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Quickstart — your first project

Set up a project that is genuinely usable in about fifteen minutes. At the end it will have a code, a schedule, a budget, a linked board supplying its progress, and a team with allocations.

1. Create the project

Section titled “1. Create the project”

Open the service and choose Projects under Project Management, then + New Project.

The create dialog asks for very little: Name is required, Description and Status are optional. Everything else — code, dates, budget, manager, priority — is set afterwards. Name it for the outcome rather than the team, then choose Create Project.

2. Fill in what the dialog left out

Section titled “2. Fill in what the dialog left out”

Open the project and choose the gear, Project Settings.

Project Settings, General section, showing name, code, manager, status, health, priority, and budget

In General, set:

  • Project Code: a short handle like CAL-02 that appears on the card and in the header.
  • Status: move it off Draft once the work is real.
  • Priority and Health Status: both drive the filters on the project list.
  • Budget: the total you are working to.

Switch to Schedule and set a Start Date and Target End Date. The dashboard cannot show a schedule until both exist.

Choose Save Changes.

Section titled “3. Link a task board”

A project does not hold tasks of its own. Open Tasks in the left navigation and either + New Board or Link Board.

This step is what makes the rest of the project work. Progress percentage, the timeline, time tracking, and earned value are all computed from the tasks on linked boards. Without one, those sections stay empty.

4. Put people on it

Section titled “4. Put people on it”

Open Resources in the left navigation, then + Add Member.

Adding a team member, with role, allocation percentage, and dates

Search for somebody, then set their Role on Project, an Allocation %, and a start date. The allocation slider moves in steps of 10 between 10 and 100.

Anyone you add who is not already in the pool is added to it as a resource.

The project team table showing role, allocation, dates, and each person’s total utilisation

The Utilization column is the person’s total across every project, not just this one. A figure above 100% means they are promised to more work than they have time for.

5. Read the dashboard

Section titled “5. Read the dashboard”

Go back to Dashboard.

The project dashboard with budget, schedule, scope, and quality tiles above linked boards, milestones, risks, and issues

Four tiles summarise the project: Budget spend against total, Schedule against the dates you set, Scope as milestones completed, and Quality as open issues and active risks. Under them sit the linked boards, the milestone timeline, and the risk and issue registers.

Next, read Plan the schedule to add milestones, or Build the resource pool if you want the pool populated before you allocate anyone else.