Update the project status to reflect the progress of the entire project. When using a full work breakdown structure update the status for the entire project, or each individual stage. Use the status of 'active' when invoicing is allowed for the project. Once the work is finished change the status to 'complete'.
Change the status regularly to keep the search results, timesheets entries, and reports pages only displaying the current work. Use the unsuccessful, complete or hold statuses when no further work will be completed for the project or the project stage.
Setup required before use | Who can use it? | Where is it? |
Project manager Director access Assistant administrator System administrator | Projects |
Tips:
The 'active' status must be applied to a project or stage before it can be invoiced.
Custom status options can be created by your System Administrator.
Delete is only allowed when the project or stage is at proposal status.
What is the project status?
The project status is used to show at a glance what the overall progress is for the project and each of stage. The status setting controls what actions can be completed in Synergy for both the project and for each stage. The status change pop-up allows users to update the project level status and the stage(s) status in the one action.
Proposal - Default status for a new Project. Track the costs associated with creating the project and the fee proposal. Custom proposal status - Use the custom proposal status to track the project / stage through the life cycle of winning the work in the project forecast. Reports can be generated to display the custom status details and the likelihood percentage value for each project. e.g. Which items are Prospects @ 30% , or Tender @ 50% status and how likely the work is to be won.
Active - Project work has been approved and/or the budget has been finalized. Projects / stages can now be invoiced. Custom active status - Use the custom active status to track or report on the project through-out its active cycle. e.g. Create a custom status for In Design, At Council, In Construction, or Defects Liability Period.
Pending invoice - Used to show that a project / stages is ready for invoicing as all the work has been completed, and to stop staff from being able to select the stage when entering timesheets. e.g. When you have invoiced 100% of a stage, you can update the status to Pending Invoice and staff are unable to allocate any further timesheet transactions. Also the client will see this stage as 100% complete on the invoice. This status is only available for billable projects, as non-billable projects do not allow for invoicing to be completed.
Tip: The hold status will also deny staff allocating time and expenses to the project / stage, however hold stages are also not shown in the invoice wizard.Hold - Change the status to hold when there are outstanding client invoices or when work is waiting on approval. Projects / stages with this status cannot be invoiced, and transactions allocation to the stage is disabled. This blocks the selection of this stage by staff when entering timesheets or expenses.
CompleteWhen all the work for a project is finished and invoiced the status is changed to complete. A completed projects / stages do not allow any invoicing to be completed, or and time or expense transaction to be added by staff. When a project or stage is changed to be complete, then all the WIP transactions are written off (only non-invoiced transactions are written off). This write-off action can be reversed.
UnsuccessfulUse this status if project / stage was lost or unsuccessful. This status allows analysis of win / loss ratios for projects within the reports. When a project / stage is change to unsuccessful then all WIP will be written off if there are non-invoiced transactions. This action can be reversed.
Actions | Proposal | Active | Pending Invoice | Complete | Hold | Unsuccessful |
Create proposal document | Y | Y | N | N | N | N |
Add transactions | Y | Y | N | N | N | N |
WIP transfer | Y | Y | N | N | N | N |
Delete project (or stage) | Y | N | N | N | N | N |
Edit or delete the budget | Y | Y | N | N | N | N |
Create invoices | N | Y | Y | N | N | N |
Include in the forecast | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N |
Why use the project status?
Update the progress of each project or stage to show when the work has been proposed, won (active), or lost (unsuccessful). Updating the status also impacts on what your staff can update on the project. e.g. If invoices can be created, or if time and expenses can be allocated to the project.
Update the project status
When you open the project to the read only view the current project level status is shown. If you have project manager access level or higher then change the project status by:
Example
A new project has been created and given the status of Proposal. All stages that are then attached to this project will also take on the status of proposal.
The project has now been is won, and the project status needs to be changed to active. All the stages also need to be set to 'active' status.
Edit the project status by: Click the status edit button on the read only view. Click the 'edit' button in the top right corner of the read only view and then click the 'change status' button.
Check the box next to the 'project level' row. This automatically selects all the linked phases and stages.
(Optional) Uncheck any of the box(es) for stages that you want to exclude from the statue change.
Select the new 'status' option of 'active'.
Save.
Tips:
Setup custom status options to be applied in this feature.
When you use the 'stage status' button the stage you had highlighted is selected by default.
If you use the 'project status' button, then no stages are automatically selected in the list.
If you forget to check any of the items in the status change pop-up then a warning message is shown as a friendly reminder.
Proposal status options each have a likelihood percentage shown, to reflect the chance of winning the work. The likelihood is used in the project forecast reports. Update these percentage values in Settings > Project Lists > Status for each of the proposal status options.
Simple work breakdown projects only have a project status to update.
Convert to a full work breakdown structure to be able to update the status for each stage of the project.
When a project is changed to 'Active' status you can nominate which stages are also be changed to this status.
Example:
The project was won but you only won part of the work that was originally quoted. Some of the stages quoted were lost and that work will not be proceeding. Update the stages to have be shown as won or lost by using the status options.
Open the project.
Select the status button in the project read-only view.
Check the box for the 'project level' status, and choose the 'Active' status option.
Check the box for each 'stage or phase group' that was won. These phases or stages will also be changed to 'active' status.
Save.
Check the box for each 'stage or phase group' that was lost.
Select the status 'Unsuccessful'.
Save and close.
Tips:
Click the 'save' button and the selected stages are cleared, and chosen status is applied. Then select more stages and update the status for more items. Select 'save and close' when finished changes to all projects, phases, and stages.
A warning message is shown if you try to change the stage level status whilst the project level status is still at 'proposal' status. The phases and stages cannot have a new status applied until the 'project ' level status has been changed to 'active' status or higher. To resolve this first change the project status, then change then stage status.
Active status options all have a likelihood percentage of 100%, as the job has been won. The likelihood is used in the project forecast reports. Update these percentage values for proposal status options in Settings > Project Lists > Status.
Simple work breakdown projects only have a project status to update.
Convert to a full work breakdown structure to be able to update the status for each stage of the project.
When changing any project or stage to a status of Complete or Unsuccessful a confirmation message is shown that will advise the value the transactions to be written off by this status change. This is to prompt the user to be sure that they want to proceed with this change, and have the opportunity to check they want to stop these transactions from being invoiced.
Tip: Timesheets at 'pending approval' status are automatically written off when the subproject is changed to complete or unsuccessful status. A warning message is shown prior to this occurring.
Change a stage to be complete by:
Open the project.
Select the status button in the project read-only view.
Select the stage(s) that you want to update in the list.
Choose the status of 'Complete'.
The WIP value column is there to let you to check if any WIP transactions will be written-off by this action.
If transactions are to be written off then: Select the 'write off reason code' from the list. Type a write-off note.
Save & Close.
Restore transactions
If transactions have been written off during the change of status to complete or unsuccessful, the transactions will not be restored automatically if you now set the status back to Proposal or Active. The transactions will need to be manually restored using the 'undo WIP write-off' feature.