Creating a Project: Project Definition

Project Template	Select one of the available project templates. Leave the field blank if not using a project template.
Project Name*	Enter the "Detailed" name of the project. This field is mandatory and must be unique.
Code	Enter the code that identifies the project. This field is Mandatory and must be unique. The project code field is either editable or automatically computed. If automatic, the code is computed using the code format set up in the General setup document. If editable, the code format from the General setup document is used to initialize the default value and the user can modify it.
Status*	Select the current project status. See detailed description of the "Project description" form to learn more about the default status list.
Planning mode	This field only appears if a template has been selected in the "Template" field. It is used to specify whether Geniusproject needs to calculate project dates ahead based on a set start date or backwards, based on a set end date. "Start", planning based on the start date specified in the upcoming "Start dated" field. "End", planning based on the end date specified in the upcoming "End date" field.
Start date / End date	If a project template was not selected in the "Template" field above, enter the intended project start date. If a project template was selected in the "Template" field above, enter the start or end date, depending on the selection made in the "Planning mode" field.
Currency	The currency of the project. All project amounts will be expressed in this currency and in the reference currency if different. The list of available currencies comes from the field "Other currencies" of the General setup document.
Billing mode	Billing mode of the project. Possible options are: Not billable / Fixed price / Time & material.
Track tasks physical progress	Whether or not to track physical progress for the project.
Earned value calculation method	This field is only displayed if "Track physical progress" is set to "Yes". Users can specify how they would like to calculate earned value; based on physical progress or work progress.
Objectives	Enter a brief description o the project objectives.

Once all of the fields have been completed, click Next or Categorization from the Navigation bar.

Here you will find one text field (Sponsor) and up to 14 single or multi-value classification fields, depending on your setup.

These classification groups are very helpful for reporting purposes. Only 4 of them are static fields in Geniusproject: Sub-project of, Type, Customer and Priority.

Sub-project of	Select the parent project if there is one.
Type	Select the type of project. The list of available options is defined in the setup.
Customer	Select the customer associated to the project (if there is one). If the customer name is missing from the list. Press the "Add" button. A dialogue box will open to add a new customer name.
Priority	Select the priority of the project. The list of available options is defined in the setup.
Others	All other classification fields are dependent on the setup, i.e. "Services", "Business units", etc.

Once the classification fields have been completed, click Budget on the navigation bar or Next to advance to the next step.

If do not want to enter any classification details at this time you can advance directly to the Budget step, unless some fields have been set as mandatory by the application administrator.

The budget screen is where the financial resources allocated to the project are defined as well as its external rates if the project is billable.

A project budget can be detailed or not. If the budget is not detailed the user can simply enter the total anticipated workload split across internal and external labor. It is also possible to enter the internal and external/ billable costs associated to the workload as well as other non-labor related project expenses.

If the budget is detailed, it is then possible to define the costs and billing targets with more finesse, depending on budget axes defined in the application settings. For more information see Detailed budget.

Detailed	Specify whether the budget is detailed or not. If it is not detailed, the screen re9mains as is. If it is detailed, a grid appears to enter in the budget details. For more information, see Detailed Budget
Internal Labor	Days	Budgeted workload for internal resources.
	Budget	Budgeted costs of internal resources.
	Billing	Budget billable amount for internal labor costs.
	Margin	Expected margin on internal labor "Billing-Budget".
External Labor	Days	Budgeted workload for external resources.
	Budget	Budgeted costs of external resources.
	Billing	Budget billable amount for external labor costs.
	Margin	Expected margin on external labor "Billing-Budget".
Investments & Expenses	Budget	Budgeted amount of non-labor costs.
	Billing	Budgeted billable amount for non-labor costs.
	Margin	Expected margin on non-labor costs "Billing-Budget".
Total	Days	Total budgeted workload.
	Budget	Total budgeted costs.
	Billing	Total budgeted billable amount.
	Margin	Total expected margin.

Now it is time to define your project team. This section is used to select the project participants and identify their role in the project. Geniusproject suggests a predefined team structure with predefined groups and roles.

Note: The following form only appears if no project template has been selected. If a project template has been selected, a different form appears where it is possible to replace the resources inherited from the template by the resources of your choice. Once the project has been created, the form as shown hereafter can then viewed under Project Description.

Project leader	By default, the resource creating the project, but this value may be changed. This field is mandatory.
Project leader substitute(s)	The substitute(s) have the same rights as the actual project leader, meaning that the substitutes may create the documents and execute exactly the same processes as the actual project leader. This can be very useful, particularly if the project leader is absent. It is recommended that project substitute(s) also have a Project leader license.
Customer representative	Can be used to reflect the internal resource that deals with the customer directly, a resource belonging to the customer or even a particular usage that may be required.
Project Steering Committee	The group that drives the project and constantly monitors its progress. The Project Steering Committee is the key body to oversee the week-to-week progress of the project. It owns the business case.
Internal project team	The list of the people involved in the project that are part of your payroll, meaning that they are considered your resources, not resources you have to buy from another organization or department.
External project team	The list of the people involved in the project that are NOT part of your payroll, meaning that they are NOT considered as your resources. They are resources you have to buy from another organization or department, as contractors or external consultants.
Stakeholder	Group of resources not belonging to the project but who should be informed of the project’s progress. These resources MUST be defined as "Resources" in the system in order to have access to the project information.

Once the project team has been defined, click Critical success factors or Next button to advance to the next step. If you will not be selecting the project team at this time, you can immediately advance to the next step.

The critical success factors section allows you to define how important and aligned the project is with your business and strategy.

This section is divided into 2 parts. The first section is not configurable and contains essential metrics that exist across all projects, they are: budget, ROI (return on investment), forecasted workload and risk factor.

The second section is configurable and can capture up to 10 distinct criteria used to qualify the importance of the project to the organization. The combination of the values will calculate the project score and reflect its importance.

Budget & ROI	Budget	The expected budget for the project. Defined in the budget section.
	ROI	Enter expected return on investment for the project.
	Workload	The expected project workload.. Defined in the budget section.
	Risk	The risk doing the project may have to the organization.
Project ranking	Critical success factors "1 to 10"	Enter values according to critical success factors defined by your administrator. See Define critical success factors and project ranking calculation in the setup section.

Once the critical success factors have been entered, click the Summary or Next button of the navigation bar to advance to the next step.

If you will not be entering a budget at this time you can advance to the next step immediately.

This tab offers a quick summary of all the data entered using the Wizard prior to creating the project.

At this stage it is still possible to revisit any of the tabs to make necessary changes. Simply click on the Next or Previous button, or directly on the name of the tab you would like to edit on the navigation bar.

Click Done to create the new project, or Cancel to abort project creation.

Once the project has been created, Geniusproject automatically opens its "Project Description" form, which can be completed. See "Project Description" form below.

In addition to the project description, Geniusproject has also created the associated budget and Gantt chart for the project.

 

Creating a Project from a Project Request

A new project can be created from an idea that has been formally approved. In Geniusproject this is called "Promoting a project request". For more information on this action see: Promote (Convert) a Project Request into a Project. 

 

Completing the Project Description

The project description is a kind of identity card for the project, where the project leader can define the project name, objectives, start and end dates, project participants, the budget and the categorization criteria. As described above, there are different ways to initiate the creation a project description.

The project description is not limited to just defining the project, it is a living document that is maintained and updated throughout the lifecycle of the project.

 

The Header of the Project Description Form

Project Name	In the example above – "New IP Phone network". See Rename a project to change the project name.
Project code	In the example above - "8RVKFP" See "Rename a project" to change the project code. The Project code uniquely identifies the project. This field is mandatory and must be unique. The project code field can be editable or automatically computed. If automatic, the code is computed using the code format set up in the General setup document. If editable, the code format is used to initialize the default value and the user can modify it.
Project leader	Name of the project leader. By default will always be the creator of the new project.
Status	The current project status. The default statuses are: Stand-by: the project is being created but has not yet started; the participants can see the project documents but cannot see their assignments or post time to the project. "In progress": the project has started and participants can start to work in Geniusproject, that is creating documents, process tasks and so on, as well as post their time. Completed: the project has been carried out and is over; the status can be set to "Completed" by the project leader either manually or using the [Project Description] menu option "Actions > Complete"; work in Geniusproject can no longer be done on a "completed" project, except for the project leader. Cancelled: the project has been stopped before being carried out; work in Geniusproject can longer be done for a "Cancelled" project, except by the project leader. Template: this project will be used as a template to create other projects. To change the status of a project click on the little pen icon to toggle to edit mode for this field. After changing the value of the field, click on the to confirm your changes. When the status of a project is modified, the data must be pushed out to all documents related to the project. The mode for pushing these changes out to all other project documents depends on the "Update of the project documents" field on the [Categorization] tab. See this option for more information. The options in status list can be modified in the Keywords & Labels setup document. Only projects with a status of "Stand-by" and "In progress" are taken into account for availability calculation. These projects can be removed from the availability calculation scope using the "Take it into account for the availability calculation" option on the [Details] tab.
Health	To change the value of the project "Health" field, click on the pen icon to toggle to edit mode for this field. After changing the value of the field, click on the to confirm your changes.
Deadline	Indicates whether the planned deadline will be met or not. The indicator will be green (good), yellow (at risk) or red (bad) based on predefined parameters. The value will be calculated automatically.
Progress	The project’s percentage of progress.
Modified on	Date and time of the latest modifications made to the project. Click directly on the date to access a full history of project modifications.
Comments section	Displays the latest comments made on the project. It is possible to respond directly from this section by clicking on "Reply" or to begin a new discussion entirely by click on "New discussion". See "Collaborate with Genius Live!" for more information.

 

Defining Timelines and Objectives on Projects Descriptions [General Tab]

The General tab is made up of 6 sections capturing general information to define the project:
Description, Plan, Progress, Cost & Budget, Workload, and Phases.

 

Defining Project Objectives

There is a text field to enter the project’s objectives.

 

Defining Project Start and End Dates

The Plan section contains planning and date information.

 

Project Dates - How they Work

•Initial date refers to the first iteration of the project’s planned dates (initial baseline).

• The planned start date is always set manually from here and is the defined start date of the project. It is used for all tasks that have the constraint: "Start as soon as possible".
• Planned and date refers to the project’s dates in the project plan, as defined by the project leader.
• Actual dates are the dates the project actually started and ended.
• When the padlock is open, dates can be changed manually.
• When the padlock is closed, Geniusproject automatically computes dates, with the exception of the planned start date, which can never be computed. When computed, the date is obtained by going through all of the project’s deliverables and tasks, and retrieving the first planned start date and last planned end date.
• Clicking the Refresh icon will recalculate corresponding dates according to the current status of the project’s tasks and deliverables.
• Clicking the Delete icon will erase the corresponding project dates.

Clicking the word Plan will open the  project Gantt.

 

Clicking the Refresh icon will recalculate the planned and actual dates.

 

You can also select which unit of time you would like to use to display the project’s duration by clicking on "twisty"   icon.

 

The Progress Section

Graphical representation of the project’s progress:

 

Costs & Budgets

The cost section summarizes project budget and cost information. All of the information is either retrieved from the project budget form or computed by the system.

When clicking Costs,

Geniusproject opens the view displaying all project costs.

 

When clicking Budget,

Geniusproject opens the budget form.

 

When clicking Refresh icon,

Geniusproject refreshes the entire budget and cost information.

 

Project Workload - The Workload Section

The workload section summarizes the project workload details. All of the information is either retrieved from the project budget form or computed by the system.

When clicking Workload,

Geniusproject opens the workload view displaying all project tasks and their details.

When clicking the Refresh icon,

Geniusproject refreshes all workload information.

 

The Phases Section

This section is intended for people who do not use a Gantt chart to plan their projects. It allows them to structure the project in phases and sub-phases.

If using a Gantt chart to plan the project, it will simply display the project phases as outlined on the Gantt chart.

 

 

Defining the Project Team and The Project Description [Participants Tab]

This section identifies the project participants and their role in the project. Geniusproject proposes a predefined team structure with predefined groups and roles.

The size of the teams can vary depending on the project, from one to several dozen or even several hundred persons. The project team is composed of people with whom the project manager communicates with directly, has tasks assigned to them or will need access to specific project information.

The project team can also be composed of client representatives, partners or sub-contractors. The most important thing is that each member is conscious of his or her involvement in the project, that the project objectives are well understood by all and that each stakeholder knows the importance of his contribution for the success of the project. The project must also have a controlling body which is commonly referred to as the steering committee and which approves the choices of the project manager.

Note: The default Project team structure can be changed through the  Setup dialog box.

 

How Team Definition Impacts Access Rights

By default only project team members can read project information.

• By default, only the project leader and project leader substitute(s) can modify any of the project documents, including project description, budget, plan, etc.

 

Classifying the Project

Most organizations execute different types of projects and have different ways of categorizing, grouping and consolidating them. More importantly, each organization typically has different reporting needs. The "Categorization" section is where Geniusproject allows you to define the project type as well as which categories and groups it belongs to. All information related to a project, i.e. tasks, deliverable, documents, will inherit these classification properties, which means they can be used anywhere for reporting purpose.

Most of the fields on this tab are defined in the initial configuration where the labels as well as the possible values for each entry are listed.

 

Project Evaluation - Project Description Critical Success Factors Tab

It is important to assess and review project costs, risks and benefits several times during life cycle of a project and to be able to review priorities in relation to other projects. The Critical success factors section allows you to define how important and aligned a project request is with your business and what its associated risks are.

Geniusproject allows you to track project probability of success, ROI, budget, workload, strategic alignment, as well as other configurable dimensions, such as competitiveness for example. Some of these values are real values, like Budget, Workload and ROI, the other are ranking values between 0-10. Please note that Budget and Workload come from the budget and are defined as a null value as long as no budget has been defined.

These dimensions can be used at the portfolio level to optimize portfolios and review priorities.

This section is divided into 2 parts. The first section is not configurable and contains essential metrics that exist across all projects, they are: budget, ROI (return on investment), forecasted workload and risk factor.

The second section is configurable and can capture up to 10 distinct criteria used to qualify the importance of the project to the organization. The combination of the values will calculate the project score and reflect its importance.

Budget & ROI	Budget	The total budget for the project. Computed and displays the same value as in the "Cost & Budget" section.
ROI	ROI	The project’s return on investment. This value is entered manually.
	Workload	The planned workload for the project. Computed and displays the same value as in the "Workload" section.
	Risk factor	The estimated risk factor for this project. The higher the value is the riskier the project is for the organization.
Project ranking	Project ranking	This is a computed field. The value is computed using the weight and values of all of the critical success factors listed below. See Define critical success factors and project ranking calculation in the setup section. The higher the value the more important the project is for the organization.
	Critical success factors "1 to 10" for instance here Risk, funding, duration and complexity	Enter a value according to the critical success factors defined by your administrator. See "Define critical success factors and project ranking calculation" in the Admin Manual.

 

Defining Project Options

This tab is used to set the project’s more advanced options.

 

Currency	The project’s currency. All project amounts will be expressed in this currency, as well as in the reference currency if different. The list of available currencies comes from the field "Other currencies" in the General setup document. Important note: Once the document is saved, the currency cannot be changed for the project.
Billing mode	This field specifies whether the project will be billable or not. If it is billable you define here whether it is at a fixed price or time and material (real cost). See "billing a project" for more details.
Billing status	This field is set to track if the project has been billed or not.
Calculate availability	If "Yes", then task assignments for this project will be included in the availability calculation for the [Resources] module. If "No", the availability calculation for the resources will not consider task assignments from this project. Default value is "Yes".
Physical progress	Is set to the default value for all projects regarding physical progress on tasks as defined in the General setup document. Possible choices are: Not managed: physical progress cannot be tracked for tasks. Used for the earned value calculation: the physical progress can be tracked for tasks and will be used for the earned value calculation in the Project overview documents. Entered but not used: the physical progress can be entered on tasks, but it will only be displayed in the views. Note: The "Physical progress" option can then be changed individually per task. The option selected here is only the default value for all new tasks that will be created in this project.
To be archived	Select this option if you would like this project to be included by the archiving agent

 

Adding all the Required Details to the Project Definition

This section is designed to capture any additional project information to be shared or stored necessary to get the full picture of the project. This is a full text zone with a proposed default layout.

 

Project Description - Genius Live! Tab 

This tab contains the project’s full history of collaboration, exchange of information, revision and approvals. For more information see the section "Genius Live! Social Collaboration".

 

Project Description - Attachment Tab

This section is to attach external files, see Manage Attached Files in the Document Management section for more details.

Users can attach documents to the project description form to store any additional information pertaining to the project. It is however recommended to store each significant document attachment as a single document in Geniusproject. This will allow users to distribute, publish, or manage access rights for any particular attached file independently.

 

Project Description - Links to Tab

This tab is used to store links between the project description document and any other project documents. For more information see the section titled Managing Links between Documents.

 

Editing a Project

To edit a project description document:

• Open the document.
• Click Edit from the Menu bar.

• Once the changes have been made, save them by clicking Save or Save & Notify from the Action bar. Save & Notify will save as well as notify any users set up to receive notifications.

It is also possible to close without saving simply by clicking Close from the Action bar. If a change has been made in the document, you will get a warning asking for confirmation before closing the document.

 

Copying a Project

It is possible at any moment to create a copy of an existing project. A project copy does not just copy the project description document; it copies all project data including the plan, tasks, deliverables, costs, etc.

To copy a project:

• Open the project description document.
• Click  Actions from the Menu bar and select Copy.

• Select the Projects database the new project will be created in.

• The system will open the new project description document. You will need to change the name of the copied project name as it will inherit the name of the project it was copied from.
• Save and close the document.

A dialog box will open displaying the current project name. Replace it with the new project name and click OK to confirm the change. Click Cancel to cancel the change.

Once the changes have been confirmed, the new project name will be the displayed in the project description.

Defining a project as a template is very simple; all you need to do is set its status to Template.

• Open the project description.
• Place it in edit mode by clicking Edit" from the Action menu bar.
• Change the project status in the in the header of the project description to "Template".

To change the status of a project, click the Pen icon

to toggle to edit mode for this field. After changing the value of the field, click on the

to confirm your changes. When the status of a project is modified, the data must be propagated to all documents related to the project. The propagation mode depends on the Update of the project documents option from the Categorization tab. See this option for more information.

To actually create a real project template there are other points where you need to be aware of, for example if a project is initialized from a template based on a project already executed, assignments to generic resources, etc.

 

Applying a Project Template to an Existing Project

Geniusproject allows you to combine multiple project templates to create a new project.

• Open the project description.
• Place the document into edit mode by clicking Edit from the Action menu bar.
• Click Actions from the Menu bar and select Import a template from the dropdown menu.

• A dialog box will open displaying the list of available project templates.
• If the selected template also includes sub-projects, the system will ask if you would like to select the sub-projects as well.