Project Management
Implementation
Guide

4.1  Master Folder Structure

Sign into Google Drive. Create the following folder structure exactly as shown. The indentation indicates nesting—folders listed under another are inside it.

The underscore at the start of _PROJECT_TEMPLATE ensures it always sorts to the top of the folder list. Do not rename it. Zapier references this folder by name when creating new project folders.

When a project is completed and published, move its folder from Active to Archive. Do not delete it.

4.2  ARI Templates Folder

Separate from ARI Projects, create a second top-level folder called ARI Templates. This folder holds every reusable Word template the Institute uses. It is never project-specific. Its contents:

• —Research Assignment Brief Template — the standard brief issued to researcher-writers
• —Writing Assignment Brief Template — the brief issued in the writing-only model, includes a dossier handoff section
• —Research Dossier Template — the structured document contributors use to record research findings
• —Pitch Template — the standard form scholars complete when proposing a project
• —Editorial Brief Template — issued to the editor at the Editorial Assignment phase
• —Meeting Note Template — the Word version of the five-item meeting record, used by Zapier to create archival copies

When starting a new project, you copy the relevant templates from this folder into the appropriate subfolders of the new project folder. You never edit the templates themselves—only copies of them.

4.3  Subfolder Reference

5.1  Creating the Base

1. Sign in to Airtable at airtable.com. If you do not have an account, create one. The free tier supports everything described here.
2. On the home screen, click Create a base. Choose Start from scratch.
3. Name the base ARI Project Management. Click Create.
4. Airtable will create one default table called Table 1. You will rename this and add three more.

5.2  Projects Table

Rename Table 1 to Projects. This is your Kanban spine. Every project at the Institute is one row in this table. Build the following fields by clicking the + button at the right end of the column headers to add each new field. Field type is in parentheses.

Once the fields are built, create the Kanban view:

1. Click + Add a view in the left sidebar of the Projects table.
2. Select Kanban.
3. Name this view Development Pipeline.
4. Set the grouping field to Current Phase. The columns will now reflect the 17 phases.
5. Create a second Kanban view. Name it Production Pipeline. Set the same grouping field, then filter it to show only projects where Current Phase is one of: Editorial Assignment, Editing, Director Review of Edit, Handoff to Typesetter, Typesetting, Proofreading, Final Approval, Published.

5.3  Milestones Table

Add a new table and name it Milestones. Each row is one milestone for one project. A project will have multiple milestone rows linked to it.

Create a filtered view called Overdue that shows only milestones where Status is Overdue. Check this view every Monday morning.

5.4  Assignments Table

Add a new table and name it Assignments. This table tracks every formal assignment made on a project—the original commission and any secondary assignments such as editing. One project can have multiple assignments.

5.5  Meetings Table

Add a new table and name it Meetings. Every meeting held in connection with any project is logged here as a single row. This is the Institute's written record of all project decisions.

Create a view called Project History. Group by Project field. This allows you to pull up every meeting record for a single project in chronological sequence—your complete accountability trail for that project.

6.1  Zap One — New Project Folder Creation

This Zap creates a new Drive folder for a project the moment you create its row in Airtable, then links the folder back to the Airtable record automatically.

1. In Zapier, click Create Zap. Name it ARI — New Project Folder.
2. Set the Trigger to Airtable. Select the event New Record. Connect your Airtable account when prompted. Select the ARI Project Management base and the Projects table.
3. Add a Action: Google Drive — Create Folder. Connect your Google Drive account. Set the parent folder to ARI Projects/Active. Set the folder name to the Project ID field from Airtable—click the + button in the name field to insert the dynamic value.
4. Add a second Action: Google Drive — Copy File. Use this to copy each of the seven subfolders from _PROJECT_TEMPLATE into the newly created project folder. You will need one Copy File action per subfolder—seven actions total. For each, set the source to the relevant template subfolder and the destination to the new project folder created in step 3.
5. Add a final Action: Airtable — Update Record. Select the Projects table. Match the record by Project ID. Set the Drive Folder field to the URL of the folder created in step 3—Zapier provides this as an output of the Create Folder action.
6. Test the Zap using the test button. Verify that the folder appears in Drive with the correct name and all seven subfolders, and that the Drive Folder field in the Airtable record is populated with the link.
7. Turn the Zap on.

6.2  Zap Two — Meeting Note Archival

This Zap creates an archival Google Doc in the project's meeting folder each time you log a meeting record in Airtable, then links the document back to the meeting record.

1. Create a new Zap. Name it ARI — Meeting Note Archival.
2. Set the Trigger to Airtable — New Record — Meetings table.
3. Add an Action: Google Drive — Create Document from Template. You will need to first create a Google Doc template in your ARI Templates folder. The template should have placeholders for each of the five meeting fields: What Was Due, Delivered, Director's Assessment, Decisions Made, Next Deliverable and Due Date, Flags or Concerns. In Zapier, select this template document. Map each placeholder to the corresponding Airtable field from the trigger.
4. Set the destination folder dynamically. Zapier cannot directly look up the project's Drive folder from the linked Projects field without an intermediate step. Add a Lookup action first: Airtable — Find Record — search the Projects table for the record whose Project ID matches the Project field of the meeting record. This retrieves the Drive Folder URL for that project.
5. Use the retrieved Drive Folder URL to set the destination to the 04_Meetings subfolder. Name the document: [Project ID]_Meeting_[Date] using dynamic values from the trigger.
6. Add a final Action: Airtable — Update Record — Meetings table. Set the Drive Meeting Note field to the URL of the document just created.
7. Test, verify the document appears in the correct folder with correct content, and turn the Zap on.

6.3  Zap Three — Overdue Milestone Alert

This Zap sends you an email alert when a milestone's due date has passed and its status is still Pending or Submitted—meaning it has not been signed off.

1. Create a new Zap. Name it ARI — Overdue Milestone Alert.
2. Set the Trigger to Airtable — New Record in View — Milestones table — Overdue view. Zapier will trigger whenever a record appears in that view, which happens when the Due Date passes and Status is still Pending or Submitted. Note: you will need to also set the Overdue view filter in Airtable to automatically update Status to Overdue when Due Date is past—use an Airtable Automation for this within Airtable itself before setting up this Zap.
3. Add an Action: Email by Zapier — Send Outbound Email. Set the To address to your email. Subject: Overdue Milestone — [Project ID] — [Milestone Name]. Body: include the project name, milestone name, due date, and a link to the Airtable record.
4. Test and turn on.

7.1  Enabling AI Companion

1. Sign in to your Zoom account at zoom.us. Go to Settings in the left sidebar.
2. Under the AI Companion tab, enable Meeting Summary with AI Companion.
3. Enable Auto-start Meeting Summary so that the summary generates for every meeting without requiring you to activate it manually during the call.
4. Under Recording, enable Cloud Recording so that a transcript is available alongside the summary. The transcript is your backup if the summary misses something.
5. Confirm the settings are saved. Run a test call with yourself—join from two devices—to verify the summary generates at the end of the call and is delivered to your email.

7.2  The Standard Meeting Agenda

Every project meeting follows the same five-item agenda. Share this with contributors at the start of every book project engagement so they know what each weekly meeting covers. Consistent structure means the Zoom AI summary maps cleanly onto the template and the restructuring pass is minimal.

7.3  Post-Meeting Workflow

1. After the call ends, Zoom delivers the AI summary to your email, typically within five minutes. Open it.
2. Read through the summary. Reorganize or rewrite as needed so the content maps onto the five agenda items. This is not a transcription exercise—you are producing a clean, accurate record, not a verbatim account.
3. Open Airtable. Go to the Meetings table. Click + Add a record.
4. In the Project field, select the relevant project from the linked dropdown.
5. Fill in each field: Meeting Date, Meeting Type, What Was Due, Delivered, Director's Assessment, Decisions Made, Next Deliverable, Next Deliverable Due, and Flags or Concerns if applicable.
6. Save the record. Zapier will fire within one to two minutes, create the Google Doc in the project's 04_Meetings folder, and populate the Drive Meeting Note field with the link automatically.
7. Verify the link appeared in the record. Open it once to confirm the document populated correctly. You are done.

8.1  Project ID

Every project receives a unique identifier at the moment it is created in Airtable. The format is:

Examples: ARI-2026-001-Hussain, ARI-2026-002-Rahman, ARI-2027-003-Khan. The year in the ID is the year the project was created, not the year it is published. The sequential number resets each year. The contributor last name is the primary researcher-writer, not an editor or secondary assignee.

8.2  File Naming

9.1  Monday Morning Review — 15 Minutes

1. Open the Development Pipeline Kanban. Scan every card. Any project that should have moved forward since last week—move it now and update the Phase Entry Date.
2. Open the Overdue Milestones view in the Milestones table. For every overdue milestone, check whether the contributor has been notified. If not, note it in the Flags or Concerns field of the most recent meeting record for that project.
3. Check Next Action Due dates in the Projects table grid view. Filter by Next Action Due this week. These are the projects requiring your direct attention before Friday.
4. Check the Production Pipeline Kanban. Any project in Typesetting—when was it sent? If it has been more than the agreed turnaround, follow up with the typesetter.
5. Update any payment statuses triggered by milestone sign-offs from the prior week.

9.2  After Every Meeting

Follow the five-step post-meeting workflow in Section Seven without exception. A meeting without a logged record did not happen as far as the system is concerned. The written record is the accountability structure your policies describe—it must be current.

9.3  When a Milestone Is Reached

1. Open the Milestones table. Find the relevant milestone row. Set Submitted Date to today.
2. Set Status to Submitted.
3. If this is a Milestone Review meeting, log the meeting in the Meetings table as type Milestone Review.
4. Once you have reviewed and approved the milestone, set Status to Approved and Sign-off Date to today.
5. If the milestone triggers a payment (Payment Triggered checkbox is checked), update the Payment Status in the Projects table and initiate payment according to the contributor's agreement.