Managing General Information for a Type

A project type can be defined as a workflow in the office, such as an audit, tax return, or monthly bookkeeping. All projects are associated with a project type, which controls the data and behavior of projects. Once these rules are set in place in the project type, they are also included in the project template (if your firm is using project templates) and will be applied to all projects of that type.

Answering Questions

Questions help you define certain properties for the type and tailor the type to match your firm’s needs and best practices.

Answers to questions can be locked at the project type level, meaning any template assigned to the type, and any project using the template assigned to the type, must have the same answer. You can choose to leave a question unlocked, and the answers serve as guidelines or suggestions at the project template level. You can choose to lock questions at the template level as well. As you answer each question, the navigation panel may expand to include additional options.

Questions are an important form of process control. When answering these questions, think to yourself “Do I want to track milestone dates?” If so, answer yes to the question. Next, think to yourself, “Do I want to require my staff to use the milestone dates selected?” If so, then leave the icon locked for this question.

By answering these questions and choosing to leave the lock, you are setting requirements for what information must be used for projects, and also establishing which information is optional or not required. You are controlling the process by establishing what pieces of information must be used.

When editing a project type, the changes you make may or may not flow to the associated projects based on the locks that are set.

• Questions that are locked on the general information tab will update the templates and projects based on the type.
• Data that is used to populate templates and projects, such as status, will immediately impact the templates and projects.

Managing Project Type General Information

To manage type general information, do the following:

1. Do one of the following to open the Types list:

   • In Dashboard. Click Application Links, and then click Configuration > Project types under Workstream.
   • In Workstream. On the Manage ribbon, click Types.
2. Select a type in the grid and click Open in the button bar, or right-click and select Open from the menu to display the Project Type profile.
3. Click General Information on the navigation panel.
4. In the General Information window, enter the relevant information for your project type.

Explain the General Information components.

Component	Description
Project type ID	Enter the ID for the project type using any alpha-numeric combination.
Project type name	Enter the name for the project type.
Primary service type	Select the primary service type of the project, such as consulting or taxation. The list of available primary service types is defined in Lists > Client Lists > Primary Service Types.
Description	Enter the description for the project type. This may include the purpose of the type, such as auditing, filing tax returns, or monthly bookkeeping.

5. Answer the questions in the lower section of the window to identify how you want to track specific elements in your projects. Hover over the bubble help button following each item for more detailed information. To prevent answers from being changed at the template level and project level, click the unlock icon to lock a question.

   Note: If the item is locked at the current type level, the icon is yellow.

6. Click one of the Save buttons or Cancel.

   Button	Description
   Save	Saves the changes without exiting the window.
   Save & New	Saves the changes and opens a new window.
   Save & Close	Saves the changes and exits the window.
   Cancel	Exits the window without saving your changes.