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Projects

A job the business is doing for a customer, planned as tasks and milestones on a timeline, with what it was quoted at, what it has cost so far in hours and spend, and whether it is making money.

Getting started

These are the steps in the order somebody would do them. The same list is in the tool: press F1, or the control reading "How this works" at the top of the window.

1. Press New job and say who it is for

A name is all it takes to start. Naming the customer is what puts the job on their own record and lets the next screen count anything against it, so it is worth doing on the same form.

2. Say where the hours and the money are booked

Your people record hours in Keyway Billing and payments in Keyway Expenses, and each of those is filed against a customer, a deal or a job. Name the same one here and this tool counts exactly that work. Name nothing and it counts everything for that customer, which it says on the screen rather than leaving you to assume.

3. Draw the plan on the timeline

One row per piece of work, with a start and a finish. Drag a bar to move it and anything waiting on it moves with it. The run of tasks with nowhere to slip to is drawn in the accent: if one of those moves, the last day of the job moves too.

4. Put the promises on as milestones, not as tasks

A task is work your people do. A milestone is a date you gave the customer. Only the milestones go on their record, and only a milestone due tomorrow with work still open under it puts a line on their timeline.

5. Write a scope change down, and record who agreed to it

Work the customer asks for after the job was quoted is a change order: what it adds to the price, what it adds to the delivery date, and who approved it. Nothing moves until somebody is named against it, and the original quote stays on the job so you can always say what changed and when.

6. Read the costing before you agree to anything else

Every line names the record it came from, in the tool that holds it, so a figure you are about to make a decision from is one you can check. The hours go in at what they cost the business, set on the Settings screen, with what they are worth at your charge-out rate beside it.

7. Send the customer the plan, and send it yourself

Nothing in Keyway writes to a customer on its own. The plan and the progress summary are composed here and go out when you press Send, through your own mailbox, and a copy is filed on their record. Neither carries a figure.

The screens, and what to do first on each

Each of these opens with nothing on it on a new install. What the tool says on that screen is what this section says, because it is the same sentence.

No jobs are open yet

This is every job the business is doing, with what it was quoted at and where it stands. A job needs a name; the customer, the dates and the budget can all go on afterwards.

First thing to do: Open a job and name the customer it is for.

Nothing is planned on this job yet

This is the timeline: one bar per piece of work, milestones as marks, and today as a line down the chart. A task takes a name and two dates, and a spreadsheet of them can be imported in one go.

First thing to do: Add the first task, or import the programme from a spreadsheet.

Nothing has been booked against this job

This is what it was quoted at against what it has cost: hours from Keyway Billing, stock from Keyway Stock, payments from Keyway Expenses, and the invoices raised for it. Each line names the record it came from.

First thing to do: Name the deal or job the work is booked against, on the job itself.

Nothing has changed about what was agreed

A change order is work the customer asked for after the job was quoted. Each one says what it adds to the price and to the delivery date, and carries the name of whoever agreed to it. What the job was first quoted at never moves.

First thing to do: Write the change down, then record who approved it.

Nothing here has been changed yet

Three things: the currency a new job's budget is in, what an hour costs the business to provide, and how many days before a milestone it reaches the customer's own record. All three apply to the whole business.

First thing to do: Check the currency is the one you quote in, and change it if it is not.

If you get stuck

Write to support@keywaysuite.com. We answer within one business day. Keyway can send us what it knows about your installation: open the hub, go to About and press Get support. It writes one file wherever you choose and never includes your licence, a password, a customer name or a customer address.