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Getting started with ProjectIQ

Language: English · Italiano · Français · Deutsch Manual index: README

This guide is the first thing to read if you are new to ProjectIQ. It explains what the application is for, how its pieces fit together, how to find your way around the screens, and which manual to open next for each task. The other manuals go into each functional area in depth; this one gives you the map.

What ProjectIQ does

ProjectIQ is a project and job management application for companies that work on orders ("commesse"): construction and installation companies, engineering firms, workshops, service companies and any business that needs to know, for every job, what was planned, what has been spent and what is still committed.

It runs inside Microsoft Power Apps as a model-driven app on Microsoft Dataverse. In practice this means:

  • you open it from a browser (or from Teams, if your company adds it there) with your company Microsoft 365 account;
  • all data lives in your company's own Dataverse environment: every company has its own database, nothing is shared with other customers;
  • security, auditing, notes, notifications and search are the standard ones of the Power Platform, so they behave like the rest of Dynamics 365.

The application covers the whole life cycle of a job:

flowchart LR
    A[Customer and offer] --> B[Project<br/>In Progress]
    B --> C[WBS, budget<br/>and plan]
    C --> D[Team and<br/>resource load]
    D --> E[Time and<br/>materials]
    E --> F[Purchasing:<br/>requests, RFQs, orders]
    F --> G[Goods receipts<br/>and invoices]
    G --> H[Actual cost,<br/>committed cost, margin]
    H --> I[Project closed]
    S[Supplier portal] -. quotes and confirmations .-> F

Main concepts in one page

Concept What it is Where to read more
Customer / Supplier Companies you work for or buy from. Both are Dataverse accounts: the same company can be both Master data
Item Something you buy or use on a job (material, component, service), with a unit cost and the suppliers that sell it Master data
Resource A person (or a crew) whose hours are planned and recorded, with a weekly capacity and an hourly cost Master data
Project The job: customer, project manager, dates, contract value, budget, actual and committed cost, progress Projects and team
Project member A user who works on a project as Manager, Contributor or Reader. Membership decides who sees the project Projects and team
WBS node A piece of the work breakdown structure: a phase, a work package or a task, with budget, dates and progress WBS and planning
Dependency "Task B can start only after task A finishes" (finish-to-start, with lag days) WBS and planning
Baseline A frozen copy of budget and dates, used to compare the current plan with what was agreed WBS and planning
Allocation Hours of a resource planned on a WBS node; they feed the resource load Resource load
Time entry Hours a resource worked on a project (and optionally a task) on a day, with an approval workflow Time tracking
Material usage Material consumed on a project, valued at the supplier price or at the item cost Materials and costs
Purchase request → RFQ → Purchase order → Goods receipt → Supplier invoice The purchasing chain, from the need to the invoice Purchasing
Supplier portal A website where suppliers answer requests for quotation and confirm orders Supplier portal
Settings Company-wide switches: time approval, purchasing threshold and approver Administration

Signing in

  1. Open the link your administrator gave you (it looks like https://<company>.crm4.dynamics.com/main.aspx?appid=...), or go to make.powerapps.com → Apps and choose ProjectIQ.
  2. Sign in with your company account.
  3. If you see "You don't have permissions", ask your administrator to give you the Basic User and OP365 User security roles (see Administration).

If you will record hours, your administrator must also link your user to a Resource record; otherwise the timesheet tells you "Your user is not linked to a resource".

Finding your way around

The application uses the standard model-driven layout:

flowchart TB
    subgraph Screen
      direction LR
      N[Left navigation<br/>areas and pages] --- M[Main area<br/>views, forms, dashboards]
    end
    T[Top bar: search, new record, notifications bell, settings, help] --- Screen
    AS[Area switcher<br/>bottom-left] --- N
  • Area switcher (bottom of the left navigation): changes the group of pages shown. ProjectIQ has four areas: Projects, Purchasing, Master Data and Settings.
  • Left navigation: the pages of the current area.
  • Views: lists of records with columns, filters and sorting; switch view with the drop-down next to the view title.
  • Forms: one record, organised in tabs. Changes are saved with Save (or Ctrl+S); the form also auto-saves after a short time.
  • Command bar: the buttons above a view or form (New, Save, Delete, and the ProjectIQ commands such as Submit, Approve, Save Baseline).
  • Dashboards: full pages with charts and interactive components (Timesheet, Time Approval, Resource Load, Spend).

The navigation map

Area Group Page Typical user
Projects Work Projects, Material Usage Project managers, team members
Projects Time Timesheet, Approvals, Time Entries Everyone who records hours; managers who approve
Projects Planning Resource Load, Absences Project managers, planners
Purchasing Procurement Purchase Requests, RFQs, Purchase Orders, Goods Receipts, Supplier Invoices Project managers, buyers, accounts
Purchasing Analysis Spend Buyers, management
Master Data Records Customers, Suppliers, Contacts, Items, Resources Administrative staff, buyers
Settings Company Settings, Resource Costs, Project Members Administrators

Depending on your security role, some pages may show no records or may not allow you to create them.

Who does what

flowchart LR
    ADM([Administrator]) -->|maintains| MD[Master data,<br/>settings, roles]
    PM([Project manager]) -->|creates and plans| PRJ[Projects, WBS,<br/>baselines, team]
    PM -->|approves| APP[Hours and<br/>purchase requests]
    TM([Team member]) -->|records| TE[Hours and<br/>materials]
    TM -->|requests| PR[Purchase requests]
    BUY([Purchasing approver]) -->|approves above threshold| PR
    BUY -->|approves| INV[Supplier invoices]
    SUP([Supplier]) -->|portal| Q[Quotes and<br/>order confirmations]
Role What you will do most Manuals to read
Team member (Contributor) Fill in the weekly timesheet, record materials, raise purchase requests Time tracking, Materials and costs, Purchasing
Project manager (Manager) Create the project, build the WBS and the plan, save baselines, manage the team, approve hours and requests, follow costs Projects and team, WBS and planning, Resource load, Time tracking, Materials and costs, Purchasing
Buyer / purchasing approver Approve requests above the threshold, run RFQs, manage orders, receipts and invoices Purchasing, Supplier portal
Administrator Users, roles, master data, settings, cost visibility, the supplier portal Administration, Master data, Supplier portal
Supplier (external) Answer RFQs and confirm orders on the portal Supplier portal

Notifications

ProjectIQ uses the in-app notifications of model-driven apps: the bell icon in the top bar. You receive a notification when:

Event Who is notified
Hours are submitted for approval The managers of the project
Your hours are approved or rejected (with the reason) You (the resource)
You have recorded fewer hours than expected for the day (Monday–Friday, 17:30) You, with a link to the timesheet
A purchase request is waiting for your approval The project manager, then the purchasing approver if the request is above the threshold
Your purchase request is approved or rejected The requester

Notifications appear in the bell panel and, for a few seconds, as a toast in the top right corner. Click a notification to open the record. Notification preferences are the standard ones of the platform.

Notes, mentions and timeline

Most ProjectIQ records have a Timeline, usually in the right-hand column of the first tab of the form. You can:

  • add notes, with attachments;
  • mention a colleague by typing @ followed by the name: the colleague is notified and the note becomes a lightweight comment thread;
  • on projects, also record activities (phone calls, tasks, appointments, emails).

The timeline is the right place for decisions, customer communications and anything you want to keep with the record.

Statuses and locked records

Many records follow a workflow (time entries, purchase requests, orders, invoices...). A few general rules apply everywhere:

  • Status changes go through the command buttons (Submit, Approve, Send, Confirm...), never by editing the Status Reason field. If you try, you get a message such as "Use Submit, Approve or Reject to change the status".
  • Records past a certain status are locked: a submitted timesheet entry, a sent purchase order, an approved invoice cannot be changed. To fix them, use the button that brings them back (Reject, Back to Draft, Cancel Receipt).
  • Most work happens only on projects In Progress: hours, materials and purchase orders are refused on offers, suspended or closed projects.

Search and personal views

  • The search box in the top bar searches all tables (projects by name or code, customers, items, purchase orders...).
  • In any view you can filter columns, change sorting and save the result as a personal view (Create view). Personal views can be shared with colleagues.
  • Use Export to Excel from the command bar of a view to analyse data offline.

Language

The user interface is available in English, Italian, French and German. Each user picks the language in Settings (gear icon) > Personalization Settings > Languages > User Interface Language; tables, fields, views, buttons, the project controls (WBS, Gantt, timesheet...), dialogs, error messages and notifications follow that choice. These manuals are available in all four languages; in the Italian, French and German manuals some button and field names may still appear in English, with a translation where it helps.

Next steps