Designing a Company Milestone

A Company Milestone is one significant step in your process, such as “Assign Lead”, “Build Project”, or “Collect Final Payment”. Each milestone has:

  • the project status it represents;
  • conditions that must be true before it can complete;
  • actions (tasks, emails, and text messages) that fire when it starts or completes;
  • questions that can send the project down a different path.

You build milestones in Company Settings → Workflows, then add them to Company Workflows, or directly to a project.

Benefits

  • Routine follow-up happens on its own: tasks are created and emails and texts go out at exactly the right stage.
  • Conditions stop a project from moving forward before the work is really done. For example, a contract must be uploaded before Production.
  • One milestone can be reused in many workflows, so you set it up once.

Before you begin

  • The Roles your actions are sent from and to must exist in Company Settings → Roles. They also need to be on the workflow's Team Members, so that every project has someone in them.
  • If you want questions that add milestones or workflows, those milestones and workflows must exist and be Active.
  • To add, open, or edit milestones, you need Has executive authority or Can edit milestones & workflows.

Quick start

  1. Go to Company Settings → Workflows. On the Company Milestones card, click the green +.
  2. Enter a Milestone Name, pick a Project Status, set % Completed when Milestone is completed, and save. The new milestone opens.
  3. Under Conditions, add anything that must be true before the milestone completes.
  4. Under Milestone Start Actions and Milestone End Actions, add the tasks, emails, and text messages to send.
  5. Under Questions, add any yes/no questions.
  6. Add the milestone to a workflow from that workflow's Milestones section.

The Company Milestones list

The Company Milestones card lists this company's milestones, with their Project Status, % Complete, and Status. Use Filter to narrow the list by Project Status or by Status (Active is shown by default). Click a milestone to open it.

Details

Click the pencil to edit the milestone's details.

  • Milestone Name (required): says what should be done at this step.
  • Project Status (required): the status the project is set to when this milestone becomes active. In a workflow, order milestones by Project Status from Lead to completion. On a project, a milestone whose status comes before the previous milestone's status stops the workflow.
  • Description: optional, but it helps users understand the step.
  • % Completed when Milestone is completed: the project's % Completed is set to this value when the milestone completes. Leave it at 0% to leave % Completed unchanged. Values should increase from one milestone to the next.
  • Status: only Active milestones can be added to workflows and projects.

Conditions

Conditions are facts about the project that can be counted or checked, such as “Project contains at least 1 estimate” or “Contracts are paid in full”. A milestone can have no conditions or many, and it can only complete when all of them are met. Conditions are re-checked every time the project's workflow runs. On the project's Workflow tab, each condition has a Go link to the place where it can be satisfied.

  • Add a condition: click the pencil, pick a Condition from the grouped list, and save.
  • Custom file or photo: the special condition Project contains custom file/photo upload also asks for a File Description (set up in Company Settings → File / Photo Descriptions). It is met only when the project has an uploaded file with that description. Use it to make sure contracts, options lists, and other key documents are uploaded before the project moves on.
  • Remove a condition with its trash icon, or use ⋮ → Remove all conditions.

Milestone Start Actions

Start actions fire when the milestone becomes active on a project. There are three kinds: Auto Task at Milestone Start, Auto Email at Milestone Start, and Auto Text Message at Milestone Start. Click the green + beside a section to add one. Click a row to edit it, or click the trash icon to delete it.

Tasks

  • Task name (required): the task's subject.
  • Workflow or Pass Through Task:
    • Workflow Task: must be closed before the milestone can complete.
    • Pass Through - Do Not Hold Up Workflow: created, but never holds up the milestone.
    • Pass Through - Auto Close on Milestone Completion: created, never holds up the milestone, and closes automatically when the milestone completes.
  • Task Sender: the role the task is from. Pick from Workflow Team Members or Active Roles.
  • Task Recipient: who the task is assigned to. Pick a role (from Workflow Team Members or Active Roles) to assign it to whoever holds that role on the Project Team, or pick a team under Active Teams.
  • Days Until Due: how many days after creation the task is due.
  • Task Delay: appears only on tasks that already have a delay. The task is created that many days after the milestone is added to the project.
  • Send Notification Email When Created: Send Email when Created emails the recipient when the task is created. The default is Do Not Send Email.
  • Task body: what the recipient needs to do.

Emails

  • Email Template: appears when the company has email templates. Pick one to build the email from it, or leave it at No template and write the email here.
  • Email Sender: a role from Workflow Team Members or Active Roles.
  • Email Recipient: First Listed Customer Account Contact, First Listed Project Contact, or a role.
  • Subject (required) and Body.

Text messages

  • Text Message Name (required).
  • Text Sender: a role.
  • Text Recipient: First Listed Customer Account Contact, First Listed Project Contact, All Listed Project Contacts, or a role.
  • Body (required).

A recipient needs an email address (for emails) or a cell phone (for texts), and the role must be filled on the Project Team. Otherwise the project's Milestone Log records an error.

Questions

Questions are yes/no questions that someone answers on the project's Workflow tab. A milestone can't complete until all of its questions are answered. A question can stand alone, or its answer can add a milestone or a whole workflow to the project, right after the current milestone.

  • Question name (required): the question text.
  • Description: optional help for the person answering.
  • If YES, add the following / If NO, add the following: nothing, a milestone, or a workflow.

Click the green + to add a question. Drag the handle to reorder questions, use the trash icon to delete one, or use ⋮ → Remove all questions.

Milestone End Actions

End actions fire when the milestone completes. They work like start actions, but only emails and text messages are allowed: Auto Email at Milestone End and Auto Text Message at Milestone End. Tasks can only be start actions.

Used in

Lists every Company Workflow that includes this milestone, and every question that adds it when answered. Click a row to open it. Editing a milestone changes it everywhere it is used, but projects that already received it keep their own copy.

Utilities

  • Copy Milestone makes a new milestone named after this one with “COPY” added. The copy includes its conditions, tasks, emails, and text messages. Questions are not copied.
  • Delete Milestone asks you to confirm. Then:
    • If the milestone is in use (listed under Used in), it is not deleted. It is set to Inactive and you see “Milestone [name] made inactive due to being used.”
    • Otherwise, it is deleted with all its conditions, actions, and questions, and you see “Milestone [name/ID] was deleted.”

Projects that already have the milestone are not affected either way.

Troubleshooting

  • A milestone can't be added to a workflow or project. It is Inactive. Set its Status to Active under Details.
  • A task, email, or text never fires on projects, and the project's Milestone Log names a role. The sender or recipient role isn't filled on that project's Team. Add the role to the workflow's Team Members, and fill it on the project.
  • Projects stop at this milestone with “STATUS ERROR”. Its Project Status comes before the previous milestone's status in the workflow. Reorder the workflow's milestones, or change this milestone's Project Status.
  • Edits don't reach running projects. This is expected. Re-add the milestone to the project with Import Milestone After if the project needs the new version.
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