Understand the four objects before you start
A Professional Profile represents one person. A saved team is a reusable composition. A project roster is the subset confirmed for one project. A project operating model controls how that project plans time, costs and billing.
Keeping these objects separate lets one team work on several projects with different rules without duplicating the people or changing the source team every time.
Complete the required identity first
- 1Open a workspace
Use Client Office when you need a team for your own work, Team Studio when you manage a delivery team, or Pro Workspace when you participate as a specialist.
- 2Complete the Professional Profile
If no sufficiently complete personal profile is saved, Collty opens the existing profile form and keeps it active until the required 80 percent is complete.
- 3Complete the organization profile when needed
Client and Partner profiles contain only workspace-specific organization information. Personal name, country, education and cases continue to come from the Professional Profile.
Choose the shortest starting route
| What you already know | Start with | Result |
|---|---|---|
| The people and roles | My Teams | Build or open the reusable team, then create a project with it |
| The project outcome but not the people | Create project or Find with AI | Describe the work, review ranked team options and open the selected composition in Teams Canvas or Architect |
| The team already exists in Library | Existing team | Select it without duplicating the team |
| Several teams must work together repeatedly | Teams Canvas | Drag source teams into one composition and save a new combined team |
| Several teams are needed only for this project | Project Architect | Connect teams to the project plan without creating an unnecessary reusable combined team |
Project choices depend on the current cabinet
| Cabinet | First project choice | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Client Office | Internal team | Your own people deliver the work for your organization |
| Client Office | External team | A saved or AI-assembled external team delivers the work for you |
| Team Studio | Internal project | Your team works on an initiative for your own organization |
| Team Studio | Client project | Your managed team delivers work for a known client; the client relationship is identified in the guided flow |
| Pro Workspace | Participation rather than owner creation | You accept authorized invitations and work inside confirmed projects; owner-only Project Launcher choices are not exposed |
Create, select or find the team
- 1Existing
Use a saved team when its composition is already suitable. Selecting it does not create another team record.
- 2Create
Open My Teams and build a reusable team from your own specialists. Save the team before using it as a source for projects.
- 3Find with AI
Describe the outcome and constraints. Collty retrieves relevant professional evidence, composes ranked single-team options and lets you review the selected option in Teams Canvas.
- 4Add capability deliberately
Click a Library team to replace the current single-team view; drag another team onto the field when you intentionally want a larger composition.
- 5Review rather than accept blindly
Open profiles, inspect Team Intelligence, confirm availability and remove or replace roles that do not support the work.
Separate project relationship from delivery and commercial rules
| Example | Relationship | Possible operating model |
|---|---|---|
| Internal product discovery | Internal team or internal project | Monthly sprints, Optional hours, Cost tracking On, Billing None, Invoices Off |
| Internal creative initiative | Internal team or internal project | Continuous flow, Time tracking Off, Cost tracking Off, Billing None |
| External hourly engagement | External team or client project | Weekly sprints, Required hours, Cost tracking On, Hourly billing, Automatic or Manual invoices |
| Fixed-scope website | External team or client project | Two-week sprints, Optional hours, Fixed billing, Manual invoices |
| Outcome-based transformation | External team or client project | Monthly or flow planning, Optional hours, Milestone billing, Manual invoices |
Configure the project as separate decisions
| Decision | Options | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint cadence | 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, or continuous flow where available | How work is grouped and reviewed; it is not the total project duration |
| Time tracking | Required, Optional, Off | Whether task hours are mandatory, available or removed |
| Cost tracking | On, Off | Whether authorized rates and hours contribute to capacity and cost analytics |
| Billing | None, Hourly, Fixed, Milestones | How commercial value is represented |
| Invoices | Off, Manual, Automatic | Whether invoice records exist and how they enter the workflow |
Know who confirms the project team
| Situation | Decision owner | What happens before confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Direct or internal project invites an independent specialist | The specialist | The person remains Pending and cannot receive project tasks |
| Client selects a specialist from a partner-managed team | The source-team partner | The partner confirms that the managed team can make the commitment |
| Partner adds a specialist to an existing client project | The client | The client reviews the expansion of the active project composition |
| The same authenticated person is owner and specialist | Self-managed validation | Collty avoids creating an artificial second approval for the same person |
Follow a complete example
- 1Client with an internal team
Open Client Office, choose Create project, select Internal team, open or create the team, choose the project cadence and disable billing if it is not needed.
- 2Client looking for external expertise
Choose External team, describe the project, review ranked AI team options, open one in Teams Canvas, refine it and continue with project rules.
- 3Partner starting client delivery
Open Team Studio, choose Client project, select the managed team, identify the client relationship and configure the agreed sprint, hours and billing model.
- 4Partner starting internal work
Choose Internal project, use the partner organization as the relationship and enable only the delivery controls the internal initiative will maintain.
Review before the project becomes active
- The project title and intended outcome are clear enough for the team.
- The selected team is the intended source team and the active roster contains only the required specialists.
- Pending participation decisions have a visible owner.
- Sprint cadence describes the review rhythm, not an assumed end date.
- Hours, costs, billing and invoices match the real way the project will operate.
- Complex phases, dependencies or several project teams have been reviewed in Project Architect when needed.
Understand the first project states
| State | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The project intent or setup exists but active delivery has not started | Continue setup, change the team and operating rules, or remove the unused draft |
| Waiting for team | One or more participation decisions are still pending | Review the status owner, replace a declined specialist or wait for confirmation |
| Ready to start | Required setup and team decisions are complete | Perform the final review and activate the project |
| Active | The confirmed team can work inside the saved operating model | Create and assign tasks, use project tools and maintain delivery evidence |
| Completed | Delivery has ended and the result becomes historical evidence | Review outcomes, analytics and the resulting professional/team signals |
What becomes available after launch
| Surface | First useful action |
|---|---|
| Project details | Review the confirmed roster, HOURS, statuses, expenses and invoices allowed by the operating model |
| Project Workspace | Create delivery tasks, assign confirmed specialists and connect dependencies in Work Graph |
| Project Architect | Refine phases, tasks, dates, roles, workload and team composition |
| Creative Canvas | Map ideas, decisions and task candidates while keeping project links |
| Project Analytics | Read delivery, workload, cost and Team Pulse signals together |
| Agent Center | Attach and configure a project agent only after the project and its evidence are ready |