In the planning state, the first outline of the project is created. You can make preliminary calculations and prepare the project's structure. Because projects are customer-specific, assign the project to either a customer or a contact in combination with a customer template. When the project is promoted to the order state, the customer is created from the combination of contact and customer template.
Define the Project Deliverable as a short description. You can extend it further in the comments section, using the OneNote integration, or by attaching specific documents in the Document Management fact box. From the deliverable, you can create a service object to involve the service department in the project early.
Break down the deliverable into one or more Elements. For each element, estimate a total cost per cost type (Material, Expenses, and Equipment) or attach the Activities required to create that element. The total of the activities represents the cost type Resources. For each element, create a cost estimate per Project Cost Type. Activities are of the ProjectCost Type LABOR. For each element, define which other ProjectCost types are estimated: MATERIAL, EXPENSES, and EQUIPMENT.
Use the Create project task matrix to create the project tasks as work packages based on the combination of element and activity. The estimate created in this status remains with the project for later analysis.