How to Put a Project on Hold in OnePlan

Projects don't always move forward as planned. Budget constraints, shifting priorities, resource availability, or dependencies on external factors may require a project to be temporarily paused. In OnePlan, organizations can manage these situations by updating a project's status to indicate that work has been suspended while preserving all project information for future resumption. This approach allows teams to maintain visibility into paused initiatives without deleting or closing the project.

 

Why Put a Project on Hold?

Placing a project on hold can help organizations:

• Maintain visibility of paused work.
• Prevent resources from continuing to report progress on inactive initiatives.
• Communicate project status clearly across stakeholders.
• Preserve historical project data and plans for future reactivation.
• Improve portfolio reporting accuracy by distinguishing active projects from paused efforts.

Instead of closing a project that may resume later, using an "On Hold" status provides a clear indication that the project remains valid but is not currently moving forward.

How to Put a Project on Hold

Doing so is easy to achieve. The exact status values available in your environment may vary based on your organization's OnePlan configuration. Many organizations include status values such as Active, On Hold, Completed, or Cancelled as part of their project lifecycle. 

To place a project on hold:

1. Open the desired project or plan.
2. Navigate to the project's Details Page.
3. Locate the Status field.
4. Select On Hold (or your organization's equivalent paused status).
5. Save your changes.

The project will remain in OnePlan while clearly displaying its current status to portfolio managers and stakeholders. If you do not see 'Status' on the Details Page, it is likely that your project does not have the field featured on the page yet.

What Happens When a Project Is Put on Hold?

When a project is marked as On Hold:

• Project information remains available.
• Historical schedules, tasks, documents, and reporting data are preserved.
• The project can continue to appear in portfolio reports and dashboards, depending on applied filters.
• Team members can easily identify that the initiative is temporarily paused.

Because every organization configures OnePlan differently, additional business rules or workflows may be associated with an On Hold status in your environment.

 

Best Practices

To ensure consistency across your portfolio, consider the following recommendations:

Document the Reason

Include a brief explanation in project notes, status reports, or project commentary explaining why the project was paused and any conditions required before work can resume.

Review Resource Assignments

Evaluate whether resources assigned to the project should be reassigned to other active initiatives while the project remains on hold.

Update Stakeholders

Communicate status changes to sponsors, project teams, and leadership groups to avoid confusion regarding timelines and expectations.

Use Portfolio Filters

Consider creating dashboard filters or portfolio views that allow users to quickly identify projects that are currently on hold versus actively progressing.

How This Helps You

Using an On Hold status provides better portfolio transparency and governance than simply leaving a project inactive. It allows organizations to:

• Track paused initiatives without losing historical information.
• Improve reporting accuracy by distinguishing inactive and active work.
• Reduce confusion around project progress and resource allocations.
• Quickly restart initiatives when priorities change.

Rather than deleting or closing a project that may return in the future, placing it on hold keeps the project visible, organized, and ready to resume when the time is right.