There’s a lot here because Projects are right at the heart of Periscope.

Don’t be put off – the truth is that generations of users happily enjoyed using Periscope before any of this stuff existed. If you prefer to just wade in and give it a go – go for it! Periscope’s really intuitive, and if you hit a problem you can always head back for a few expert hints and tips. Enjoy!

To view a project first select the Projects tab. Periscope automatically displays all Projects that are currently in progress. Click on the Project number or title to view an individual project.

Shortcut: If you already know the Project’s unique reference number or the client prefix then wherever you are in Periscope you can just type it straight into the Project number/title search field at the top of the screen and Periscope will take you directly to it.

Along the top of the Projects tab are multiple buttons. More about them later on*. Under those buttons is the:

The title contains Periscope’s unique Project reference number and the Project name you created.

Under that is a summary of key information describing the Project: Client, Status, Deadline, Owner, Priority, Time spent and Time budgeted. It’s good to keep this stuff as up to date as possible so that you can see all the essential information at a glance. So… if a client shifts the deadline or the budget is altered, edit the Project accordingly. Remember – if it’s in Periscope it doesn’t have to be in your head. You need never mislay a note or forgot a message. And that means you can be free to create and free of worry.

Two lines to keep a close eye on are Time spent and Time budgeted. Most of us sell the time of talented people – either ours or our teams – that’s how we make a living. As you (and your team) keep your Timesheets up to date, Periscope updates the Project summary panel in real-time.

So from now on you need never be out of control. You’ll always be aware if a job is creeping over budget. And because Periscope automatically lets Project owners know when a Project has hit 50%, 75% and 100% of budget – you might even seize the opportunity to renegotiate the fee with your client!

When you created this project you’ll have typed into a box called Overview and another called Deliverables. That information is displayed within the Notes panel and can be updated at any time by clicking the Edit project button on the Projects tab. It’s a helpful place to summarize the project.

Shortcut: To save you scrolling past the Notes click the Hide Panel link on the right. Click again to reveal. Neat eh?

Key components of managing Projects efficiently are communication and good record keeping.

We all rely heavily on email for communication and Periscope interfaces seamlessly with all the major email packages.

Place Periscope’s unique reference at the beginning of the subject line of your email and CC or BCC Periscope into the email [DESCRIPTION OF EMAIL ADDRESS ARRANGEMENT HERE]. Periscope will automatically import the message – and any attachments!… PDF’s, Powerpoint presentations, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, you name it – and place them into the messages area of the correct Project.

Messages that have been sent to Periscope via email are always marked with an @ symbol after the message title. Messages with attachments always show a paperclip icon and all attachments are securely and safely stored – along with all your other precious data – in the Periscope cloud.

If you, or a colleague, receive an email from your client about the Project – do the same: forward it to Periscope with Periscope’s unique reference at the beginning of the subject line. You’ll end up with a comprehensive record of your Project correspondence.

And there’s more…

Clicking the Add a message to project button will allow you to directly add a comment to the string of messages. When a client tells you something important like an increase in required quantities or an amendment to some text – add a message.

Everyone in your studio with access to Periscope will be able to see the message. If it’s of particular relevance to one or more people then select their names in the Recipients list on the right. Periscope will automatically email them your message and that’ll save you having to remember to update everyone.

If you subscribe to Periscope’s Schedule module you’ll be able to see the Schedule panel under all your Messages.

The Schedule module allows Periscope users to plan, manage and view their time and the time of team members and freelancers.

It’s a powerful forward planning tool that allows you to match workload to resources. Are you sick of finding your favorite freelancer is already booked? Imagine knowing weeks in advance that you’re going to need to book in freelance help… Imagine knowing you’ve got a quiet patch coming up weeks before it arrives… Periscope’s Schedule module does all this and more.

For more info on the benefits of scheduling through Periscope click here. [link to Schedule sales tab]

Any files attached to a Project – from briefs to schedules, from PDF visuals to website storyboards – are automatically stored here. No more grubbing around your hard drives and piles of CD/DVD archives. Periscope holds it all in the Periscope cloud for FREE (up to 1Gig per agency – which we reckon is about sufficient for up to 15 average users).

File name, size and date of upload are all clearly displayed and you’re free to delete any unwanted or superseded files.

Periscope’s Invoicing module is a thing of beauty!

You may use Word or Excel or Illustrator(!) or an accounting package to create your invoices. That’ll mean laboriously typing out client names, addresses, descriptions of jobs, calculating hourly rates and tax… blah blah blah. Life’s too short!

And Periscope already knows all this stuff anyway – so why not invoice automatically through Periscope? No time consuming re-keying of data. No resultant errors. No chance of forgetting to include external costs or forgetting to invoice altogether! We’ve all done it!

For more info on the benefits of invoicing through Periscope click here. [link to Invoicing sales tab]

This panel’s designed for you to record any external costs that you need to remember. Maybe you’ve paid for a couple of days of freelance time or commissioned an illustrator, a printer or a photographer. Add the cost to the project and make a note of what you’d like to charge the client for the service.

Here you can how many hours have been spent on the project and by whom. Periscope also expresses the time spent as a percentage of the overall time budgeted.

Projects can be small and easy to manage or they can be massive. Bigger projects need to be broken down into smaller tasks allocated to task owners with completion deadlines. This is Periscope’s answer to that problem. Tasks are displayed here within the project and if you’re the task owner it will also show up on your Dashboard along with your deadline.

*Remember those buttons under the Project tab at the top of the page? Hopefully now most of them already make sense but here’s a few more notes. Create new project Creates a new project! Edit project Clicking here will allow you to edit the key information describing the Project: Client, Status, Deadline, Owner, Priority, Time spent and Time budgeted. Add a message See ‘Add a message to project’ above. Timesheet report Clicking here will take you to a detailed breakdown of time spent on this Project. You’ll see records of the total number of hours spent per month and also, if you work as part of a team, the number of hours spent per team member per month. So if a job’s been completed in only 60% of budget you can see here who it is that deserves that hearty back-slap! Create invoice line See ‘Invoicing’ above. Add to timesheet Clicking here takes you straight into Periscope’s powerful Timesheet tab. Here’s where you record time spent on any and all of your projects. Periscope knows you’ve come straight from a specific Project and automatically pulls through the Project number/title and places your cursor in a panel referring to today’s date. Simply type in the number of hours you’ve spent on the Project today so far and hit return or the Save timesheet button. To get back to the Project view, use your back button or click on the Project number/title.