Video transcript
In this video, I’m going to explain how to create and manage a project in FreeAgent.
There are a couple of different ways you can create a new project. You could navigate to Work > Projects from the Overview screen and select Add New Project. Or, you could select New Project from the Quick Links menu on the Overview screen.
I’m going to show you how to create a project this way, but whichever method you use, the process of creating the project is very similar.
First of all, you’ll need to enter some basic information about the project. Choose the client’s name from the drop-down Contacts menu, or if the project is for a brand-new client, use the shortcut to add their details to your contacts list.
Next, give your project a name. Bear in mind that the project name will appear on any invoices and estimates you link to the project, so it’s a good idea to choose a name that works for both you and your client.
Then, choose a status for your project. If this is a new project that you’re just starting work on, you’ll probably want to mark it as Active. If you have a contract or purchase order number for the project, type it in. If you want to use an invoice numbering sequence for this project, tick the box.
In the time and money section, choose a currency for the project from the drop-down menu. FreeAgent will automatically raise invoices for the project in the currency you choose here.
If a budget has been set for the project, you can enter it here as either a number of weeks or hours, or as a financial amount in the project’s currency.
Enter the number of hours a day that you will be working on the project if you know this. If you have a set billing rate for the project that you want to use on timeslips and invoices, enter this here. However, if you plan to set rates for individual tasks in the project, you should leave this section blank. We’ll look at how to set rates for tasks later on in the video.
If you want FreeAgent to take your unbilled time into account when working out the profitability of the project, check this box.
Once you are happy with the options you have chosen, hit ‘Create New Project’.
Now the project is set up, let’s add a task to it. Tasks are the individual jobs you perform for each project. Once you’ve set up a task, you can add it to invoice line items and time slips.
You can navigate back to your project from the Overview screen by either going to Work > Projects and selecting it from your list of Active projects, or by selecting it from the Projects tab on the Overview screen itself.
To add a task to the project, go to Add New > Task. Give the task a name, and if it’s a billable task, check the box. To set an individual rate for this task, enter an hourly or daily amount and leave the status as Active. When you are ready, select Create New Task.
When you navigate to the Tasks tab in the project, you’ll see the task you’ve just created. You can edit the task details at any time, and when you’ve completed the task, you can change its status from Active to Completed.
You can also create estimates, invoices, time slips and expenses for the project. Just go to the Add New button and select the function you need. The tabs on the project homepage allow you to keep track of all the activity that’s currently linked to the project.
The project summary page gives you an at-a-glance view of how your project is progressing. You can see a breakdown of how much time you’ve spent on the project, how much you’ve been paid so far, how much is outstanding, and how much you’re yet to bill for.
The project profitability panel shows a mini profit and loss for your project. You can see how much you’ve invoiced for, and you can also see how much money you’ve spent on the project. If you’ve chosen to include it here, you can see the value of the unbillable time you’ve spent on the project as well. If you’d prefer FreeAgent not to include your unbillable time in this figure, you can uncheck the box.
FreeAgent uses all this data to calculate your project’s overall profitability. At the end of the project, mark it as Completed, and FreeAgent will remove it from your list of Active projects. You can also mark the project as cancelled if you need to, or if the work is put on hold, you can hide it from your list of Active projects.
Ask your accountant for more information.
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