You can define project phases that you can then associate with project actions. When you are creating a project action you can select a Project Phase value, such as Design or Execution for the action.
In the Project Management application, this is useful if you want to track the project at the Planning phase or Execution phase level. For example, in the Project Analysis and other reports, you can generate the report for projects that have actions in the In Planning or In Execution phases. See Project Analysis Report. Also, from other views, such as the Commissioning application's Manage Design Submissions and Requirements task, you can search for work packages that have actions in specific phases,such as Planning, Execution, or Closeout.
To define a project phase:
The Define Project Phases form appears. The Project Phases panel lists the currently defined project phases.