Phases & Service Descriptions

Phases organize your professional services into stages. Service descriptions provide the language that flows into your generated documents. Together, they control how your work is presented to clients.

Phases

In Professional Services, you can create multiple Phases — the overarching steps of your project, such as Planning, Design, Implement, and Operate. Within each phase, you arrange services to present a clear picture of how the project will be executed.

Managed Services do not use phases. Services are sequenced in whatever order you want them presented.

Setting up phases in Settings

Phases are configured at Settings > Governance > Phases. The list shows your account’s default phase structure that all new projects start with.

On this screen: You will see a list of your account’s phases in their current order under Settings > Governance > Phases. Each phase appears as a row with the phase name and controls to reorder, edit, or delete it. A button at the top lets you create a new phase. The list reflects the default phase structure that all new projects start with.

You can create, reorder, and delete phases here. Drag the handle on each row to reorder.

Per-project phases

Phases can be customized on a project-by-project basis. When you create a new project, the platform copies the current phase structure from Settings as a baseline. You can then add or remove phases on the project without affecting your account defaults.

To add a phase to a project, click the Add Phase button at the top of the Professional Services editor.

On this screen: The top of the Professional Services editor shows the row of action buttons. For users with the appropriate permission and while the project is in building status, an Add Phase button appears alongside the other action buttons. Clicking it opens a modal that prompts you to name the new phase, which is then added to the project’s phase list.

Changes made to phases in Settings do not retroactively apply to existing projects.

Service Descriptions

For each service, you can write a Service Description that explains what the service covers. This content flows into your generated documents through merge tags.

On the Service Language tab in the project services editor, a dropdown labeled “Show / edit content for:” lets you switch between Service Description and any additional language fields configured for your account.

On this screen: In the Service Language tab of the project services editor, you will see a dropdown at the top labeled “Show / edit content for:” set to Service Description. Below it, the services table shows each service name in the left column and a rich text editing area in the right column. The editor supports markdown formatting with a toolbar for bold, bullet lists, and other common options. A tooltip (info icon) next to the column header explains that this content will appear in generated documents and links to help documentation on using merge fields.

The editor supports bold, bullet points, and other common formatting. Keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+B (or Cmd+B on Mac) work as expected.

Language Fields

Beyond Service Description, your account can have additional Language Fields — custom text containers that appear in generated documents. Common examples include “Assumptions,” “Deliverables,” or “Out of Scope.” These are configured in Settings > Content > Language Fields (see Language Fields).

On the Service Language tab, use the dropdown to switch between fields. Each service and subservice can have its own content for each language field.

Merge fields in descriptions

Service Descriptions and Language Fields support dynamic merge fields that pull project-specific data at document generation time. Wrap the field name in double curly braces:

\{\{client_name\}\}
\{\{service_name\}\}
\{\{subservice_name\}\}
\{\{quantity\}\}
\{\{extended_hours\}\}
\{\{business_unit_name\}\}
\{\{service_location_name\}\}

For the full list of available merge fields, see the Content Editor overview.

Pre-defining language in Settings

When creating standard services in Settings, you can pre-define the Service Description and Language Field content on the Service Language tab. This content is copied into any project that uses the standard service. See Creating Standard PS for details.

Permissions

Two permissions under Settings > Roles control access:

• Service Descriptions (projects.sow_language): Controls whether a user can view or edit the service description and language fields for services on a project.
• Project Phases (projects.project_phases): Controls whether a user can create, reorder, and delete phases within a project.