Once the customer has accepted the proposal for an opportunity, you are ready to plan for the work involved in the project. Cloud provides a comprehensive Project Management suite, including task planning, resource planning, product allocation from inventory, product tracking, and change orders.

You cannot create a project manually on Cloud. When you mark an opportunity as "Won," a new project is created and saved under the Projects tab in the left navigation menu.

Clicking the project tile on the Projects page will take you to its details view, which features various vertical and horizontal tabs.

Here is a screenshot of the Project Details view with the Details tab expanded.

When a new project is created on Cloud, it comes with the following from the opportunity:

Here is what you need to do to execute the project.

Cloud provides options to create individual project tasks and even task templates that allow you to define multiple task groups and tasks within those groups.

The following is a screenshot of a project task template created under "Settings > Project > Task Templates."

You can add tasks directly within the project or apply a task template mapped to project phases to the project. In both approaches, you will be able to define clear-cut tasks with:

Learn more about project tasks.

To assign tasks to Field users (installers, technicians, programmers, etc.), you will need to use the Scheduling functionality in the Cloud. With scheduling, you combine one or more tasks into an event and assign a time slot for the event.

The Field users can see their tasks, site address, and products involved on their mobile devices and plan to complete the task(s) at the work site.

Learn more about the Field user functionality.

On Cloud, every product in a project has two statuses associated with it:

The following is a screenshot of the various order and install statuses under "Settings > Project > Item Status."

All products in a new project will have their order status set to "Unordered" and install status set to "Planned." You can update the statuses from Details > Item Status in the left navigation menu in the Project Details view.

Once on the Item Status view page, you have two views to work with.

This view is primarily for Project Managers and the Procurement Team.

In this view, you will need to ensure that you have all the necessary products for the project in stock. Additionally, if you are using the Inventory Management functionality on Cloud, you will need to reserve the inventoried products for the project.

You can do the following in this view:

This view is primarily for Project Managers and Field users who receive tasks in the Field user view.

This view is an extension of the Scheduling functionality into the project. You can add previously created tasks against the products, or create tasks on the fly, assign resources, set due dates, and schedule time slots for installation.

When Field users change the install status, the updates are synced to Cloud in real time. Project Managers can also update the status in the Office user view.

Learn more about the Item Status functionality.

Any changes required to the project's Bill of Materials (BoM) after the project has begun are addressed using the Change Order functionality.

Cloud allows for creating two types of change orders (COs):

COs can be created from the Bill of Materials tab and the Change Orders tab within the project.

COs can also be put through a CO Approval process, where project managers are required to approve COs before they transition to the "Approved" state, before sending them to the final internal stakeholder or the customer.

Learn more about managing change orders.

As the projects are being executed, you will want to monitor their progress. On Cloud, you can create multiple project stages to help you track the progress of the projects.

You can group multiple closely related stages into a stage group to further organize the stages. For example, "Executing on Site," "Change in Scope," and "Final Inspection" are three stages under the "Work In Progress" stage group.

When you complete the milestones in the project, you will want to change the stage to the next one.

Learn more about customizing the project stages.

If the opportunity had service plans and subscriptions, they would be seen under the "Service Contracts" and "Subscriptions" tabs.

Although they are seen here, you will need to manage them (including their payments) from the "Service > Service Contracts" tab in the left navigation menu.

Learn more about service plans.

Learn more about subscriptions.

Here, you will learn how to collect term payments for projects and leverage the Time Tracking functionality on Cloud to pay your technicians based on the time spent on project tasks.

You can modify the percentages, amounts, billing, and due dates in the payment schedule derived from the accepted proposal. Once a project payment term is invoiced and paid, the entire payment schedule is locked for edits.

You can use Cloud's Invoicing functionality and email or print and mail the invoices to collect payment. The invoices are stored on Cloud indefinitely.

Learn more about collecting project payments.

Cloud has the Time Tracking functionality that allows Field users to log the time spent on project tasks using a timer with clock-in and clock-out options. The time spent on each task is synced as a time entry to Cloud under "Plan > Time Entries" in the Project Details view. Office users can also add manual time entries if Field users are unable to log time.

The time entries logged for projects can be used to generate payroll data and pay the labor charges to Field users.

Learn more about logging time spent on projects.

If you are using QuickBooks or Xero for accounting, you can enable the integration with Cloud and push the Bill of Materials as an estimate, and a Cloud invoice as an invoice within the integration.

Learn more about Cloud-supported accounting integrations.

Here are the key features to monitor and analyze your projects, enabling better decision-making.

While the project is being executed, you can get a panoramic view of the project on the Project Overview dashboard. This actionable dashboard provides key project metrics, including phase-wise execution status, change orders, billing and payments, and job status. You can also add to-dos, notes, and files relevant to the project.

You will also see alerts about unscheduled tasks, pending COs, overdue payments, and unordered products.

Learn more about the Project Overview dashboard.

Cloud has the Job Costing feature as a critical tool for providing valuable insights into profitability, resource allocation, and cost control.

The Job Costing view provides a phase-wise breakdown of product installation and labor completion, as well as variance between the budgeted and actual product and labor costs.

Learn more about the Job Costing view.