Using Projects Board

The Projects Board helps you visually track how your projects are progressing, identify the bottlenecks, and prioritize what’s most important so you can always deliver on your promises.

Projects Board User Guide

The Projects Board is available in Daylite on Mac, iPad, and iPhone. It offers an overview of how your Projects are moving through each Pipeline, and helps you identify which ones you should focus on.

The Projects Board in Daylite on Mac is located in the Sidebar under Objectives.

It is comprised of:

  1. The Pipeline Filter.

  2. Filters.

  3. Sort and View Options.

  4. Stages.

  5. Projects.

How The Projects Board Can Help

The Projects Board lets you see at a glance where there may be bottlenecks in your currently in-progress projects. This view can help identify areas of concern, such as projects that are stuck at a particular stage, so you can focus on moving them along.

  1. In the example below, there are five Projects under Approval, meaning this may be an area you want to focus on to prevent a bottleneck in your process.

Setting Up Pipelines In Daylite Preferences

The Projects Board is tied directly to the Pipelines you create in Daylite Preferences.

  1. In Daylite for Mac, navigate to Preferences > Pipelines.

  2. Click the + button to enter Pipeline information. Be sure to select Projects and click Active from the Applies to section.

  3. Click on New Stage to create a Pipeline Stage.

  4. Click on + Add Stage to create additional Stages.

  5. Select New task to create a Task that needs to be completed for each Stage.

  6. Select New appointment to create an Appointment that needs to be completed for each Stage.

  7. Select due and set the date to either after the stage starts, or before it ends.

  8. Close the Preferences window and select the Projects Board.

  9. Choose your Pipeline.

  10. The Stages in the Pipeline are now an exact match for the Stages in the Preferences menu.

Pipelines can only be created and edited from Daylite for Mac.

Starting A New Project In The Projects Board

A Project must have a Pipeline assigned for it to be included in the Projects Board view.

  1. Select which Project Pipeline you want to add a new Project to, then click New Project in the Projects Board.

  2. The Projects Board shows a column called Not Started for any new projects. Projects stay here until moved to a stage in the Pipeline.

Moving Projects To The Next Stage

  1. Move your Projects to the next Stage in your Pipeline by dragging them from one Stage to the next.

  2. Dropping the Project onto a Stage's title prompts an Advance Stage window that lets you verify or change the Start Date and leave Notes.

Updating A Project's Status

The Projects Board only shows Projects that have a New or In Progress status. Projects in any other statuses will not be shown here, but are viewable in the Sidebar under All Projects. That is also why Projects disappear from the Projects Board when you change the Status to Cancelled, Deferred, Abandoned or Done.

  1. As you begin to move your Project from one Status to another, there are four different Statuses that appear at the bottom of the Projects Board. These Statuses are:

    • Cancelled

    • Deferred

    • Abandoned

    • Done

  2. Dropping an Project onto any of these Statuses prompts a window at the bottom of the Board to appear, which lets you verify or change the Status.

  3. The Status is automatically updated in the Details and Activity View.

Filters

Filter By Pipeline

The Projects Board can show only one Pipeline at a time, since the Stages for each Pipeline are different.

Select the Pipeline you would like to view by clicking the Pipeline filter.

Filtering Projects By Owner

This option filters Projects by the owner or assignee. You can filter by individual Owner, or view All Owners at one time.

Filtering Projects By Due Dates

This option filters Projects by due date. You can look at due dates up to a year, both past and future.

Filtering Projects By Create Date

This option filters Projects by the date the Project was created, up to a year, both past and future.

Filtering Projects By Category

This option filters Projects by Categories, which can be designated in Daylite Preferences.

Sorting Your Projects

You can change how you view Projects by clicking ↑↓ Sort and choosing from the following:

  • Due Date organizes each Project by due date.

  • Created organizes each Project by the date you created it.

  • Name organizes your Projects alphabetically.

  • Priority organizes your Projects by priority.

  • Next Activity organizes your Projects by next scheduled Task or Appointment.

  • Days in Stage organizes your Projects by the number of days they have remained in one Stage.

Viewing A Project Card

View A Project Card's Linked People and Companies

You can view an Project's Linked People and Companies here.

View A Project Card's Next Activity

A Project's next activity will appear here.

View a Project Card's Due Date

If a Project has a due date it will appear here.

View the Number of Days a Project Stays Within a Stage

The Projects Board tells you how many days an Project has been at the current Stage. This feature helps identify which Project may be getting bottlenecked, and how best to move them along to the next Stage. Moving the Project to the next Stage resets this number.

View A Project's Priority

On a scale of 1-10, how important is this Project? You can quickly view the Project's Priority here.

View A Project's Owner

You can quickly see who owns or is assigned to a Project by looking at the bottom right side of the Project Card. If applicable, a small photo of the owner will show.

View Options

View Options allows you to hide or show certain information from a Project's card, to help you focus on what is most important to you.

Wrap Up

The Projects Board offers an exciting new way to view every project in each of your pipelines.

You can view your entire Projects Pipeline at a glance, to help identify areas of concern, focus on your top priorities, and deliver on your promises.

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