Edition: All
User-Level: User and above
Permissions (Enterprise Only): Manage Projects (security group) — Access Project Breakdown, View Stage Details, Project Financials
Project Breakdown is where you create and manage the Phases and Stages that make up your project. From a single page you can set fees, assignees, disciplines, and other Stage details, and access financials, transactions, and invoicing — all without navigating away.
Getting to Project Breakdown
From within a project, go to:
Project navigation bar > Breakdown > Project Breakdown
The Project Breakdown Page
When you open Project Breakdown, you'll see your project's Phases and Stages displayed in a table. Each row represents either a Phase or a Stage, and the columns show the key details for each — such as Status, Assignee, Discipline, Fee Type, and Fee.
At the top of the page you'll find:
Add — creates a new Stage or Phase at the bottom of the list.
Column picker — choose which columns are visible in the table and drag them into your preferred order.
Filters — filter the table by any column to focus on specific Stages or Phases.
Export — download the table data as an Excel file.
Ellipsis menu — access page-level actions including enabling or disabling Phases, managing Contract Fees, and applying or saving templates.
Each row has its own ellipsis menu on the far right, visible on hover, which gives you actions specific to that Stage or Phase.
Editable fields in the table show a highlight when you hover over them — click any highlighted cell to edit it inline.
Adding a Stage
Click the Add button at the top of the page. New Stages are added to the bottom of the list.
The new Stage row appears inline — type the Stage name to begin.
Click through the fields in the row to set Status, Assignee, Discipline, Cost Centre, Rate Group, Fee Type, Fee / Cap, and Start and End Dates.
To set additional fields (Tax Rule, Client Reference Number, Scope, and others), open the side pane via the ellipsis menu > Open Details.
Changes save automatically as you edit each field.
Adding a Phase
Phases must be enabled on the project before you can add them. To enable Phases, click the ellipsis menu at the top right of the page and select Enable Phases.
Once Phases are enabled:
Click the Add button and select Add Phase. The new Phase is added to the bottom of the list.
Type the Phase name inline.
To add a description, click the Phase row to open the side pane and enter it there.
Editing Stage Details
Most Stage fields can be edited directly in the table — click any field to edit it inline.
Fields editable inline from the table:
Name
Status
Assignee
Discipline
Cost Centre
Rate Group
Fee Type
Fee / Cap
Start Date and End Date
Progress
To edit fields not shown in the table, open the side pane via the ellipsis menu > Open Details:
Tax Rule
Client Reference Number
Scope
Restrict Rates
Restrict Tasks
Stage Colour
Use Project Contract Fee
Contract
Note: Some fields become read-only depending on Stage status or project state. For example, Fee / Cap cannot be edited when the Stage has draft invoices or is in a Complete or Unsuccessful status.
Editing Phase Details
Edit the Phase Name inline by clicking it in the table.
Edit the Phase Description from the side pane — click the Phase row to open it.
Stage Actions
Access Stage actions via the ellipsis menu at the far right of each Stage row (visible on hover).
Open Details — opens the side pane to view and edit additional Stage fields.
Duplicate Stage — creates a copy of the Stage within the same Phase. The copy carries across Status, Assignee, Discipline, Cost Centre, Rate Group, Fee Type, Tax Rule, and Fee. Budget, resourcing, and custom fields are not copied and will need to be set up on the new Stage.
Delete Stage — available only when the Stage is in Proposal status with no transactions, invoices, or budget lines. A confirmation step appears before deletion is finalised.
Create Invoice — starts a draft invoice pre-filtered to this Stage.
View Financials — opens the financials view for this Stage.
View Transactions — opens the transactions list for this Stage.
Reorder — move the Stage to the top or bottom of its current Phase in one click, drag it to any position within the same Phase, or drag it across to a different Phase.
Example: Jane needs three near-identical design Stages. She creates the first Stage inline, sets the details, then duplicates it twice from the ellipsis menu. She clicks into each copy to update the Name, Assignee, and Fee — no need to re-enter every field from scratch.
Phase Actions
Access Phase actions via the ellipsis menu at the far right of each Phase row.
Duplicate Phase — creates a copy of the Phase with the Name and Description carried across. Stages within the Phase are not duplicated.
Delete Phase — available only when all Stages within it are in Proposal status with no transactions, invoices, or budget lines. You cannot delete the only remaining Phase — disable Phases instead. A confirmation step appears before deletion is finalised.
Reorder — move the Phase to the top or bottom of the list in one click, or drag and drop it into any position.
Also Available on Project Breakdown
Beyond managing Stages and Phases, Project Breakdown also lets you:
Manage Contract Fees and Variations — view and edit contract fee amounts and variations directly from the page.
Apply or save templates — populate Phases and Stages from a pre-built template, or save the current structure as a new one for future use.
Delete the project — remove the project directly from the page, with a confirmation step before deletion.
Customise the table — choose which columns are visible, drag and drop columns into your preferred order, and clear column filters in one click.