PROJECTS: Internal Projects

What are Internal Projects?

A Project no longer needs a Client. When you leave the Client field empty, the Project becomes an Internal Project: your own team's work, kept in the same place as your client work.

Internal Projects are full Projects. Tasks, Phases, Files, Notes, Team Talk, Statuses, team assignments, the Project Leader, completion and archiving all work exactly as they do on any other Project. The only difference is that no Client is attached, so nothing about the Project is client-facing.

You no longer need a placeholder "dummy client" in your CRM to hold your own work. Some common uses:

  • Your own marketing: run your social media posting calendar as a Project, with Tasks, due dates and two Staff Members assigned.
  • Internal operations: track an onboarding checklist rewrite or a hiring round beside your client work, where your team already looks.
  • Work that starts before the Client does: scope a Project while the Proposal is still out, then attach the Client when they sign.

TIP: There is nothing to enable or configure. Internal Projects are available to every account, and Projects that already have a Client work exactly as they did before.

How do I create an Internal Project?

  1. Navigate to Projects > Projects and click the +Add Project button.
  2. Fill in the Project name, description and any other details.
  3. In the Client Assignment step, leave the Client field empty.
  4. Assign your Staff Members, Project Leader and any other settings as usual.
  5. Save the Project with Save > List, Save > Project or Save & Keep Editing.

Leaving the Client field empty is all it takes. There is no warning and no extra confirmation step.

The Client Assignment section of the Add Project form, with the Client field left on Make a Selection

You can also apply a Task Template to an Internal Project. Any Template Task meant for the client side (the Client, their Salesperson or their Coordinator) is assigned to the Project Leader instead.

IMPORTANT: Secondary Clients require an assigned Client, so an Internal Project cannot have Secondary Clients. To add Secondary Clients, choose a primary Client first.

How do I find my Internal Projects?

In the Projects list and the Archived Projects list, an Internal Project shows an Internal tag where the Client name would normally appear. The same tag appears next to the Project's name at the top of every page inside the Project, so it is always clear which work is yours and which belongs to a Client. Only your Staff see this tag.

A Project on the Projects list showing the Internal tag

To see only one kind of Project, use the Type filter in the list's filters:

  • Internal: shows only Projects with no Client.
  • External: shows only Projects that have a Client.
  • Client Deleted: shows Projects whose Client record has since been deleted.

The Type filter open, showing the Internal, External and Client Deleted options

Sorting the list by CRM Target keeps your Internal Projects together.

TIP: The Type filter appears once your account has at least one Internal Project, or one Project whose Client was deleted, on that list. If any of your Projects lost their Client, a red warning button in the list header shows how many, and one click lists them.

What do Clients see?

Nothing. An Internal Project does not appear in any Client's Portal: not in their Projects, not in their Files, and not in their Dashboard counts. Searching by Client name never returns an Internal Project.

Inside your team, the Account Owner, and Admins or Project Managers who can view all Projects, see every Internal Project. Other Staff Members see the Internal Projects they are assigned to, directly or through a Team.

Because there is no Client, Automations that would notify or target the Client have no one to act on, so they simply do nothing. Completing the Project or one of its Phases is still recorded as usual.

How do I attach a Client to an Internal Project later?

If internal work turns into client work, you do not need to recreate the Project. Attach the Client to the same Project, and you are asked first what that Client should be able to see from the work that is already there.

  1. Open the Internal Project and edit it.
  2. Choose the Client in the Client field.
  3. Save the Project. If the Project already holds content a Client could see, the Project is not saved yet. Instead, the form shows a Choose What This Client Gets box at the top.
  4. Review what is already in the Project. The box tells you that the Client will see the Project name and description, and lists everything else with a count.
  5. Tick the items you want to hand over and leave the rest unticked. Every box starts unticked.
  6. Save again. Nothing is shared until you do.

The Choose What This Client Gets box with the Hand Over the Phases option and its count

The box only lists the kinds of content the Project actually holds:

  • Hand Over the Files in the Client Area: the Project's Files outside the staff-only area and its admin folders.
  • Hand Over the Shared Notes: Notes shared with that Client or made public on the Project.
  • Hand Over the Tasks the Client Can See: Tasks the Client follows or is assigned to, or every Task when the Project shows all Tasks to everyone.
  • Hand Over the Phases: the Project's Phases.

When there are any, the box also shows how many Client Talk conversations will become visible to the Client. Client Talk conversations cannot be kept hidden.

For example, you scope a Project while a Proposal is out and add fourteen Notes and nine Files. When the Client signs, you attach them, leave the Notes and Files unticked, and save. The Client sees the Project and everything you add from that point forward, but none of your earlier planning.

If the Project has nothing a Client could see yet, the Client is attached in one step, with no box.

TIP: Anything you do not hand over stays hidden from the Client. To share one of those items later, add it to the Project again. If a teammate changes the Project while the box is open, the save stops, shows the new counts and asks you to check them and save again.

IMPORTANT: Once a Project has a Client, the Client cannot be removed and the Project cannot go back to being Internal. You can choose a different Client instead. When you do, any Tasks in this Project assigned to the previous Client move to the Project Leader, and the previous Client loses access to the Project.

What can't an Internal Project do?

A few things genuinely need a Client, so they are not available on an Internal Project:

  • Invoicing: Tasks and time on an Internal Project cannot be invoiced, because there is no Client to bill. The Invoice actions are shown with a lock and explain why. Attach a Client to the Project first, then create the Invoice.
  • Project Generators: a Project Generator still requires a Client, because its job is to create a Project for a Contact. Create Internal Projects by hand, with a Task Template if you like.
  • Secondary Clients: these require a primary Client.

Duplicating an Internal Project creates another Internal Project.

CLICK HERE to learn about creating Projects

CLICK HERE to learn about Task Templates