THE WON-JOB HANDOFF
Signed is not the same as ready.
Winning a project is a commercial milestone. Starting it cleanly is an operating decision. Before the first deliverable, your team needs a shared answer to five questions: What was approved? Who owns delivery? Where do files live? Who gets access? How does billing work?
When these decisions live in different inboxes, project setup becomes guesswork. This field guide turns the handoff into a repeatable, 12-field record and four approvals.
One approved project start record before anyone provisions the job. Software can implement decisions. It should not make them.
Where the handoff breaks
A proposal describes what a firm intends to deliver. The project team needs something more precise: a unique job number, an accountable manager, an authoritative file location, a collaborator list, and accounting instructions. If those decisions do not travel together, the first invoice, coordination meeting, or change order may expose the gap.
You do not need another application to solve this. You need a decision record that your current tools can follow. Autodesk’s project setup guidance, Procore’s project setup steps, and Microsoft SharePoint permission guidance each illustrate part of the workflow. None can identify your firm’s commercial decision-maker for you.
THE PRACTICAL CHECKLIST
The 12-field Project Start Record
Keep this as one controlled handoff card in your CRM, project register, or intake workflow. Each field needs a named answer, a reference, or an approved exception, not a novel.
- 01Project identity
Project name and unique job number
Use the same approved identifier for time, tasks, files, and invoices; define how phases are handled.
- 02Contracting party
Legal entity and customer
Confirm the contracting entity and whether this is a new project, change order, or new phase.
- 03Commercial approval
Approved scope and proposal version
Link the accepted contract or scope, including exceptions; do not rely on a stale email attachment.
- 04Business owner
Project executive or sponsor
Name the person accountable for business decisions and exceptions.
- 05Delivery owner
Project manager and backup
Name the primary PM and who takes over when they are unavailable.
- 06Financial setup
Billing owner, cost code, and approvals
Record how expenses and time are coded and who approves purchases and scope changes.
- 07Delivery clock
Milestones and start conditions
Capture the first committed deliverable and the dependencies required to begin.
- 08Single source
System of record for working files
Specify the actual workspace or project URL, not merely ‘the shared drive.’
- 09File discipline
Folder and naming standard
Use approved structures for drawings, models, contracts, correspondence, and deliverables.
- 10Internal access
Access by role
Decide who can edit, review, approve, and administer; avoid unrestricted access.
- 11External access
Collaborators and invitation approval
Name outside parties, what they can access, and who approves invitations.
- 12End-of-job plan
Closeout and transition owner
Assign archiving, retention, final handoff, and removal of unnecessary access.
Rule: An empty field is an unmade decision. Assign its owner before kickoff rather than inventing a placeholder.
BEFORE KICKOFF
Four approval gates, in order
Confirm what was sold
Leadership approves scope, contracting entity, job number, and billing rules.
Assign the team
The PM accepts ownership, backup coverage, milestones, and the working file standard.
Authorize collaboration
The accountable owner confirms internal roles and external collaborator permissions.
Make it repeatable
Record the backup owner, authoritative location, retention plan, and closeout path.
Then ask somebody who was not involved in the sale to locate the approved scope, job number, workspace, billing contact, and access approver. If they have to reconstruct an email chain, the project is not ready.
PUT IT TO WORK
Test one project before automating ten.
Pilot the start record on your next approved job. Note each unanswered field, who resolved it, and which setup actions can safely be templated. For projects with shared drawings, models, and field records, use the construction project documentation technology risk checklist alongside this guide.
The AEC Technology Operating Model explains how these decisions mature as your firm grows. To find the highest-impact gaps in your current environment, start with a Technology Gap Review.
This is an original operating framework, not an industry survey or an undisclosed client case study.
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