---
title: Project Creation
keywords: new project, create project, project creation, project name, description, client, advanced project properties, contacts, VAT, VAT number, language, type, framework agreement settings, number of days, hours budget, monetary budget, balance warning, billing instructions, invoice comment, grace period, invoice layout, buyer reference number, accounting cost, contract document reference, buyer contact, template, confidential, participants, access level, edit project, matter, create case
summary: Step-by-step guide to creating a project in Manor, covering the required fields, the optional Advanced project properties (contacts, VAT, language, type, budgets and warnings, invoice details, template, confidential flag and participants), and how to change the same settings later in the Edit project dialog.
url: /matter
---

# Project Creation

A project is the container for all work you do for a client: time, travel, expenses, products, per diems, notes and files, and the invoices you raise from them. A project is created in a single dialog, and everything you skip at that point can be filled in later.

## Before you start

- **Decide whether the client exists yet.** You can attach a client while creating the project, or click **New client** in the dialog and create the client first. Projects without a client are allowed and show a **No client** badge in the project list.
- **Know the currency.** The **Monetary budget** and **Balance warning** fields use the currency of the client set on the project, or your firm's default currency when no client is selected.
- **Most fields come pre-filled.** Only **Project name**, **VAT**, **Type**, **Participants** and **Access level** are marked as required, and all except the name arrive with a sensible default. Everything can still be changed later with **Edit project**.

## Creating a project

1. Click **Projects** in the main menu.

    ![The Projects list, with the New project button in the top right corner](../screenshots/project-creation-projects-list.png)

2. Click **New project** in the top right corner. The **New project** dialog opens.

3. Enter the basic details:

    - **Project name** (required) — a clear, descriptive title, for example *Smith Corp Website Redesign*. The helper text notes that the name can be changed later.
    - **Description** — free text describing the engagement.
    - **Client** — search for and select an existing client, or click **New client** to create one.

    ![The New project dialog with the project name, description and client fields](../screenshots/project-creation-new-project-dialog.png)

4. Click **Advanced project properties** to reveal the rest of the form. The sections below are all optional, apart from the participants list, which needs at least one person.

    ![The expanded New project dialog showing the Properties and Limits sections](../screenshots/project-creation-advanced-properties.png)

### Properties

- **Contacts** — people connected to the project. Choose an existing contact, or click **New contact** to create one.
- **VAT** — whether VAT is added to invoices on this project: **Yes - add VAT to invoices** or **No - do not add VAT to invoices**. The default follows the firm setting under **Management** > **Settings** > **Default VAT setting for new projects**. Once an invoice has been issued in the project the setting can no longer be changed, unless all of the project's invoices have been credited.
- **VAT number** — the VAT number printed on invoices. If you leave it empty, the VAT number of the project owner's firm is used.
- **Language** — the language used on invoices and reports. A new project starts with *Same as client's language*.
- **Type** — how the project is billed and how visible it is. The default is **Billing enabled**; other types mark the project as internal and non-billable. Different types have different effects on billing and access depending on roles.
- **Framework agreement settings** — how framework agreements apply to this project. The default lets a different framework agreement apply to each activity, so you can attach an agreement per activity rather than one for the whole project.
- **Number of days** — overrides the firm-wide number of days of inactivity before closing the project is suggested (see [Number of days](#number-of-days)).

### Limits

The **Limits** section holds the project's budgets and warning thresholds. All three fields are optional; the two monetary fields are shown with the project currency as a suffix.

- **Hours budget** — the total number of hours budgeted for the project. When the project's total hours, billed and unbilled, exceed this value, warnings appear in the project and when adding entries to it, and the project owner is notified.
- **Monetary budget** — the total monetary budget for the project. Manor keeps track of it in the project view and monitors it during invoicing. When the total amount, billed and unbilled, gets close to or exceeds this value, the project owner is notified.
- **Balance warning** — a monetary amount. When the project's current balance (total unpaid amount) reaches a certain percentage of this amount, a warning is shown in the project, an alert is shown when adding entries to it, and the project owner is notified.

The percentage that counts as "close to" is set once for the whole firm under **Management** > **Settings** > **Balance limit warning level**.

![The Limits section with the Hours budget, Monetary budget and Balance warning fields](../screenshots/project-creation-limits-fields.png)

### Invoice details

- **Billing instructions** — guidance shown to the user making an invoice in this project. It is not printed on the invoice.
- **Invoice comment** — a default comment printed on every invoice of this project; it can be changed on each individual invoice.
- **Grace period** — the number of days the client has to pay. Leave it empty to use the client's or firm's default grace period.
- **Invoice layout** — how invoice lines are grouped, for example *Expanded: one line for each rate*.
- **Buyer reference number** — the client's reference, used for accounting on their side.
- **Accounting cost** — the client's accounting cost code.
- **Contract document reference** — identifies the contract or agreement under which invoices are issued, so the buyer can match them to the right contract.
- **Buyer contact**, **Buyer contact email**, **Buyer contact phone** — details of the client's contact person. They are shown on electronic invoices; the email is not used as a delivery address.

For the fields that are easy to mix up, see [Project Billing Settings](project-billing-settings.md).

### Template, confidentiality and participants

- **Template** — apply a project template, which can predefine custom fields on the project.
- **Confidential** — limits who can see the project. A confidential project is practically invisible: it appears in project lists, project selectors, analysis, reporting and invoicing only for its participants and for users who have been granted permission to view all confidential projects. It remains visible in data mining through the Manor API or an ODATA connection.
    - **Participants** (required) — the people who can work on the project. The owner is added automatically, and their **Access level** is **Full access** by default. For each participant, choose an **Access level** of **Full access** or **Limited access** and mark one of them as **Owner** with the radio button. Click **Add new participant** to add more people.
    - **Full access** lets the participant edit all project properties and see all billable items of the project.
    - **Limited access** prevents editing the project properties and lets the participant see only their own billable items, plus all notes.

5. Click **Save project**. The project is created and its page opens.

## Changing a project's settings later

The same fields are available on an existing project:

1. Open the project and click **Edit project** in the **Project properties** panel.
2. The **Edit project** dialog opens with the fields already filled in.

    ![The Edit project dialog, showing the general fields and the footer buttons](../screenshots/project-creation-edit-project-dialog.png)

    The **Edit project** dialog has no *Advanced project properties* link: the **Properties**, **Limits**, **Invoice details** and **Participants** sections are always shown. It also contains two fields that are not in the new-project dialog:

    - **Created at** — the project's creation date, read-only.
    - **Project department** — the department the project is reported under. It is set automatically to the project owner's department, and you can change it.

3. Adjust the fields you need and click **Save project**.

The dialog also has a red **Delete** button on the left. Deleting a project is permanent; if the work is finished rather than unwanted, close the project instead (see [After creating a project](#after-creating-a-project)).

## Budgets and warnings

The three **Limits** fields serve two different purposes, and it helps to keep them apart.

### Hours budget

**Hours budget** is a threshold in hours. It is compared with all hours logged on the project, both billed and unbilled. When the total exceeds the budget, warnings appear in the project and while entries are added, and the project owner is notified. Use it when the engagement is sold on time, and set per-activity hours budgets as well when you want to follow individual phases (see [Progress Analysis](progress-analysis.md)).

### Monetary budget

**Monetary budget** is the total amount budgeted for the project, entered in the project currency. It is a budget to follow rather than a hard stop: Manor keeps track of it in the project view and monitors it during invoicing, and the project owner is notified when billed plus unbilled amounts get close to or exceed it.

When a project has a monetary budget, its page shows a **Monetary budget** card:

![The Monetary budget card on the project page, showing the progress bar and the billed, remaining and total amounts](../screenshots/project-creation-monetary-budget-card.png)

The card contains:

- A **progress bar** that fills with the amount billed against the budget.
- **Billed within budget** — the amount already invoiced on the project.
- **Remaining budget** — the part of the budget still available.
- **Total budget** — the budget you recorded.

If no monetary budget is set, the card does not appear.

### Balance warning

**Balance warning** is the alerting threshold for money the client has not yet paid. When the project's current balance (total unpaid amount) reaches the percentage of the threshold configured under **Management** > **Settings** > **Balance limit warning level**, a warning is shown in the project, an alert is shown when adding entries, and the project owner is notified.

For a full description of these and the other billing fields, see [Project Billing Settings](project-billing-settings.md).

## Number of days

**Number of days** in the **Properties** section controls when Manor suggests closing a project that has gone quiet. The helper text in the field reads: *"Override the firm-wide number of days of inactivity before closing is suggested for this project. Leave empty to use the firm setting."*

- Leave the field **empty** to inherit the firm-wide value.
- Enter a **number of days** to override it for this project only, for example when an engagement is expected to run at a different pace than the rest of the firm.

The field only changes when the closing suggestion is made; it does not change what happens when a project is closed.

![The Number of days field with its helper text](../screenshots/project-creation-number-of-days.png)

## After creating a project

The project page is where the work happens. From it you can:

- **Log billables** — use the **Time**, **Travels**, **Expenses**, **Products**, **Per diems** and **Bundles** tiles, or **All billables** for one combined view.
- **Add activities** — click **New activity** to break the project into phases you can budget and follow separately (see [Activities](activities.md)).
- **Set an overall budget** — click **Edit budgets** to distribute a budget across activities.
- **Set prices** — click **Prices** to give the project its own rates or discount.
- **Write notes and upload files** — use the notes field at the bottom of the page and the **File browser** panel.
- **Follow up on the work** — open **Progress analysis**, **Profit analysis**, **Work report**, **Heatmap** or **Planning**.
- **Invoice the work** — go to **Billing** > **New invoice** and select the project (see [Invoices](../billing/invoices.md)).
- **Close the project** — click **Close project …** in the project action bar and confirm. Closing hides the project's content from daily views without deleting anything, and any outstanding balance is still shown in the balance table during billing. A closed project can be reopened later.

## Best practices

- **Name projects so they can be found.** Include the client and the type of work, for example *Smith Corp Website Redesign*.
- **Set the client and the language up front.** The client drives the currency, and the client's language is the default document language.
- **Set the warnings before the work starts.** Fill in **Hours budget**, **Monetary budget** and **Balance warning** at creation so the project owner is alerted before an overrun rather than after it.
- **Agree the invoice details early.** Enter **Buyer reference number**, **Accounting cost** and **Contract document reference** before the first invoice is issued, so the client can match and approve it.
- **Add the team as participants.** Give **Full access** to whoever runs the project and **Limited access** to people who should only see and log their own work.
- **Leave optional overrides empty unless you need them.** An empty **Grace period**, **VAT number** and **Number of days** fall back to firm or client defaults.