What will you achieve with this guide?
This getting started guide follows a learn-by-doing methodology that will help you quickly become familiar with project management in Holded. In three easy steps, you will gain the knowledge to:
Create projects, set up billing rates and costs
Enter tasks and choose how to display them
Use the list and reports as points of reference and analysis
1. Preparing your test project
Create a blank project
The first step to organizing your team's work is to enter your new project in Holded. In this case, you will create a blank project to have all available options and functionalities activated.
How?
Access Projects > New project:
- Select Blank project as a template
- Click on Next to confirm the selection
- Enter a name for the project
- Choose the privacy type
- Hit Create
Check out this article to learn more about how to create projects in Holded.
Configure the general options
Before entering any task, you will need to specify some basic details, such as the start and end date, as well as the contact associated with the project.
How?
From the project you just created, click on Settings > General:
- Enter the Start date and the End date for the project
- Under choose the contact you wish to associate
- Hit Save
Check out this article to learn more about general settings options for specific projects.
Configure invoicing and cost options
In addition to the basic configuration, you will need to detail the billing and budget preferences of your project.
How?
Without leaving your project, click on Settings > Billing:
- Use the toggles to activate the options of Billing and Cost forecast
- Under Hourly rates, use the drop-down menu to choose the hourly rate method used to calculate the billable amount of your project
- Under Budget, choose the method for calculating costs from the drop-down menu
- Click Save so that your changes are not lost
Learn more here about billing and budgeting preferences per project.
2. Defining the workload
Now that your project has all the essentials in place, you can start managing the work it will entail by means of lists and tasks.
Add three lists to your test project
The lists will allow you to classify the tasks you create next. Moreover, you can adapt them to your needs, either by areas, phases, or stages of the project.
How?
From the project you have created, go to the Board tab:
- Go to the List view
- Click on + Add list
- Enter a name for the list
- Click the Add list button to confirm its creation
- Repeat the process to create two additional lists
If you need more information on how to create lists for your projects, check out this article.
Create a task in each of your lists
Tasks are essential, as they represent each of the actions to be completed in order to achieve the final objective of the project.
How?
Access the Board tab:
- Click on + Add task in the first list you have added
- Enter a name for the task
- Press Enter on your keyboard to confirm the creation of the task
- Repeat the process on the other two lists for a total of three tasks
Check out this article to learn more about adding tasks to your projects.
Indicate start and end dates for your tasks
As you can see, adding tasks to your lists is a quick procedure. From Holded, you can also specify more details about each of them. In this case, you will learn how to include the start and end date.
How?
- Go to the task you have created in the first list
- Click on the Start date and Due date options on the right side to enable these new fields
- Use the calendar in these fields to select the corresponding dates
- Repeat the same process for the other two tasks
Check out this article to learn how to enter more details into your tasks.
Modify the status of your tasks
There are a number of additional actions you can perform with your tasks. One of the most common ones will be to change your task statuses as you progress.
How?
- Click again on the task in the first list
- In the new window, click Status
- Select the To do status
- Repeat these steps to move the second task to the In progress status
- Finally, change the third one to Done
Learn more here about other actions available for your tasks.
Explore the views available in your project
The views allow you to choose the way you want to visualize the tasks you add to your project.
How?
From the project you have prepared, go to the Board tab:
- Go to the top right, right next to the filters
- Choose one of the available display options (Basic, List, Gantt Chart, etc.)
You will be able to change the view format whenever you need to without changing or losing any information. We recommend that you choose the view that best suits your way of working.
Learn more here about the project views available in Holded.
3. Consulting and analyzing
After creating your projects in Holded, you will be able to consult them quickly from the list. The system will also use all the information you enter to generate reports that you will find in the Analytics section.
Access the project list
The project list allows you to quickly check and filter all the projects you have created in Holded. In addition, at a glance, you can find out essential details such as start and end dates, project type, members involved, etc.
How?
Access Projects > Projects:
- Verify that the project you have created appears in the list
- Click on the two-column icon in the upper right corner
- Choose the columns you want to be displayed in the listing
In the future, when the list is longer, you can use the available filters to find specific projects more quickly.
Consult project reports
By means of these reports, you can analyze the new projects that have been generated during a given period of time, as well as their profitability.
Even if you are just starting out and there is not yet enough data to complete the reports, it is a good idea to know how to access them when you need them in the future.
How?
Access Analytics > Reports > Productivity:
- Click on Projects
- Check the available reports: New projects and Profitability per project
Learn more here about project reports.
Consult task reports
These reports will allow you to check how many tasks have been generated, as well as their types and statuses. In this way, you can better understand the workload and how it is distributed over time.
How?
Access Analytics > Reports > Productivity:
- Click on Tasks
- Consult the available reports: New and resolved tasks, Tasks per status, and Tasks per type
Learn more here about task reports.
After experimenting and learning with your test project, we recommend that you delete it so that it does not affect the actual view of your projects in Holded. How? From the project, click on Settings > General > Three-point menu (⋮) > Delete.
You've done it!
Now that you have completed this getting started guide, you can create and keep track of your projects in Holded.
Make the most of the knowledge you have gained to optimally organize and distribute the workload among your team members.