Create a project

Before you start

• Access. You need Projects: Action in your page access. Without it, + New project is not shown on Projects.
• A published template. Step 3 lists only Active activity templates. If there are none, ask whoever keeps the templates to publish one.
• People in the right teams. Each activity's owner is picked from the members of that activity's team. If someone is missing from a list, their team or access needs fixing in User Management.
• At least one approver. Step 5 lists people who have the Approver flag. You must name one to three of them. If you have the flag yourself you are marked (you): you can be named, but you can never approve your own project, so you must also name someone else.
• The brief, if you have one. A PDF, DOC, DOCX or TXT file can pre-fill Step 2. You can also fill the brief in by hand.

Name the project, fill in the brief and pick a template

1. Open Projects and choose + New project. Step 1, Brief upload, opens. The Project manager field is filled from your account and cannot be changed.
2. Enter the project name. The name is required before you can do anything else. You can rename the project later from the name at the top of the page, until it is created.
3. Upload a brief, or skip it. Choose Click to upload (or drag a file in), then Extract & fill form. Srishti reads the document and opens Step 2 with the fields it found already filled. With no document, choose Go to blank form →.
4. Complete Brief details. The brief has seven sections: Project setup, Product identity, Market & product definition, Claims, Packaging, Demand & financials, and Compliance. Check every pre-filled value; it is applied as if you had typed it. A counter shows how many required fields are filled, and the brief saves itself as you work.
5. Choose Submit brief →. If a required field is empty, you stay on the page and each empty field is marked.

Pick a template

Step 3, Template selection, lists every Active template with its activity and sub-task counts, its duration from the critical path (for example 180d from CPM) and who created it. The template gives the project its activities, tasks, dependencies and its document storage.

1. Click a template card. A note confirms that the template's document storage comes with it.
2. Choose Continue →. Step 4 opens with the template's activities.

Configure activities and the schedule

Step 4 is where the plan takes shape. Every activity that does the work (an activity with no sub-activities) needs three things before you can continue: a team, an owner from that team, and at least one task. A parent activity has none of its own; its sub-activities carry them, and its duration is the span of its sub-activities.

1. Adjust the activities. Rename an activity in its name cell, type a new duration, or click a predecessor cell to change what the activity waits for. Use Add activity under the table for extra work, and the bin icon to remove one. Activity 1 holds the project's start date and cannot be removed; a parent can be removed only after its sub-activities.
2. Give each activity that does the work an owner. Pick one person under Assigned to. The list shows only active members of the activity's team. A parent activity has no owner of its own: give one to each of its sub-activities.
3. Add at least one task to each activity that does the work. In the task panel, choose a task type (Document Upload, Checkbox, Check / Reject, Approve / Reject or Field Input), name it and fill in its details. The same panel sets whether the activity is Required or Optional. An optional activity cannot be another activity's predecessor. A parent activity has no tasks of its own; add them to its sub-activities.
4. Set Activity 1's start date and calculate. Enter the date in Activity 1's Start cell, then choose Calculate schedule. After any later change the bar turns amber with Schedule out of date — recalculate to continue: choose Recalculate schedule again.
5. Check the total duration, then choose Continue →. Continue → stays off until the schedule is calculated and current, and every activity that does the work has a team, an owner and a task (a parent activity takes these from its sub-activities). The footer lists everything still in the way.

If the total stays within the template's duration, a note confirms that this schedule becomes the baseline (BL0) when the project is created. If it runs over, the summary shows by how much, for example Total: 192d — +12d over template (180d).

Name approvers and create or submit

1. Choose one to three baseline approvers. Search by name or email and click a person to add or remove them. These people decide this project's creation if it runs over, and every later re-baseline. Any one approver other than you is enough: you can be named, but you never approve your own project.
2. Finish the project. Within the template, the button reads Create project: the project goes live at once and opens. Over the template, it reads Submit for approval: the project goes to your approvers and you return to Projects.

While it waits, the project shows on Projects as Pending approval. Click it to see its review. You cannot change it until an approver decides.

Drafts and projects sent back

Save, continue or delete a draft

• Save & exit keeps everything and takes you to Projects. All projects at the top of the wizard does the same.
• Your drafts show at the top of the Projects table with Only you can see this, and Continue reopens one. They are not shown on the board view, or while a search or filter is on.
• A draft reopens on Step 4 once a template is picked, otherwise on Step 2.
• Discard in the wizard, or Delete on the draft's row, deletes a draft permanently. A draft that was already submitted for approval cannot be deleted; revise and resubmit it instead.

When an approver asks for changes

A project that runs over its template gets two rounds. In the first round an approver either approves it or sends it back with a comment. The second round is approve or reject.

1. Find the draft on Projects. It sits at the top of the table with the status Changes needed and the approver's comment.
2. Choose Make changes. The wizard opens on Step 4 with every step available, and a banner repeats who asked for changes and why.
3. Change what was asked for. Edit any step. Recalculate after any schedule change.
4. Choose Resubmit for approval in Step 5. Your approvers are already selected; changing them is optional.

What happens next

• When the project is created, the schedule is frozen as its first baseline (BL0), the activities with nothing to wait for open for work, and every owner gets You have a new activity. You are not notified about activities you gave yourself.
• When you submit for approval, each named approver gets A project needs your approval and finds it under Approvals awaiting you on Approvals & Alerts.
• When an approver decides, you are notified with the outcome and their comment.
• When it is approved, the schedule is calculated again. It keeps the start date you set if the approval comes on or before that date; otherwise it starts the day after the approval. That result becomes BL0.
• Every step is recorded in the project's activity log.

What can go wrong