---
title: "Projects"
description: "Managing projects and their lifecycle"
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.testandaccept.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Projects

Projects are the central organizational unit that connect clients with statements of work (SOWs). They represent a specific engagement, initiative, or body of work for a client, and serve as containers for related SOWs, team members, and deliverables.

## What are Projects?

Projects help you:

- **Organize Related Work**: Group multiple statements of work under a single project
- **Connect to Clients**: Link work directly to specific clients and contacts
- **Enable Collaboration**: Let team members follow and work together
- **Track Progress**: Monitor the status of all related deliverables
- **Control Access**: Define who can view and edit project-related work

## Project Properties

Each project has:

### Basic Information

- **Name**: A clear, descriptive project name (e.g., "Website Redesign Phase 2")
- **Description**: Detailed information about the project scope and objectives
- **Client**: Which client this project is for
- **Primary Contact**: The main person at the client for this project
- **Organization**: Which organization owns this project (optional)
- **Owner**: The person responsible for managing the project
- **Start Date**: When the project begins (optional)
- **End Date**: When the project should be complete (optional)

### Status

Projects move through different statuses as work progresses:

- **Active**: Currently in progress (default)
- **Inactive**: Temporarily paused
- **Completed**: Successfully finished
- **On Hold**: Waiting for client or internal input
- **Archived**: Closed for historical reference

### Organization Features

- **Pinned**: Keep important projects at the top of your lists
- **Followers**: Team members who want to stay updated on project progress
- **SOW Count**: How many statements of work belong to this project
- **Created/Updated**: Timestamps showing when it was created and last modified

### Project Settings

Each project has configurable settings that control which task management features are available:

**Task Management Features** (Enable individually based on your needs):
- **Task Dates**: Add start and due dates to tasks, with automatic overdue tracking
- **Task Assignees**: Assign tasks to team members for clear accountability
- **Task Costs**: Track estimated and actual costs for budget management

**Financial Settings** (When Task Costs enabled):
- **Currency**: Project-level currency for all cost fields (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.)
- **Default Hourly Rate**: Optional default rate for time-based estimates

**Flexibility**: Enable only the features you need. Simple projects can use basic task lists, while complex projects can enable all features for full project management.

**Learn more**: See [Task Management Features](/features/task-management/) for detailed information on configuring and using these settings.

## Project Hierarchy

Projects fit into the application's structure like this:

<pre class="mermaid">{`
flowchart LR
  Organization -->|owns| Client
  Client -->|has| Project
  Project -->|contains| SOW[Statement of Work]
  SOW -->|breaks down into| Task[Work Items]
  Task -->|must meet| Criterion[Acceptance Criterion]
  Criterion -->|verified by| Test[Test]

  style Organization fill:#e1f5ff
  style Client fill:#fff9c4
  style Project fill:#fff4e6
  style SOW fill:#e8f5e9
  style Task fill:#f3e5f5
  style Criterion fill:#ffe6e6
  style Test fill:#e6f7ff
`}</pre>

## Creating Projects

### What You Need

**Required**:
- A clear project name that describes the work

**Recommended**:
- A detailed description of the project
- Link to the client
- Primary contact at the client
- Organization assignment for team visibility
- Start and end dates for planning

**The project will automatically**:
- Start with "Active" status
- Assign you as the owner
- Grant you full admin access
- Allow you to add statements of work
- Initialize with default settings (all task features disabled)

**Note**: All new projects start with task management features disabled by default. You can enable dates, assignees, and costs through Project Settings based on your needs.

### When to Create a Project

Create a new project when:
- Starting work for a client
- Beginning a new phase of existing work
- Managing a distinct initiative or engagement
- Grouping related deliverables together

## Working with Projects

### Viewing Projects

You can see projects in different ways:

- **All Projects**: Everything you have access to
- **My Projects**: Only projects you own
- **Organization Projects**: All projects in your organization
- **Client Projects**: All projects for a specific client
- **By Status**: Filter to see active, completed, or archived projects

### Pinning Projects

Pin up to 3-5 critical projects to keep them at the top of your list:

**Pin projects that are**:
- Currently active and need frequent attention
- Approaching their deadline
- High-priority client engagements
- Critical to your team's goals

**How pinning works**:
- Pinned projects always appear first
- Unpinned projects show in order of last update
- You can pin and unpin anytime
- Each user has their own pinned projects

### Following Projects

Team members can "follow" projects to stay informed:

**Followers**:
- Receive updates when project status changes
- Can see all SOWs in the project
- Don't need edit access to follow
- Can be added or remove themselves

**Use followers for**:
- Stakeholders who need visibility without edit rights
- Executives monitoring progress
- Cross-functional team members (marketing, sales, support)
- External partners staying informed

### Searching for Projects

Find projects quickly using search:

**Search by**:
- Project name keywords
- Description text
- Client name
- Status

**Tips**:
- Use quotes for exact phrases
- Search refreshes as you type
- Clear filters to see all results

## Project Lifecycle

### 1. Planning (Status: Active)

**Activities**:
- Define project scope and objectives
- Set start and end dates
- Identify primary contact
- Add team members as followers
- Create initial statements of work

**Who's involved**: Project owner, team leads, client stakeholders

### 2. Execution (Status: Active)

**Activities**:
- Add and complete statements of work
- Track progress on deliverables
- Update team on status
- Manage acceptance criteria and tests
- Coordinate with client contact

**Who's involved**: Entire project team, developers, testers

### 3. On Hold (Status: On Hold)

**When to use**:
- Waiting for client feedback or approval
- Blocked by external dependencies
- Budget or resource constraints
- Strategic pause in work

**Activities**:
- Document why work is paused
- Set expected resume date
- Communicate with stakeholders
- Track blocker resolution

### 4. Completion (Status: Completed)

**Activities**:
- Verify all SOWs are complete
- Get final client sign-off
- Document lessons learned
- Prepare for archiving

**Who's involved**: Project owner, client, key stakeholders

### 5. Archiving (Status: Archived)

**When to archive**:
- Project is fully delivered and signed off
- No more active work planned
- Moving to a superseding project
- Closing out old projects

**What happens**:
- Project moves out of active lists
- All data is preserved
- Can be unarchived if needed
- Doesn't count in active project metrics

## Access Control

### Who Can Access Projects?

You can access a project if you meet **any** of these conditions:

1. **You're the Owner**: You created or own the project
2. **Organization Member**: The project belongs to your organization
3. **Explicit Access**: You've been granted specific access to the project
4. **Follower**: You're following the project (view-only)

### Access Levels

**Viewer** (Read-Only):
- See project details and SOWs
- View progress and status
- Can't make changes

**Editor** (Modify):
- Everything a Viewer can do
- Edit project information
- Create and modify SOWs
- Add acceptance criteria and tests

**Admin** (Full Control):
- Everything an Editor can do
- Change project status
- Manage access and followers
- Delete the project

### Organization-Level Access

When a project belongs to an organization:
- All organization members automatically get **Editor** access
- Great for team collaboration
- Ensures everyone can contribute
- Simplifies access management

### Granting Specific Access

For external collaborators or limited access:

1. **Open the project**
2. **Go to Access Settings**
3. **Invite by email or select user**
4. **Choose access level** (Viewer, Editor, Admin)
5. **Optionally set expiration date**

## Managing Multiple Projects

### Organization Strategies

**By Client**:
- One project per client engagement
- Multiple SOWs for different deliverables
- Clear client association

**By Phase**:
- Separate projects for each phase
- "Phase 1: Discovery", "Phase 2: Build", "Phase 3: Launch"
- Maintains focus on current phase

**By Team**:
- Projects organized by which team owns them
- Frontend project, backend project, design project
- Supports parallel work streams

**By Timeline**:
- Q1 Initiatives, Q2 Initiatives, etc.
- Aligns with planning cycles
- Easy to archive completed quarters

### Keeping Projects Organized

**Do**:
- Use descriptive, consistent naming conventions
- Update status as work progresses
- Archive completed projects promptly
- Link projects to clients for proper tracking
- Set realistic start and end dates
- Add descriptions with context and goals

**Don't**:
- Create duplicate projects for the same work
- Let projects stay "Active" after completion
- Mix unrelated work in a single project
- Forget to update status when things change
- Delete projects (archive instead for history)

## Project Reports and Metrics

### What You Can Track

**Completion Metrics**:
- How many SOWs are complete vs. in progress
- Overall project progress percentage
- Which acceptance criteria are met
- Which tests are passing

**Timeline Tracking**:
- Days until end date
- How long project has been running
- Time spent in each status

**Team Activity**:
- Who's working on what
- Recent updates and changes
- Follower engagement

### Using Metrics

**Daily**:
- Check active projects for blockers
- Review what changed since yesterday
- Update status on completed work

**Weekly**:
- Review progress against timeline
- Identify projects at risk
- Update stakeholders on status

**Monthly**:
- Archive completed projects
- Review lessons learned
- Plan upcoming project phases

## Common Workflows

### Starting a New Client Project

1. **Create the Project**
   - Choose descriptive name: "[Client Name] - [Project Type]"
   - Add detailed description of scope
   - Link to client record
   - Set primary contact
   - Assign to your organization
   - Set start and end dates

2. **Set Up Team**
   - Add team members as followers
   - Grant specific access if needed
   - Identify project owner

3. **Create Initial SOWs**
   - Break down project into deliverables
   - Create SOW for each major deliverable
   - Add acceptance criteria to each SOW

4. **Kick Off Work**
   - Communicate plan to team
   - Begin working on first SOW
   - Track progress regularly

### Transferring Project Ownership

When a project owner changes:

1. **Update Owner Field**
   - Go to project settings
   - Select new owner
   - Save changes

2. **Grant Admin Access**
   - Ensure new owner has admin access
   - Remove old owner if needed
   - Update team on the change

3. **Transfer Knowledge**
   - Share project context
   - Review active SOWs
   - Handoff client relationships

### Pausing a Project

When work needs to stop temporarily:

1. **Change Status to "On Hold"**
2. **Document Reason**
   - Add note explaining why
   - Estimate when it might resume
   - Identify what's blocking progress

3. **Notify Stakeholders**
   - Inform team members
   - Update client contact
   - Set expectations

4. **Plan Resumption**
   - Track blocker resolution
   - Schedule follow-up review
   - Update status when ready to resume

## Best Practices

### Project Setup

**Clear Naming**:
- Use format: "[Client] - [Type] - [Phase]"
- Example: "Acme Corp - Website Redesign - Phase 1"
- Makes searching and sorting easier

**Complete Information**:
- Always add a description
- Link to the client
- Set start and end dates
- Identify primary contact

**Team Collaboration**:
- Assign to your organization
- Add followers early
- Grant appropriate access levels
- Communicate project goals

### During Execution

**Keep Status Current**:
- Update status as work progresses
- Don't let status become stale
- Communicate status changes

**Regular Updates**:
- Review progress weekly
- Update SOWs and criteria
- Check timeline against plan
- Address blockers promptly

**Client Communication**:
- Involve primary contact
- Share relevant SOWs
- Get approvals on deliverables
- Document decisions

### Project Closeout

**Complete All SOWs**:
- Ensure every SOW is finished
- All criteria met
- All tests passing
- Client approved

**Final Documentation**:
- Update project description with outcomes
- Document lessons learned
- Note what went well and what didn't
- Prepare for handoff if needed

**Archive Properly**:
- Change status to Completed first
- Let it sit for a week for final checks
- Then archive for long-term storage
- Never delete (preserve history)

## Troubleshooting

### Can't See a Project

**Check**:
- Are you in the right organization?
- Do you have access to the project?
- Has it been archived?
- Is it a different client's project?

**Solutions**:
- Ask the project owner for access
- Check if you're following the project
- Look in archived projects
- Verify organization membership

### Project Progress Not Updating

**Verify**:
- Are SOWs linked to the project?
- Are acceptance criteria marked as met?
- Are tests passing?
- Has data been saved?

**Fix**:
- Refresh the page
- Check SOW completion status
- Update criteria and test results
- Save changes explicitly

### Access Issues

**Common Causes**:
- Project not assigned to organization
- Explicit access not granted
- Access expired (if time-limited)
- Role insufficient for action

**Solutions**:
- Request access from project owner
- Check your role and permissions
- Join as a follower for read access
- Contact organization admin

## Related Concepts

- **Organizations**
- **Clients**
- **Statements of Work**
- **Items**

Source: https://docs.testandaccept.com/concepts/projects/index.mdx