Overview: Set up and submit project proposals
Microsoft Project Server 2010 includes new features to help guide you through the process of proposing new projects and sending them through a workflow. Before you can propose new projects, the portfolio manager and site administrator must work together to set up the workflow, project detail pages, and templates used during the process. Your first run through the process may be a little intimidating, but it's a lot more straightforward than it looks.
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Set up the proposal process
Before users can begin proposing projects, the portfolio manager and the site administrator must work together to set up the proposal process. This process has several parts: workflows, project detail pages, enterprise project types, and approvals.
Workflows
Let's back up a bit. In Project Web App, when a project is proposed, it goes through a workflow to determine whether it fits in with the strategic and financial goals of the organization, and, ultimately, to determine whether it is approved as a viable project. Before projects can be proposed, the portfolio manager must work with the site administrator to set up Project Web App with an infrastructure that corresponds to the way your organization works. Sound complicated? Really what you're doing is taking the way that you evaluate project proposals now, and turning that process into the more formal phases and stages supported by Project Web App. The result is a seamless process that takes you from a simple proposal all the way to a working project that you can capture time and report against.
| I want to… | Description |
| The portfolio manager works with the site administrator to set up a workflow for proposals in your organization. |
Notes: Want more information on workflows? Try watching this series of webcasts:
Project detail pages
Next, the portfolio manager creates project detail pages. That's a fancy way of referring to the forms people fill out when they're proposing a project. The portfolio manager chooses which fields are included where, and may create more than one page to use during different parts of the workflow. For example, you might have one very simple page that people can fill out to submit a proposal, or you might have another, more complicated page for approvers to fill out to add information to the proposal during the review process. It's just a way of slicing and dicing when and where information is added and who's adding it during the workflow.
| I want to… | Description |
| Create a Web page to submit proposals | The portfolio manager creates the forms that will be used to gather information about the proposal throughout the workflow. |
Enterprise project types
Next, portfolio managers need to set up enterprise project types. These are the templates that users choose from when creating a new project or proposal. Enterprise project types are the way Project Web App brings together workflows with project detail pages. You may have several enterprise project types in your organization. For example, the HR department might have one enterprise project type, with its own set of project detail pages and its own workflow, while the Sales department may have a separate enterprise project type, with a separate workflow and set of project detail pages. This ensures a proposal experience that really hones in on what the user is trying to accomplish.
| I want to… | Description |
| The portfolio manager sets up an enterprise project type, which is the template that people will use to propose projects. |
Approvals
Finally, the portfolio manager needs to set up the approval process. When a project is proposed, certain individuals in your organization will need to review the proposal and accept it or reject it. The portfolio manager needs to identify who those reviewers are, and in what order they should receive the proposal for review. Once this approval chain is set up, users can begin submitting proposals.
| I want to… | Description |
| The portfolio manager sets up the approval process, identifying which users need to review submitted proposals, in what order. |
Propose a new project
Once the portfolio manager and site administrator have set up the proposal process, submitting a new project proposal is quite simple. Once a project is proposed, the workflow begins, and the approvers are notified that a proposal is ready for review. The review process may include several steps, including the more complex steps involved with portfolio analysis. To learn more about this process, see Overview: Analyze and approve project proposals.
| I want to… | Description |
| You can use the project detail pages, set up by the portfolio manager, to create a new project or proposal. |
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