Turn on the project process rules

Process settings are the rules that keep a project in order, from the signed contract to handover. Each rule is a switch, and every switch starts off, so the system works exactly as before until you turn one on.

Before you start

• You need the Process - Change Settings permission to change anything here.

Install a process pack

A pack is a ready-made set of rules and project types for one kind of business. It turns the recommended rules on and adds its project types in one step. It only adds: anything you have already set up stays as it is.

• Contracting: projects start from a signed award and go through engineering, purchasing, site work and handover.

• Building systems integration: the contracting pack plus what BMS and controls contractors need, such as software implementation projects.

• Project services: consulting, software and other services sold as projects, with no site or factory steps.

1. Open Projects › Process Settings.

2. In Process pack, choose the pack that fits your business.

3. Select Preview. The list shows what installing would add or switch on. Nothing changes yet.

4. Select Install the pack, check the summary in the confirmation, and select Install the pack again. Cancel leaves everything as it was.

The contracting and building systems packs also add the document categories the signed-contract rules look for (Signed contract, Letter of award, Customer purchase order) and the usual guarantee types (Bid bond, Performance bond, Advance payment guarantee, Retention guarantee), each only when your company does not have it yet.

You can install another pack later. It adds only what is missing, and the page shows the last pack installed.

Starting a project

• Projects start from an approved award: a project whose type needs an award can only be created from the award in the CRM (Create project on the award), and a draft project of that type cannot be activated without one.

• Nothing is booked to a draft project: costs, hours, material requests and stock issues are refused until the project is activated. Activate the project once the contract is signed.

From award to project

• The signed contract is attached first: an award is submitted for approval only once the signed contract, the letter of award or the customer's purchase order is among its documents.

• Customers need a tax number: an account becomes a customer only once its tax registration number is filled in.

• Create the whole project from the award: besides the project, the contract, the billing plan, a task per system, the award's variations and the project manager's handover task. See Create a project from a won award.

• Approving the award creates the project: no click needed once the award is approved.

• The project manager accepts the handover first: a project created from an award starts only after its manager accepted it. See Accept a project handover.

• Project code series: type a prefix such as PRJ- and projects created from awards are numbered PRJ-0001, PRJ-0002 and so on.

• Escalate overdue tasks after (hours): a process task still open this long after its due date goes to its escalation role. Leave it empty to remind only.

• A contract activates only from a signed award: a contract made from an award is activated only once the award is approved with its signed contract, award letter or purchase order attached. See Add a client contract and its bill of quantities.

A pack also adds approval roles (General Manager, Sales Manager, Project Manager…) with nobody in them, and an award approval route that waits on the General Manager. Add the people in Projects › Approval Roles before awards are submitted. See Approval roles.

Project setup

• The locked project budget is the budget: project figures read the budget version locked on the project's Budget tab instead of accounting budgets. See Lock the project budget and change it by version.

• People see only their projects: a user sees a project only when they manage it or are on its team. See Set up the project team and risk register.

• Buy only released items: an item listed on a submittal is requested or ordered for the project only once the submittal is answered A or B, or an early order is approved. See Submittals and approval codes.

• Days to resubmit after C or D: when the resubmission task is due (7 days if empty).

Procurement

• Material requests beyond the budget: Not checked, Warn or Block a request that is worth more than its work packages have left. See Material requests.

• Purchase orders follow the approval route: orders matching a purchase-order route (25,000 and more to the General Manager in the packs) are approved by that route. See Approve purchase orders.

• Count approved orders only in commitments: orders waiting for approval are not yet committed. See Commitments.

• Three quotes from an order total of: from this total an order needs a three-supplier price comparison or a sole-source justification. Empty means no rule.

• Inspect goods before they are posted: receipts wait for inspection, and only the accepted quantity is posted; rejected goods give procurement a task to return them. Inspected receipts need receipt-first buying, so the contracting and building systems packs also switch on Receive before invoicing in Purchasing settings when it is off. See Receive goods against a purchase order.

• Deliver project lines straight to site: a receipt on a project line is charged to the project's material cost instead of the store. No pack turns it on.

• Count open subcontracts in commitments: what active subcontracts have not yet certified is added to Committed, so it lowers the budget left and the material-request budget check sees it. See Commitments.

• Transfers to a site store name their project: a transfer into a warehouse marked Project site store is refused without the project it is for. See Transfer items between warehouses and branches. The Building systems integration pack turns it on.

• Save material issues as drafts first: a material issue is saved as a draft, and stock leaves the store only when someone posts it. A draft can be cancelled. See Issue materials to a project. The Building systems integration pack turns it on; people using the employee app need its latest version to post their drafts.

A pack switches on only what is off and fills only what is empty: it never changes a value you already set.

Bids and offers

• Go / No-Go before bidding: an opportunity is won only after a Go; a No-Go closes it as lost. See Decide whether to bid.

• Minimum bid score (%) and Days needed before the deadline: what the Go / No-Go checks.

• Estimate due days before the deadline: when the estimate a Go requests is due (5 if empty).

• Target margin (%): offers below it take the route's conditional step (the Partner, in the building systems pack). An opportunity can set its own.

• Send offers only once approved, Tell the managers about expiring offers, Review items signed by their role. See Offers and Awards.

Who approves what is set in Approval routes; what waits for you is in the Approval Centre.

Leads and CRM projects

• A lost lead needs a reason: marking a lead lost, or moving it into a lost stage, is refused without the reason. See Record and work a lead.

• CRM project status follows the flow: a CRM project moves only between active and on hold, then to cancelled or closed, which are final. A cancelled project takes no completion date. See Track projects, their packages and the people who influence them.

Panels and delivery

• Release panel work orders only with approved drawings, Factory test before completion and dispatch: see Panels and the FAT.

• Labour from logged hours: a project's work order costs its labour from the hours logged on it.

• Confirm deliveries with the phone location: see Delivery notes to site.

• Checklist templates: the FAT checklist and the site tests use these. The packs add panel FAT, site readiness, SAT and closeout templates.

Commissioning and handover

• SAT only after every point is commissioned, Provisional acceptance after handover and training, Close only with nothing committed: see Handover and acceptance.

• Progress from I/O points: see I/O points.

• Open a maintenance opportunity before the warranty ends (days): see Closeout and warranty. Empty means off.

Billing and collection

• Bill from the billing plan: see Billing plan and cash position.

• Issue certificates only after customer certification: see Progress certificates.

• Payment reminders and escalation: see Collections.

• Weekly project report to the GM: see Weekly project report.

• Change orders need their source document, Bill change orders after the customer approves: see Variations.

• Cash alert below (amount): the company's cash limit; a project can set its own.

• Invoice the advance from the contract terms: converting an award with an advance % requests the advance payment guarantee, and activating the contract drafts the advance certificate. See Advances and retention.

• Final certificate only after the PAC: a final certificate is opened only once the provisional acceptance (PAC) of the project is signed. See Progress certificates.

• Draft the retention certificate at final acceptance: signing the final acceptance (FAC) drafts the certificate that bills the retention held. See Handover and acceptance.

The Building systems integration pack turns on these three billing rules, Count open subcontracts in commitments, A contract activates only from a signed award and both rules under Leads and CRM projects.

Site and sign-in

• Site diaries need the phone's location: a new site diary is saved only with the location where it was written. See Keep the site diary.

• Groups that must use two-step sign-in: people in these groups set up an authenticator app the next time they sign in, and cannot turn it off. No group selected means nobody is made to. Turn this on only after your people have updated the mobile apps: an old app cannot complete two-step sign-in. See Two-step sign-in.

Document templates

The deliverables every project register starts with when gate G4 is approved: materials and shop drawing submittals, O&M manuals, as-built drawings, training records and, in the Building systems integration pack, the I/O list, sequence of operation, network riser, panel drawings and test reports. Switch a template off to stop adding it to new registers. See The project document register.

Work packages

The standard groups every cost, task and budget line belongs to. The contracting packs add Equipment, Panels, Engineering, Programming, Installation, Testing & Commissioning, Subcontract and Contingency. Add your own with a short Code, the Name and the Name in Arabic, or switch one off.

Project types

Each project type says whether it Needs an award before it starts, whether it goes through the Delivery gates, and whether it is a Presales project. The types depend on the pack. For example, the contracting packs add:

• Contracting: needs an award and runs the delivery gates.

• Maintenance and service (and Software implementation in the building systems pack): need an award; no panel or site gates.

• Internal project: no award needed.

• Presales (before award): holds the cost of preparing a bid before the contract is signed.

To add your own type, type a short Code (lowercase), the Name and the Name in Arabic, then select Add. Switch a type off with Active to stop offering it; projects that already use it keep it.

Common questions

A project I am creating by hand is refused. Its type needs an award. Create it from the award in the CRM, or choose a type that does not need one, such as Internal project.

Hours or a material request on a new project are refused. The project is still a draft. Activate it from the project page.

Does turning a rule on change existing projects? No. Projects that are already active keep working. The rules apply to what is created or activated from then on.