Creating and Configuring a New Project in Civify

Learn how to set up a new infrastructure project within the Civify platform. This guide covers essential steps including defining project timelines, managing stages, adding technical details, and utilizing content templates to ensure effective project communication.

James Reitz
59 steps
6 minutes

Project Creation

Click Projects in the sidebar

Click New project

Alternatively, Select Project from the quick-create menu

Fill in basic project details.

Select Project Type. These types are configurable per account under Organization Settings.

Select the lifecycle phase. These types are configurable per account under Organization Settings.

Select a relevant project checklist. Checklists are configurable per user/department/organization in the left sidebar.

Select the Department. This is critical for proper visibility filtering.

Scroll to the project location section

Project Types, Lifecycle Phases, Funding Sources, Departments dropdowns are managed by organization admins in the Organization tab. These are custom values you can set for your account.

Location and Dates

Project locations can be set by a map pin/line/area or they can be set by address. When inputting multiple pieces of geometry, the set project location will be the centroid of all of the geometry. Tip! The location set here is what will be used to sort projects by proximity on the resident portal. The set location is the centroid defined as: **Point** The point itself **Polyline** Average of all vertices **Polygon** Average of outer-ring vertices (simple mean, not a true area centroid) If there are **[[multiple]]** features (points + lines + polygons), it averages **[[each feature’s centroid equally]]**, then stores that one average as the project lat/long.

Select the LineString map tool

Draw the project area on the map. Double click to end a line.

Enter the location information. Locations can be input as street segments, intersections, bounds, or subdivision. This information is primarily for project management/tracking purposes in the app.

Multiple locations can be added

Continue filling in project details as needed

Assigning Users

Team Members are users who have access to the project. Specific permissions are set under user permissions. The project will show users in the department by default.

Select a project team member

Set a project lead. The LEAD user is who will be assigned feedback submissions.

Click Create project

Project Management

From the Projects Screen, choose the project you want to manage

This label "Internal Project" indicates that it has not yet been setup for the resident portal.

This section shows basic project information

This button quickly advances the project phase. It can also be changed with the Change Phase button.

Click Edit to change project details

Click Export to download a export file of the project information

Once a project is deleted it is unrecoverable. Make sure to download a export file before deleting.

The Overview Tab shows basic project details.

The Timeline Tab shows progress of the project.

The progress bar uses the checklist to calculate progress toward completion.

The Collaboration Tab is a place to log internal project communication. To message a user, type @ followed by their name. Multiple users can be included in the message.

Collaboration messages export with the project export file. Messages that are done in the collaboration tab on the left side bar without a project assignment are deleted after 60 days.

The Activity Tab is a log of changes that were made to the project

The Checklist Tab can be used to track items needed for a project

Project Routings can be managed from this tab. Note: Routings is an add-on module.

Project Restrictions can be managed from this tab. Note: Road Restrictions is an add-on module.

Design Review can be managed from this tab. Note: Design Reviews is part of an add-on module called Enhanced Project Management Tools.

Daily Reports can be managed from this tab. Note: Daily Reports is part of an add-on module called Enhanced Project Management Tools.

Click here

Resident Portal Setup

Projects open up for internal management to start. To begin configuring to be public facing, you must click the Advance to Public Facing button to open up the resident portal management tabs.

Before the project will display on the Resident Portal, both of these toggles must be turned on.

The project link can be customized here

Upload an image for the resident portal card

This preview shows what the card will look like on the resident portal.

Enter cover image alt text

You are responsible for ensuring your content meets ADA requirement. Alt text is used by screen readers for the vision impaired to understand the content on the page.

The start & end dates & times can be configured. This sets resident portal visibility.

Continue filling in project details for public display. Contractors are set under Organization Settings.

This schedule is shown on the project card. We recommend keeping it somewhat vague so the public isn't misled.

The Summary is auto populated from the project details. This content will appear on the resident portal preview card.

A Keyword can be input for the project. Learn more on the SMS Keyword article. Basically, when a resident texts this word to your phone number, they're sent a link to the project.

Feedback forms can be turned on/off throughout a project.

Open the Configure Forms box to set which forms are available for a project. By default, just General Comment is enabled. Learn more on the Feedback articles.

Remember to hit Save

Page Content Creation

There are 3 ways to create page content. 1) the basic text editor 2) Content Builder - a "Wix website" style creation 3) out ChatGPT tool

To setup the page content, navigate to the Portal Page tab.

The Text Editor is the quickest way to create content - but it is also the least appealing.

Use this hyperlink to access our ChatGPT model for creating portal content

The AI tool walks you through content creation with various prompts along the way

When finished you must Save the portal content

Media and Resources

Open the Upload resource dialog

The Project Team set above feeds into the Contacts tab of the Resident Portal to act as virtual business cards for the public to view

Use the Gallery tab to upload pictures throughout the course of the project

Don't forget to fill out Alt Text and then click save.

Resources display on the Resident Portal. These are documents for the resident to view. We recommend uploading things like Plans, Renderings, FAQ / Q&A guides, etc.

Upload the document and don't forget that your documents are supposed to be ADA accessible as well. Click save to finish.

The Residents tab will show you residents who are subscribed to updates on this project. Don't forget that some people may be subscribed to "All Projects".

The Resident Alerts tab will show any notifications that were sent on the project. Depending on the User permissions you have, you may see only the ones you sent or any that belong to the project.

Creating and Configuring a New Project in Civify

James Reitz
59 steps
6 minutes