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To create a project, you’ll need to define the scope, assign primary files to each report in the project, set timeline dates, and add users who will work on the reports. After the project is created, you’ll be able to use the project and report dashboards to view status and progress all in a single place in the Workiva platform.

Requirements

• Your workspace must have the Multi-Entity Reporting (MER) Advanced, Fund Reporting Suite, or Insurance Suite solution enabled.
• You must be a Workspace Owner, Content Manager, or have the appropriate MER feature-specific role that aggregates Workspace Owner or Content Manager abilities (recommended) to create a project.
• The entities and their reporting obligations must already exist in Business Data at the organization level.
• Entities must be activated, added to your workspace, added to a reporting obligation, and have an operating status as Operating in Business Data.

Start creating a project

Go to Projects in the left navigation. If you don’t have any projects yet, you’ll be taken directly to the welcome screen. Otherwise, you’ll see a list of existing projects, and then you can select Create project in the top right. From there, you can scope the project in one of two ways: start from a suggested project, or define the scope yourself by building a custom project.

Note: When scoping a project, only the entities that have been activated, added to your workspace, added to a reporting obligation, and have an operating status as Operating in Business Data at the organization level will be available to add to the project scope.

Start from a suggested project

On the Suggested projects tab, we suggest projects by grouping related entities together based on characteristics pulled from Business Data at the organization level.

1. Select a suggested project. Each one shows the suggested project name and how many entities it includes. You’ll be able to review and make adjustments to the entity selection in the next step.
2. Click Next.

Build a custom project

If no suggested projects fit your needs, or if suggested projects aren’t available for your workspace, you can define the project scope yourself on the Custom project tab.

1. Select the Reporting obligation that this project will cover. Only the reporting obligations that are already associated with at least one entity in Business Data at the organization level will appear here.

   Note: A project can only group together the entities that are part of the same reporting obligation and reporting period.

2. You can also narrow down the list of reporting obligations by selecting a Jurisdiction or Category.
3. Click Next.

Scope the project

1. Review the suggested Project name and edit if needed. Project names must be unique within the workspace.
2. Set the reporting period Year. Depending on the obligation’s cadence, you may also see a Half, Quarter, or Month selector.

3. Review the list of entities linked to the obligation. Use the checkboxes to include or exclude individual entities from the project.

   Note: We’ll create one report for each entity that you include.

4. Click Next.

Note: An entity can only be included in one project for a specific reporting obligation plus reporting period. An entity can only be a part of multiple projects if each of those projects is for a different reporting obligation, or if each of those projects is for the same reporting obligation but for different reporting periods.

Assign primary files

It is recommended that each entity report is assigned one primary file – the main deliverable for the entity’s reporting obligation. If you don’t have the primary files yet, you can skip this step and assign them later.

1. For each entity listed, select its primary file.

   Note: A file can only be the primary file for one report across all projects in the workspace – you won’t be able to select files that are already used as a primary file elsewhere. A file also can’t be both the primary file and an additional file for the same report at the same time.

2. Click Next.

Add additional files

Add supporting files, such as a data spreadsheet or process, to each entity report. This step is optional and can be updated later.

Selecting a folder in the file picker associates the files inside it at that moment. The folder itself isn’t attached to the report, so files added to or removed from the folder afterward won’t be reflected automatically.

1. Next to an entity, click Add to open the file picker. You can add documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and processes as additional files.
2. To review or remove files you’ve added, click the file count dropdown next to the entity (for example, 3 files) to expand the list of additional files. Click the X next to a file to remove it.
3. Click Next.

Note: If you select a folder in the file picker, only the files currently inside that folder will be associated with the entity report – the folder itself isn’t associated with the report. This means that files that are later added to or removed from the folder will not affect what’s associated with the report.

Set the reporting timeline

Set the work period and filing deadline for the entity reports in your project. We suggest default dates based on the data found in Business Data, but you can review and adjust them as needed.

Apply one timeline to all reports

If All reports is selected in the toggle at the top of the step, then you can apply one set of dates to every report in the project. Use this when your entities share the same work schedule and deadlines.

1. Select All reports in the toggle at the top of the step.
2. Set the Start date and End date for the work period.
3. Set the Filing deadline – the regulatory submission deadline for the reports.
4. Click Next.

Set timelines per report

If Per report is selected in the toggle at the top of the step, then you can apply different sets of dates to each report in the project. Use this when your entities have different work schedules and deadlines.

1. Select Per report in the toggle at the top of the step.
2. For each report, set the Filing deadline, Start date, and End date individually.
3. Click Next.

Add users

Assign a report manager and users to each entity report. Adding a report manager to each report is required, but you can assign other users later.

Note: See Understanding project and report permissions to learn more about the different report-level permissions.

• For each report, assign the Report manager to the user who will be responsible for that report. The report manager is the primary point of contact for that report and gets full access to the report and its files.
• Select Add users next to a report to assign other users and their permissions.
• To assign the same report manager or users to multiple reports at once, select the checkboxes next to those reports. A bulk actions bar will appear with options to change the report manager or add users to all the selected reports at once.
• Click Create project.

Once the project is created, you’ll be taken to the project dashboard, where you can see an overview of all reports and their status.

Things to know

Save your project as a draft

We save your progress automatically while you work through the project setup. If you need to stop, close out the project tab and select either Save as draft or Discard draft in the modal.

To resume or delete a saved draft, select Project drafts on the Projects main screen. Select a draft and choose Next to pick up where you left off, or select Delete to permanently remove it.

What you can edit after creating a project

After a project is created, some fields can be updated while others can’t.

Project level:

• Only users with Project manager or Own project and reports permissions to a project can edit that project’s name and user permissions.
• The associated entities, reporting obligation, and reporting obligation details sourced from Business Data can’t be changed. (Reporting obligation details sourced from Business Data can only be changed in Business Data at the organization level. These latest values will then be pulled when you create a new project.)

Report level:

• Only users with Report manager or Own report and files permissions to a report can edit that report’s name, dates (start date, end date, and filing deadline), primary file, additional files, and assigned users and their permissions.
• The associated entity, reporting obligation, and entity details sourced from Business Data can’t be changed. (Entity details sourced from Business Data can only be changed in Business Data at the organization level. These latest values will then be pulled when you create a new project.)