Note: Administrators, Managers, Builders and Editors can add and edit Initiatives. Read Only users can view them.
An Initiative is a project you recommend to a client, with timing and a budget. Goals, the Assessment and the Technology module show what a client needs. Initiatives turn those findings into the recommendations you present, and each Initiative links back to the Goals, Assessment items and devices behind it.
Creating an Initiative
Open the Initiatives module and click Initiative.
In Template, pick one of your Initiative templates, or leave it empty to start blank.
Enter the Name, pick the Company, then fill in whatever else you know.
Click Add. The Initiative opens.
Your admin sets up the templates in Set Up Your Goal and Initiative Templates.
You can also create an Initiative from the finding that calls for it:
From an Assessment item: on an Open Report, click Link in the item's Initiative column, then New Initiative.
From a device: open Initiative on the device and pick New initiative. Your Clients' Technology covers the steps.
An Initiative created from an Assessment item or a device is linked to it as soon as you add the Initiative.
The Relationships section on an Initiative
Open an Initiative and scroll past its fields to its relationships: the Goals, Assessment, Technology and Proposals lists. In the Initiatives module, the Relationships icon on an Initiative's row opens the same lists. Each list has a Link button:
Goals: the Goals the Initiative contributes to. Linking changes nothing on the Goal or the Initiative.
Assessment: the Assessment items the Initiative addresses, picked from the client's Open Report. No cost moves across the link.
Technology: the devices the Initiative replaces. A device links to one Initiative at a time.
Proposals: the Proposals that deliver the Initiative. No amount carries over from a Proposal. Link, then New Proposal, creates an opportunity in ConnectWise PSA that's already linked to the Initiative: see The Proposals Module.
An Initiative with all four lists in use looks like this:
While a device is linked to an Initiative, only the Initiative counts in the client's Budget and Roadmap. How Your Budget Comes Together covers how it adds up.
The budget fields on an Initiative
Every Initiative has a Budget block:
Related Items, Labor and Parts: the three cost lines. They add up to the Initiative's Budget, so you never type the Budget itself.
Budget Estimate: free text for a ballpark, such as "$5k to $10k". The Budget Estimate never reaches the Budget.
Month and Year: when the project is planned. They set the quarter the Initiative sits in.
When devices are linked to an Initiative, their total shows under the Related Items field. That total isn't copied in for you. When it differs from Related Items, click Use As Related Items to copy it in, or type your own number.
Views of the Initiatives module
The Initiatives module shows every client's Initiatives, in three views:
Flat: one list you sort by column. The Initiatives module opens on Flat until you pick another view.
List: Initiatives grouped by company, then by quarter.
Card: the same groups as List, with each Initiative as a card.
In List and Card, drag an Initiative to another quarter of the same company, or right-click it and pick Move to. Either one sets the Initiative's Month and Year to the first month of that quarter. An Initiative with no Year sits under Unscheduled.
In the Initiatives module, the columns for Goals, Assessment items, devices and Proposals filter by what each Initiative is linked to, and can find Initiatives with nothing linked.
Initiative tags
Initiative tags sort Initiatives into categories you can filter on, and every client shares the same tags. Pick them in an Initiative's Tags field, where you can also add a tag. The starting tags are Fundamentals, Security and Efficiency.
To rename, recolor, reorder or delete Initiative tags, go to Settings > Data > Initiatives and open the Tags tab. Initiative tags are separate from the tags on Assessment items.
Good to know
The Goals, Assessment, Technology and Proposals lists appear once an Initiative has been added.
Linking a device that's already linked to another Initiative asks you to confirm, then moves the device.
Common questions
Where is the Board view for Initiatives?
The Board view for Initiatives is on the Initiatives Part in a client's Report, which has Card, Board, List and Focus views. The Initiatives module has Flat, List and Card.