customization - project groups

Overview

Project Groups allow multiple projects of the same type to be connected and share specific data across them. It eliminates data duplication across related projects and reduces operational overhead.

Project Groups designate one Primary Project and one or more Secondary Projects. Records created in the Primary Project automatically propagate to the Secondary Projects based on the object configuration. 

To ensure consistent configuration and to avoid conflicting behaviors across groups, Admins can control:

• The availability of Project Groups by the project type.
• Define propagation behavior strictly at the object level.
• Remove Secondary Projects or delete groups entirely.
• Manually link records from the Primary Project.
• Create local unlinked records.
• Delete shared records across the group.

Prerequisites

• Existing Project Types configured in Neostella.
• Existing Objects configured in the platform, including Shareable Objects.

Required Permissions

• Admin Permissions to Control Center to create, manage, and edit Project Groups and their associated records.

How to enable Project Groups by Project Type

Follow the steps below to enable Project Groups by their type:

1. Open Control Center.
2. Navigate to Schema and select Data.
3. Select the Project object to open the configuration menu.
4. Open the Types tab.
5. Select the desired Project Type from the list.
6. Toggle Available in Project Groups to the active position to enable the feature, or toggle it off to restrict access.
7. Click Save.

How to configure Shareable Objects

To configure individual objects for either sharing records across projects and  determining  manual or automatic records propagation, follow these steps:

1. Open Control Center.
2. Navigate to Schema and select Data.
3. Select the Object to configure from the grid.
4. Open the Settings tab.
5. Under the Context section, first select the project context, then select the specific project types to link to the object.
6. Locate the Availability & Sharing section.
7. Enable the Shareable toggle to allow the object to be shared across Project Groups.
8. Configure the automatic sharing behavior based on the restriction settings of the object:
   • Single-Record Objects: If Restrict to one per "Project" is active, the system automatically shares records across projects in a Project Group.
   • Multi-Record Objects: If Restrict to one per "Project" is inactive, the user must enable  Share by default to automatically share records across projects in a Project Group. If the Share by default toggle is inactive, the user must manually select and share records one by one.
9. Click Save.

How to create a Project Group from a Specific Project

Use this method to inherit the Project Type automatically from the current project.

1. Navigate to Cases and select Projects.
2. Open the ALL PROJECTS tab and select the target project you want to use to create a Project Group.
3. Click the Add to a Group icon in the top right corner of the project header and select Create Project Group.
4. In the New Project Group form, enter a Name and an optional Description.
5. Use the search field to find and select the Secondary Projects under the Projects section, which will be receiving information from the Primary Project.
6. The current project in which the creation was initiated is automatically designated as the Primary Project by default. To change this, click MAKE PRIMARY next to the desired project in the list before saving.
7. In the Shareable Objects dropdown, select the objects to be shared from the Primary Project. Leaving this blank results in no objects being shared.
8. Click Save.

How to create a Project Group from the Project Groups Tab

Use this method to create a group centrally. Since the group is not initiated from an existing project, the Project Type must be defined manually.

1. Navigate to the Cases and select Projects.
2. Open the PROJECT GROUPS tab.
3. Click + PROJECT GROUP in the top right corner.
4. In the New Project Group form, enter a name and an optional description.
5. Under the Projects section, select the Project Type from the dropdown menu (e.g., Personal injury).
6. Use the Projects search field to find and select the target projects to include in the group.
7. This group is created centrally and the first project added to the list is designated as the Primary Project by default. To change this, click MAKE PRIMARY next to the desired project in the list before saving.
8. In the Shareable Objects dropdown, select the objects you want to share from the Primary Project.
9. Click Save.

How to add a Project to an existing Group

Follow the steps below to add an independent Project to an existing group and begin receiving shared records from the Primary Project.

1. Navigate to the Cases and select Projects.
2. Open the ALL PROJECTS tab.
3. Select the target Project to be added to a group.
4. Click the Group icon in the top right corner of the project header and select Add to a Group.
5. Use the search dropdown to filter and select the available Project Group.
6. Click Save.

How to manage Project Groups

View and manage all existing Project Groups from a centralized grid.

1. Navigate to Cases and select Projects.
2. Open the PROJECT GROUPS tab to view the list of configured groups, including their associated Primary Project, Project Type, and total number of Projects in the group.

Validation

To verify the configuration is successful and records are accurately propagating:

1. Navigate to Cases and select Projects.
2. Open a Secondary Project associated with an active Project Group.
3. To confirm records are shared, select the specific shared object type from the left navigation pane to view the grid.
4. Locate the existing shared records in the grid. A Shared Record icon will be displayed next to the name of any record that has propagated from the Primary Project.
5. Review the top right corner of the project header. Once a project is added to a group, the Create Project Group and Add to a Group options are replaced with a Primary Project indication where the data is shared.

Example using Project Groups

Multiple clients from the same motor vehicle accident.

Consider a motor vehicle accident involving a driver and two passengers: all three individuals are injured, and the law firm represents each of them. Although their claims arise from the same accident, each client has a separate Personal Injury Project because client-specific information, such as injuries, medical treatment, medical expenses, lost wages, damages, and settlement evaluation, must be managed independently.

At the same time, the three Projects rely on information that is common to the accident, including the incident details, police crash report, involved vehicles, third-party information, applicable insurance information, witnesses, and accident-scene evidence.

This makes the them a good candidate for a Project Group:

Primary Project → Driver

↳ Secondary Project → Passenger 1

↳ Secondary Project → Passenger 2

Instead of maintaining the same accident-related information separately in all three Projects, the firm can configure selected Objects as Shareable Objects and use the Primary Project as the source of the shared records.

For example:

When a shared record is created or updated through the Primary Project, the applicable information will be available to the Secondary Projects according to the configured sharing behavior. Client-specific records, however, remain within each individual Project.

This demonstrates the importance of Project Groups: related matters can remain separate while common information is shared across them, reducing duplication and helping the firm maintain consistent records for the same underlying event.

Limitations

• All projects within a Project Group must share the exact same Project Type.
• A project can belong to only one Project Group at a time.
• The Primary Project cannot be changed after the Project Group is created.
• Cross-group record sharing is not supported.
• Granular field-level sharing controls are not supported.

Common Issues

The option to create a Project Group does not appear in the project header.

• Likely Cause: The Project Groups feature has been disabled for the project type.
• Resolution Steps: Verify the configuration of the project type in Control Center -> Schema -> Data -> Project -> Types and ensure the Available in Project Groups toggle is active.

An object is missing from the Shareable Objects dropdown when creating a group.

• Likely Cause: The object is not configured as shareable, or the project type is not linked to the object context.
• Resolution Steps: Verify the base configuration of the object in Control Center -> Schema -> Data -> Settings. Ensure the Shareable toggle is active and the correct project types are selected under the context section.