This article serves as an onboarding guide and checklist for new Next Project customers, covering the essential steps required to get the system up and running. It walks readers through initial setup tasks including admin configuration, user management, accounting software integration, and populating key registers, as well as how to customize Next Project to fit their business needs.

Welcome to Next!

This article is your guide and checklist as a new customer. Here you'll find everything you need to get Next Project up and running with the essential settings. Follow the steps below and use the recommended documentation — you'll be working in Next in no time!

Start by logging in to Next Project using the login details you received from us.

Step 1: Activation and basic Admin settings

Next Project

1. Check and complete your company information in Admin → Settings → Office/Company.
2. Upload your logo so it appears on invoices and reports. You can do this in Admin → Settings → Office/Company. Your logo file can be in jpg, png, or gif format. If the file is too large, you may need to compress it first.
3. Add any additional users who will be working on the startup in Admin → Users/Permissions → Users. You can find instructions on how to do this HERE.

Integration — Next Project and your accounting software

Activate the integration between Next and your accounting software, then perform the initial imports of your customer and supplier records as well as your chart of accounts. These records are needed for the next steps in this guide.

Please contact us for instructions specific to your accounting software.

Registers and settings

Next, you'll want to enter your company's basic information in Next Project. By basic information, we mean everything needed for the right people to log in and for you to have the right conditions to run your projects. Because there are dependencies between different registers, we recommend entering your basic information in the following order:

• Customer records
• Chart of accounts
• Supplier register
• Hourly rates
• Price lists
• Supplemental wages
• Absences
• Users
• Payment terms
• Projects

Step 2: Customise Next for your business

Once you've imported all the basic information and activated the integration following the steps above, it's time to personalise Next with the options and settings that work best for you.

The project tree

Your project list lives in the menu on the left, and you can customise how projects are mapped in the project tree to suit your needs. The main goal is to make it easy for you to find your projects — and it's also a great opportunity for follow-up at the folder level.

💡 Tips! Some common ways to build your project/folder structure are:

• Project managers: Name folders after project managers and place the projects they're responsible for underneath. This doesn't automatically control access, but it is possible to restrict access at the folder level so project managers only see their own projects.
• Location: If your organisation is geographically dispersed, you can build a folder structure by location or region.
• Clients: If you have a few major clients, their projects can each be placed under their own dedicated folder.

Follow-up criteria

Next Project gives you many different ways to follow up on your projects. Most of the criteria are found on the project card and can be changed if the suggested options don't apply to you. When every project is tagged with information in these fields, you'll have plenty of opportunity to compile statistics in the Project overview module!

• Form of compensation
• Project type
• Project category
• Type of assignment

Status

Statuses can be found on projects, work orders, variation orders, deviations, and invoices. In some cases they're used purely for follow-up and control, but in others they serve additional functions. You can find statuses under Admin → Settings → Statuses.

If you'd like to add more statuses, keep the following in mind:

• The status code must be unique.
• Choose a color by typing its name in English or by using a six-digit color code (#000000). You can find color examples here: HTML color codes.

Project status

• Statuses with code 40 and above are sent to your accounting software, meaning costs and revenues can be booked on the project.
• Statuses with code 90 close a project in both Next and your accounting software. The project end date is also sent to the accounting software.
• Statuses with codes 39–89 are displayed in Next Mobile and are open for time reporting by mobile users. This range is customisable — contact us if you'd like to adjust it!

Work order / Variation order status

• All work order and variation order statuses are visible in Next Mobile if the project they belong to is visible in Next Mobile.
• If you export work/variation orders to your accounting software, all work/variation orders will be exported if the project they belong to is exported.

💡 Tips and good to know!

• Status changes are managed manually.
• It's recommended that Project status is only modified by Webapp users.
• Work order status can be changed by both Webapp and Mobile users. If your business handles a lot of service orders, a good practice is to let the responsible contractor mark the work order as completed.