Work Breakdown Overview | Total Synergy Knowledge Base

Edition: Business, Enterprise

User-level: Assistant PM and above.

In Synergy you can set up a work breakdown and manage it throughout the life of the project helping you track progress and understand how your projects are performing.

Access the work breakdown

From the project Overview, select Breakdown > Work Breakdown

Work Breakdown hierarchy

The work breakdown consists of Phases, stages, tasks and Milestones. How they interact with each other is explained below.

Phases

Use phases in large projects to organise related stages into groups.
Phases help keep stages with common tasks structured and manageable.
You can filter reports by phase name to view all stages within that phase.
Phases do not have fee values associated with them, instead their fee value is the total of all stages within the phase.

Stages

Stages sit under tasks and define the key components of a project that need to be completed.
Each stage can have an associated fee value, and invoices are generated at the stage level.
Common tasks can be grouped within a stage, and a budget can be set for better cost management.
You can assign cost centres and discipline details to stages for reporting and to map invoice data when using accounting add-ons.

Tasks

Tasks sit under stages and define the individual work items required to complete a stage.
Tasks can be assigned to specific staff members.
Each task can have its own budget for better cost control.
Staff select tasks when entering timesheets, allowing you to track time spent on each project task.

Milestones

Milestones also sit within stages and represent key due dates in a project.
They can only be added from the Project Schedule.
Milestones are available exclusively in the Enterprise edition of Synergy.

The work breakdown in Planning vs Delivery Mode

By default, project in proposal status will be in planning mode and a project with an active status will be in delivery mode. You can tell which mode a project is in by checking the top of the work breakdown.

Planning Mode: The fee budget and resourcing are all connected. If you change the fee in the work breakdown, the budget and resources will be updated in line with the edits made.

Delivery Mode: The fee, budget and resourcing are disconnected. If you update the fee in the work breakdown, the budget and resource plan will remain the same as before. In delivery mode, you will need to select 'Edit' in the top right hand corner of the work breakdown before making any changes.

Change a proposal status project from planning mode to delivery mode by selecting the toggle at the top of the work breakdown

Adding phases

Click on the ellipsis and select 'Enable phases'.
You will see the stage rows are now indented to the right and under the phase you enabled.
Click on the phase name to change it.
You can add additional phases by clicking on the '+' icon on any phase row you have created.
Type in the phase name and click Add.
- This will create the new phase under your last stage.

Adding stages

To add a stage click, hover over a phase or stage and click on the '+' icon.
Type in the stage name and click Add.
This will add a stage under the last stage.

Adding tasks

To add a task to a stage, hover over any stage and click on the '+' icon.
Select Task from the dropdown
Type in the task name and click Add. This will add a task under this stage.

Editing phases

Quick edits from WBD

If the project is in delivery mode, select edit in the top right hand corner of the work breakdown
Edit the phase name by clicking on the name and typing

Edit full phase details

Hover over the blue phase line and select the edit pencil to the right
Edit the phase name or description
Select Apply in the top right

Editing Stages

Quick edits from the work breakdown

If the project is in delivery mode, Select edit in the top right hand corner
From here you can edit the following details

Stage name: Click into the name and type to update the name of the stage
Scope comments: By hovering over the stage, click on the dotted line under 'scope/comments' to enter a scope of work for the stage
Status: Click into the stage status to update the status for this stage
Stage manager: Click into the stage manager icon to change the manager responsible for the stage
Fee type: Click on the current fee type name to select a new fee type for the stage
Fee: Click into the fee value to type in a new fee for this stage. Fees can only be entered for fixed fee or capped rates stages.

Editing full stage details

Hover over the stage you want to edit, Select the edit pencil to the right > View details
From the stage details screen you can edit the following

Details tab

Manager: Choose the stage manager from the dropdown
Cost centre: Select the cost centre associated with the stage from the dropdown
Tax rule: Set the tax rule applied to all invoices for this stage
Client reference number: Enter the PO number associated with the work stage, this can then be pulled through to invoices
Fee type: Set the fee type for the stage from the dropdown
Rate group: Select the rate group associated with the stage from the dropdown
Restrict to specific rates: Check the checkbox to limit time entry to staff who have stage or project specific rates set on their staff profile
Restrict to specific tasks: This limits time entry to tasks created specifically on the project rather than allowing staff to enter time against standard project tasks
Scope of work: Use the larger text field to enter a detailed scope of work
Discipline: Edit the discipline associated with the stage from the dropdown
Fee: Update the fee value by typing in a new fee.
Tags: add keywords to make the stage easier to find. Enter a tag and press enter to add it.

Extra data tab

The Extra data tab allows you to enter information against stage custom fields.

Stage notes tab

The Stage notes tab allows you to add internal notes specific to the stage.

Editing tasks

If the project is in delivery mode, select edit in the top right hand coner of the work breakdown
To view tasks, open the stage by clicking on the arrow to the left of the stage name
Here you can edit the following

Task name: Click into the task name to edit it.
Comments: Select the speech bubble to view existing comments or add new comments to the task.
Start timer: Hover over the task and select the green play icon to start a timer against that task.
Assign task: Click into the Assign task column to assign the task to a member of staff. Repeat this step to assign the task to multiple staff members.
Due date: Click into the date field to set a due date for when the task should be completed. Start and end dates must be set on the stage, and the task due date must fall within those dates.

Deleting a Phase

If your project only has one phase, it cannot be deleted. In this case, you will need to disable phases instead. Deleting a phase will also delete all stages within that phase.

If the project is in delivery mode, select Edit in the top right corner.
Hover over the blue phase line and select the X to the right of phase to delete.
Save your changes in the top right hand corner

Deleting a stage

A stage can be deleted from a project in Synergy using the steps below. Check the following conditions are met first as they determine if the stage can be deleted.

The stage is in Proposal status.
The stage has not been used in a draft or finalised invoice.
There are no WIP transactions against the stage.
There is no budget set for a task under the stage.

From Side Navigation, click Projects > Projects List
Select the project you want to delete a stage from
From the Project Overview page select Breakdown > Work breakdown.
Locate the stage in the list > hover at the end of the row > click the X
Once the stage name displays with a strike-through, click Save.

Deleting a task

A task can be deleted if it does not have any time against it.

If the project is in delivery mode, select the edit in the top right hand corner
Locate the task you want to delete
Hover over the task and select the 'x' to the right of the task bar

Disabling Phases

If there is only one phase on a project, it cannot be deleted you will need to disable this phase.

Select the '...' in the top right hand corner of the work breakdown
Disable phases
Save the work breakdown.

Custom Colours

Custom colours can be selected for stages, tasks and milestones in the work breakdown using the same colour palette as the planning board.

Any changes made to stage, task or milestone colours in the work breakdown will be reflected on the same project when viewed from the project schedule or planning board.

When a stage colour is changed, any new tasks or milestones added to the stage after the change has been saved will be assigned the same colour. Existing tasks and milestones will retain their original colours.

To change a stage colour:

Edit the work breakdown
Click the dot to the left of the stage name to display the colour picker. The current colour is highlighted in the panel.
Click on a square in the colour picker to select a new colour. The colour picker will close and the new colour will be displayed.
Save the work breakdown

To change a task or milestone icon colour:

Edit the work breakdown
Expand a stage to view tasks and milestones
Click the dot to the left of the task name or milestone icon to display the colour picker. The current colour is highlighted in the colour picker.
Click on a square in the colour picker to select a new colour. The colour picker will close and the new colour will be displayed.
Save the work breakdown

Reordering project, phases or tasks.

When hovering over a phase stage or task you can use the arrows on the left to change the position of the item or you can drag and drop the item into the position you want it to appear.

Reorder using arrows

Select Edit in the top right if the project is in delivery mode
Hover over the phase stage or task you want to move
Use the up and down arrows on the left hand side to adjust the position or drag and drop the item

Drag and drop stages

Select the three dots in the top right corner and choose Sorting
Click on the item you want to reorder and drag and drop it to the correct position in the work breakdown
Select Done in the top right hand corner

Updating Stage or Task progress

Update stage progress

You can update the stage progress bar in the work breakdown down:

Manually drag the bar across how much % the stage has been completed.
Consider updating the stage level status if all the work has been completed. Learn more about project status options.

Update task progress

You can update tasks bars in the work-breakdown as well:

Click on the bar at the % the task has been completed. The bar is divided into 10 parts. The bar will highlight each part clicked.
Project managers can determine the progress of the entire task by looking at what progress staff have marked against their tasks.

Updating stage status

If the project is in delivery mode, select the edit in the top right hand corner
Select the status column on the stage
Select the checkboxes to the left of the project and stages you want to change the status of. Select the status from the menu on the right-hand side.
Click save and close to finalise your status update.

Tip: Use the 'select all' checkbox in the bottom left to select the project and all stages.

Apply a template to an existing project

You can apply templates to existing projects following the steps below.

Select the '...' in the top right-hand corner of the work breakdown > apply template
Select the template from the overlay menu
Save the work breakdown in the top right-hand corner.

Updating stage rate group

When you change the Rate Group for a stage:

All WIP transactions on that stage will be recalculated using the new Rate Group
Transactions in other statuses (Invoiced, Written Off, etc.) will remain unchanged
If you later change a transaction's status back to WIP, it will adopt the latest Rate Group applied to the stage.
If you don’t want certain transactions to be affected, make sure they’re invoiced (or in another non-WIP status) before applying these changes.