Managing internal projects

You can create three types of projects in Scoro:

• One-off projects
• Retainers
• Internal projects

Use the internal project type to manage your internal projects and initiatives and separate them from client work. Unlike one-off projects and retainers, which support both billable and non-billable time, the tasks and time entries on an internal project are always non-billable, as such projects don’t generate revenue. Using the right project type helps you ensure accurate reporting and analytics around billable time. 

This article will walk you through an internal project setup.

We have separate articles about creating one-off projects and retainer management in Scoro.

1. Creating a new internal project

Since internal projects don’t bring revenue and cannot be linked to clients, you cannot create an internal project from a quote. You can only create it manually – and there are two ways to do it:

• From the project list – click the + New button.
  
• From the menu – click the Quick actions (+) button and select New project.
  

Whichever way you’re creating the new internal project, the project modify view will open, with three tabs for setting up the following:

• Project settings
• Budget settings
• Phases and milestones

1.1. Project settings

In the Project settings tab, you can add all the general project settings and data.

You can use the Use project template dropdown field to create the project from a template. Once you’ve selected a template, it will override any details you added beforehand - that’s why we recommend starting with using the template and modifying the project details afterward.

Set the project type to Internal. Since internal projects cannot be linked to contacts, the Client field will disappear.

Select the project manager and project members. Customer Portal users can be added to the project from the project detailed view after the project is created.

Enable the Members only toggle if you want the project to be accessible only by the project members, Customer Portal users, and site administrators. If you don’t tick that box, the project can be accessed by all users with the right to view other projects. This right can be granted or limited by the site administrator with the help of permission sets.

Lastly, set the project start and due dates and customize the color of the project icon.

Set the project category to Personal to make it a personal project and ensure it won’t be shown on any reports. 

If project tags are used on your site, you can expand the Project tags section below the project start and due date pickers and tick the necessary tag(s) for your internal project.

You can manage your project tags under Settings > Site settings > Tags and relations > Projects. 

Now, let’s move on to the project’s Budget settings tab!

1.2. Budget settings

In the budget settings tab, you can enter the planned hours for the entire internal project to track the hours and budget spent throughout the project’s duration. Since internal projects don’t generate revenue, the planned hours are non-billable.

You can also add the estimated costs for bills, expenses, and labor to track the actual results against the budgeted numbers.

When all the project details are as needed, click the Create project button to finish creating your internal project. You’ll be redirected to the project detailed view, where you can add the project phases, tasks, Customer Portal users, and other details.

1.3. Phases and milestones

The Phases and milestones tab in the project modify view lets you set your project’s phases, add important milestones to track goals, and add task bundles. If you’re using a project template with phases, milestones, and task bundles, you’ll see them in this tab and can modify them if necessary.

To add a new project phase from this tab:

1. Click the Add phase button.
2. Enter the phase name. You can also specify the start and end dates (it's optional).

You can also effortlessly set up a waterfall project using the Back-to-back phases toggle. It automatically creates finish-to-start dependencies between project phases and milestones. Learn more about task dependencies.

To add a new milestone from this tab:

1. Click the Add milestone button.
2. Enter the name of the milestone and set the date of the milestone.

To add a task bundle:

1. Click the Add task bundle button right below a phase to nest them under it, or at the very bottom of the screen to add them as standalone tasks.
2. Select the required task bundle from the dropdown field.

2. Viewing internal projects

In the project list, internal projects will be shown at the top of the list by default. You can filter the project list as needed – for example, filter out only internal projects, etc.

Since internal projects are non-billable and don’t bring revenue, the revenue-related columns in the project list will show N/A as values.

Click on the internal project name or icon to open the project detailed view. Internal projects have an ‘Internal’ label in the project header. 

Check out these articles to learn more about:

• Project list
• Project view
• Summary bar to track the project’s success

3. Modifying or deleting an internal project

Tasks, phases, milestones, and task bundles can be added to an internal project after it has been created. The process is the same as for one-off projects. Learn more about modifying and deleting projects in Scoro.