Milestone setup and

monitoring through EY
Canvas
Resources, Pacing, Milestones, Canvas Client Portal

March 2021
Time phases and milestones auto-assign
Overview

• Milestones are now pre-set as part of the tasks that are imported into the Canvas file via the content generator (PSTs/OSTs), and
therefore the tasks will be automatically assigned to milestones phases.
• Upon content update (if required), EY Canvas will identify what are the current active milestones in the engagement. For any
milestones that are not currently associated to a time phase in the engagement:
• A new time phase with that milestone will be created. The name of the time phase will be the name of the milestone.
• For conclusion milestones, the state date and the end date of the newly created time phase will be the expected report release
date.
• For all other time phases, the start and end date will initially be the create date of the engagement and need to be reviewed by the
engagement team based on their expected timing and the requirements of the milestone program.
• Refer to the Milestone Due Date Calculator, which calculates due dates for Milestones metrics (key events / phases) based
on the requirements of the milestone program.

Page 2 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

EY Canvas milestone phases

• There are 14 milestones that will be associated to EY Canvas time phases.

• All tasks are aligned to respective time phases.

Audit phase Milestone phases

Scope & Strategy • Scope & Strategy quality activities
• Other scope and strategy
• Risk assessment and materiality
• CRA
• Finalize scope and strategy

Execution • Post-interim project management

• Walkthroughs
• Interim Control Testing
• Interim Substantive Testing
• Walkthroughs (year-end processes)
• Year-end Control Testing
• Year-end Substantive Testing
• Execution

Conclusion • Conclusion

Page 3 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

Tasks, time phases and milestone phases

Tasks Time phases Milestone phases

Task Task Task Time Phase 1 Scope & Strategy quality

Interim TOCs
activities

Task Task Task Time Phase 2

Other scope and strategy Interim Substantive Testing

Task Task Task Time Phase 3

Risk assessment & materiality Year-end TOCs

Task Task Task Time Phase 4

CRA Year-end Substantive Testing
Task Task Task Time Phase 5

Finalize Scope & Strategy Year-end Walkthroughs

Task Task Task Time Phase 6

Post Interim Project Management Execution

Best practice: Engagements teams should align Time Phase 7
all of their tasks to time phases.
Interim Walkthroughs Conclusion

Set by engagement teams to manage the Set by EY Global. Certain milestone phases are monitored
pace of the audit for completeness by required due dates.

Page 4 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

Time phases and milestones auto-assign
Implementation considerations

• Given the Scope & Strategy milestone sub-phases, teams can expect that a time phase is created for each milestone sub-phase upon
processing the content update. Additionally, tasks will be automatically assigned to the appropriate time (and milestone) phase.
• A milestone may have multiple time phases. For auto-mapping, the time phase with the latest due date for each milestone will be chosen.
This should be reviewed by the team to ensure it aligns with the audit plan.
• Below is a chart identifying the permitted milestones for a given task type.
• A task must be associated to a permitted milestone mapping (see below) or will be re-assigned by Canvas upon taking a content update.

Task type Permitted milestone mapping Automatic re-map

PST Pre-defined – engagement team cannot alter Pre-defined – engagement team cannot alter
OST – Scope & Strategy Any active S&S milestone or N/A Other scope and strategy
OST – Execution Any Execution milestone or N/A Execution
OST – Conclusion Any Conclusion milestone or N/A Conclusion
PSP, OSP, Account Conclusion Task Interim substantive; Year-end substantive Pre-defined – engagement team cannot alter; and if not
pre-defined, defaults to interim substantive
WT, IT, WT Interim walkthroughs; Year-end walkthroughs Interim walkthroughs
TOC, IT, TOC, IT OSP Interim controls; Year-end controls Interim controls
All other types (e.g., GT,RT) Any Execution

Page 5 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

Additional considerations for teams
after auto-mapping

• If a new time phase was created, the team will need to navigate to the Audit Plan (first build step) and adjust the start date and end
date to properly reflect the needs of their engagement.
• The landing page shows milestones visually by placing newly created milestones at the start and end. Therefore, it will be apparent
to engagement teams which time phases were loaded through content update and need to be adjusted.
• When a new PST/PSP is created, it will be associated to the time phase with the latest due date for the milestone.
• This means that teams that customize multiple time phases per milestone may need to adjust the task/time phase mapping.
• If milestone functionality was used in the prior year file, time phases and mapping of tasks to time phases will rollforward from the
prior year.
• All dates that were assigned to milestones in the prior year will rollforward exactly one year and therefore it is important to
challenge that these are still accurate in light of the current year team and client discussions/expectations.

Page 6 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

Review time phases and milestone
assignments

• Engagement teams can review the time phases and assignment of milestones within the Scope & Strategy task called Determine
when tasks will be performed.

Page 7 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

Monitoring of Milestones

• Self-monitoring is key to the success of the program.

• Use the hand-off functionality to encourage timely review.
• Check the tasks “complete” when they have gone through the appropriate level of review and review notes are not significant.
• Use “All engagement team summary” view to track team progress and to see all tasks each team member is working on.
• Use Reporting Hub and Milestone dashboard report to view details behind progress of milestone.

Page 8 Milestone setup and monitoring through EY Canvas

EY | Building a better working world
EY exists to build a better working world, helping to
create long-term value for clients, people and society
and build trust in the capital markets.
Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in
over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and
help clients grow, transform and operate.
Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax
and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find
new answers for the complex issues facing our world
today.
EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the
member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate
legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by
guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY
collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have
under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member
firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information
about our organization, please visit ey.com.
© 2021 EYGM Limited.
All Rights Reserved.
XXXXX-XXXGbl
BMC Agency GA 1018679
ED None
This material has been prepared for general informational purposes only and is not intended
to be relied upon as accounting, tax or other professional advice. Please refer to your
advisors for specific advice.
ey.com