In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create projects in Drum via the projects dashboard. You'll also see how to manage the original budget of projects within Drum.
💡 Projects can also be created from a proposal in Drum! The benefit of that workflow is that the project budget is set from the proposal budget and doesn't require the additional budget-allocation steps that you'll see later in this tutorial.
Step 1 - Navigate to the project dashboard
Access the project dashboard by clicking on the “Projects” option in the top navigation bar.
💡 If you don't see the "Projects" option in your Drum navigation bar, you'll need to request permission to do so from your administration team.
This will take you to your project dashboard where you can see existing projects and where we'll create a new project in this tutorial.
To add a new project, click the "Add Project" button to the top-right of the project dashboard.
💡Can't see the "Create Project" button? You may not have the required permissions! Please contact your admin team to request permission to create projects in Drum.
Step 2 - Enter the project details
Once you've clicked on the "Add Project" button, you'll be shown a form to create a new project in Drum.
Enter the required details in the form, including the company that the project is for, the project name and any additional information that is helpul (or required!) for your business.
💡When allocating a company (client/customer) to a project in Drum, you'll see an indicator below that informs you if a new company record will be created when this project is saved OR whether this new project will be allocated to an existing company in your Drum account.
💡Leave the "Templates" field blank if you'd like to start with an empty project structure and create it after the fact. The project template nomination is responsible for determining a) the project phase, deliverable and task structure, and b) what custom fields should be used within any project.
Once you're happy with the information entered into the project form, click on the "Create Project" button at the bottom of the form to view your new project.
Step 3 - Review the existing project structure
Depending on the project template used when you created the project, your project will now show phases, deliverables and tasks that match the chosen template.
We can now adjust this project's structure as required OR leave the structure as is and allocate budget as required to the different deliverables and tasks within.
Step 4 - Update the project structure and budget
To change the structure of the newly created project or to allocate budget to the tasks within, click on the "Budget" tab that appears above the project deliverables list on the project page.
This will take you to a page where you'll see an "Edit Original Budget" button on the top-right of the page.
Click that button now to allocate budget to the project tasks (or to adjust your project's deliverables and tasks).
💡The "Original Budget" editor for a project is also the easiest way to change the structure of a newly created project if the original phases, deliverables or tasks don't suit in any way!
Step 5 - Update the project structure and budget
On the project budget page, you now have the ability to adjust the original budget and phases, deliverables and tasks of the newly created project.
From this page, you can:
Add/update phases (optional)
Add/update deliverables
Add/update tasks
Enter or adjust the budget allocated to each task
Let's update the budget allowance on a task on this project now by setting a resource type, an estimated duration and an estimated billable rate on the row of a task that we can see in the list.
Because we're updating the "Original Budget" for this project, any changes to task budgets are immediately reflected in the project budget.
💡Don't see any tasks or deliverables in your project budget? You may need to manually add them to start building out the project structure - remember this is determined by the "project template" that you chose when you first created this project.
Step 6 - Review the updated project
Once you're happy with your updates to the project, you can view the new project structure by clicking on the "Work" tab in the project navigation.
The changes you made to your "Original Project Budget" will be reflected in both the structure of the project (if changed) and the budget allowances for each task and deliverable.
Drum Project Creation
In this tutorial, we:
Created a project via the project dashboard.
Set project requirements on the project form, including the template and company allocation.
Saw how the template decision made when creating the project affected the final project structure (the deliverables and tasks shown).
Adjusted the project structure and budget allocation to tasks to match the requirements of the project.
Remember, this is just one way of creating projects in Drum! The recommended way is to create projects via Drum's proposal system, so please review that tutorial to make sure you're making the most of your Drum account.
If you ever have any questions about Drum, please contact the Drum team via live chat that is available on all of Drum’s pages in the bottom-right corner.