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Help Project Managers

Updating basic summary settings for a project

Once you’ve added a new project, you’ll likely want to update its settings, including ones located on the Summary tab:

To edit project settings, you’ll need to first click the Edit button located at the top, right-hand corner of the page.

Then, you’ll need to click the icon to edit fields in a section.

Enabling these fields helps ensure changes aren’t accidentally made to critical project details.

Basic Info

Click Edit, then to update the basic information about the project included in the fields described below. Some of these fields are only available when you click .

Field name Example
Name The project’s name
Code An alternate way of identifying the project, in addition to its name

Dates
Start Date
End Date

The date range for the project
These dates do not limit time entry – resources can enter time against the project on dates that fall outside this range
Project Manager The name of the project manager assigned to the project. They must be assigned Project Management permissions.
Project Manager Approval Required If this option is enabled, time and expenses entered for this project will be sent to the project manager for approval
Co-Manager(s) Another user with project management permissions who can access the project’s data, assigned to manage the project when you’re unavailable
Program The name of the program the project is associated with, if applicable. A program is a group of projects, budgeted or managed as a unit.
Slack Channel URL of the designated Slack channel, to be used for communication related to this project, if applicable.
Project Type Whether the project is managed or unmanaged.
  • Managed projects are ones you need to actively manage on a regular basis. SmartBeats only work with managed projects.
  • Unmanaged projects are ones you don’t need to look at regularly – for example, projects that involve routine or ongoing customer service tasks. Unmanaged projects are often open-ended, with no start or end dates.

There is a separate lists for each type, so you can more easily focus on managed projects. Click the Managed/Unmanaged toggle located in the top, right-hand corner of the Projects page to move between views.

Description

An optional description of the project

Allow Entry without Tasks

Choose No if time/expense entry isn't allowed at the project level.

If it is allowed, choose whether hours recorded are:

  • Billable
  • Non-Billable, or
  • Billable & Non-Billable
Client The client that any billable hours and expenses for the project will be billed to.
Client Representative Assigns a representative of the client to the project, who can approve time and expenses submitted against the project. The client representative is typically an employee of the client’s organization.
Groups Groups (e.g. locations and cost centers) assigned to the project.

You can use groups to limit which project managers can view the project; only project managers with access to the group or groups assigned will be able to view and manage the project.

Additional Information Project custom fields you have set up in your system

Financials

Click Edit, then to update the project financial information in the fields described below.

Field name Example
Project Currency The currency you'd like to use when managing this project
Resource Cost The total cost of resourcing the project
Expense Cost The total cost of expenses for the project
Budget Cost The total amount the project is budgeted to cost; this is auto-calculated as the sum of the Resource and Expense costs
Budget Hours

The total number of hours the project is budgeted to take

Total Contract Value The value of the contract you agreed to with your client.
Estimated Hours The total number of hours you expect the entire project to take
Estimated Cost The total amount you expect the project to cost, based on your hours estimate
Cost Type Whether the project's costs represent capital expenditures (CapEx) or operating expenses (OpEx). Available in Polaris PPM only.

Expenses

Click Edit, then to select which types of expenses are resources can submit for the project -- that is, which expense codes are valid. You can choose from all codes defined at the system level.

Rate Card

Rates are used to calculate billing amounts if the project uses a Time Billing plan; you don’t need to assign rates if the project’s bill plan isn’t Time-based.

Refer to Setting up rates for a project for more information.

Bill Plan

Click Edit, then to update the billing plan or plans associated with the project. Billing plans determine what will be billed for the project, and when billable amounts become available.

You can add as many plans as you need, including more than one of the same type.

Refer to Adding a bill plan to a project for more information.

Revenue Recognition

Revenue recognition is a common accounting procedure that officially accounts for revenue earned.

To use Polaris’ revenue recognition feature, you must assign each billable project a revenue recognition policy. These policies define how revenue is calculated for each project.

Polaris has five policies available out of the box. You can use different types of revenue recognition policies for different projects; different projects may need different policies, based on their negotiated contract.

Refer to Setting up revenue recognition policies for more information on the five types of policies, and on how to set them up.

Documents

Click Edit, then click File/Web Address to upload a file to associate with the project. For example, you could attach a project plan, or a statement of work for the project.

You can either upload a file, or enter a document URL.

Tags

Tags let you assign resources and projects to ad hoc categories by adding new categories as you require them.

Refer to Adding additional categories using tags for more information on adding tags

Related links

Adding a project