Project record
What it's for
A project record is one multi-visit job in full: its phases, its billing milestones, the work orders underneath it, and whether it is making money. It is the screen a project manager keeps open.
Reach it by opening any row on Customers → Projects. The route is
/projects/<project>.
Tabs
The record has no tabs. It is one page: phases and milestones as the body, billing and cost as side panels.
Panels and controls
Fact strip
Project #, Customer, Milestones, and Contract value.
Phases
Add phase creates one. A phase takes a Name, a Budget, a Status, optional Notes, and — this is the useful part — a predecessor. A phase with a predecessor will not take work until that phase is complete, which is how a schedule stays in order without anyone policing it. Overriding the gate requires a written reason.
Milestones
Add milestone creates one, with a Milestone name, an Amount, and an optional Description. The table shows Milestone, Amount, and Status. Mark Complete closes a milestone, and a completed milestone is what an invoice is drafted from — so the customer is billed against agreed progress rather than elapsed time.
Side panels
- Billing — Milestones complete and Contract value: what has been earned against what was agreed.
- Job cost — Labor, Materials, Purchase orders, Field purchases, Subcontractor, Commission, Total cost, Budget, and Margin. Every line is built from what was actually recorded on the project's work orders, so the margin is the real one, not an estimate.
Save project commits changes to the project itself; Save commits the phase or milestone you are editing.
What it accepts
| Field | Format | Required | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project name | Free text | Yes | |
| Phase name | Free text | Yes | |
| Phase budget | Dollars | No | Feeds the Budget and Margin lines on the cost panel |
| Phase status | Pick a status | Yes | |
| Predecessor phase | Pick another phase | No | Sets the gate |
| Milestone name | Free text | Yes | Shown on the invoice drafted from it |
| Milestone amount | Dollars | Yes | What the milestone bills for |
| Milestone description | Free text | No | |
| Notes | Free text | No |
Booking work into a gated phase is refused with "This phase is gated behind <phase>, which isn't complete yet." until the predecessor completes or someone records an override reason.
How to configure it
- Job costing settings decide how each cost line is built and what counts as burden.
- Invoicing settings decide what a milestone invoice contains and whether it needs approval.
- Price book settings supply the rates the labor and material lines cost at.
Who can see it
This screen sits behind the Projects area.
Owners, office managers and dispatchers can open it. Technicians cannot — they work the project's individual jobs from the field app. The gate is checked on the server, not just hidden in the sidebar, so a direct link does not get around it.
The full role matrix is on Roles & permissions.