Project Management

Project management in the AI-Native ERP provides a centralized database of projects across all your legal entities. Track costs, revenue, team assignments, milestones, and time entries -- with full integration into your general ledger for accurate project profitability analysis.

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Why Project Management Matters#

Without project management:

• An invoice comes in -- which project does it belong to? Who is paying? What budget?
• An employee logs time -- which project? Is it billable? At what rate?

With project management:

• PROJ-000001 -- Website Redesign: Customer ABC, Budget $50K, 3 team members
• Expense tagging: "AWS hosting" is automatically linked to PROJ-000001, Department IT
• Time tracking: 40 hours at $150/hr = $6,000 billable
• Multi-entity: Billed by US entity, delivered by UK entity

Key Benefits#

1. Global project database -- single source of truth across all entities
2. Multi-entity assignments -- one project can span multiple legal entities
3. Team collaboration -- track roles, time allocation, and billable rates
4. Time and expense tracking -- link costs directly to projects
5. Milestone billing -- invoice based on deliverables
6. Dimension integration -- tag with departments, cost centers, campaigns
7. Complete audit trail -- full history of project changes and allocations

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Multi-Entity Architecture#

Projects follow the Master + Entity Assignment pattern:

Master Projects (Organization-wide)
  PROJ-000001 - Website Redesign
  Identity: name, customer, budget, dates
  One record per project
        |
        v
Entity Assignments (Per-entity execution)
  Entity 10: Website project (US billing, PM: John)
  Entity 11: Website project (UK delivery, PM: Jane)
  Each entity has own manager, status, budget
        |
        v
Effective View (What each entity sees)
  Entity 10: 15 active projects
  Entity 11: 8 active projects
  Resolved: Master + Entity details

Projects require explicit entity assignment -- they don't automatically appear in all entities. This gives you control over:

• Which entities participate in each project
• Separate billing and delivery entities
• Independent budget allocation per entity
• Different project managers per entity
• Independent status tracking (active in one entity, on hold in another)

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Project Properties#

Master Project (Organization-Level)#

Entity Assignment (Per-Entity)#

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Project Status Lifecycle#

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Project Types#

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Billing Models#

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Team Management#

Track who is working on each project with roles, allocation percentages, and billable rates.

Team Member Properties#

Team Operations#

• Add team members with role, rate, and allocation
• Update allocation percentages or billable rates as needs change
• Remove team members when their work is complete

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Milestones & Deliverables#

Track project deliverables and link them to billing.

Milestone Properties#

Milestone Workflow#

pending --> in_progress --> completed --> invoiced

When a milestone is completed, it can be linked to an invoice transaction for billing.

Example: Fixed-Price Project#

A $50K fixed-price project with milestone-based billing:

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Tasks & Time Tracking#

Project Tasks#

Simplified task tracking to organize project work:

Time Tracking#

Track billable and non-billable time for project costing and client billing:

Time Entry Approval Flow#

draft --> submitted --> approved --> billed
                   \-> rejected --> draft (revise and resubmit)

Time entries follow a structured approval flow:

1. Employee creates entry in draft status
2. Employee submits for approval
3. Manager approves or rejects
4. Approved entries become available for billing

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Expense & Revenue Allocation#

Link financial transactions to projects for accurate profitability tracking.

Expense Allocation#

Track project costs by linking expenses to projects:

• AWS hosting costs linked to the software project
• Contractor invoices split across multiple projects
• Travel expenses tagged to specific project engagements
• Retroactive allocation of existing expenses

Splitting Costs Across Projects#

A single expense (e.g., a $10K contractor invoice) can be split across multiple projects:

• 60% ($6,000) to Website Redesign project
• 40% ($4,000) to Mobile App project

Revenue Allocation#

Link revenue transactions to projects for profitability analysis:

• Invoice payments linked to project milestones
• Recurring revenue attributed to ongoing projects

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Project Dimensions#

Projects integrate with the dimension system for additional analytical tagging:

• Assign department, cost center, or campaign dimensions to projects
• Enable cross-dimensional reporting (e.g., "Project Alpha costs by department")
• Dimensions are entity-specific, supporting different organizational structures

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Fixed Asset Assignment#

Link fixed assets to projects for capital expenditure tracking:

• Track equipment assigned to specific projects
• Monitor depreciation costs per project
• Transfer assets between projects when needs change

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Project History & Audit#

Every project change is recorded in a complete audit trail:

• Project creation and updates
• Entity assignments and status changes
• Team member additions and removals
• Milestone completions
• Time entry approvals
• Expense and revenue allocations

This ensures full traceability for compliance and financial auditing.