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:
Search box - search for a specific phase or stage.
Clear filters - when any column filters are applied, you'll see a "Clear Filters" button.
Columns & Column filters - Use the filter icon on any column to filter (ie by stage, start/end date, discipline etc), increase/decrease column widths, and drag them into a preferred order.
Insert - creates a new Stage or Phase at the bottom of the list.
Customised Table View: Select a custom view to use on this project, or save changes to an existing view.
Export - download the table data as an Excel file.
Ellipsis menu - access page-level actions including applying tables, enabling or disabling Phases, managing Contract Fees, choosing columns, saving your custom view.
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 Insert 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 Insert button and select 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.
Insert Stage - If phases are enabled, you can insert a stage to the the same phase of the stage you're clicking on.
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.
Creating and Managing Custom Views
If you have a specific layout you like using, you can modify your table as needed and save it as a View. Create as many views as you need, make one your Preferred View, and switch to others as needed.
Things to note:
A View saves column visibility, width, and order - it doesn't save filters or sort order.
Views are personal to you: any View you save is available on every project you open, but no other user can see or use it.
Your preferred view will always load on every Project, a custom view outside of default will only load in Projects it's been applied to.
Changing to a custom View on a Project will carry over to any project for 60 minutes, regardless of your preferred View. See Selection and Default behaviour.
Saving a Custom View
Adjust the columns on a Project Breakdown page - show or hide columns, resize them, or reorder them.
Open the ellipsis on the far right hand side of the toolbar, and select "Save custom view".
Enter a name for the View (1–25 characters) and, optionally, tick "Set as my preferred View".
Click Save.
The new View becomes your current View and a green "View saved" confirmation appears. If you tick "Set as my preferred view", it also becomes the View you land on automatically the next time you open a Project Breakdown page, or refresh the page while on one.
Switching Between Views
Click the View button in the toolbar to open a searchable dropdown listing Default first, then your custom Views.
Type in the search field to filter the list by name.
Select a View to apply its saved column configuration immediately.
A View you save on one project is available on every other project you open - Views aren't tied to a single project.
Example: Jane saves a "Design Review" View on Project A, showing only the columns her team uses. When she opens Project B later, "Design Review" is already available in the View dropdown, and selecting it applies the same columns.
Editing, Renaming, and Deleting a View
Open the settings (cog) icon next to a custom View in the dropdown to open the Update View modal.
Change the name and click "Save changes" to rename it.
Click "Delete View" and confirm to remove it.
If you delete the View you currently have applied, Synergy falls back to your preferred view, or to Default if no other default is set.
The built-in Default view can't be renamed, deleted, or overwritten - the settings cog doesn't appear for it.
View Name Rules
Names must be between 1 and 25 characters.
Leave the name empty and Save stays disabled.
A name longer than 25 characters shows "Please enter 25 characters or fewer" and Save stays disabled.
A name that matches one of your existing Views shows "A view with this name already exists" and Save stays disabled.
Selection and Default Behaviour
If you have a preferred View set, it's the View you land on whenever you open any Project Breakdown page, or refresh the page while on one (unless - see next point)
If you switch to a different View, that selection is remembered for one hour on the same device. After an hour, you're returned to your preferred View or the Default if one a preferred View is not set.
If a View you had selected or set as Preferred is later deleted, Synergy discards that selection without error and loads your current preferred View, or Default if none is set.
Resetting Columns
Selecting "Reset columns" returns the table to the system default: all standard columns, in the standard order. This default view always exists and can't be removed, so there's always a baseline table configuration to fall back to.
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.