What are Phases?
Project phases are a high-level way of looking at your project timeline. They divide your project into smaller sections so you can group assignments happening at the same time together.
❗Phases in Runn are designed to support high-level resource planning. A person can only be assigned to work on one phase on a given day.
It is not recommended to use Phases for task management.
Phases can run in parallel or one at a time, depending on the nature of the project. You can add a project milestone by the end of each phase to denote a major project deliverable:
You can also set a budget by phase or by phase and role, and track the hours against the phase budget:
In reports, you can report key metrics by phases:
⚡ Top tip: To view project phases on the Project Planner at all times, change the Display Mode to Phases & Milestones:
Manage Project Phases
Create a Phase
We recommend creating phases before adding assignments to a project so the assignments can be automatically linked to the phase in the same time period.
From the Project Planner, expand your project.
Hover on the planner in the Phases row. You will see a green plus button appear on the planner where your cursor is.
Click-and-drag to create a phase, or click to use the calendar option and select the start and end dates.
Enter the phase name.
Choose the project phase color.
Click the Save button.
To create phases in parallel, hover over the project planner and move your cursor to the white space just below or above an existing phase - a green plus button will appear. Click-and-drag or use the calendar option to create a new phase.
The ordering of the Phases is based on the phase start date when the phase was created.
Edit a Phase
Click-and-drag to adjust the dates and duration, or click to edit the name, color, or dates and duration using the calendar tool:
You can also click, drag and drop the entire phase to a different time period:
Implications on linked assignments and actuals
Changing the duration of the phase will not change the duration of the assignments linked to the phase. You will need to change the assignment start date and end date separately if needed.
Any actual hours logged against the phase will remain logged against the phase. You will need to change the phase associate of the daily timesheet entry manually if needed.
Delete a Phase
Click on the Phase and select Delete
Implications on linked assignments and actuals
If you delete a phase that has assignments or actuals linked to it, the assignments and actuals will be linked to "No Phase" automatically.
If you have created a new phase in the same time period, even with the same name, you will have to manually link the assignments and actuals to the new phase.
Alternative: Manage phases from the Project Dashboard
You can also manage phases from the Phases section on the Project Dashboard:
From the Project Planner, identify your project
Click on the 3-dot icon next to the project name > Select Open Dashboard
Click the Phases tab
Click the New Phase button to create a new phase
To edit or delete existing phases, click on the 3-dot icon at the end of the row to open the edit phase page:
Set Phase-based Budget (Optional)
If you are budgeting by phases, you can set up phase-based budgets.
Check out here to learn more:
Link assignments to phases
You can link assignments to phases so you can easily plan and track workload per phase.
After linking the assignment to a phase, you'll still be able to move the phase and corresponding assignment separately for planning flexibility:
Important to Note
While assignments and phases can be linked, their start date, end date and duration are not synced.
When you drag and drop a phase to a different time period, the assignments (and corresponding actuals) will not be moved automatically.
When you adjust the duration of a phase, the linked assignments' duration will not change. You will need to adjust each assignment manually.
When you adjust the duration of an assignment, the linked phase's duration will not change. You will need to adjust the phase duration manually.
Add new assignments to a phase
After you have created the phases, begin drawing out your assignments on the planner.
If the assignment start date falls within the duration of a phase, it will automatically be linked to the phase:
Actual hours logged against the scheduled hours will also default to the phase:
Link existing assignments to a project phase
If you created the phase after you have added the assignments, and would like to link the assignments to the new phase:
Click on the assignment to open the Edit Assignment menu
Click on the Phase dropdown menu to select the phase you would like to link the assignment to:
Sort Phase Names by Start Date or Alphabetical Order
The list of phase names in the pop-up box is sorted by Phase Start Date by default. You can click on the icon to the right of the phase list to sort it by alphabetical order to make it easier to search for the phase you would like to link the assignment to:
Track workload against phases
On Project Planner
Check out here to learn more about viewing phase-based workload on the Project Planner.
On Project Dashboard
Check out below to learn more about viewing phase-based metrics on the Project Dashboards:
In Reports
Check out here to learn more: How do I view metrics by phases in reports?