- This article applies to BrightWork 365 v1.6 and later. For earlier versions, see this article.
- Templates that are associated with a Content Template will be prepopulated with project data.
- User entered dates will be saved as time zone independent UTC dates, not user local dates; the same dates will be displayed for all users irrespective of time zone.
BrightWork 365 comes with three starter project templates to help you get started managing projects quickly. The included project templates are named Project Standard, Product Update, and New Product Introduction. Each comes with its own different Business Process Flow and stages, and certain templates come with several additional fields. Below are details about the major out of the box elements of these templates.
Project Tabs
Charter
The Charter tab contains high level metadata about the project, including the project title and stakeholder information.
The following columns limit their user lookup values to the corresponding mapped BrightWork security role:
- Project Sponsor column to BrightWork Team Member security role
- Project Manager column to BrightWork Project Manager security role
The Charter tab also contains the mandatory columns Program and Portfolio. The values for these columns can later be changed in the Project Settings tab by a user with elevated privileges (see the Project Settings section below). All associated child items will be automatically adjusted to reflect these value changes.
The following can be specified in Project Templates and will populate corresponding columns in the Charter and Project Settings tabs of new Projects:
- Content Template
- Portfolio
- Program
- Project Manager
- Project Sponsor
- Project Type
Charter Fields Specific to the Product Update Template
Group Manager
The list of users returned in the Group Manager drop-down field that is in the Charter tab of Product Update projects is limited to the users added to the Senior Managers Dynamics Team found in Admin Area | Dynamics Teams.
Location
The Location drop-down menu choices that are found in the Charter tab of the Product Update template are configured in Admin Area | Locations.
Status & Status Reports
The Status tab allows the project manager to set current project metrics and KPIs, and the Status Reports tab provides the project manager with the ability to create snapshot status reports of the project's current standing and to view a history of status reports. See Status Reporting for details.
Team
Automatically populates with the names of work item assignees, and the earliest start dates and latest finish dates across all the work assigned to them.
- Manually adding existing project team members from within the Team section is not supported. However, you can add a person to the Team without them being permanently assigned to a work item by assigning them temporarily to a work item, briefly waiting until they show up in the Team tab, and then unassigning them from the work item – they will stay in the Team.
- To remove a Team Member, a user with the Project Manager security role can remove the member from any assigned work, and then highlight the member's row in the grid and choose Delete Project Team Member in the section's top menu.
- Dates will not update in the Teams tab until an update of some kind is made in the Gantt tab, which will trigger the date update.
Stages
- Stages are automatically listed in the Stages tab after being created in the Gantt tab (a Gantt task can be set to be a Stage type task in Task Details). Manually adding stages from within the Stages section is not supported.
- In the Stages section, the Current Stage column will match the current stage set in the Business Process Flow if the names of the stages in the Gantt match exactly with those in the Business Process Flow at the top of the project.
- The Current Stage detail values are tied to the progression of tasks within that Stage in the Gantt.
- Click on a stage link to view additional details about the stage including description and status information.
See the Approvals tab section below for information about how projects move from one stage to the next.
Gantt
List of project tasks with a corresponding bar chart that represents the project schedule with task start and end dates. Visually depicts dependency relationships between the tasks as well as task status. See the Task Management article for more information.
My Work
A list of all work of any type that is assigned to the logged in user.
Documents
Create new Microsoft Office documents and upload existing documents and store these files in your organization's SharePoint document library that is associated with BrightWork 365.
Actions
Log project actions, decisions, and changes. See the Actions article for details.
Issues
In the Issues section you can create a new issue by clicking + New Issue (do not use the Add Existing Issue option).
The list of available users to choose from in the Assigned To column is limited to those users given the BrightWork Team Member security role.
Issues can be added to the project's associated program or portfolio by clicking into the issue and choosing the relevant escalation location.
Risks
In the Risks section you can create a new risk by clicking + New Risk (do not use the Add Existing Risk option). Enter Risk information for those items identified as potential future issues, with probability, impact, status and other relevant Risk details.
The list of available users to choose from in the Assigned To column is limited to those users given the BrightWork Team Member security role.
Risks can be added to the project's associated program or portfolio by clicking into the risk and choosing the relevant escalation location.
Costs
The Costs tab provides a comprehensive method for capturing and tracking project budgets and actual costs at the project and individual item levels. See the Costs article for details.
Communications
Initiate and save project related Emails and Appointments directly in the BrightWork 365 app and save these items as well as Phone Call details and Notes, within associated projects. See the Communications article for details.
Project Settings
Only users with the BrightWork Project Manager, BrightWork PMO Manager or BrightWork Program Manager security role can access the Project Settings tab.
The Project Settings tab provides additional project information and gives the manager the ability to change the portfolio or program associated with the project, reset the baseline dates in all project tasks, and create a Microsoft Teams Channel for the Team associated with the project's related program (note that if the project is later moved to a different program, the project's Microsoft Team Channel will not move to the new program's Microsoft Team).
Send Stage for Approval
If approval is required for a stage, the approval process will need to be started manually by the Project Manager by clicking the Send Stage for Approval button in the Project Settings tab. When a stage is sent for approval some sections of the project will be made read-only and a related message will display on the Charter tab. The Business Process Flow will not be disabled, but users will be prevented from moving a stage forward or backward.
See Project Stage Approval Process for related information.
Approval History
The Approval History section of the Project Settings tab includes a history of the approval process for each stage of the Business Process Flow.
Approvals
The Approvals tab is only visible to users given the BrightWork Approvals Coordinator security role.
Approvals Coordinator is a lookup and security role - the nominated user must be chosen in the Approvals Coordinator field and also be given the BrightWork Approvals Coordinator security role. The Approvals Coordinator will be notified of approval process progress.
Business Process Flow Stages are used to control the number of stages and the stage names in the approval sections of the Approvals tab. The default settings are controlled by the configuration set in Templates Area | Project Templates by a user given the BrightWork Template Editor security role.
See the Project Stage Approval Process article for related information.
Related
You can view documents related to entities within a project such as Issues or Risks, and project audit history, by clicking on the Related tab.
