In Archdesk we realise that every business is unique. That is why we decided from the start that we want to create the best software system that gives the users a lot of flexibility so that they can customise the system to their business' needs but at the same a system that does not overwhelm them.
Based on our users' experience Archdesk lets you create project processes that work best for your business. You can create linear and non-linear processes, add as many stages as you need and link them so every process happens at the right time with all the prerequisites being completed.
In this article you will learn:
- how to create and customise your own processes to the system,
- how to add processes to your project,
- how to add and customise the stages for a process,
- how to skip or cancel a stage.
Adding a customised process to the process list in Archdesk
Before adding processes to a specific project, you need to predefine their structure in the Settings & Preferences panel in Archdesk. To learn how to create a list of customised processes go to the article here.
Adding new processes to your project
To add a process to your project go to the project you want to modify and select the Processes tab on the left hand-side menu.
Click Add New Process and select a process from the list. As you will see the processes are already divided into stages.
When you select the process, a window with the stages will appear. By checking and unchecking the checkboxes next to the stages you can choose what stages you want for your process to be active. This action is irreversible. Once you create a process you will not be able to add or remove stages. You will have to create a new process then.
In the example below we have unchecked two out of five stages for the Contracts stage and they will not be created for this process on the Processes dashboard.
Before you close the Add New Process window
Before you finish adding a new process you can also:
- set a due date on each stage of the process. Setting a due date on the last stage equals a due date on the entire process.
- assign a related quote to the process ,
- for repetitive processes (e.g. monthly valuation process) you can set a reset date to make the copy of the process appear on your dashboard again at a specified time.
To do that click on the Options button in the bottom left corner of the Process window.
Managing process stages
There are two ways to manage stages in a process in the Processes view. You can either click on the process entry line and call the popup window that will allow you to change the stages one by one, or you can click on the stages separately. You can track the status of your process and its stages (pending, in progress, complete) and also set the completion percentage on each of the stage
- adding a stage to the existing process template. All the new processes that you create afterwards will then include the new stage, or
- creating a new custom process with custom stages.
Adding a to-do task to a stage
In Archdesk not only can you add a to-do task to a specific project, but you can select the stage and create a task for that stage particularly. To add a to-do task to a stage go to the Projects tab in the top bar, then Processes in the left hand-side menu, click on the desired stage and add the task.