Managing projects and clients
Managing projects and clients
Projects are useful for grouping and categorizing time entries that belong to the same type of work. Projects make it easier to analyze data, generate more useful reports, and see where and how you spend time.
Each project typically belongs to some client, but you can create a project without a client (e.g. internal company stuff). A client can have many projects, but a project can belong to only one client.
You can also import projects and clients from a file.
Creating a project on the Project page
By default, only admins can create projects but you can allow regular users to create projects and clients when you set Who can create projects and clients to Everyone in your Workspace settings.
To create a project:
- Go to Projects and click "Create new project"
- Name the project
- Select client (you can also create a new client here, by typing a name and clicking "Create client")
- Choose a project color
- Choose visibility (public or private)
- Click "Create"
Once you've created a project, you can select it when tracking time. If you've set the project as private (visible only to a certain group), then only people who are on the project will be able to select it when tracking time.
Creating a project on the Time Tracker page
You can also add a project directly from the Time Tracker page while creating a new time entry.
Click on the "+Project" field to get a drop-down list of projects and start typing the name of your new project. Once you start typing the drop-down list will try to suggest a matching (existing) project name.
If that project does not exist you will be offered the option to create a new project.
You can either:
Click on the "+ Create new project" button and a popup window with additional options will appear allowing you to name your project, assign a client, apply a project template and select if the project will be public or private. or
Use a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter to quickly create a project without additional details
Archiving projects
Once you complete a project, you can archive it, so it's no longer visible when tracking time.
To archive a project:
- Go to the Projects page
- Click three dots next to the project you want to archive
- Select Archive
To see archived projects, click the Active filter at the top of the page and change it to Archived. Once the project is archived you will be able to delete it.
To restore an archived project, click three dots next to it and select Restore.
When you archive a project:
- All its data is still available
- Project's time entries will still be shown in reports
- Archived projects won't appear in reports as filters unless you select Active&Archived or Archived
- Archived project won't be available when tracking time
- sArchived projects won't appear on Projects page (unless you select Archived in the filter)
You can also archive tags and clients the same way you can archive projects.
Deleting projects
Projects can only be deleted once they are archived.
To delete a project:
- Go to Projects page
- Select Show archived or Show all from the drop-down menu
- Click three dots next to the archived project's name
- Select Delete
- Confirm the action
Merging Projects
While it's not possible to merge projects, you can filter entries of one of the projects you want to merge and assign it to the other project in the Detailed report.
It is also possible to update multiple time entries at the same time with the Bulk edit feature in the Detailed report.
Then, simply archive and delete the project you don't need.
Managing people on projects
To see how to change the project's privacy settings, manage user access to a project, or set users as project managers, visit this help article.
Project Status
When you and your team start tracking time for projects and tasks, you'll be able to track progress on each project using Project status.
To learn more about how to use project status, visit this help article.
Project Note
You can add additional information to projects by using a project note. To learn more about how to format a project note, visit this help article.
Set a billable rate for the Project
Clockbook has 4 types of billable rates, one of which is the project billable rate. If set, this billable rate gets applied to each time entry created for this project.
The project billable rate can be overwritten by Projects’ member rate which you define in the projects’ Access tab if you want different users on the project to have different billable rates.
To set a billable rate for a specific project:
- Go to the Projects page
- Click on the name of the specific project
- Switch to Project settings tab
- Set billable rate for the project
To set different pricing per client at the project level:
- Create different projects . Assign them to respective clients . Go to Projects and click the project name (which will bring you to Project edit page) . Switch to Project Settings tab . Set the desired billable rate for the project. . Repeat for each project for the specific client
Filtering and sorting projects
When you have a lot of projects, it can be difficult finding what you need. That's when filters come in handy.
You can filter projects by their active status, client, users who are part of it, billability, and name.
You can sort projects alphabetically by clicking "Name" on the header of the project table. It is possible to sort projects by Client and Status as well.
Creating projects from a template
If you have a lot of similar projects, it's a good idea to set up a template so you don't have to create the same project over and over.
Projects you create with an existing template will have settings such as Billable Rates, Estimates, Tasks and Team already applied.
Project templates are an extra feature, which you can enable once you upgrade your account.
Managing clients
Owners and admins can see the Clients page, but regular users can't. However, if the owner or admin sets "Who can create projects and clients" to Everyone in the Workspace settings, regular users will be able to create clients when they create a new project by typing the new client name in the client selection drop-down (even though they still won't be able to see the Clients page.)
How owners and admins can create clients
If you're the owner or an admin of the workspace, to create a client simply:
- Go to Clients page from sidebar
- Enter the client's name in the "Add new client" field
- Click Add
How regular users can create clients
If you want regular users to be able to add clients:
- Admin or owner needs to set "Who can create projects and clients" to Everyone
- A regular user can then go to the Projects page to create a project
- Click "Select client"
- Enter client name
- Click "Create client" or press Ctrl+Enter
If you want to create a client only, simply create the client with the mentioned steps above and cancel the project creation.