Phases are defined in the PHASES tab of your proposal, and in turn WBS elements and line items are linked to each Phase.

1. Click the + button to add a new phase or the - button to delete phase. If you delete a phase it will be removed from any WBS elements or priced line items referring to that phase. Click the copy button to copy a phase which in turn:
   • Copies any and all WBS or project structure elements assigned to that phase
   • Copies any and all labor, material, travel or other direct cost estimates assigned to that phase
   • (Line items and/or proposal-specific bills of material are not copied)
2. Enter the description of each phase, briefly
3. Optionally specify the start and end dates for each phase, keeping within the overall program start and end dates defined in the SETUP tab.  Dates for WBS elements and priced line items associated with this phase should be within the start/end dates defined here and rescheduling a project will push all phases, WBS elements and their estimates based on the period of performance
   • We are working on an enhancement to reschedule just the documents (WBS, estimates, line items) associated with one phase allowing you to edit the start/end dates of a single phase and reschedule. This enhancement is not in place so currently you must adjust the WBS and cost estimate dates manually if you are only editing the dates for one phase
4. If desired, select a contract type. Contract type for the whole proposal can be selected in the CLIENT tab
5. If the entire phase (all priced line items associated) is optional, for example your customer asked you to give an option for extended support or larger quantities, then check the "option" box. All priced line items and their indentured part configurations associated with an optional phase are thus considered as options and will be costed independently of the non-optional items
6. The total cost of all estimates for the WBS elements assigned to this phase or the total cost and revenue of all line items assigned to this phase are shown next in either the company or customer currency
7. Clicking on the WBS icon for any phase will jump to the WBS tab only showing those WBS elements linked to this phase. WBS elements below an element associated with another phase will be hidden
   • Clicking on the Deliverables icon jumps to the priced line item tab showing contract line items (CLINs) associated with this phase
   • Once you reach the WBS or priced line item tabs, use the phase selector in the top right corner to change or clear the phase filter
8. Click on the speech bubble to enter some phase-wide remarks, and on the pencil edit icon to edit phase details in a popup panel
9. Owner column is hidden from the view above but if displayed, allows you to select a phase owner
   • Other columns hidden in the view above include the independent assessment or a third party outside view of the cost, the target price to win, the estimated cost including weighted risk values or risk reserve, and the % or total value of G&A indirect costs for this specific proposal or project which can be absorbed into the company's business plan as 'sunk cost' and therefore which may be excluded from certain margin analysis reports
10. Phases can be sorted by sequence number (the default) or by some other column. Phase sequence numbers are automatically derived but can be edited in the phase popup or better by dragging rows for each phase up and down the list of phases. If you click and drag a row up or down the phase sequence numbers are re-assigned from 1...n top-down automatically
11. Click on the edit pencil icon to open the phase details popup, shown below. The image bubble numbers refer to the same list of fields above and the same cross-references to the number list above
    • You can also upload or download phases from/to Excel
12. The BOE or 'basis of estimate' column links the phase to your estimates. In this column you can either:
    • Click the 'Create' button which creates a new estimate by creating an assigning a level 1 WBS of type 'basis of estimate' which means that the phase's WBS now has an estimate assigned. Technically speaking, estimates are assigned to WBS elements not to phases so this option makes sense when you have your level 1 of the project work-breakdown structure representing the actual phases on a 1:1 basis
    • Click the 'Open' button if there are WBS elements in your project structure which are already BOE's and have estimates. If more than one WBS assigned to this phase has an estimate the estimate for the first WBS assigned to this phase which happens to be a BOE is opened
    • If the phase has WBS elements assigned which cannot possibly become an estimate because there are estimating WBS elements defined above or below those WBS, then this column is blank.

The bubbles in the screen shot above link to the same numbers in the text from both images.

Phases are unique in that they cut across your work and cost breakdown (WBS) and priced line items thus giving you a view of costs, revenues, risk-adjusted margins and cashflows by project phase.