statistics.

Sales tab​

From the Sales tab, manage all sale quotations and sale orders for your customer, as well as Order Lines and Customer Receipts. A button allows you to Generate quotation or Show sale order lines.

tip

If the Sales tab is not available on a business project file, activate it in the configurations of Job costing app (Business project app).

Access: Application config → Apps management → Job costing, configure → Activate sales tab options

Purchases Tab​

The Purchases tab is used to list all quotations and purchase orders required to complete the job. This business-specific tab allows you to find supplier quotations, supplier orders, order lines and supplier receipts. A button allows you to Generate a quotation or Show purchase order lines.

Resource booking​

Allows you to book resources.

Expenses​

This tab is used to group together pending and validated expenses and their details.

Invoicing tab​

The Invoicing tab is used to configure default invoicing.

  1. Invoicing Expenses: if this box is ticked, when you enter an expense, an expense associated with this case will be billed to a customer.

  2. Purchases/Tasks Invoicing: you can also activate these options (Invoicing purchases & Packaged task invoicing) to be able to invoice purchases and tasks.

Analytic Tab​

The Analytic tab allows you to monitor your business analytically.

Wiki tab​

The Wiki tab is used to list essential project information, such as useful links.

Roadmap tab​

The Roadmap tab is used to track versioning. This tab is very useful for IT projects.

Announcement tab​

In this tab, list important announcements.

Configuration tab: configure a project or a business project​

In the Configuration tab, you will find different features in order to configure a project or a business project.

  1. Type of authorized activities: in general configuration, select an activity. For example, if it is a consulting project, you can authorise access to activities for project leaders, managers and consultants.

  2. Project folders: on a Business project file, in the Configuration tab, Business configuration, select project folders. It allows you to organise your projects.

  3. Number of hours in a day: in this field, select the number of hours per day. The number of hours per day is taken into account by default for a project / business project. In the example, the number of hours per day has been set to 7.

  4. Project time unit: select a project time unit. For example, a day or an hour.

  5. Type of authorized status: in the Configuration tab, Task configuration section, you can modify the statuses according to your needs. These statuses will then be added to the project workflow (New / In progress / Completed / Cancelled).

  6. Type of authorized priorities: modify the statuses associated with the tasks.

  7. Type of authorized categories: it is also possible to authorise certain types or categories of task.

  8. Time Spent / Enable Gantt View / Kanban View and other checkboxes: these functions allow you to control the time that has been spent, display the different views, or enable views on the calendar. For example, activating the 'Topic' checkbox will allow you to discuss topics relating to the project.

  9. You can also make the project chargeable to HR timesheets (or not).

  10. Authorise access to task categories (low / normal / high / urgent).

  11. Custom fields tab : in the Custom fields tab, you will find custom fields. Custom fields are used to list information specific to your trade. Custom fields can be configured in the application configuration in the Project module.

  12. Members tab : here, you can select (to import members) a team, add a member or synchronize member information.

  13. Save the changes you have made.

Contracts tab​

This tab lists all customer and supplier contracts and associated invoices.

Activities tab​

This tab allows you to track all the changes that have been made to this project / business project.

Create a project from a template​

You can create a project (or a business project) template from the menu entry: Project → Templates → Project templates → +.

  1. Create project / business project from this template: in a template, you can define default parameters that will be applied to a project by clicking on the ‘Create project from this template’ button.
tip

When a template is created for a business project, activate the Business project feature that you can find on your right side in the Characteristics section. It will also add the Invoicing tab.

  1. There are following parameters :

  • In the Task Templates tab, set up default tasks. These templates can be configured from the menu entry Project → Templates → Task Templates.

  • Define default Members in the Members tab.

  • Add default Invoicing configurations: define default Invoicing expenses and Invoicing purchases.

  • Default Wiki.

  • Define default Configurations: Types of authorised activities / Types of authorised task categories / Project folder / Project allocation on HR timesheets.

Project folders​

A project folder is used to group projects and business projects together in a common folder.

Access : Project management → Configuration → Project folders → +

  1. Enter a name.

  2. Enter a description.

  3. Select a project by clicking on the magnifying glass icon. In addition, the project folder can be selected from a project or a business project file in the Configuration tab.