Projects are used by managers for various purposes, the most common being to manage tasks within their team. Using this tool, managers can track the progress of each task and understand what stage the project is at. Below is some important information to help you track and manage projects.
- Initiative Central View
- General Project Settings
- How to update project identification information?
- Integration with other Centers
- How to use KPIs within Projects?
- How do I manage the KPIs under my responsibility?
- Project Tags and Filters
- User Permissions in Projects
Initiatives Center View
There are three types of views in the Initiatives Center, depending on what analysis or monitoring you want to do: Portfolios, Projects, and Tasks.
Portfolios: This is the macro view of the Initiatives Center. There are several projects within the portfolios.
If you are working on a project and want to return to the portfolio view, simply click on the button located on the top bar on the right side of the screen.
To switch between the various portfolios you have access to, open the selection list located just below the previous button. There, you can search and view all the portfolios that you are authorized to view.
Projects: Projects are contained within a portfolio, and within them there are several tasks:
When accessing this page, there is also a way to switch between projects. To do this, simply open the selection list, which lists all the projects that the user has access to.
Unlike portfolios, there is no option to view in timeline format here, but you can use another feature to manage project tasks. In addition to the conventional view, which is the image above, you can create KPIs by clicking the button next to tasks, which are indicators used to measure the achievement of a specific task goal.
Tasks: These are the “micro” view of the Initiative Center. They are part of a project, which is part of a portfolio. The intention is to subdivide project activities and delegate the function to an employee to complete a stage of the project. To access Tasks, the user can either click on them in the project's kanban view or select the icon in the upper right bar, which takes them to a list of all tasks assigned to their user:
The view is quite different from what you see in portfolios and projects, but the intention is to give the user an idea of all the pending tasks they need to complete.
By clicking on the name of the tasks, the employee has access to a pop-up window where they can check the scheduled dates, labels, description, checklist, attachments, etc. It is the most in-depth view of everything involved in that task.
General Project Information
Projects are part of a portfolio, and within them there are several tasks. In general, they are used to group tasks that have a common object.
In the project's Kanban, you can see all tasks, the progress of the entire project, and filter the tasks to be displayed. In this view, you can also move tasks between stages by simply clicking on the task card and dragging it to the desired stage.
Important: Archived tasks are not displayed. To view them, simply select the Archived filter in Status. |
To create new tasks, simply click on the +New Task button at the bottom of the step rows.
A blank field will appear, so just type in the desired name for the task and press the Enter key to complete the action.
Clicking on the card of any task will display the Tasks modal.
There, you can access all the information about that task. This allows you to assign a responsible user, enter start and end dates, add tags, enter a description, create a Checklist, add attachments, budget, comments, and view the action history.
In the top bar of the modal, there are some important actions for managing tasks in the project.
Initially, we can view the “address” of this task, that is, the portfolio > project > project stage where this task is located. Note that in the project stage, it is possible to expand a list with all the stages of this project and move it from stage to stage by selecting the desired one.
The icon provides access to the modal learning tutorial, followed by a selection list where you can change the status of this task.
The use of this labeling is important, above all, for good management of the project's progress. It is worth remembering that this labeling is also reflected in the Strategy Center module.
Finally, in the dot menu, you can follow, mirror, request validation, and delete this task.
Steps are created using the ➕ button located at the far right of the step list:
Clicking will open a text box to enter the name of the step. You can also cancel the creation of a step by clicking the ✖️ button.
To delete a project step, the user must click on the dot menu next to the step name.
A confirmation modal will appear requesting confirmation of the action.
ATTENTION! When you confirm the deletion of a step, all tasks will also be deleted. |
How do I update the project identification information?
To access the project settings, click on the “down arrow” next to the project name.
After that, a pop-up window will open where you can modify the main project information.
In the top bar, you can set the project status by changing it to active project, completed project, or archived project.
| Note: To change the status of a project, the user must have at least portfolio member permission. |
Completed or archived projects are displayed in the portfolio only through the respective filters.
The Start and End fields are used to define the planned dates when the initiatives for this project will be carried out.
On the right side, under Project Permissions, the Manager field is used to define which user(s) will be responsible for managing the initiatives for that project. It is also possible to define users who will be Administrators—who can perform any action within the project—and Members—who can perform any action within the project except edit the project ID—and External Collaborators, who can only view and edit the tasks and KPIs to which they are assigned. They cannot view the portfolio.
Fields are created on the portfolio page. To do this, go to the portfolio and click on Create field.
ATTENTION! This option will only appear for users who have at least portfolio member permission. |
When you click on the button, a text box will appear where you can enter the field name. To finish creating the field, simply press the Enter key or click on the small circle that appears in the upper right corner.
After creating the field, simply click on it to open a pop-up window for creating options within that field.
With the options created, you can edit the project and select the fields that make sense for it.
In the General tab, the “Project description” field allows managers to enter a description of the project, that is, to identify it with its motive, reason, purpose, etc.
Forms are configured in the portfolio stages and become available when the project is moved to that stage.
In the budget, you can manually set a budget for the project or Import from Tasks. When importing the budget, the project budget becomes the sum of the budgets for each task in the project.
Note: When updating a task budget, if the project budget was imported from the tasks, the project budget amount is automatically updated. |
In the Updates tab, you can record everything that is happening at each stage of the project, including a brief description and a status tag. These tags make it easier for you and your entire team to quickly understand the current status of each project. In the project modal, managers and administrators can enter periodic updates on progress, ensuring more efficient monitoring.
The Links tab simplifies querying and accessing related projects from a central project. It displays a tab for tracking connections between projects, which only appears if there are links, and displays the total number of links next to the tab title.
In the Attachments tab, you can add a file to the platform by dragging it to the indicated location or selecting it from your device. You can also search for a file by name and delete it if necessary.
History is an important section of the system where you can see all changes and events related to projects and forms. Each event shows what users have done and the current status of projects.
Integration with Other Centers
To learn more about integrating the Initiative Center with other Centers on the platform, see the article: Integration with other modules.
How to use KPIs within Projects?
When opening a project, there are two buttons in the upper right corner, next to the name, one of which is KPI:
KPIs are management tools used to measure and assess the performance and success of a specific process within a project. When you click on this KPI button, if a KPI has already been created, it will be displayed as follows:
And if nothing has been created, the following screen will appear:
By clicking on the “New KPI” button, we will create a KPI from scratch. To do this, you must enter the name of the KPI, a brief description of what will be measured with it, the metric unit that will perform this measurement, who will be responsible for it (only one person can be entered), and the tags that were created previously can be defined for use in the KPI:
In the goals stage, the closing date is defined, as well as the goal that should be achieved by that date. Here, it is possible to create more than one goal with new dates, and based on the goals, it is possible to define three statuses by percentage of achievement, which are red, meaning that the goal has not been achieved,and green, signaling that it has been achieved:
When the KPI is created, its visualization will be as follows:
The actual field is editable, showing what has been done up to the defined date. Based on the configured percentages, this is colored red, yellow, or green, depending on how much of the total has been achieved, for example:
By clicking on the “New measurement” button in the lower right corner, you can enter a new date and a new target to be achieved:
You can delete a KPI using the trash can button:
It is also possible to edit a KPI by clicking on the pencil button, which opens a modal window similar to the creation window for editing.
The markup it has for the quantities achieved always considers the last metric placed in it. With that, we have a KPI created and performing measurements according to the configuration.
How do I manage My KPIs?
The platform allows you to view all the KPIs that are under your responsibility. Each user has the appropriate KPIs linked to them, which can be viewed on this page. To view them, simply go to the initiative center and click on the following button:
The page is separated by projects that have KPIs under your responsibility:
By clicking on each arrow, you can see the complete KPI:
On this page, you can also filter them by tags, projects, and status:
And you can create KPIs using the “New KPI” button:
The only difference in creating the KPI is that a field opens up right after the name, allowing you to select which project this KPI should be added to:
Each user has a unique view of this page, which is based on their KPI responsibilities.
Tags and Filters
In the Initiative Center, there are some tags that are very useful for identifying and filtering projects among the various initiatives in progress. Below, we will look at each of them.
The project card, which is displayed on the screen of the portfolio to which it belongs, displays the following tags.
The project manager's profile photo is displayed next to the project name.
The project's end date is displayed on the card when the project is “overdue,” i.e., when the current date is greater than the end date.
The labels that appear in the footer are displayed in orange. They are selected within the project according to the filters created in the portfolio.
If any KPI is below the forecast, a red icon will appear on the card shown on the portfolio screen to which this project belongs. If the KPIs are within the forecast, the icon will be displayed in green.
The progress bar is filled as the project tasks are completed.
Within the project, there are specific filters to classify the tasks in each stage.
Start Date and Deadline: Allows you to filter the tasks displayed by their start and deadline dates. You can choose a specific date or a period in which the date must fall.
Assignees: Allows you to filter the tasks displayed by their assignees.
Tags: Allows you to filter the tasks displayed based on the tags applied. NOTE: Tags are created within the task modal.
Status: Allows you to filter the tasks displayed based on their status: archived, completed, in progress, and not started, which must be defined within the task modal.
User permissions
Members
Can view the project configuration, but cannot change anything.
Can create, delete, and move tasks, including tasks created by other users.
Can create and delete steps, including steps created by other users.
Can view KPIs, but cannot create them.
Administrators
Everything members can do;
They can edit the project configuration, including changing the manager, adding new administrators and members.
They can create KPIs.
Manager
Everything administrators can do;
Their photo appears on the project card within the portfolio.
External Collaborators
They can only view and edit the tasks and KPIs to which they are assigned.
They cannot view the portfolio.
Conclusion
This article presents the main features of the Initiative Center: the three views (Portfolios, Projects, and Tasks), the creation and management of tasks and stages in the kanban, how to access and edit project identification settings (status, dates, permissions, and fields), use of KPIs for measurement and monitoring, application of tags and filters for prioritization and visibility, in addition to permission levels (Members, Administrators, Managers, and External Collaborators) that define the actions available to users.
Related articles:
- How to create and manage a project?
- Como gerenciar minhas tarefas?
- How to Create and Update My KPIs?
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Integration with other modules