Projects Overview

The Projects module is where your rental business comes together. In NexusRMS, a project is a booking — it brings clients, equipment, crew, transport, and financials into a single workspace. Whether you are quoting a corporate conference, managing a multi-stage festival, or scheduling a recurring weekly hire, every job flows through the Projects module.

Accessing the Projects module

To open the Projects module, click Projects in the left-hand sidebar. The menu expands to reveal the following pages:

• Projects List — Browse all projects in table, grid, kanban, or calendar view with search, filters, and bulk actions
• Create Project — Launch the two-tab creation wizard to start a new project from scratch or from a template

All users with project permissions can view the Projects section. Creating, editing, and deleting projects requires the appropriate role permissions configured under Configuration > Users & Roles.

Project types

NexusRMS supports three types of project:

• Standard project — A standalone booking with its own equipment, crew, and financial records. This is the most common type and is suitable for one-off jobs such as a wedding, corporate event, or dry hire.
• Parent project with sub-projects — A container project that groups multiple related bookings under one roof. Each sub-project has its own equipment, crew, and transport allocations, but costs roll up to the parent for a single quote and invoice. The client is inherited from the parent and cannot be overridden on sub-projects. Ideal for multi-stage events such as festivals, exhibition builds, or venue installations with distinct areas.
• Recurring project — A project that repeats on a defined recurrence rule. NexusRMS generates individual occurrences from the recurring parent, each of which can be adjusted independently. The recurring parent stores the recurrence rule, and you can optionally enable auto-confirm and auto-generate invoices for each occurrence. Perfect for regular weekly hires, standing orders, or seasonal contracts.

Project statuses

Every project moves through a lifecycle represented by nine status states. The current status determines what actions are available and how the project appears on dashboards and reports.

1. Inquiry (purple) — An initial enquiry or lead has been received but no quote has been sent
2. Quote (blue) — A formal quote has been generated and sent to the client for review
3. Confirmed (green) — The client has accepted the quote and the booking is locked in
4. Prepped (blue) — Equipment has been prepared and packed in the warehouse ready for dispatch
5. Out of Warehouse (orange) — Equipment has left the warehouse and is in transit to the venue
6. In Progress (yellow) — The event or hire period is currently active on site
7. Returned (teal) — Equipment has been returned to the warehouse and is awaiting check-in
8. Completed (grey) — All equipment has been checked in, financials are settled, and the project is closed
9. Cancelled (red) — The project has been cancelled and equipment allocations are released automatically

Warehouse statuses

In addition to the project status, NexusRMS tracks a separate warehouse status that follows the equipment preparation workflow. The eight warehouse statuses are:

1. Pending — Equipment requirements have been listed but no warehouse action has begun
2. Confirmed — Equipment allocations have been confirmed and stock reserved
3. Prepped — Items have been picked, tested, and packed ready for dispatch
4. Dispatched — Equipment has left the warehouse and is in transit
5. On Location — Equipment has arrived at the venue or client site
6. Expected Back — Equipment is due to return to the warehouse
7. Delayed — The return has been delayed beyond the expected date
8. Returned — All equipment has been received back at the warehouse

Key terminology

The following terms are used throughout the Projects module:

• Project number — An auto-generated unique identifier in the format PROJ-YYYY-NNNN (e.g., PROJ-2025-0001). Assigned on creation and cannot be changed afterwards.
• Sub-project — A child booking within a parent project. Has its own equipment, crew, and transport but inherits the client from the parent. Costs roll up to the parent for a single invoice. Sub-projects cannot have their own quotes or invoices.
• Time period — A defined block of time within a project such as build, rehearsal, show, or teardown. Time periods support parent/child hierarchy and each period can have its own billable status, rental multiplier, and crew schedules.
• Priority — A classification indicating urgency: Low, Normal (default), High, or Urgent.
• Geofencing — Projects can optionally enable a GPS geofence around the venue. When enabled, crew time-clock check-ins are verified against the geofence radius to confirm the crew member is physically on site.

How projects connect to other modules

Projects sit at the centre of NexusRMS, linking to every major module:

• Equipment — Equipment is allocated to projects with quantity, pricing, and date tracking. Real-time availability checks prevent double-booking across projects.
• Crew — Crew members are assigned to projects with job roles, schedules, and rates. The GPS time clock records check-in and check-out timestamps verified against the project venue.
• Transport — Transport trips are planned per project, linking vehicles, drivers, and routes to move equipment between warehouse and venue.
• Financial — Quotes, invoices, and credit notes are generated from the project’s equipment, crew, and additional costs. Sub-project costs roll up to the parent project.
• Warehouse — The warehouse workflow tracks equipment through prep, dispatch, and return. Barcode and QR scanning records check-out and check-in against the project.

Tips for getting started

• Configure project settings first — Visit Configuration > Project Settings to set your default status, numbering preferences, factor groups, and time period templates before creating your first project.
• Start with a simple standard project — Create a straightforward booking to familiarise yourself with the workflow before moving on to sub-projects or recurring schedules.
• Add your clients before creating projects — Having your client database populated makes project creation faster because you can select the client and contact person directly from the autocomplete fields.
• Use templates for repeated setups — If you frequently deliver the same type of event, save a completed project as a template. New projects created from the template inherit equipment, crew roles, time periods, and settings automatically.
• Track status consistently — Moving projects through their status lifecycle keeps your dashboards, reports, and warehouse workflows accurate. Encourage your team to update both project and warehouse statuses as they happen.

Next steps

Continue to the next article to learn about the Projects List page, where you will browse your projects across four view modes, apply filters, use quick view, and perform bulk operations.