Project types

Client and Internal type projects are similar and sometimes grouped as one type, for example, for security permissions. But when you are working with projects, the two types are not interchangeable.

• Use Client projects to monitor billable and non-billable time and materials on work for an customer. Billable items appear in Approve & Post and can be invoiced to the customer. You can create a client project for any organization Your Autotask instance may be configured to use one of the following terms instead: Account, Business Unit, Client Company, Customer, Site. type.
• Use Internal projects to monitor time worked on, and materials used for, tasks performed for your company. You can allocate resources and track costs internally and between departments. Although charges and expenses associated with an internal project are passed to Approve & Post and Invoicing, Labor is not.

We strongly recommend that you always associate the internal type project with your local organization The database record of your own organization in Autotask. It has the organization ID "0", and is used as the sender address on quotes, invoices, etc. Previous versions of the help referred to this database record as: 0 Account, Zero Company, Your Own Company. (refer to Your local organization in Autotask. ) Although you can associate any organization with an internal project, the labor from the project will not appear in Billing, and will not be included in any Financials totals.

Internal projects do not appear in the Client Portal, even if associated with the organization using the portal.

NOTE  For pro bono projects, use non-billable work types instead of an internal project.

Use Proposal projects to define a project plan before it begins, or to create a scope document for a customer or prospect. Once a proposal has been accepted, it can be activated as either a client project or an internal project.

Proposals are fully defined projects that are staged in the system. Tasks have resources assigned to them and the resources can enter time against the tasks. But unlike regular projects, resources cannot view proposal tasks from My > Tasks and Tickets. Proposal project don't appear in the Client Portal, either.

There are three ways that resources can enter their time on proposal tasks:

• > Projects > Search > Proposals > Open Proposal > Schedule > Right-click task > New Time Entry
• My > Timesheets > Current Timesheet > New > Project Time
• My > Projects > Right-click Project > View My Tasks for Project > Right-click Task > New Time Entry

Time entries will not appear in Contracts > Approve & Post while the project is still a proposal, but the time is tracked on the user's timesheet. When the proposal is activated as a client project (Project Summary > Edit Project > Type, select Client), any previous time entries against the proposal tasks will appear in Approve & Post. This allows you to bill for labor performed during the sales process.

Proposal projects do not appear in the Client Portal, even if associated with the organization using the portal.

NOTE   It is important to select the correct billable or non billable work types for labor entered in the proposal stage.

Project templates are a predefined set of phases, tasks and related project information. Any project or proposal can be saved as a template for future use. Or you can create a project template on its own and then use it to create projects.

Use template projects as a starting point for a new proposal, client or internal project. Working with project templates helps you standardize processes and project plans, and saves time when creating a new project.

You can change the project type, but there are some restrictions.

Before any billing items have been approved and posted, you can edit the project and select any project type. After billing items have been approved and posted, the following rules apply:

• Proposals can be changed to an internal or client project at any time. Time entries made during the proposal stage will appear in Approve & Post to allow you to bill for labor performed during the sales process.
• You can convert an internal project to a client project. Any labor items that were added to the timesheet while the project was internal appear in Approve & Post for billing, but the billable amount is zero.
• You cannot convert a client project to either an internal or a proposal project.
• Any project type can be saved as a project template.