Project Management¶
MatStream includes project management as a built-in solution — Projects with Milestones, Tasks, People, and Documents, all built on the same entity and category model as the rest of the platform. Unlike PLM (which manages a single part's lifecycle), Project Management manages the initiative that wraps many parts, deliverables, and dates together.
What is project management in MatStream?¶
A Project is a folder category with the special Project behavior. Anything created underneath a project — parts, tasks, milestones, sub-folders — can always be traced back up to the project it belongs to. This is what lets features like backward scheduling (planned for a future release) work: MatStream can walk from any item up to its owning project automatically, without you having to tag things by hand.
What MatStream manages in a project context¶
Projects¶
The Project category (seeded by the Setup Wizard) carries:
| Property | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Title | The project's name |
| Description | Free-text summary |
| PO Number / SO Number | Purchase and sales order references |
| Shipping Address | Where deliverables ship to |
| Client | A link to a Company entity |
Projects follow their own lifecycle: In Preparation → Work in
Progress → On Hold → Closed / Cancelled, and are numbered
automatically via a numbering scheme (e.g. PR.2026.000042).
Milestones¶
Milestones are dated checkpoints on a project — "Design Freeze", "Delivery" — each with a responsible owner and a status (Planned, At Risk, Reached, or Missed). See Tasks — Milestones for the full detail.
Tasks¶
Standard work items — due dates, assignees, status — tracked against the project the same way tasks attach to any other entity. See Tasks.
People and Documents¶
- The People tab links Company and Person contacts to the project — who's involved, who to call.
- The Documents tab holds project-related files — quotes, specifications, correspondence — separate from engineering drawings attached to individual parts.
Setting up project management¶
The fastest way to get a working Project setup is the Setup Wizard:
- Open the workspace in MatStream Manage and go to Setup.
- Check Engineering Project → Engineering Project Configuration.
- Leave Engineering Project Sample Data checked to seed a worked example (a sample project with milestones, tasks and a real piping BOM already in place), or uncheck it for the configuration only.
- Apply.
See Workspace setup for the full wizard walkthrough.
Who uses MatStream in a project context?¶
| Role | How they use MatStream |
|---|---|
| Project manager | Creates the project, sets milestones, tracks task progress |
| Team member | Completes assigned tasks, updates status |
| Sales / commercial | Maintains PO/SO numbers, shipping details, and the linked Client |
| Administrator | Configures the Project category, lifecycle, and numbering scheme |
Getting started with project management¶
- Run the Setup Wizard — check Engineering Project → Engineering Project Configuration (leave Engineering Project Sample Data checked if you want a worked example).
- Create your first project — give it a Title, PO/SO numbers, and a Client. The Company library that Client points at is set up for you as part of the same option.
- Add milestones and tasks — use the Milestones and Tasks tabs on the project to track what needs to happen and by when.
Next steps¶
- Workspace setup — the Setup Wizard and what the Engineering Project configuration seeds
- Tasks — Tasks and Milestones in detail
- Categories — how the Project category and its behavior work under the hood
- PLM — managing the parts and assemblies a project might deliver