NOTE: On October 17, 2021, Lifecycle Insights updated the platform to say "Recommendations" instead of "Projects."

Lifecycle Insights Recommendations will allow you to link assessment items and assets to a recommendation where you can add additional labor and material costs. Recommendations can be included or excluded in the budget forecast according to the status chosen. Recommendations can be printed separately and/or included in budget forecast.

Highly suggest to watch the full video on how to create a project if this is your first Recommendations. Project creation video

Recommendations can be created 3 ways:

a) Add new recommendation - start from scratch

b) From the asset list

c) From assessment analytics

We will show the first step of each as part of Step 1 - after you choose your path, move to Step 2.

1a) Add new recommendation. Choose project from the left-hand navigation pane and then hit the Add New Recommendation button.

1b) Go to the asset list and select the assets that you want to add to the Recommendation. After you select assets, you will see a Choose an Action dropdown. Choose the "Create Recommendations" option.

1c) To create a Recommendation from an assessment, click on Assessments in the left-hand navigation, go to the Assessment Analytics by Customer tile and Choose the tab titled "Item Detail/Exposure Table (link to Recommendation). Select the Assessment Items that you want to include on the Recommendation and then click the "Create Recommendation From Selected Items" button that appears.

2) Now that you have opened a Recommendation - some of the items might be prefilled depending how you got here. Enter the fields shown:

NOTE: When selecting recommendations dates, you will click first on the start date and then click to arrows move the calendar and click on an end date. When you hit OK, this will expand the Estimate table below to allow you to move costs to the various months included in the recommendation

3) Enter any NEW labor and material costs. If you are replacing assets, click on the Linked Assets dropdown to select add/select assets for replacement. 

After selecting the assets, you will see those populate on the Recommendation.

4) If you are associating the Recommendation to items on an assessment, click on the dropdown for Linked Assessment items.

5) Save your recommendation

NOTE: After you save your recommendation, you will have an additional option to add recurring costs (just above the Linked Assets dropdown):

6) Enter the details in the fields provided:

7) Hit save to return to the project. You will now see the recurring charge populated BELOW the estimate for the one time expense of the project.

8) Hit save at the bottom of the recommendation.

9) Add tags to your recommendations by choosing from existing tags by clicking the drop-down tag list or create a new tag by typing in the name and hitting enter to save the tag.

If you have a primary or secondary Connectwise integration, you can also create opportunities in Connectwise, or link to an existing opportunity.   Click the Opportunity button at the top of the recommendation window to select one of these options. 

When creating a new opportunity, the Opportunity entry window will appear.  Enter the relevant data needed to create the Opportunity, and click the Save and Return button.

Alternatively, you can link a recommendation to an existing opportunity in ConnectWise. 

Click the link button from the opportunities list and next click the Save and Return button. 

The opportunity will show a link at the top of the recommendation for viewing or unlinking. 

Note:  you can only have one opportunity linked to a recommendation. 

Click here for more information about Opportunities.

If you have a primary or secondary Autotask integration, you can also create opportunities in Autotas, or link to an existing opportunity.  Click the Opportunity button at the top of the recommendation window to select one of these options. 

When creating a new opportunity, the Opportunity entry window will appear.  Enter the relevant data needed to create the Opportunity, and click the Save and Return button.

Alternatively, you can link a recommendation to an existing opportunity in Autotask. 

Click the link button from the opportunities list and next click the Save and Return button. 

The opportunity will show a link at the top of the recommendation for viewing or unlinking. 

Note:  you can only have one opportunity linked to a recommendation. 

Click here for more information about Autotask Opportunities.

10) To print the Recommendation, scroll to the top and select the document icon in the upper right-hand corner.

10) To print the Recommendation, scroll to the top and select the document icon in the upper right-hand corner.

11) Upload or select a logo to include in the printout and select either docx or pdf format.  You can also save the recommendation to the Report Locker.

12) Click generate report to get an editable word doc download of the Recommendation:

13) When you have completed the recommendation, be sure to change the status to Completed (and hit Save). This will pop up a modal asking if you would like Lifecycle Insights to automatically convert the recurring charges to a contract.