What are milestones in Protiv?

Purpose

This article explains what milestones are in Protiv and why they matter. You’ll learn how milestones break jobs into work phases that track progress, control budgets, and trigger ProPay bonuses.

When To Use This

Use this when you want to:

• Break a job into clear phases or chunks of work
• Track progress and completion more accurately
• Tie bonuses to specific parts of a job
• Control labor, material, and equipment budgets at a detailed level
• Understand what triggers ProPay creation

Before You Start

Before working with milestones, make sure:

• The job already exists in Protiv
• Your teams and workers are set up
• Time tracking and budgets are configured
• You understand how ProPays work at a basic level

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1 — Understand what a milestone represents

A milestone is a single phase or chunk of work within a job. Examples include cleanup, installation, inspections, or service visits. Milestones are the core unit used for tracking work and tying incentives to results.

Step 2 — Break jobs into milestones

Instead of running everything off one large job, milestones let you split work into manageable phases. This improves planning, visibility, and accountability across crews and managers.

Step 3 — Track progress inside the milestone

Milestone progress can be calculated using multiple signals:

• Task completion
• Time tracked by workers
• Materials used vs. budgeted
• Manual percent-complete overrides

These inputs determine how far along the milestone is, even before it’s finished.

 

Step 4 — Manage budgets at the milestone level

Each milestone can include its own budgets for:

• Labor
• Materials
• Equipment
• Contract pricing

This lets you compare budget vs. actual costs for each phase of work instead of waiting until the entire job is done.

Step 5 — Create ProPays before work is complete

ProPays can be created for milestones that are still in progress. This allows teams to:

• Plan incentives ahead of time
• Track bonus potential as work progresses
• Set up recurring or manual ProPays without waiting for completion

At this stage, the ProPay remains active but not approvable.

Step 6 — Complete the milestone to approve the ProPay

Once the milestone is completed:

• The ProPay becomes eligible for approval
• Bonus calculations are finalized
• Statement line items can be generated

Examples

Landscaping job example:

Job: Johnson Residence – New Driveway

The job is split into milestones so each phase has its own budget and time tracking.

• Milestone: Site Prep
– Work: Excavation and grading
– Labor budget: 10 hours

• Milestone: Form & Pour
– Work: Build forms and pour concrete
– Labor budget: 12 hours

• Milestone: Finish & Cleanup
– Work: Final finish and cleanup
– Labor budget: 6 hours

Common Mistakes & How To Fix Them

• Trying to approve a ProPay too soon
  Fix: Make sure the milestone status is completed
• Treating ProPay creation as payout
  Fix: Creation is for planning; approval is what triggers payout
• Making milestones too large
  Fix: Smaller milestones give better progress tracking and incentive clarity
• Ignoring milestone status
  Fix: Status controls whether a ProPay can move forward