Milestones in CloseOut can be configured to run in parallel or in a locked, step-by-step order. This behaviour is controlled by your milestone folder structure using Regular and Sequential folders.

How milestone dependency works

CloseOut supports two milestone flows:

Regular (parallel work)

Use Regular when milestones can be completed independently.

All milestone assigned workflow structures can be accessed at any time.

All milestone assigned workflow structures can be completed in any order.

Sequential (dependency enforced)

Use Sequential when milestones must be completed in order.

Milestones must be completed one-by-one

Users have read/view-only access to other milestones, but cannot perform any work until the milestone is unlocked

This includes no uploads (e.g., photos) and no completion actions

If a user tries to work in a locked milestone, CloseOut will show a Milestone dependency / No access error

How to Access Milestones setup (2 ways)

Option 1: From Templates (Template level)

Navigate to: Administration → Templates

Select your Project Template and open the relevant workflow

Click the Milestone button and select View Milestones

Click the green plus ( + ) icon to add a folder, then choose:

Regular folder (folder icon with a clear fill inside the circle) 

Sequential folder (folder icon with a grey fill inside the circle) 

Option 2: From Projects (Site level)

Navigate to: Administration → Projects

Select your project

On the site you want to review, click the triangle icon and click View milestones button. 

See the video below on accessing and viewing milestones, assigning users and creating folders:

Step-by-Step: Setting up dependency using folders

To Create your milestone folder structure
Use:

Regular folders to allow parallel work

Sequential folders to enforce ordered progression

Organize milestones using multi-select + Cut/Paste
You can reorganize milestones via familiar tools you have already come across in our workflow templates creation/building phase:

1. Select one or multiple milestones
2. Click Cut
3. Paste them into the Regular or Sequential folder you want
4. Assign Responsible Users to multiple milestones
   Multi-select can also be used to assign Responsible Users to several milestones at the same time.
5. Ungroup milestones (undo a folder/group order)
   Use Ungroup to break an existing grouped/foldered order. This removes the grouping and returns the milestones to the original positions they had before they were grouped.

Keep the structure within the folder depth limit
You can build milestone folders up to two levels deep. This allows many combinations (e.g., Regular → Sequential, Sequential → Regular, etc.) to achieve almost any mix of parallel and sequential execution.

See the video below on setting up sequential/regular folders and locked workflows in sequential setups:

Milestone notifications (for Responsible Users)

CloseOut supports milestone notifications to help Responsible Users stay informed and act on time. Notifications are managed in Notifications Management. This is accessed by clicking user initials → user settings → Notification settings. 

1) Previous Milestone Completed

Notifies Responsible Users when the previous milestone in the sequence has been completed (useful for Sequential flows).

2) Milestone due date approaching

Notifies Responsible Users when a milestone due date is approaching.

Configure the notification parameter by entering the number of days prior to completion to get the notification. To access the parameter for days hover over “Milestone due date approaching” option and click on the pencil icon. 

If enabled, the Responsible User receives a notification every day, starting X days before the milestone due date (based on the selected setting). 

See the video below on both notifications set up and in action: