Project
A Project is a planned piece of work that is designed to find information about something, to produce something new, or to improve something. In ERPNext, project management is task-driven. You can create a Project and divide it into multiple Tasks.
A Project has a broad scope and hence can be divided into tasks. Think of coming up with a new smartphone for the next year as a Project. Then things like designing, prototyping, testing, delivery, etc. become tasks under the project. Whilst each task within a Project can be assigned to an individual or a group of individuals, the assignment can also be done at the project level. These Tasks can be created from a Project itself or can be created separately as well.
To access Projects, go to:
1. Creating a Project
The creation of projects in ERPNext v15 has also been largely the same process as it was in the past additions with greater flexibility in classification and tracking. The interface has been simplified, and there are some fields, whose default behavior was improved. The new process to make a project is as given below:
Step 1: Access the Project Doctype
Step 2: Enter the Mandatory Project Details:
1. Project Name: Put in a brief and descriptive name for your project. This is a required field, and the name will be used as the main identification of the project in all the reports and references.
2. Status By default, the Status of the project will be set to Open.
You can manually change the status to:
- Completed: When the project is completed.
- Cancelled: If a project is cancelled.
- On Hold: Useful for put-on-hold projects.
Automatic status update by task completion, if configured, is also present in the system.
3. Expected End Date Provide the date until which you wish the project to be completed. This field proves to be useful in planning, reporting, and reminders if there is any delay.
4. Save Once you’ve entered the required details, click Save to create the project. After saving, additional sections like Tasks, Milestones, Costing, and Time Tracking can be accessed to build out the project in more detail.
1.1 Additional Options while creating a Project
From Template: Enables you to choose a saved Project Template to automatically fill tasks, timelines, dependencies, and milestone markers into the new project. When applied, the system produces linked Task records with assigned Begin and Duration values. In v15, choosing a template also automatically assigns default Activity Types and Cost Centers set up during template configuration.
Start Date - planned project start date: This, together with the planned project end date, sets the timeline. When setting both, in v15, the system calculates the Expected Duration and issues a flag if milestone dates fall on non-working days or holidays. A tooltip also shows the number of business days available between dates.
Project Type: To categorize projects (such as Internal, External, R&D) so that filtered views and reporting can be provided. Color coding of Project Type is introduced in ERPNext v15, in which a project type can be tagged by a color, thus visual management of projects can be made more approachable in List, Gantt, and Kanban.
Priority: Identifies how important or pressing the project is from a business or business sense (e.g., Low, Medium, High, Urgent). Custom priorities may be defined through Setup. In v15, priority flags show directly on Task cards and in Kanban view, enabling teams to easily see high-priority work across many projects.
Department: Binds the project to a unit within the organization that will handle execution, budgeting, and reporting. ERPNext v15 introduces a Department filter on reports like Profitability Analysis and Project Timeline, to filter data by organizational unit.
Is Active: A switch field, which shows an active or archived project. When chosen as No, then the project will not show up on default lists or reports; nevertheless, filters can be used. It can be later reactivated and history maintained.
Completion Method: Controls how the project's percentage completion is calculated:
Manual – Manually enter % complete.
Task Completion – Number of complete tasks ÷ total tasks.
Task Progress – Overall average % progress on tasks.
Task Weight – Weighted completion according to task priority.
In v15, a switch option was introduced: if over 75% of the tasks are done, the project status can automatically be updated to Completed. Plus, zero-weighted tasks do not affect progress percentages.
Some examples of how the Percentage Completion is calculated based on Tasks:
Note: If the total weight of the Tasks is not 100, then the calculated result will be divided by the total weight. For example, if the total of task weights is 70, then percentage completed = (70/0.8) % = 87.5%.
2. Features
2.1. Customers, Users and Comments
Customer Association: While doing a project for a certain customer, the Customer field ensures easy association of the project itself with the record of the customer. In this manner, all updates, activities, and reports carried out on the project automatically link to the proper customer, maintaining communication and financial tracking streamlined within the project process.
Sales Order Integration If a Project is based on a Sales Order from a Customer, you can fetch the details here. This would enable you to update the Customer on the Progress on the project as per the Sales Order issued.
Adding Website Users You can make internal staff members or external groups (e.g., customers, freelancers, or suppliers) Website Users. In ERPNext v15, making someone a website user provides controlled access to the project via the portal, where they see progress, updates, and optionally upload/download attachments depending on permission.
User Permissions and Welcome Email With the incorporation of users, you have the option to send an optional Welcome Email with login credentials and access information. ERPNext v15 also offers the facility to set user-level permissions, such as whether or not to view attachments or comment on a task. This way, every stakeholder will get to see what they should be viewing.
Notes Section: The project template contains a Notes field where you can enter free text description of the project. It can include special instructions, meeting notes, internal remarks or notices. The Notes are accessible to any person authorized to do the project, which facilitates the establishment of transparency and better cooperation.
2.2. Start and End Dates
Expected Start and End Dates: During project development, you may specify the Expected Start Date and the Expected End Date. They will also be strategizing milestones that will allow teams to plan activities, allocate resources and know how long the project will last. They help in reviewing scheduled performance as compared to actual performance.
Actual Start Date (Auto-Tracked): Actual Start Date is automatically populated from the earliest Timesheet submitted for the project. This obviates the need for manual tracking and provides a precise idea of when the project work actually started.
Actual End Date (Auto-Tracked): Likewise, Actual End Date is automatically filled with the latest Timesheet. This gives the overall time of working of the project accurately without the manual efforts required to track the project.
Timesheet Integration: Actual Start and End date automation relies on Timesheet data. When the staff log their working hours against the project, the actual timeline is automatically updated by the system. The integration helps to maintain the project progress simple to manage based on actual working hours.
Discrepancy Alerts and Timeline Tracking: Visual pointers on the project dashboard assist in indicating variance between the actual and planned dates in ERPNext v15. This enables the project managers to detect delays or early completion with ease, respond and keep the stakeholders updated.
2.3. Costing and Billing
Estimated Cost: The space provided here allows one to manually enter the estimated or budgeted cost to complete the project. It is commonly assigned mostly during the project planning and it can be utilized to act as a benchmark through which the analysis of future actual costs can be achieved.
Total Sales Amount: This field will automatically get the total amount indicated in the Sales Order when a project is related to a Sales Order. This relationship provides a good transparency into the contractual revenue expected to be generated by the project, which can be used to bill and make forecasts on revenues.
Total Costing Amount ERPNext v15 automatically computes this field based on all Timesheets that are allocated to the project. It rolls up labor cost of hours according to the hourly rate of workers. This figure is critical in calculating what the true cost of implementation of the project is when in terms of manpower.
Total Billable Amount: This is automatically generated from billable Timesheet entries where the Billable checkbox is checked. This amount is the total revenue that would be charged to the client based on hours. It helps to ensure accurate client billing and prevent underbilling.
Total Expense Claim: Any Expense Claims filed by staff for reimbursable expenses incurred in the course of project delivery like travel, materials, or subsistence—are automatically tracked in this field. This captures information regarding other out-of-pocket expenses incurred while delivering projects.
Total Billed Amount: This is the total total of all the Sales Invoices invoiced against the project. This field will be reflected when Sales Invoice is created and connected to a project or Sales Order. It assists in monitoring the amount of revenue that the project has already generated.
Total Purchase Cost: If the Purchase Order is being issued to purchase materials or services for a project, cost from the associated Purchase Invoice is pulled here. The cost is outsourced material or vendor services that total up towards satisfaction of a project.
Total Consumed Material Cost: This is the cost of the material consumed from stock for the project. On posting Stock Entries (like Material Issue) against the project, ERPNext v15 automatically calculates and populates this field with the cost of such items to help track material usage correctly.
2.4. Margin
Gross Margin: The Gross Margin is computed in order to ascertain the overall profitability of a project. In ERPNext version 15, this is computed using a very lengthy formula:
Gross Margin = (Total Sales Amount + Total Billable Amount) - (Total Costing Amount + Total Expense Claim + Total Purchase Cost + Total Consumed Material Cost)
This gives a clear indication of net profitability after subtracting all the direct costs incurred in the project, not just labor.
Gross % (Gross Profit Percentage): This indicator gives you the percentage profit margin and is irreplaceable so that you would be aware of the financial status of a project. It can be found by using the following formula:
Gross % = [(Total Sales Amount + Total Billable Amount) - (Total Costing Amount + Total Expense Claim + Total Purchase Cost + Total Consumed Material Cost)] / (Total Sales Amount + Total Billable Amount) × 100
ERPNext v15 automatically calculates this figure once financials are installed so profitability can be monitored in real time.
2.5. Track Progress
Enable Progress Monitoring: When the "Collect Progress" checkbox is selected, ERPNext enables a progress tracking system. The system is able to collect updates from project users under it at regular intervals. It is useful for long-running or client-critical projects where frequent updates are a necessity.
Holiday List Configuration: You can establish a Holiday List for the company or the project teams in general. This avoids progress collection and reporting from being attempted on business working days only, as designated by the Holiday List, for example, weekends or public holidays. Reporting Frequency
ERPNext v15 allows you to choose how often progress updates are recorded. You can choose a variety of frequencies—hourly, twice daily, daily, or weekly—depending on project complexity, urgency, or stakeholders' requirements. Stakeholders can then be notified by email about such reports.
Stakeholder Notifications: Once this feature is turned on, ERPNext sends automatic progress summaries over email to all the users who have been added as stakeholders of the project. This gives everybody transparency and keeps everyone aligned on the same page about how the project is progressing on timelines and budgets.
Custom Monitoring Fields: In the newest update, you can also configure custom fields to be included in progress reports. These could be qualitative status comments, completion of milestones, or blockers, giving an intrinsic view and not percentage completeness alone.
