Creating and Managing Milestones

Lesson Overview

In this article, we will start by giving an overview of what milestones are used for and the potential permissions around them. The article then covers how to create, edit, or delete milestones. Lastly, we'll cover how milestones can be completed in the system. 

Milestones Overview

The milestones tool is intended to provide a flexible, high-level vision of the big segments of work throughout the project. In some instances, milestones are flexible and defined entirely by the vendor, based on how they would like to segment the work. In others, the milestones represent pre-defined and agreed-upon, sometimes contractual, deliverables that must adhere to the parties' agreement. Please confirm with your counterpart how you will be using the milestones in your project before configuring this section. 

Please note, if you are using this tool for invoicing, the dollar value of the milestones are used to determine the invoice totals. As such, milestones  must be  configured before any invoice can be submitted. 

Permissions for Creating and Editing Milestones

In the project set up stage, there is a control for the government to decide whether vendors will be allowed permissions to create and edit their own milestones. Depending on the context of the project, the government may want vendors to configure their own milestones. In other instances, where the milestones reflect contractual deliverables to be invoiced against, the government may want to retain exclusive control over the milestone configuration. 

You can turn on or off vendor permissions to create and edit milestones in the "Set Up" stage on the control called "Vendor Milestone Permissions.

Multiple Vendors and their Milestones

If there are multiple vendor accounts invited to the project oversight stage, please note they will each have their own, separate milestones table. You, or the vendor themselves, will need to configure the milestones for each vendor. Though the government will be able to see the milestones for each vendor, vendors can only see their own milestones.

Creating & Editing Milestones

Creating Milestones

To create a milestone, please follow these actions: 

Step	Action
1.	Click "Add New Milestone" on the milestones table.
2.	Complete the required details of the milestone. The "target date" will generate a task in the system for the vendor, reminding them to complete the milestone by the noted date. The "value" assigns a dollar value to the milestone in order to invoice against it. If you are using this tool for invoicing, please be sure the dollar values associated with each milestone are accurate.
3.	Click "Create Milestone" to generate the milestone in the system
4.	The milestone will appear in the milestone table for both the vendor and the government.

Editing Milestone Details

To edit a milestone, follow these steps: 

Step	Action
1.	Click "edit" to the right of the milestone's title.
2.	Make the changes required in the modal that pops up and click "Update Milestone" to save the changes.
3.	The update milestone will appear in the milestones table.

Accessing the Paper Trail (Change Log)

If any user makes a change to a milestone, the change will be registered in the "Paper Trail" for that milestone, noting the user that made the change and the change made to any or all fields. To open this paper trail, follow these steps: 

Step	Action
1.	Click the "paper trail" link to the right of the milestone's name.
2.	This will open the change log. The most recent change will be the first row in the table and the last row will be the record of creation. If there is only one row, no changes to the milestone have been made yet. If a change was made to a field it will be noted under the column for that field. If no change is made, the column will say "Unchanged."

Deleting a Milestone

Deleting a milestone is a simple action. Follow the steps in the table to delete the milestone.

Please note: if you have already used the milestone to submit an invoice against it, this action will not be possible as the milestone data is required for the invoice submitted. 

Step	Action
1.	Click "delete" to the right of the milestone's name.
2.	Confirm that you actually want to delete all associated data.
3.	The milestone will no longer appear in the table nor in the system.

Marking a Milestone as Complete

How to Mark a Milestone Complete

In order to mark a milestone complete, simply click the empty checkbox next to the milestone in the chart. 

How to Un-Do Marking a Milestone Complete

In order to un-do marking a milestone complete, you will need edit permissions for the milestones. If you are a vendor working in a project for which you do not have edit permissions on the milestones, you will need to reach out to your government partner to un-do marking the milestone complete. 

If you do have edit permissions for the milestones, please follow these steps to un-mark the milestone as complete. 

Step	Action
1.	Click "edit" on the milestone that has been erroneously marked as complete.
2.	Click the trash can icon next to the date that the milestone states it was marked complete.
3.	Click "Update Milestone" to save the changes.
4.	The milestone should now appear in the table as incomplete.

• Related Articles

• Invoicing

  Invoicing Overview This article covers how to create and edit an invoice in the system and how to update the approval status of an invoice. All invoicing controls are housed in the "Invoicing" substage of Project Oversight. Please note, if you do not ...

• Project Set Up and Inviting Vendor(s)

  Lesson Overview This article covers the set up controls within the Project Oversight, how to invite vendors into the project oversight stage, and other areas of the tool you should configure in setting up the project. Inviting Vendors to the Project ...

• Project Reports

  Project Reports Overview This article provides an overview of how reports can be used, how to create a report in the system, and how to access a report submitted. Purpose The reporting module is intended to provide a light-weight, flexible ...

• Configuring the Scope Statement

  Lesson Overview The Scope Statement substage is intended to provide a single-source of truth for all project-planning elements agreed upon between parties leading up to the project. As such, there is a section intended to be populated by the ...