Projects

The Projects module is the home base for every job in your ORKSTRA tenant. A project is the unit of execution — a single contract, job site, or work package — and every other module (BOQ, IPCs, inspections, HSE, DMS) ultimately attaches to a project.

Overview

Projects sit one level below companies in the data hierarchy: a tenant has one or more companies, each company has one or more projects. The Projects module gives portfolio managers a bird's-eye view of every active job — budget vs. cost, schedule vs. plan, risk indicators — and gives project teams a workspace deep enough to run the entire contract from kickoff to closeout.

Screenshot: Project portfolio grid with status, budget, and traffic-light health indicators

Key concepts

Project workspace. Each project has its own workspace combining a header (key facts), a left navigation (BOQ, IPC, variations, quality, HSE, DMS, etc.), and a customizable dashboard. The workspace is RBAC-scoped — users only see modules they have permission to access on that project.

Lifecycle status. Every project moves through six lifecycle states: planning → tendering → awarded → in-progress → handover → closed. The current state affects which actions are available (e.g., you cannot raise IPCs until the project is awarded).

Baseline. A project's baseline is the locked-in plan against which actual progress and cost are measured. Baselining captures the contract value, planned start/end, contractual milestones, and the initial BOQ revision. Re-baselining requires PROJECT_MANAGER_BASELINE_EDIT permission and is logged.

Cost codes & WBS. ORKSTRA supports both flat BOQ codes and a hierarchical Work Breakdown Structure for projects that need cost-rolling above the BOQ line.

Health indicators. Each project surfaces three health flags — schedule, cost, quality — calculated nightly from EVM-style ratios (SPI, CPI) and open quality issues. The flags appear in the portfolio grid as green / amber / red dots.

Step-by-step: create a project

1. Go to Projects → New project.
2. Fill in basics: name, code, client, address, GPS, contract value, start/end dates, primary currency.
3. Pick a template if your company has standard configurations — templates pre-populate BOQ structure, inspection plans, and document folders.
4. Configure stakeholders: client representative, consultant, sub-contractor list. Each stakeholder gets a contact card linked to the project.
5. Configure milestones: contractual milestones with planned dates and penalty/bonus clauses.
6. Click Create. The system spins up an empty BOQ, document folder tree, and inspection workspace.

Common tasks

• Switch projects: project picker in the top bar, or Ctrl+P.
• Pin a project: click the star next to the project name to pin it to your home dashboard.
• Archive a project: Project menu → Archive. Archived projects vanish from the active list but remain searchable.
• Clone a project: Project menu → Clone copies BOQ structure, document folders, and inspection plans into a new project.
• Export project summary: Project menu → Export generates a PDF or Excel summary.

Troubleshooting

• "I can see the project but not the BOQ." — Your role lacks the BOQ_VIEW permission. Ask the admin to add it.
• "The portfolio dashboard is empty." — Health indicators run nightly. If you just created a project, the indicators will populate after the next nightly job.
• "The currency dropdown is empty." — The currency catalog is empty for your tenant. An admin must seed currencies from Admin → Currencies.
• "I can't move the project to In-Progress." — Lifecycle transitions require the previous state's required artefacts (e.g., contract uploaded, BOQ signed off). Check the project header for the missing artefact.

Permissions reference

Permission	Who needs it
PROJECT_VIEW	Anyone reading project data
PROJECT_CREATE	PMs, Project Directors
PROJECT_EDIT	PMs
PROJECT_DELETE	Admins only
PROJECT_BASELINE_EDIT	PMs, Project Directors
PROJECT_ARCHIVE	PMs, Admins

See also: BOQ, IPC, Variations, Reports.