Documentation/ Purchase orders and projects/ Creating projects from existing data
Creating projects from suppliers, recipients or companies
Where each project matches a supplier, a client or a company already in the system, there is no need to type them: they are generated in bulk. The trading name becomes the project's name and the tax number becomes the description.
Management › Projects › Create from…
On this page
The sources available
| Source | When it makes sense |
|---|---|
| Supplier | To analyse spend by supplier as though it were a project. |
| Recipient | To classify by the client being invoiced. |
| Companies | To separate by entity when you keep several. |
| Manual | Projects created by hand, with no source. |
The clearest case is an accountancy practice: the clients you handle are already on the system, and turning them into projects in one go saves dozens of records created by hand.
How to use it
- Press Create from… on the projects screen.
- Choose the source in the drop-down.
- Find the records with the search box, which searches by name or tax number.
- Tick the ones you want converted.
- Press Create selected, or Create all.
The dialogue sums it up as it opens: choose the source and tick the rows you want turned into projects.
What turns into what
| From the source record | Becomes |
|---|---|
| Trading name | The project's name |
| Tax number | The project's description |
The project is also marked with its origin, visible in that column on the list, and linked to the record it came from.
A row with no name cannot be converted. The application flags it and discards it: with no name the project cannot be created, so that row is dropped.
Create selected or create all
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create selected | Converts only the ticked rows. It says how many. |
| Create all | Converts every record in the source, including the ones not on screen. |
Create all asks you to confirm and states the scope: up to so many projects will be created from that source, and whatever has already been imported will be left as it is.
Bulk creation may not be available on every account. Where it is not, the application says so and offers the alternative: select the records one at a time.
When there are a lot of records
The dialogue's list does not always show everything. When there is more than fits, it warns you that it is showing some of the records, that the search box will find the rest, and that Create all includes them all.
An important detail: ticking every visible row is not the same as creating all. If the aim is to convert the whole source, the right button is create all.
The result
At the end, the summary breaks down what happened:
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Projects created | The new ones that went in. |
| Already imported | Records that already had a project. Neither touched nor duplicated. |
| Discarded, details incomplete | Rows with no name, with the detail of which. |
If none is created, the message explains why rather than leaving you in silence: either the records were already imported, or there was nothing valid.
Running it again
The operation is safe to repeat: records that already have a project are left as they are. Which lets you run it again whenever new suppliers or clients are added, with no fear of duplicating what went before.
It is the routine to recommend for an accountancy practice: as new clients come on, run the creation from the relevant source again.
Things that come up
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| No project was created | The records were already imported. | That is correct: the summary says how many already existed. |
| Projects you expected are missing | Only the visible rows were ticked and the list was truncated. | Use Create all, which includes the ones not shown. |
| It says bulk creation is not available | The account does not have it enabled. | Create the projects by selecting records one at a time. |
| Some rows were discarded | They had no trading name. | Fill the name in on their record and run it again. |
| The link was not saved | Another project was already linked to that record. | Unlink the other project and try again. |