In ClickTime, a Project is a sub-category of the entity Clients. Before creating time entries, you will need to have at least one Client, and one Project associated with that Client. For details on Clients, please see the Creating and Editing Clients article.
Creating a New Project
Editing an Existing Project
Notes on Start/End Dates
Remember, the term Project is customizable, so your organization may use a different term (such as Program, Job, etc.). Terms can be changed by your local ClickTime Administrator at any time (more details here).
To create a new Project, go to the Company ---> Projects page and click "Add Project":
On the next page, select a Client from the drop down menu to associate the new Project with, and provide a name for the Project (there is a 50 character limit for Project Names).
Please Note: While you can use the same Project Name more than once within the same Client, we recommend unique names for each Project to prevent confusion for staff who are entering hours.
The Project Number is also required and must be unique to the Client. Project numbers allow for unique identification between two Projects that may have a similar names (or even the same name). Project number is also especially relevant for those using the Expenses Module, as the number will appear when selecting a Project to bill expenses to (more details here).
Other optional fields in the Basic Information section may include:
Lifetime Budget: Use this to enter a lifetime budget for the Project (Available for Resource Management users only - more information here).
Start Date: Use this to add a date that this Project starts. This field is used in exports and is shown on the Resource Management grid.
End Date: Use this to add a date that this Project ends. This field is used in exports and is shown on the Resource Management grid.
Accounting Package Project ID: Useful when exporting data for accounting integration. Enter your accounting software’s corresponding ID value for this Project. Accounting Package IDs do not have to be unique.
Billable: Use this to specify whether the Project is billable or non-billable.
Status: Use this to set the Project as active or inactive. Only active Projects can have time (or expenses) entered against them. Data associated with inactive Projects can be included in Reports, but they will not appear as options for time/expense
Notes: Use this field to enter any notes about this Project.
Custom Fields: If your company uses Custom Fields, the Custom Fields section will show under the Basic Information section. You must complete the ones that are required (*) prior to saving the new Project. Required custom fields are configured by your company. For more information on Custom Fields, please see here.
Project Manager: This section is optional and allows you to select a manager for the Project.
If your company uses Project Approvals, you may also indicate that the Project Manager can approve time entered for this Project by checking the indicated checkbox.
Click Save to save your new Project and to return to the Projects list page. To Save and add additional Projects click Save and Add Next.
The following sections may appear on the Add New Project page depending on your company's settings:
Billing Rates: If your company’s Billing Rates model is set to Project and you are an Administrator, or Manager with permission to "Add and Edit Billing Rates", a second section will be visible on the Project creation page. You can navigate to this section to configure the Billing Rates when this Project is used. For more information, please see the Billing Rates Guide here.
Project Availability: If your company's Project List settings are set to either Moderate or Maximum, the Project Availability section will be visible on the project creation page. You can navigate to this section to specify which divisions or people have access to the Project. For more information on Project Availability, please see the Project Availability Guide here.
Task Availability: If your company's Task List settings are set to Client/Project, the Task Availability section will be visible on the Project creation page. You can navigate to this section to specify which tasks can be used with the Project. For more information on Task Availability, please see the Task Availability Guide here.
Budget: If your company is using Project Insights for budgeting, the Budget section will be visible on the Project creation page. You can navigate to this section to configure the budget for the project. For more information about budgeting and Project Insights, please see the Project Insights Guide here.
Project Structure: If your company is using Multiple Job Levels, the Project Structure tab will be visible after you add a new Project or when editing an existing Project. Navigate to this section to divide the Project into multiple sub-Projects. For more information on Sub-Projects (also known as Phases), please see the Phases help documentation here.
To edit an existing Project, click the "edit" pencil icon from the Company --> Projects page.
The Project Detail page is divided into sections, and only one section can be edited at a time. Use the Navigation Options at the top to quickly navigate to the section you wish to edit.
Basic Information: In order to edit any of the fields under Basic Information, click the Edit Section button.
CAUTION: even though ClickTime allows you to change the Project Name and Project Number after they are created, we strongly advise against this approach. This will complicate reporting and time entry because the data that was associated with the old name & number now assumes the new association. When this happens, past/present/future reports will no longer be able to find the old data and time entries will become locked and may be non-editable. So for best practices, we recommend first inactivating the old Project and then creating a new one in its place, with a new Project name and number.
When you are finished editing the section, click the Update button to save your changes or click Cancel to revert the changes to the section’s original values. Follow the same steps for the Project Manager section, and any other applicable section.
When editing Projects, a new section titled Reports will be visible. Navigate to this section to view which reports use Projects as the main reporting item and to run those reports for that Project. For more information on Reporting by Job, please click here.
In addition to the Project Details, the Actions menu (located at the top right of the page) offers several options:
Duplicate: This option is not currently available from the Project Details page. If you wish to duplicate the Project, please navigate to the Project List page.
Delete: Use this to delete the Project entirely from the system. Only Projects with no time entries can be deleted. If there are time entries associated with this Project, please change the status to "Inactive" from the Basic Information section of the page. Please note that only Administrators can delete Projects - Managers will not see the option to Delete.
CAUTION: if someone has already logged hours to an existing Project on their timesheet anf you delete the Project, this will complicate time entry and lock the Project on the timesheet.
Download Audit Log: This will only be available if your organization is using the Audit Logging Module (details here). Use this option to download the Audit Log report (includes all information about this Project) as an Excel file.
The intended use of the Start/End Dates field is to indicate when the Project can be worked on. In some cases, it is not possible to inactivate a Project the day it is finished, as some employees may still have time to track against the Project that has not yet been entered.
As of November 2021, ClickTime will only allow employees to enter time for a Project for dates that are within the Start/End Date fields:
These are optional fields, so if you do not want to restrict time entry based on the day of the entry, you will likely want to leave these fields blank.
If employees try to enter time against a Project, but for a day that is outside of the Start/End Dates, they will see an error message indicating that the "Project selected is outside of it's date parameters":
If the employees should be allowed to enter their hours for that date, remove/edit the Start or End Date and have them try again.
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