Create a Direct, Proposal-led, or Estimate-led Project

Every new Project starts as a Draft. The creation path determines the commercial source, conversion history and defaults—not a different delivery system.

Permission required

Owners can create Projects. Managers and staff need Projects, Create projects and access to the selected location. Proposal or Estimate work also requires the relevant permissions and assignment scope.

Choose one creation path

Path	Use it when	Result
Proposal-led	Scope needs a versioned narrative and client response before pricing is final	Accepted Proposal creates one review-required Estimate; accepted Project-intent Estimate creates one Draft
Estimate-led	Authoritative items, GST and price can be issued immediately	Accepted Project-intent Estimate creates one Draft
Direct billable	The work is already agreed outside the Proposal flow	Draft with an explicitly recorded agreed baseline and source note
Direct non-billable	Internal, goodwill or otherwise non-billable delivery	Draft with zero agreed value and no billing stages
Follow-on	A completed engagement needs a clean next Project	New Draft or Proposal with customer, location and source context only

Important information

A normal accepted Estimate continues its existing Estimate-to-Invoice workflow. It creates a Project only when it was explicitly marked as Project-intent. Conversions are one-to-one and idempotent, so retrying does not create duplicates.

Create a direct Project

Create a direct Project Draft

1. Go to Projects → All Projects and select Create Project.
2. Choose the location and customer.
3. Enter the Project title, type and summary.
4. Choose an active Project manager and the schedule mode: Fixed timeline or Ongoing collaboration.
5. Set the start date. A fixed timeline also requires a target date on or after the start date.
6. Apply a Project template if its saved plan matches the work.
7. Choose Billable or Non-billable. For billable work, enter an agreed value greater than zero and record the commercial source or note.
8. Select Create Direct Project.

The Draft snapshots current business capability defaults and, when chosen, the template plan. Review these in setup before finishing it.

Create through a Proposal or Estimate

For a Proposal-led engagement:

1. Send a frozen Proposal version and capture the client’s exact response.
2. On acceptance, review the generated Estimate. Proposal pricing is indicative; the Estimate owns GST and authoritative totals.
3. Issue and accept the Project-intent Estimate.
4. Open the single generated Draft and complete its operational setup.

For an Estimate-led engagement, create or edit the Estimate, mark its intent to create a Project, then issue and accept it. A lead is converted only when the commercial win is confirmed.

Start follow-on work

Open a Completed Project and choose the follow-on action. The new record retains the source link, customer and location, but does not copy old tasks, approvals, invoices, payments, delivery releases or client decisions. Apply a current template deliberately if the next engagement should reuse a plan.

Tip

If work is agreed under an external contract, use a direct Project and record the commercial source. Do not invent a Yepsta Proposal, Estimate, Invoice or Payment merely to make the history look complete.

Related guides

• Create and send a Project Proposal
• Set up and activate the Draft
• Use Project templates

Last reviewed: 1 September 2026