Managing Job Status with Milestones
This article covers how to use the Status section of the Management Panel on the right side of the Project Workspace to manage the current status information of your jobs (leads/projects/work orders) (see screenshot below).
Completing Milestones
Regularly completing milestones is a goal for all SolarNexus users. SolarNexus adds relevant milestones to a project’s Next Steps in the Status panel whenever predecessor milestones are completed.
Users complete milestones by entering the date and time on which they were completed. Although an assigned user is responsible for completing an assigned milestone, another user associated with the project is free to complete that milestone. The actual user who completes each milestone is also recorded in SolarNexus. SolarNexus automatically removes assigned milestones from a user’s task list when they are completed. You can view who completed each milestone by clicking the View All Milestones link at the top right of the Status panel.
To mark a milestone complete, first pull up the project in question. Next, click the green check mark icon on the lower right of the individual milestone that you've completed.
At the top of the milestone completion dialog, you'll see requirements for the milestone to be complete (your administrator populates this information in the Description field for each milestone). Specify the date and time when the milestone was actually completed. By default, the current date and time is populated. In some cases you can back-date a milestone if you were not able to enter it on the day on which it actually occurred.
Each milestone has its own notes field in which you can add information related to the milestone’s completion. These notes are captured in the Project Log and also displayed in the record of completed milestones for the project (click “View All” from the Status panel). Examples of data might be inputting the permit number for a Permit Issued milestone, or some customer scheduling limitation for the Installation Scheduled milestone.
To edit a completed milestone’s dates or completion notes, click on the date for the milestone you need to edit in the list of completed milestones on the status panel. (Note: You can also click View All and then click the date under the "Completed At" column). When you're done, click Save.
Fixing Mistakes - Uncomplete a Milestone
When a milestone is accidentally completed, you can uncomplete it. When you uncomplete a milestone, you are essentially moving the project's status backward, meaning that the uncompleted milestone will go back to the Current Milestones section and any milestone that is a successor to the uncompleted milestone will be removed from the project’s Current Milestones.
To uncomplete a milestone, click the undo icon next to the completed date of the desired milestone in the “Last Completed” section of the Status panel.
Expected behaviors when uncompleting a milestone: Any current milestone instances that succeed the milestone that you uncomplete will not yet be relevant because you've gone backward in your process. Therefore SolarNexus will delete any current milestone instances from the project's current to do list and from any assigned users task lists. If any of the current milestones being removed happens to have any log entries associated, the log entry is kept, but disassociated from the milestone being deleted.
SolarNexus doesn't want you to lose any potentially relevant information that you may have already captured in a milestone that is to be deleted, so there are a couple of cases where SolarNexus will keep the current milestone instance but move it into an "Upcoming Milestones" section. These exception cases include:
- If the current milestone is a scheduled event that has already been scheduled, SolarNexus wants to be sure that the scheduled appointment is not lost.
- If the current milestone has any custom ad-hoc sub-tasks added, SolarNexus wants to be sure you keep your sub-task item. (NOTE: if milestone has only auto-created sub-tasks, it will be removed).
Any milestones placed into the "Upcoming Milestones" section cannot be completed until they become relevant again by completing their predecessor(s). SolarNexus will automatically move them back into the current to do items once you complete their predecessor.
Milestone Status
While work is progressing to complete a milestone, you will want to track its current status. The status of a milestone provides information about what is currently being done, or what's needed to be done, or what may be being waited on. For example, the table below shows two standard SolarNexus milestones and the default status value options.
| Milestone | Propose to Customer | Complete Final Sale | Submit Permit Application |
| Possible Status Values while working to complete the milestone: | Pending | Verbal Commitment - Contract Pending | Pending |
| Waiting for Utility Bills | Contract Signatures Pending | Site Survey Pending | |
| Proposal Preparation Pending | Financing Needed | Permit Package Pending | |
| Appointment Pending | Finance Approval Pending | Design Problem | |
| Scheduling Needed | Financing Rejected | Ready to Deliver | |
| Customer Waiting on Proposal |
Each Milestone's Status is meant to be continually updated throughout the project's lifespan. The current status of each milestone reflects on the overall condition of the project. For example, are there issues or blockers that need to be addressed by a manager? For that reason, each milestone status reflects a project condition.
There are three potential values for Conditions:
- Active - Also shown as "Normal". This is the default condition and indicates everything is moving along as normal.
- Issues - External situations are slowing down the progress of the project but it's still expected to be completed
- Blocked - There is an issue that is likely going to prevent or severely delay the completion of the project. When blocked is set on a milestone, no other milestones may be completed until the blocker is resolved.
To ensure that issues and blockers are addressed in a timely manner, project Condition is reflected throughout the system. It is always shown at the project level using a visual indicator of the project view, as well as within the Sales and Installs screens.
The milestone's current status is displayed immediately below the milestone's name (see below).
Click on the Milestone's current Status to update it. You'll be presented with a popup dialog that will allow you to make the necessary changes. When you're done, click Save.
The components of Milestone Status are:
Milestone Status and Condition |
A brief description of the Milestone's current work status. Your account administrator defines a set of predefined status values for each milestone in your process. Each predefined status value has an associated condition, which is shown when you select a status. You may enter a custom status value if a new status is needed, but not yet defined. You may enter your own condition for a custom status. Note that although Condition is set at the Milestone level it is reflected at the project level. |
Scheduled Time / Deadline |
If the milestone is a scheduled event, the scheduled date & time is shown. If the milestone has a deadline for completion, that date and time is shown. |
Expected Completion |
Optional field for indicating an expected time for completion of the milestone (not shown if the milestone is a scheduled event). |
Assigned To |
Owner of the Milestone. |
Using Subtasks
When an issue arises during the work to complete a milestone, or you want a schedule a reminder to complete a sub-task, you can add an ad-hoc sub-task to the milestone, assign it to a team member, and schedule a reminder for followup.
To add a Subtask, find the milestone in question and click the Add Subtask icon
Next, type in a brief description of the Subtask. If needed, you can update the Milestone Status fields by clicking "Edit Details". Otherwise, click Save.
Be sure to click Save when you're done.
You'll then see the Milestone updated with the corresponding updates. To mark a Subtask complete, check the box next to the description.
Milestones as Scheduled Events
The date and time for scheduled events such as sales appointments, site surveys, etc. will be indicated directly in the Milestone as pictured below:
These events will appear in your My Tasks panel on your home screen, and be visible on your calendar.
If a Milestone is a scheduled event, your company Administrator may require that the Milestone is always scheduled upon completion of its predecessor. In other cases it may be something you're able to schedule at a later time. In any case, you can reschedule the event as needed.
Administrators: For more info on how to setup default events for Milestones see Administration - Project Milestones.
Assigning Milestones
Administrators have the ability to automatically assign certain milestones to a specific member of the team so that anytime a project reaches that Milestone. For example: You want to assign your engineer to work on the permit package for a project immediately following completion of the site survey.
Administrators: Click here for more information about automatically assigning Milestones.
Milestones can manually be assigned or reassigned to individual users so that work responsibilities can be tracked in SolarNexus. You can choose to assign some milestones, but leave others to be completed by anyone.
To assign a specific Milestone, first pull up the project in question and click the initials on the upper right of the Milestone.
On the popup, select the teammate to which you'd like to assign the Milestone and click Save. You'll then see the initials in the upper right reflect the new teammate.
Note: Assigning a Subtask to another member of the team will only assign that teammate the Subtask in question. The owner of the Milestone will remain unchanged.
Additional Tasks/Issues
The Additional Tasks/Issues feature may also be used to track project issues that can come during a project up that aren't directly related to the current milestones. For example:
- During the install phase, a customer may call about changing design or expanding scope of work. To ensure that the customer's issue is addressed, add a task detailing customer inquiry and assign to sales rep or project manager, scheduling specific time for a customer call.
- An issue with project financing or customer payment comes up during the install. Add a task describing the issue, mark it as a blocker and assign to someone to follow up on.
Viewing Milestones, Subtasks, and Additional Tasks/Issues Across Projects
There are also several ways to view and interact with Subtasks and Additional Tasks/Issues.
Home Screen
Scroll down on the Home Screen and you'll find the My Tasks section. From here you can see any tasks to which you are assigned. You can also see any unassigned or overdue tasks for projects on which you are the assigned Sales Owner.
You can update the status of the Milestone or task by clicking its title under the column labeled "Status/Subtask". Subtasks and Additional Tasks/Issues can be marked complete by clicking the checkbox next to their status.
If the task has an associated calendar event you can reschedule the event by clicking the date under the "Scheduled / Due" column. Overdue items will appear in red.
Tasks Screen
The tasks screen will allow you to see all of your tasks in a single view. You also have the ability to filter by various values at the top of the screen.
By default, only Milestones are displayed but you can opt to show Subtasks by clicking the corresponding checkbox on the top.
As with the My Tasks section, you can update Scheduled or Due dates for scheduled events by clicking on the date in the corresponding column.
Admins / Sales Managers: By default you will see all tasks across your company. Use the filter options to narrow the results.
Calendar View
Tasks can also be displayed in a calendar view in both the My Tasks panel and the Tasks screen by clicking on the calendar icon.
Clicking on the event will bring up a menu that will allow you to either mark the task complete, or to make other changes (i.e. reschedule, reassign, etc.)
See Scheduling and Calendar Views for more information about this view.
