Projects
Andreas is a program manager leading a site-wide OEE improvement initiative at a solid-dose manufacturing plant. He needs a digital obeya room where his cross-functional team — production, maintenance, quality, and engineering — can track actions, visualize KPIs, and run weekly reviews. In ProBeya, that obeya room is a project.
A project lives inside a workspace and contains one or more boards where your items (actions, deviations, CAPAs, tasks) are organized. If workspaces are your plant hierarchy, projects are the rooms where real work happens.
Creating a Project in 60 Seconds
- In the sidebar, click the + icon next to the workspace name where the project belongs.
- Name: "Line 4 OEE Improvement" — a URL slug (
line-4-oee-improvement) is auto-generated. - Description (optional): "Cross-functional program to reach 85% OEE on Line 4 by Q4 2026."
- Template (optional): pick a template for a pre-built structure, or start blank.
- Click Create Project.
ProBeya creates the project with a default board and takes you straight to the Board view. A success toast confirms.
When you select a template, ProBeya creates the project first, then applies the template — generating groups, columns, KPIs, and escalation rules. If you have built a good TIER 1 board template, creating new boards for other lines takes seconds.
Real-World Project Examples
| Project name | Workspace | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Line 3 TIER 1 Board | Sterile Fill-Finish | Daily standup board with SQCDP columns |
| OOS Investigation Tracker | QC Lab | Track out-of-specification investigations with batch numbers and root cause categories |
| 2026 Site Shutdown Plan | Engineering & Maintenance | Gantt-style timeline for a 3-week annual maintenance shutdown |
| CAPA Register | Quality | Corrective/preventive action log with SOP deadlines and effectiveness verification |
| New Hire GMP Training | Quality Assurance | Onboarding checklist for new operators with training module completion tracking |
| Deviation Management | Production | Full deviation lifecycle from report to closure with GMP classification |
Project Views
Each project supports five core views, accessible via tabs in the project header:
| View | URL pattern | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Board | /{ws}/{proj}/board | Daily standups, Kanban workflows, SQCDP reviews |
| Table | /{ws}/{proj}/table | Data-heavy tracking, bulk editing, deviation logs |
| Timeline | /{ws}/{proj}/timeline | Gantt-style planning, shutdown schedules, qualification timelines |
| Calendar | /{ws}/{proj}/calendar | Training schedules, audit calendars, planned maintenance windows |
| Visual | /{ws}/{proj}/visual | Freeform obeya walls with KPI gauges, charts, and sticky notes |
Module Tabs
Beyond the five core views, projects can have additional module tabs depending on your organization's configuration:
| Module | What it adds |
|---|---|
| KPI | Define and track Key Performance Indicators with SQCDP categories, thresholds, and alerts |
| Actions | Manage corrective and preventive actions with ownership, deadlines, and escalation rules |
| Forms | Create structured forms that feed submissions into the board as new items |
| Audits | Run compliance audits against GxP and GAMP 5 requirements |
| Checklists | Define and execute structured checklists for routines and inspections |
| Gemba | Conduct gemba walks with observation tracking and action generation |
| DCM | Document Control Management for regulated environments |
These modules share the same data layer (items, columns, values) and extend the project with specialized workflows.
Project Settings
Click the gear icon next to the project name:
- General — name, description, icon, and color
- Default View — which view opens when someone navigates to this project. Set this to the view your team uses most (Board for standup teams, Table for data-heavy workflows).
- Members — override workspace-level permissions for this specific project
- Notifications — project-specific notification preferences
- Archive — archive the project to hide it from the sidebar without deleting data
- Delete — permanently remove the project, all boards, all items, and all associated data
When to Use Multiple Boards
Most projects need a single board. But complex programs sometimes benefit from multiple boards within the same project:
| Scenario | Board structure |
|---|---|
| Simple TIER 1 standup | One board with SQCDP groups |
| OEE improvement program | Board 1: "Actions" (Kanban), Board 2: "Equipment Downtime Log" (Table-optimized) |
| Site audit cycle | Board 1: "Audit Findings", Board 2: "CAPA Tracking" |
Working with Boards
A project always has at least one board. Most teams use a single board per project, but you can create additional boards for complex programs:
- Add a board — click + Add Board within the project
- Rename — double-click the board tab to rename it
- Reorder — drag board tabs to change their order
- Duplicate — right-click a board tab and select Duplicate to clone its structure and items
Project Templates
Templates give you a running start:
| Template | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Blank | Empty project with one board and default groups |
| Sprint Planning | Backlog, Sprint, and Done groups with priority and effort fields |
| Bug Tracker | Triage, In Progress, Testing, and Resolved groups with severity and environment fields |
| Content Calendar | Calendar-optimized board with publishing date and channel fields |
| Custom | Templates you or your team have saved from existing boards |
See Templates for creating and managing your own.
Create one well-designed TIER 1 board with SQCDP groups, deviation fields, and KPI definitions. Save it as a template. Then every new production line gets an identical board in seconds — consistent process across the entire site.
Archiving vs. Deleting
| Action | What happens | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Archive | Hidden from sidebar and views, but all data preserved. Restorable from workspace settings. | Project is finished but you may need the data for audits or reference. |
| Delete | Permanently removed — boards, items, comments, field values, activity logs. Cannot be undone. | Project was created by mistake or contains no valuable data. |
Project deletion is irreversible. Consider archiving first. Deleted projects cannot be recovered after confirmation.
Navigation
Projects appear as expandable items in the sidebar under their workspace. Click a project name to open its default view. Use the view tabs at the top to switch between views.
The URL always reflects your location: /{workspaceSlug}/{projectSlug}/{viewName}. You can bookmark or share direct links to specific project views.
Best Practices
- Use descriptive names — include the team, line, or quarter (e.g., "Line 3 TIER 1 Board" or "Q2 2026 CAPA Register") so projects are easy to find in the sidebar.
- Choose a template when the project follows a known pattern. It saves 15 minutes of setup and ensures consistency.
- Set the default view to the view your team uses most. For daily standups, that is Board. For data-heavy tracking, Table. For quarterly planning, Timeline.
- Keep project descriptions current — document the project's purpose, stakeholders, and key dates in the description field. New team members will thank you.
- Archive instead of deleting — when a transformation program ends, archive the project. The data remains searchable for audits and retrospectives.
In lean management, each obeya room has a clear purpose and scope. Apply the same principle in ProBeya: one project per TIER 1 board, one project per improvement program, one project per audit cycle. This keeps navigation clean and permissions simple.
What Andreas Built
After creating his "Line 4 OEE Improvement" project, Andreas:
- Applied the TIER 1 template — groups and SQCDP columns appeared instantly
- Added custom fields for Equipment ID, Root Cause Category, and OEE Impact (%)
- Imported 30 open actions from the Excel tracker using CSV import
- Invited the cross-functional team (production, maintenance, QA, engineering)
- Set the default view to Board for weekly reviews, and bookmarked the Table view for his own data analysis
The team ran their first digital review the following Thursday. Within two weeks, the average action closure time dropped from 18 days to 11 — not because ProBeya is magic, but because overdue items were finally visible.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| "New Project" button disabled on dashboard | You need at least one workspace first. Create a workspace, then create the project. |
| Slug conflict error | Another project in the same workspace already uses that slug. Edit it to a unique value. |
| Template not applying | Templates apply after project creation. If the apply step fails, the project exists with an empty board. Try re-applying from project settings. |
| Project not visible in sidebar | Navigate away and back, or check that you have access to the parent workspace. |
Next Steps
- Board View — work with items on your project's Kanban board
- Workspaces — understand the workspace hierarchy
- Custom Fields — configure the columns on your board