Getting started with Developments

    How to set up a project, bring in your evidence and get to a first useful result. For what Developments is and who it is for, see the product overview.

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    Your first project

    Developments uses your Atlasly account. Open Developments from the Atlas AI sidebar or go to atlasly.app/developments. With no projects yet, you can start from a site, from documents, or from an existing Atlas AI project.

    1. Create the project. Choose New development. Only a name is required. Add an address if you have one; it places the project on the portfolio map but is never treated as a boundary.
    2. Choose the starting point. Choose a site you may buy (milestones run from parcel checks to purchase terms) or land you already own (surveys to a pre-application pack). Choose currency and units.
    3. Add parcels if you have them. Optionally add parcels with their title number, folio, APN or UPRN, an owner and the team’s next action. All of this can be added later.
    4. Start from the overview. The project opens on its Overview: a suggested next step, the project record showing what is established, in progress, needing attention or not started, and what needs attention.

    To bring in an existing Atlas AI project instead, choose Add existing project on the portfolio. Only projects you own or administer are offered. The project keeps its documents, findings, actions and appraisals and gains a stage, parcels and milestones. Nothing is moved automatically.

    A first useful result usually means: the site recorded, the documents you hold uploaded with anything unreadable flagged, open questions written down, the next actions assigned, and a first pack you can share.

    Site and boundaries

    Each parcel keeps its own reference even when studied together; combining parcels in one project never implies a legal merger. On Site, choose Add parcel, then Boundary beside it to draw an outline or import a boundary file.

    A saved or edited outline is always unconfirmed. Mark it confirmed only once someone has checked it against a source such as a title plan or measured survey. The outline preview shows confirmed parcels as solid lines and unconfirmed parcels as dashed lines. Parcel areas feed site coverage in option comparisons.

    For spatial design, Open in Canvas uses the shared project and returns you to the project’s options.

    Documents, correspondence and findings

    Evidence has four views. Documents lists every PDF with its readable status, current version, parcel and page count. Drop PDFs onto the list or choose Upload PDFs. Open a document to read its text by page, switch between versions, replace it with a new version or record a finding from a page.

    1. Ready: the text was read and can be cited by page.
    2. Needs review: some or all pages have no readable text (for example scans). Those pages cannot support findings or answers until checked. Scanned pages are not read automatically.
    3. Failed: the file could not be processed; the reason is shown and you can retry or upload again.
    4. Replacing a document keeps earlier versions readable. A newer upload that fails does not replace the working version.

    Correspondence holds saved email. Choose Choose .eml file, then Copy email to project; nothing is saved until you copy it. The sender and date come from the file and are not verified. Attachments are listed but not copied: upload any PDF you need in Documents.

    Findings keeps what the project knows apart by how it is known: facts cited to a document page, assumptions taken as given, calculations and open questions. Resolve a finding with a note naming the source; resolved and superseded findings stay in the record.

    Options and revisions

    Record each scheme as an option with use, homes, footprint, floorspace, storeys and the assumptions behind the figures. Leave a figure blank if it is not known; it shows as not known, never as zero. Revise creates a new revision and keeps the earlier ones; Revisions shows the history.

    With two or more options, the Comparison table sets them side by side, including floorspace per home and site coverage from parcel areas. Choose Select for appraisal on the option to take forward, or select an earlier revision from its history. Use a Canvas option creates an option from a saved Canvas design with its exact version recorded; later Canvas edits do not change it.

    Appraisal

    The appraisal prices one exact option revision and starts from its homes and floorspace. Enter land, build, finance and sales figures; tag each as supplied, an estimate or an assumption and note where it came from. Rates are entered as percentages.

    The result, cost breakdown and the mix of supplied, estimated and assumed inputs stay in view. Missing inputs are listed as not known and results that depend on them are not calculated. Sensitivity shows profit if sales revenue, build cost or land price move by 5% or 10%, or the programme runs 3 or 6 months longer.

    Save scenario keeps a version. Each later save is a new version; Save as new scenario starts another. If the selected option revision changes, the appraisal shows that it prices an earlier revision and offers to switch.

    Outputs follow from the inputs by fixed formulas shared with Atlasly’s servers. They are not a valuation and say nothing about planning approval. New to appraisals? Read what a development appraisal is, including profit on cost versus profit on GDV.

    Actions, milestones and reviews

    On Work, choose New action and give it an owner and due date; an action can wait for another. Overdue actions appear on the project overview and the portfolio. Marking an action done asks how it was resolved. Proposed actions must be accepted before they count.

    Milestones come from the project’s starting point; add your own, set due dates or mark them not applicable. Reviews record a decision on an exact document version, option revision or appraisal version. A completed milestone or internal review records your team’s work; it is never an approval from any authority.

    Team and permissions

    Choose Share on a project. Owners and admins add colleagues by the email they sign in with:

    1. Viewer: reads everything, including documents and packs.
    2. Editor: adds evidence, options, appraisals, actions and packs.
    3. Admin: everything an editor can do, plus managing members.

    The colleague must have signed in to Atlasly once before they can be added. Atlasly does not send invitation emails: copy the project link from the Share dialog and send it yourself. If they open the link before being added, they see which account they are signed in with and what to ask for. Removing a member takes effect immediately. Archived projects are read-only for everyone.

    Project packs

    On Packs, the panel shows what the next pack will include. Generate pack fixes the current record, with the exact document versions, option revisions and appraisal versions it used, and states gaps rather than hiding them. Existing packs never change. Open Print view to print or save as a PDF, or download Markdown.

    Connections

    Uploading PDFs and importing email files work today and need no connection. Google Drive, Microsoft 365 (OneDrive and SharePoint), Gmail and Outlook connections are built but are not available yet: each needs Atlasly to complete the provider’s registration first. Until then they are shown as not available on Evidence › Sources.

    When available, you choose each file or message; nothing is copied in the background. A connection belongs to the person who made it and is never shared with project members, and the same signed-in Atlasly account that started a connection must finish it. Disconnecting stops future access without removing evidence already saved to the project.

    Coming back to a project

    The portfolio shows what needs attention across projects, work due in the next 14 days, which projects changed since your last visit and a link to continue where you left off. A project’s overview lists what changed since you last opened it. Visit history is kept in your browser, so a new device or private window starts without it.

    Glossary

    Parcel
    A piece of land with its own reference (title number, folio, APN or UPRN).
    Confirmed boundary
    An outline someone has checked against a source. Not a legal determination.
    Option / revision
    A scheme you are considering; each change to its figures is a new, permanent revision.
    Scenario / version
    A saved appraisal; each save is a new version pinned to an option revision.
    Finding
    A recorded fact, assumption, calculation or open question, with its source.
    Pack
    A fixed, readable record of the project at the time it was generated.

    Something unclear or not working as described? Contact us.