Project setup

A project starts with a name, an owner, a Project Manager and a team. The planned start and target end dates tell everyone which period the plan covers. The Project Manager chooses whether the work is visible to a team, the organization or a private audience. Priority and tags help distinguish urgent work from the wider portfolio. A template can be selected when the initiative follows a familiar pattern, such as an implementation or campaign. The starting record should still be checked against the actual job before the team begins.

A useful kickoff case is an internal system rollout. The operations lead owns the outcome, the Project Manager coordinates the delivery team, and the target end date is the date the sponsor expects the rollout. If the project refers to a template, use it to check the intended duration and team. The Project Manager enters the current tasks and milestones, then checks their dates against this rollout.

• Ownership. The project owner carries the outcome, while the Project Manager coordinates dates and work.
• Membership. Project membership ties people to a particular project and records their participation role.
• Reference choices. Teams, priority levels and templates provide consistent selections across projects.

Decide who can see private projects, who may add guests and who owns changes to the target end date. Agree on the meaning of on hold and Cancelled before those statuses appear in a leadership report. Identify the sponsor who will read shared status updates. The project manager should also decide how the team records a changed plan: revise the project dates, record the reason in an update and tell the affected task owners. Keep the original completion date and the actual end date distinct.

Do a short access rehearsal with a project manager, team member, Viewer and Guest. Check that the Viewer can read the intended project without editing delivery records. Test an invited Guest against the intended project and an unrelated private project. The project manager should be able to maintain the project record and inspect the team directory needed for assignment. Agree who maintains the shared priority and template choices before the pilot starts.

Create a rollout project with a named owner, team, start date and target end date. Add a member who will deliver a task and a Viewer who will read the next update. Check that the project appears in My Projects for its manager. Add a dated milestone and confirm it is tied to the same project. If the target date moves, inspect the task due dates and milestone dates before communicating a revised commitment. The project record provides the frame; the delivery records provide the evidence.

• My Projects — The manager’s owned project list, with status and target dates.
• Projects at Risk — Active projects with exception fields for portfolio review.

Plan and kickoff connects setup to delivery. Implementation covers a first operating cycle.