Work Breakdown - Overview

Setup required before use	Who can use it?	Where is it?
Rates Staff Timesheet Tasks Sub Projects	Assistant Project Manager Project Manager Director Administrator System Administrator	Projects > Project Plan > Work Breakdown

1. Turn on phases for this project. All projects are grouped together using the Phase 'Sub Projects'. Use the 'turn on phases' button to create custom phase groupings for use on your invoice. This button is only shown when phases is off.
2. Disable the use of phases in the project. Phases can be switched off at any time during the life of the project (i.e. at any project status). All sub projects will be returned to the default group of 'sub projects'.
3. Add a new phase grouping to your project. Click the 'add phase' button and then update the phase name. Next drag and drop the existing sub projects into the new phase group.
4. Delete an existing phase group from your project. Use this button to remove all the phase groups created by default (one per sub project), after the sub projects have been moved to their correct phase groupings.
5. Rename a phaseChange the phase name by selecting the phase group in the left panel, and typing the new name in the 'phase' field on the right. You can also update the phase description in this panel.
6. Rename a sub projectWhen phases is switched on you can update the sub project name. Click on the sub project in the panel on the left and update the name in the 'Sub Project' field on the right. You can also update the Sub project note here if required.
7. Undo saved changes Undo will remove any unsaved changes from the window. This is useful if you have renamed a phase group by mistake.
8. Save changes Use the Save button after updating the order of sub projects and phases, or changing the names.

Click the image above to view the phases sorting window.

1. Move to First Move the selected sub project or phase to the top of the list. If the selected sub project is in a phase group, this button will move the sub project to first position within that phase group.
2. Move Up Move the sub project or phase up one position in the list.
3. Move Down Move the sub project or phase down one position in the list.
4. Move to Last Move the sub project or phase to the end of the list. If the sub project is in a phase, the sub project is moved to the last position in that phase group.
5. Sort Phases Auto sort the phases into alphabetical order. Choose either A to Z order or Z to A order. After using the auto sorting option, you can then adjust the order of the phases further using drag and drop or the toolbar buttons.
6. Sort Sub Projects Auto sort the sub project into alphabetical order. Choose either A to Z, or Z to A order. Further customise the order of the sub projects using drag and drop, or the toolbar buttons.
7. Undo unsaved changes Undo any unsaved changes to the sorting of the sub projects and phases.
8. Save changes Save the changes to the order of the sub projects and phases.

Click the image above to view the sorting options for sub projects.

Learn how to create new work breakdown structure rows in the Creating the Work Breakdown Structure topic.

Learn how to add new work breakdown structure rows by copying the existing rows to create new entries in the same sub project, or by adding new rows from budget templates in the creating the Work Breakdown Structure topic.

Update the budget values to reflect the real rates that you plan to use for invoicing for a project. Add project or sub project level specific rates to the project, then use the 'refresh budget' button in the work breakdown tab to apply the updates rates to the sub projects.

Refresh the budget values by:

1. Open the Project > Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
2. Double click a row to edit an existing item and check the rate per hour.
   
   _{Click the image above to view the default rate for the work breakdown item.}
3. Go to the Rates tab of the project or sub project.
4. Type the specific rate to be used and save.
   
   _{Click the image above to view the specific rate.}
5. Go back to the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
6. Click the Refresh Budget button in the toolbar to apply the specific rates.
   
   _{Click the image above to view the Refresh Budget button.}
7. Choose if you want the budget values to be updated on the highlighted sub project only (Click No), or for all sub projects to be updated (Click Yes).
   
   _{Click the image above to view the refresh budget warning pop-up.}
8. The budget values have been updated in the work breakdown tab. The updated values can also be seen in the budget tab of the project.
9. Double click to edit a work breakdown item, and the per unit rate value has been updated.
   
   _{Click the image above to view the updated budget value.}

Use the Edit row button to open the 'Work Breakdown Item' pop-up window for the selected row.

For detailed instructions on how to modify the existing work breakdown structure, please review the Updating the Work Breakdown Structure topic.

The order of items within each sub project can be changed. The default order displayed is the order in which the items are added to each sub project. If the tasks have been added via Sub Project templates, the default order shown is what was applied to the Sub Project Template > Budget tab. To change this to your own custom order:

1. Highlight the item you want to move.
2. Click the Up button to move the item up the list.
3. Click the Down button to move the item down the list.
4. Repeat the above until all items are in the desired locations.

During the project you can update the work breakdown to include the progress for each task with the % complete column. Type a % complete on a task row, and this is then shown like a bar graph on the row. This allows users to easily see at a glance the progress of each item in a sub project. When updating this field type the % complete then click tab to go to the next row, then click tab again to open the next cell for data entry (it's a double tab).

Mark an item as 100% completed and the task cannot be used by staff in their timesheet entry for the project. This is not suggested to be used during the initial creation of the work breakdown structure. This feature would be used when monitoring the progress of the project plan. Normally you would mark the task as completed once all required timesheet transactions have been allocated. Once all the task entries with the same 'task name' have been marked complete on the sub project, the task is no longer available for use when entering timesheets.

Use these buttons in the toolbar to expand or collapse the list of Sub Project and Work Breakdown Items. This can be very useful with large project, to collapse all phases or sub projects then just expand one phase or sub project to review the related tasks.

The Expand All and Collapse All options are also available via a Right mouse click in the Work Breakdown list.

The Sub Project fee type and fee value is shown on the Sub Project summary row. After adding a new Sub Project this field will default to $0.00 for all Sub Project Fee Types. Update this value is the fee type is shown as Fixed Fee, Percent of Project, or Capped Rates by:

1. Double click the Sub Project summary row.
2. The Sub Project window will open.
3. Locate the Sub Project Fee field on the General tab of the Sub Project.
4. Enter the fee for the Sub Project, after creating the Budget within the Work Breakdown tab.
5. Save and Close.
6. The Sub Project Fee will now be shown on the Sub Project Summary row within the Work Breakdown tab.

The following filters are available in the drop down list found in the top right corner of the work breakdown tab:

1. All Sub ProjectsAll Sub Projects are shown for all status options. This is the default filter applied to the Work Breakdown structure tab.
2. Active Sub ProjectsSub Projects with the status of Proposal, Active, Pending (Inv.), and Hold are shown.
3. Non Active Sub ProjectsSub Projects with the status of Complete and Unsuccessful are shown.

After creating the Work Breakdown structure, export the details to MS Excel® to use outside of Synergy.

1. Open the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
2. Right mouse click in the list and choose Export to MS Excel®.
3. The MS Excel® file will open. The file displays all the columns of data shown on the Work Breakdown tab.

Click the image above to view a sample of the export to MS Excel®.

After creating the Work Breakdown structure, export the details to a Synergy report. Synergy reports will apply standard formatting, include the column headers, and allow you to save the output as PDF, MS Word® or MS Excel® file.

1. Open the Project Plan > Work Breakdown tab.
2. Right mouse click in the list and choose Export to Report.
3. The Synergy report will open in the report viewer.
4. In the toolbar click the 'Export' button to save the file as MS Word®, PDF, or MS Excel®.

Click the image above to view a sample of the Synergy report.