Project Manager Role

Project managers are responsible for coordinating multiple install orders or possible service orders to completion. In SME projects go through phases from proposal to order to invoice. This section will go through the section in relation to the project manager role.

1. Project: The first step is to create a project. Just go to the Service & Install section and select Projects. Then select New Project. Give the project a name and other details.
2. Proposal: A project likely starts as a proposal so that the customer or sales lead can review before agreeing to the project. The project manager should assign the proposal to a project as soon as the proposal is near acceptance or approved. By setting the project at the proposal stage, all orders and invoices created from the proposal will automatically be assigned to the same project as the proposal.
3. Convert Proposal: Once the proposal is accepted and approved, it will be converted into one or more orders. Usually projects relate to Install Orders, however, your organization may use Service Orders for this purpose. You can convert service and/or install orders. You could also convert directly to invoices, but this is less common because you usually convert to Install orders that are later converted to invoices when they are completed.
   1. New for SME6.2 is the ability to convert a proposal to multiple orders. This allows a proposal to be broken into multiple phased orders. This is a great feature for large projects.
   2. For example, let's say you are installing a complete Audio/Visual Theater system for a mansion. The project will have 5 phases: Prewire, Setup, Equipment Install, Tuning/Programming, and Final/Training.
   3. When converting the proposal, set the convert type to Partial.
   4. Then select Actions>Convert Proposal>To Install
   5. Then you select the labor, parts/material, and services for the first phase (Prewire) of the project. This will create the Install Order with the selected items. You will probably need to add additional scheduling items to the Install Order since it's not likely that the sales person who created the proposal would have the level of detail needed from a project manager viewpoint.
   6. The project manager will assign the labor hours and techs or the services and subcontractors for the Install order, which is a phase of the project.
   7. Then the project manager can convert the next part of the proposal to another Install order for the setup phase, once again selecting the appropriate items for the setup phase.
   8. The project manager continues to convert the proposal to install orders until all the items are selected and all the phases have install orders.
4. Orders: The order contains all the labor/tasks for the project or phase of the project, all parts for the phase, and all services. The project manager should strive to move these orders to complete or closed orders.
5. Project: The project manager can use the project module to track all the related proposals, orders, and invoices for the project. The project section also includes it's own dispatch section. Either the project dispatch or the regular Dispatch can be used for scheduling resources to the project. You can monitor the status of the project in the project module. It tracks closed orders as completed hours.
6. Invoices: As orders or project phases are completed, they should be invoiced. In SME6.2, invoices can be created at any time as either partial invoices, Dollar invoices, Percentage invoices, itemized invoices, full invoices, or combined invoices. Note that once one invoice is converted you can NOT change the type of invoice. The project will include the Invoice as part of the project only if this does not duplicate aspects of the project. Not all invoice types show in the project.
7. Close Project: When all the orders are completed and closed, you would close the entire project.