Creating Client Projects in CORE

Editor's note: We just launched CORE, our groundbreaking cloud software. While you might not be using it yet, we wanted to give you an insider's look at it. Here's how simple and flexible CORE is when it comes to setting up projects.

Projects can have many names. In the accounting industry, we call them engagements. In the legal profession, they're cases or matters. You can set this nomenclature in the global settings in CORE. Once you have it in place, it’s time to create client projects in CORE.

Let’s stick with an accounting firm, so we’re calling our projects "engagements."

To create a new project, you’ll need a client. If this is a new client you’ll be working on, make sure you add them as a contact first.

The initial screen for adding an engagement is very simple and straightforward. Important! If you have  an engagement on your books that is similar to the one you are about to create, make a template from it. Then you can create this new one from that template.

Once you’ve created the initial project, you can go in and review the other options such as billing, structure, rules, contacts, and even custom fields.

Once the engagement is set up, you will need to consider things like the fee schedule and a budget for the project. This is also a good time to check the Details area (where you just set up the engagement) and review it to be sure you’ve set it up properly. Is it an hourly contract type? If not, you may want to fix that.

Now that you have the picture on how to create a project, we’ll want to dive deep on some of the components of a project. In the coming posts, we’ll look at how to create the following elements of a project in BQE CORE:

• Fee Schedules

• Estimates

• Budgets

• Billing Schedules

That will cover everything you need to know to set up any kind of project. Then we can look at how to manage your projects - from time and expenses to billing review, and ultimately to billing your clients. Then we’ll want to look at how to manage this from a high level so you can stay on top of cash flow and productivity in general.