Projects: create, modify, delete

The Projects Tab

The Projects tab is where you can organize your projects by dividing them into manageable phases and tasks, which can be plotted on a timeline (Gantt view) and assigned to particular employees.

Note: Only users with access to the Projects tab and who have been given creation rights can create, edit, and assign projects, phases, and tasks.
Note: To configure the layout of the project list view, click the customize link at the bottom of the list. For definition of various values such as Planned, worked, or billed hours, see the tips at the bottom of the list. Note: Several bulk actions are available from the project list view. Projects can be activated or deactivated in bulk. Users who have the role privilege to view the project overview report can generate PDF project overviews for multiple projects in bulk. From the project list view, click the customize link at the bottom of the screen, and add “Run an action”. In the list view, check the boxes for the projects upon which the action is to be run. Click the "circling arrows" icon to run the action. Select activation/deactivation or to "Create Project Overview PDF document with the selected projects". If creating project overview, enter a time period and effective date. Click OK to run the action.
Note: There is a feature to designate certain projects as mutually exclusive. If a project is designated mutually exclusive with another project, a user will not be able to be assigned to both projects without generating a warning. For more information, or to enable this feature, please contact OpenAir support.

Modify | Delete

To create a new project:

1. Click on the Projects tab.

2. Select "project" from the "Create..." drop-down menu. (Note: You can also select "project from another project" and "project from a proposal"; if you do so, you will get a special form that lets you copy phases, tasks, and assignments from another project or tasks from a proposal.)

3. Name your project.

4. Assign the project to a client.

5. Assign a user to be the project's owner (if desired).

6. If you have created locations (used primarily in the Resources module), you will have the option to select one of these locations for the project. When you run searches for resources assigned to tasks within the project, this location will be included in the search criteria.

7. Select the appropriate project stage, if you have created custom project stages.

8. Select the start date and enter the number of hours budgeted (if desired).

9. If you have enabled multi-currency functionality, select the currency in which you want the project to be tracked.

10. Select a monetary budget (if desired).

11. If you are using the project and vendor tax calculation method, enter the appropriate federal and state tax rates; if you are using the tax locations tax calculation method, select the default tax location for the project.

12. If you have enabled options to limit time types by project or limit the services/activities by project, select the time types and/or services/activities that will be available to users on their timesheets when they select this project. To enable these options, please contact OpenAir support.

13. Enter note you wish to be displayed on all invoices, if appropriate.

13(a). Enter additional project notes, if appropriate.

14. If you want project owners to be notified when the owner is changed, check the "Notify project owner ..." box.

15. If you want users who are assigned to tasks associated with this project to be notified when such tasks are modified, added, or deleted, check the "Notify assigned users ..." box.

16a. If you check the "Create associated workspace" box, a workspace with the same name as the project will be created. The new workspace will have a link to the new project. (This option is only available when creating a new project. It is not available when editing existing projects.)
16b. Check "Synchronize the workspace members" to take the workspace members from the list of users who are booked or assigned to the project in either Resources or Projects modules. Synchronized members are automatically given read/write access. When bookings or assignments are modified, deleted, or added, the list of workspace members is automatically updated. A hint at the bottom of the Project edit form provides a hyperlink to manually synchronize the workspace users. If "synchronize the workspace users" is enabled for a project, it is not possible to edit the members in the Workspaces module. The Members form will display a message that "You do not have change permission for this form". A hint at the bottom of the page will display that "This workspace's members are automatically synchronized by project it is linked to".

17. To restrict project modification rights to the project owner, check the box "Allow only the project owner to edit the project"

18. To prevent automatic recalculation of projects, click the box "Allow the user to initiate the project recalculation". If the project has lots of tasks this option will speed up entering or changing tasks.

19. If the project is active, check the "Active project" box. To activate/deactivate projects in bulk, see the section on bulk actionsabove.
An option is available for automatic deactivation of projects when all tasks are marked closed. Inactive projects are not displayed in timesheets, preventing users from logging time to them. To take advantage of this feature, administrators navigate to My Account > Company > Settings > Projects options. Check the box “Inactivate project when all tasks are closed” and save. Once all the tasks on the project are marked closed (by checking the “Closed task” box in the “Edit task” form), the project will be automatically deactivated and inaccessible on users' timesheets.

20. See Account > Projects for more details on setting up signers, project-based approvals, auto-billable options, and hierarchies.

21. Click on the "Save" button. You will be directed to the "Edit project" screen.

Note: If you have chosen to "Allow project over-ride of billing contact" Invoice Option in the Company Settings, you will be able to select a billing contact for this project when you edit the project.

Note: You can add custom fields to your Project dialogs by going to the My Account > Company > Custom Fields tab, and selecting "Custom Field" from the "Create..." drop-down menu.

To modify an existing Project:

Note: The "Edit project" dialog allows you to change *global* information about a Project (i.e. the information you entered when you first created the project). To make changes to a project's phases or tasks, see modifying a phase, and modifying a task.

1. Click on the Projects tab.

2. Click on the Project name in the list, and then on the "Edit project" link.

3. Make your changes to the "Edit project" dialog.

4. Click on the "Save" button.

*Note: If you have chosen to "Allow project over-ride of billing contact" Invoice Option in the Company Settings, you will now be given the option of selecting a billing contact for this project.

Other Project links:

To delete a project:

1. Click on the Projects tab.

2. Click on the project name in the list, and then on the "Edit project" link.

3. Click on the "Delete" button at the bottom of the "Edit project" dialog.

Note: the "Delete" button will not appear if the project:
a) has transactions assigned to it in any OpenAir service module. (To delete the project, reassign those transactions, which can be done only if transactions have not been billed to a client).
b) has been associated with a Workspace. (To delete the project, first click the Workspace icon to the right of the project name above the row of links to "Edit project", "Edit tasks/phases", etc. Then, delete the associated Workspace.)
In most cases, the reasons the delete button does not appear are summarized in the tips at the bottom of the page.

*Note: Instead of deleting a project, you can make a project inactive by unchecking the "Active project" box in the "Edit project" dialog, and then clicking on "Save." This will permit you to filter out this project from your list of active projects, and the inactive project will no longer appear in any "Select..." drop-downs.