Projects User Guide
Purpose: This document is intended to provide a high level overview of the Levelpath platform for new users. We’ll walk through the functionality of Projects through the perspective of Requesters/Stakeholders.
What is a Project?
A project is a request’s collaboration space to bring visibility and transparency to all the steps involved to complete a stakeholder’s request. In other words, this is the place to track progress, take action, and complete requests with all collaborating parties.
A project begins as an intake form where the requester submits basic information to get the request process started and sent to the intended users and user groups. The Organization Administrators have configured these basic questions in order to obtain the minimum required information to start a request. If you have questions regarding what is requested on the intake form, please reach out to the team internally.
How do I access a Project?
Users can access a Project via:
- “View My Request” immediately prior to completing an intake form:
OR
- “Hub” icon along the menu bar on the left hand side:
Once users are in Hub, they will see all active projects that they are involved in under the "Requests" tab. The projects are sorted by the date the project was created, starting with the most recent. To access a project, click on it.
There are many views and filter options to choose from.
To change views, click the rectangle in the top left hand corner (pictured below):
Once opened, users will be able to manage their saved views by clicking the “Managed Saved Views” button pictured below.
To set a view as a default view when entering the Hub, select the dot of the view desired for default. To rename or delete a custom view, click the three dots next to the view.
There are a variety of Filters available in Hub for easier navigation through Projects. To access Filters, click “Filters”
Available filters are pictured below. When setting Filters, they can also be saved as a custom view. By clicking “Save as a custom view” users will be prompted to create a name for a Saved View based on the filters chosen.
Additionally, the Hub has customization in the way it is viewed when it comes to Columns depicted. To change the columns shown in Hub, click the column pictured below. To hide and show columns, click the check boxes on or off.
There are many table settings available in Hub. Use the 3 dots in the top right hand corner to Pin 1st column, Reset table, change the table density, and edit the Row count.
Within the Hub, users can also view their projects via the “Pipeline” tab. This tab presents projects based on status: Identified, Planned, Active, and Completed. Users can view aggregate spend or savings. They can also use filters and saved views to view relevant information.
From Hub, users can also create "Blank Projects" without assigning a workflow. This allows teams to start planning future projects right away, and once a workflow is created or chosen, it can be linked to the "Blank Project" later.
What do I see in a Project?
Once a user has submitted their request, it will become a project:
Project Path: Across the top of the page the user will see the path, which acts as a visual representation of the steps needed to complete the request. The path is dynamic, allowing users to reference it as the request progresses. In the screenshot above, the “We are here” pin indicates the current step where the request has currently progressed. The Project path is color coded in the following way:
Blue: Indicates the step is in progress.
Green: Indicates the step has been completed.
Grey: Indicates the step has not been started.
Grey Strikethrough: Indicates the step is no longer needed.
Red: Indicates the step was denied by the approver. If a step is denied, the entire project will be closed and a new request must be submitted.
Pink: Indicates the step is overdue. This is based on the expected timeframe set to complete a particular step.
When a user hovers over a specific step, they will see the step name, step owner, and current status:
Clicking on a specific step in the path will direct them to the corresponding step.
Project Step Tabs: Below the path users will see a tabbed experience that lays out each step within the project. When on a tab, users will have insight into what is needed for that step - this can be information, approvals, or both. Depending on their role, there will be labels to provide added guidance where action is needed.
Project Toolbar: The right hand toolbar is a convenient way to see the team, comments, documents, and suppliers; this information is found along the right side of the project. To expand, simply click on the toolbar item:
- AI Assistant: Open by default on all Projects, AI Assistant is a generative AI-powered chat tool designed to provide insight into the data entered into the Project.
- By default, AI Assistant will present a digestible summary of the full scope of the Project.
- To learn more about the request, users can select from the list of prewritten, ready-made prompts or type directly into the "Ask me anything..." bar.
Levelpath can also set up configurable prompts specific to the project and company. In the example above, “Create Memo” is a custom prompt that was set up for a customer use case. If you would like to utilize custom AI Assistant prompts, please contact your Levelpath team.
To hide AI Assistant, collapse the Toolbar by clicking the arrows ‘>>’
- Team: When selecting Team, users will be shown a full list of all individual users, as well as all user groups within the given Project. Users can also add additional collaborators to the project by selecting “Add Collaborator” at the bottom left of the Team-box.
NOTE: Collaborators that are added outside of the assigned user groups will have view-only access to the Project and ability to comment in the project.
Descriptions of the rest of the right hand toolbar:
- Project Details: In this tab, users will see the meta-data associated with the project, including the name, requester, created date, supplier, status, and more. All project details can be updated in this tab.
- Documents: When selecting Documents, the team will be shown a full list of all uploaded documents within the given Project. In this section users can find an aggregated list of all documents that have been uploaded throughout the project steps. Users can also upload additional documents directly through this tab.
- Comments: Users will see a chat-box with all comments related to the project. Within the chat-box users are able to scroll through the previous comments, as well as, send comments using mentions. All collaborators within the project can view all comments.
- Linked Projects: On this tab, users will see a list of linked projects. Within this tab, users are also able to kick off a Linked Project, or Relate an existing project to the current one.
- Value Tracking: Users will see any created Value Tracking records here. Users are also able to start a new Value Tracking record, or relate to one that already exists.
- Activity: The Activity tab provides an active log of all of the changes within the project.
- Updates: This feature allows Project Leads the ability to add Updates within a Project, allowing more visibility on the status of a project. The most recent Update will also show up in Project reporting.
What is the Updates Tab?
The updates tab is a way to track the status of a project. The labels seen below are customizable for each Project Type.
When an update is added, it will also display in the Hub.
To add labels to a Project, the user should select the Project Type that they want to add a label to.
From there, click Settings, then “Add New Label” (pictured below).
Note: Only Organizational Admins can edit Project configurations.
Linked Projects: When “kicking off” a linked project, step owners will be presented the intake form of the project that is being kicked off. At the bottom of the intake form, the initiator will have the opportunity to select all collaborators they wish to be carried over to the associated project:
In addition to the Hub, users may utilize the “To Do” tab to identify current tasks waiting to be completed. Clicking on the item will direct users into the corresponding project step.
The Notifications Tab is a delightful way to be notified of additional tasks or completed projects!
When stakeholders are notified to take approval actions within the Notifications Tab (or across email, Slack, or Microsoft Teams), they can directly approve from the notifications. Clicking "Approve" would trigger an approval automatically.
What happens when a Project is complete?
When a Project is complete, it means the request and all the steps within Levelpath have been completed successfully! Great job!
Along the Project path users will see all green. At this point the Project Lead will notify the requester of next steps, in case there are additional workflows to be initiated outside of Levelpath. Should there be any questions, clarifications, or further actions users can utilize the Comments function via the Project Toolbar:
The Project will move over to the Completed tab within your Hub. 🚀