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Projects

Projects are execution containers with timelines, resources, and status tracking. They turn approved business cases and value models into funded, measurable work.

Who this is for

End User Admin Executive

Prerequisites

Overview

Projects in ValuePact follow a structured lifecycle from charter to closure. Each project inherits value targets from its parent business case and reports progress through milestones and benefit checkpoints.

Lifecycle

CHARTER → ACTIVE → MONITORING → CLOSED
    ↓        ↓          ↓
ON_HOLD  AT_RISK   CANCELLED
Status Meaning Who can set
Charter Draft project plan, not yet funded Project creator
Active Work in progress Project owner
Monitoring Execution complete, benefits tracking active Project owner
Closed All benefits realized and validated Project owner or admin
On Hold Paused due to external dependency Project owner
At Risk Blocked or significantly off plan Project owner or system
Cancelled Terminated before completion Admin

Milestones

Milestones mark key phases of execution. Each milestone carries:

  • Name and description
  • Target date
  • Completion criteria
  • Linked benefit lines — expected value delivery at this milestone
  • Dependencies — other milestones or external deliverables

To add a milestone:

  1. Open the project.
  2. Click Milestones in the left panel.
  3. Click Add Milestone.
  4. Enter name, target date, and criteria.
  5. Link benefit lines from the project's value model.
  6. Click Save.

Resources

Projects track resources by role and allocation:

Resource type Tracking
Personnel FTE allocation per role, start and end dates
Budget Planned vs actual spend by cost category
External Vendor or contractor assignments

Resource data can be entered manually or synced from Jira, ServiceNow, or Salesforce.

Status tracking

The project dashboard shows:

  • Schedule health — on time, slipping, or overdue
  • Budget health — under, on, or over budget
  • Benefit health — value realization against forecast
  • Risk register — open risks with severity and owner

Status updates are entered weekly by the project owner. Automated status is derived from milestone completion and actuals ingestion.

Project charter template

When creating a project from a business case, the platform auto-populates a charter with:

  • Objectives — copied from the business case value narrative
  • Scope — capabilities and use cases mapped in the value model
  • Success criteria — benefit lines and target metrics
  • Stakeholders — RACI assignments from the account stakeholder map
  • Risks — pre-populated from the business case risk section

You can customize the charter before moving the project from charter to active.

Resource capacity planning

The resource panel highlights overallocation:

Indicator Meaning Action
Green Allocation ≤ 80% No action
Yellow Allocation 81–100% Monitor for burnout
Red Allocation > 100% Reassign or extend timeline

Example

A procurement automation project:

Milestone Target Date Status Linked Benefit
Requirements signed Jan 15 Complete —
Integration built Mar 30 Complete —
UAT passed Apr 15 At risk —
Go-live May 01 On track Labor Efficiency
Q1 benefits review Jun 30 Pending $600K target

Permissions required

Role Permission Scope
Admin Create and archive projects Organization
User Create projects Assigned accounts
User Update status and milestones Owned or assigned projects
Executive View cross-project dashboards Organization

Required projects:write to create or edit; projects:read to view.

Limits and guardrails

Limit A maximum of 50 milestones per project.

Limit A maximum of 20 active projects per account.

Limit Status updates older than 14 days trigger a stale-project warning.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Project status shows 'at risk' but work is on schedule

Cause: A linked benefit line is underperforming, or a milestone dependency is overdue. Resolution: Check the Benefits tab for variance and the Dependencies panel for blocked milestones.

Issue: Cannot link a business case to a new project

Cause: The business case status is not approved or published. Resolution: Verify the business case status in Deliverables. Only approved cases can spawn projects.

Issue: Milestone target date cannot be changed

Cause: The milestone is already marked complete, or you lack edit permission. Resolution: Reopen the milestone if needed, or ask the project owner to adjust the date.

Issue: Project charter is missing stakeholder assignments

Cause: The account stakeholder map was empty or not linked when the project was created. Resolution: Add stakeholders to the account in Intelligence > Stakeholders, then click Sync Stakeholders in the project charter.

Escalation path

For project configuration issues, contact your workspace admin. For integration sync failures with Jira or ServiceNow, open a support ticket with the integration name and sync timestamp.