Before You Start

Make sure you've completed:

What Makes a Good SR&ED Project?

Your project should involve systematic investigation to resolve technological uncertainty. Here are the key elements:

✅ SR&ED Project Checklist

  • **Technological uncertainty** - You didn't know how to solve a technical problem
  • **Systematic approach** - You followed a planned process to find solutions
  • **Advancement attempt** - You tried to advance beyond current knowledge/capability
  • **Documentation exists** - You have records of the work performed

Step-by-Step: Create Your Project

Step 1: Navigate to Projects

Go to Dashboard → Projects

Click the "+ New Project" button to start.

Be sure to check the box to confirm that Shredy Writer produces a draft, otherwise you will be directed to a form without the Shredy Writer.

Step 2: Basic Project Information

Project Title (Required)

  • Use a clear, descriptive name
  • Example: "AI-Powered Customer Support Chatbot Development"

Project Duration (Required)

  • Start date: When R&D work began
  • End date: When uncertainty was resolved (or fiscal year-end)

Step 3: Project Objectives & Hypothesis

What were you trying to achieve? (Required)

Write 2-3 sentences describing your goal. Focus on the technological challenge, not business outcomes.

💡 Good Example

"We aimed to develop a natural language processing system that could understand customer intent with 95% accuracy across multiple languages. The technological uncertainty was whether machine learning models could maintain high accuracy when processing colloquial expressions and industry-specific terminology simultaneously."

❌ Avoid

"We wanted to build a chatbot to reduce customer service costs." (This focuses on business goals, not technological challenges)

Step 4: Technical Challenges & Uncertainties

What technical problems did you need to solve? (Required)

List the specific technological uncertainties you faced:

💡 Good Examples

  • • "How to train ML models with limited labeled data in specialized domains"
  • • "Whether existing algorithms could handle real-time processing of high-volume data streams"
  • • "How to optimize database queries for sub-100ms response times with complex joins"

Step 5: Approaches & Methods

How did you try to solve these problems? (Required)

Describe the systematic approaches you took:

  • Experiments performed
  • Technologies tested
  • Methodologies applied
  • Alternative approaches tried

💡 Example

"We experimented with three different neural network architectures: transformer-based models, LSTM networks, and hybrid CNN-RNN approaches. We also tested various data augmentation techniques including back-translation and synthetic data generation to address the limited training data challenge."

Step 6: Results & Outcomes

What were your results? (Required)

Document what happened - success OR failure both qualify for SR&ED:

  • Technical results achieved
  • Knowledge gained
  • Problems discovered
  • Future research directions identified

Pro Tips for Project Creation

Upload Documents (Recommended)

If you have project documents, upload them using the "Upload PDF" option:

  • Design documents
  • Technical specifications
  • Research reports
  • Meeting notes
  • Test results

Shredy will auto-extract relevant information to pre-fill your project fields.

Use the AI Assistant

Click "Get AI Help" if you need assistance:

  • Refining your project description
  • Identifying technological uncertainties
  • Improving technical language

Save Drafts

You can save your progress and return later. Projects remain in draft until you click "Confirm & Submit".

Review & Submit

Before Submitting

Review your project to ensure:

  • Project focuses on **technological uncertainty**, not business goals
  • Approaches are **systematic and documented**
  • Technical challenges are **clearly described**
  • Results include **knowledge gained** (even from failures)

Generate Technical Narrative

Once submitted, Shredy will generate your CRA-compliant technical narrative covering:

  • Lines 242, 244, and 246 of the T661 form
  • Proper SR&ED terminology and structure
  • Compliance with CRA guidelines

Review AI Output

Always review and edit the generated content to ensure accuracy to your specific project.

Common Questions

❓ FAQ

Q: What if my project is still ongoing?
A: Use your fiscal year-end as the end date and document progress to that point.

Q: Can I include multiple technical challenges in one project?
A: Yes, but keep them related. If challenges are completely different, consider separate projects.

Q: What if I don't have documentation?
A: Use meeting notes, emails, code commits, or team member recollections. Some documentation is better than none.

Next Steps

Ready to create more projects? Use the same process for each R&D initiative in your fiscal year. 🚀