Overview
The Projects module is designed for managing complex installation and multi-task jobs from quote to final invoice. It provides detailed financial tracking, including budgeting, costs, progress claims, and profitability. Correctly configuring the Projects module and understanding its relationship with other modules is critical for accurate financial reporting and streamlined operational workflows. This document outlines the key dependencies and the recommended setup sequence to ensure the module functions as intended.
Related modules
The Projects module interacts with numerous other modules. The impact of these relationships is rated below.
High:
Service Quoting
Tasks
Billing & Invoicing (including Accounting Integrations)
Client's & Properties
Document Templates
Medium:
Purchase Orders
Timesheets
Products
Users & Labour Rates
Cost Centres
Low/Optional:
Inventory / Warehousing
Insights & Reports
Recommended configuration sequence
To ensure the Projects module functions correctly, modules should be configured in the following order:
Foundation Modules & Data
— Rationale: Core data must exist before other modules can use it. This includes setting up your accounting integration, creating users with correct labour rates, and populating products. The Service Quoting module is essential as all projects must originate from a quote.Connect Accounting Integration (Xero, MYOB, etc.)
Configure Users & Labour Rates
Set up Products
Enable and configure the Service Quoting module
Project-Specific Configuration
— Rationale: These settings are required specifically for the Projects module to generate claims and track financials. This must be done before creating your first project.Enable the Projects module (
Control Panel > Extensions).Add Project Invoice Document Templates from the library (
Control Panel > Document Templates).Set the default project template (
Control Panel > Projects).Enable and configure Cost Centres if they will be used for financial tracking.
Project Execution
— Rationale: This is the standard operational workflow. Following this sequence ensures that data flows correctly between modules, from the initial quote through to tasks and final invoicing.Create and approve a Service Quote.
From the approved quote, create the Project.
From the quote, create Project Tasks and assign quoted line items to them.
Manage work, create Purchase Orders, and record time within the Tasks.
Use the Project Claims workflow to generate invoices for deposits, progress, and retention.
This module depends on…
The Projects module requires the following modules and configurations to be in place to function correctly.
Service Quoting
— Placement:Control Panel > Extensions
— Impact: High
— If missing: The "Create Project" option will not be available. All projects must be created from an approved or completed service quote.
— Pre-reqs: Module must be enabled. Users need "Can create, update and delete service quotes" permission.Customers & Properties
— Placement:Customer Data > Clients / Properties
— Impact: High
— If missing: A project cannot be created, as it must be linked to an active client and property via the service quote.
— Pre-reqs: An active Client and Property must exist to be linked to the source Service Quote.Billing & Accounting Integration
— Placement:Control Panel > AccountingandBilling > Billing Cards
— Impact: High
— If missing: Project claims and invoices cannot be created or pushed to your accounting software. An active Billing Card linked to the client is mandatory for project invoicing.
— Pre-reqs: An accounting integration must be connected, and a Billing Card must be created and assigned to the project's client.Document Templates
— Placement:Control Panel > Document Templates
— Impact: High
— If missing: You cannot generate PDF documents for project claims. The system will show an error that a template is required.
— Pre-reqs: A "Project Invoice" or "Project Summarised" template must be added from the library and set as the default in the Projects configuration (Control Panel > Projects).Users & Labour Rates
— Placement:People > Users > Labour Rates
— Impact: Medium
— If missing: Labour costs will not be tracked accurately, impacting the project's profitability calculations. Budgeted vs. actual labour reporting will be incorrect.
— Pre-reqs: Labour rates (cost and sell) must be configured for technicians.Cost Centres
— Placement:
Control Panel > Cost Centres
— Impact: Medium
— If missing: Revenue cannot be attributed to specific departments or business units, limiting financial reporting granularity. If the module is enabled, a cost centre becomes a required field for project creation.
— Pre-reqs: The Cost Centres module must be enabled by support, and cost centres must be created before they can be assigned to projects.
Modules that depend on this module…
The following modules are impacted by the configuration and use of the Projects module.
Tasks
— Impact: High
— If misconfigured: The entire operational side of the project fails. All work, material tracking (via Purchase Orders), and labour tracking (via Timesheets) are managed within tasks linked to the project.
— Recovery: Ensure tasks are created from the service quote after the project is created, and that all quoted line items are assigned to the correct tasks.Billing & Invoicing
— Impact: High
— If misconfigured: Financial tracking for the project will be inaccurate. Invoicing directly from a project task bypasses the project's financial summary and claim tracking, breaking WIP reports. This also disables the project claim function for that project permanently.
— Recovery: Strictly use the Create Claim workflow within the project to generate all invoices. If an invoice is created from a task by mistake, it must be voided. The claim may need to be deleted by support to restore the correct workflow.Purchase Orders
— Impact: Medium
— If misconfigured: Material costs will not be tracked against the project budget. Purchase Orders cannot be created from the project level; they must be created from a task linked to the project.
— Recovery: Ensure products are added to theWorktab of a project task before creating a Purchase Order from that task.Timesheets
— Impact: Medium
— If misconfigured: Actual labour costs will not appear on the project's financial dashboard. The project will only show estimated labour, not actuals.
— Recovery: Ensure all technician timesheet sessions related to project tasks are submitted and approved.Insights & Reports
— Impact: Medium
— If misconfigured: Project performance dashboards and WIP reports will display incorrect data. For example, invoicing from tasks instead of using claims will result in unbilled costs appearing on reports, skewing profitability metrics.
— Recovery: Adhere strictly to the recommended project claim and task management workflows. Data cannot be easily corrected after misconfiguration.