Projects

A project is the funded, scheduled unit of delivery — usually created from an approved demand — broken into project tasks a team works day to day. Projects roll up under a portfolio (the funded investment grouping) and, optionally, a program (a cross-project rollup under a program manager).

Project state, phase, and status

A project tracks three independent dimensions at once, which is easy to mix up:

• State — the record’s lifecycle (below); this is what “Reopen” and the close actions change.
• Phase — the delivery chevron: Initiating → Planning → Executing → Delivering → Closing, advanced with the Advance phase action, which also collects a status note.
• Status — an independent RAG health flag: On Track, At Risk, or Critical.

State	What it means	Typical next action
Pending	Created, not yet kicked off.	Open project (requires a project manager)
Open	Kicked off; scope and schedule being finalized.	Start
Work in Progress	Actively being delivered.	Advance phase, Close Complete, Close Incomplete, Close Skipped, or Cancel
Closed Complete	Terminal — delivered successfully.	Reopen
Closed Incomplete	Terminal — closed without finishing the scope.	Reopen
Closed Skipped	Terminal — closed without being worked.	Reopen
Cancelled	Terminal side-exit — killed before or during execution.	Reopen

Closing (Complete/Incomplete/Skipped) and cancelling each collect a closing note. Reopen is available from any closed or cancelled state and puts the project back into Work in Progress. There’s no reverse path from Work in Progress back to Open or Pending — once work starts, the only way out is forward through Advance Phase or a close action.

A project also carries Add tasks, Create plan, Baseline plan, Create status report, and Re-forecast as utility actions alongside the state stepper — these don’t change state, they open the corresponding planning tool.

Project Tasks

A project task is the flat unit of work under a project (no tabs, just one section): a title, an optional milestone flag, percent complete, a planned/actual schedule, and an assignment.

State	Typical next action
Pending	Open
Open	Start
Work in Progress	Close Complete, Close Incomplete, or Close Skipped
Closed Complete / Closed Incomplete / Closed Skipped	Terminal

Close Skipped is available from Pending, Open, or Work in Progress — a task can be skipped without ever having started.

Portfolios & Programs

A Portfolio is the funded investment grouping — the container demands and projects scope against, and the unit budgets and category classifications attach to:

State	Typical next action
Define	Analyse (requires a portfolio manager)
Analyse	Approve, or Back to Define
Approve	Charter, or Back to Define
Charter	— (the terminal, active state a demand or project can be scoped to)

A portfolio carries an Investment class (Run — keep the lights on, or Change — new capability) and a separate Category (Transform the business / Grow the business / Run the business) alongside its Total Budget, Planned Cost, and Actual Cost rollup from member projects.

A Program groups related projects under a program manager, typically scoped to a portfolio. Its lifecycle is lighter — a container, not a heavy approval chain:

State	Typical next action
Open	Activate (requires a program manager)
Active	Close
Closed	Reopen