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(2022.1) Projects

Owned by Brian Dixon
Jan 08, 2024
4 min read

A 'Project' is any number of associated Service Orders, Service Requests, Work Orders, Incidents, or Incident Requests. Say for example, that a User's organization has expanded and needs to retrofit an older building with all new Services and Equipment. Such an endeavor could require multiple stages, dozens (or more) Orders and may take place over weeks, if not months; these activities could be compiled and addressed as a whole – as a Project. The PCR-360 application empowers Users to do just that.

From the Main > Service Desk > Projects grid, a User is able to view the Assigned Workers, Completed Workers, Assigned Workgroups, and Completed Workgroups related to each item.


Service Desk Projects Grid example

Building a Project

Navigate to the Service Desk Projects grid by clicking Main > Service Desk > Projects. Select the Add button on the Grid Toolbar above the Projects grid (shown in the above image).

Project Data Entry Form

New Project Form example

Users must define the Project's Source, Status, and Service Rep from drop-down menus. Keep in mind that even though Projects represent multiple Service Desk items, a Project is assigned only one Service Rep.

Associated Items

The critical function here, however, is to consolidate several Service Desk items under one Project. This can be accomplished using the 'Associated Items' tab in the data entry form.

Add New Associated Items form example

By clicking the Add Association button located immediately above the 'Associated Items' grid, the user is presented with a comprehensive list of all the Service Requests, Service Orders, Work Orders, and Incidents currently in the system (see image above). By checking the boxes flush to the left margin of the Service Desk items the User wishes to associate, Users, can choose to "bundle" as many Service Desk items together as desired.

Keep in mind that Users can navigate page-to-page, selecting as many Service Desk items as they choose, while those boxes checked on previous pages will remain checked.

When the appropriate boxes have been satisfactorily checked, click the  button at the bottom of the 'Add Associations' form. The new Association will appear in the 'Associated Items' grid. Once the User saves the new Project, the Project will appear on the original Service Desk Projects grid.

Tabs

When on the Project Form, the tabs are displayed immediately below the input fields in the data entry form. By accessing these tabs, Users can see all the associated data that is related to the Project and edit the data that is specific to the Project. The 'Tabs' associated with Projects are Associated Items, Equipment, Contacts, Charges, Labor, Activity/Remarks, Email Thread, Attachments, and User Defined Fields.

Create a Project

Navigate to Main > Service Desk > Projects.

  1. Click the Addbutton.
  2. Change the Source if desired.
    Source dropdown field example
  3. Enter the Project Manager.
    Project Manage field example
  4. Enter a brief description of the Project. This is not required but encouraged.
    Description field example
  5. Enter the Due Date. If it's not known, it can be entered later.
    Due Date field example
  6. If known or needed; enter the Owner, Requestor, and Quoted Amount.

    These fields are not Required and can be added later or not at all. Don't forget, the Owner can also be a Department instead of a person (Contact). To make a Dept. Hierarchy, the Owner just toggle the selector and enter the Dept Hierarchy (or picker icon example to perform a search).
    Owner field example
  7. Click the Save Newbutton.

At this point, a Project number has been generated in the upper left-hand corner of the screen that can be used to group together Orders. This process is the same regardless of what types of Orders are associate with this project.
Project Number example


To Associate an Incident or Order with a Project

There are three ways to do this:

  1. Navigate to Main > Service Desk > Orders.
    • Find the desired Order to be used or create it from scratch.
    • Enter the Project number into the Associated Project field or use the Project picker picker icon example to select it.
      Associated Project picker example
    • If this Order has already been added, (it has an Order number) click the Save button. Otherwise, continue entering the Order information like normal and click the Save New button when ready.
  2. Navigate to Main > Service Desk > Incidents or Main > Service Desk > Orders.
    • Click 'Add to Problem/Project' on the Incident grid or "Add to Project" on the Orders Grid.
    • Select a project, the Service Number on a problem starts with PR, to associate the Incident/Order with and click the Save button.
  3. Navigate to Main > Service Desk > Project.
    • Find and open the Project desired to be used or create it from scratch.
    • Go to the Associated Items tab.
    • Click the Add Association button.
    • Select an Order(s) or Incident(s), and click the Save button.
    • It maybe desired to shorten the list by filtering any of the columns (say Orders with a Status of Pending Owned by Bob). Basic Search will assist in this process as well.

Add to Project/Problem

Associating Service Orders, Service Requests, Incidents, or Incident Requests to a Project can be done with the 'Add to Project' button. A Problem can be associated in this same manner. To associate items follow these steps:

  1. Click the  button.
  2. This will open the 'Associate Project' form.
    Service Desk Association form example
  3. Select the Project(s) that should be associated.
  4. Click the Save button.

Editing a Project

Projects can be edited in the same manner as all other Service Desk items. To edit a Project, simply double-click an item on the Service Desk Projects grid. In the Project's data entry form, Users can add and delete further associations, change the Project's Source, Status, and Service Rep, and interact with the Service Item tabs.

Data on the Equipment, Contacts/Owners, Charges, and Labor tabs cannot be modified for a project. These tabs contain information from the Service Desk items associated with the Project, and all edits must be made to the associated Service Desk item itself.

For example, if an iPhone is listed on the Projects Equipment grid, with an SD number of SO201200232, the Equipment must be changed on Service Order SO201200232. Double-clicking on the associated Service Order on the 'Associated Items' grid will open the Service Order for editing.

(2022.1) Create a Project