database design - How to assign ordinality to text, for the purpose of grouping data in Access report -

i want group access report base on custom grouping (as oppose alphabet descending or ascending)

for example:

proposal phase

data...

discovery phase

data...

identification phase

data...

right now,with order alphabet , shows proposal -> identification -> discovery, or vice versa.

i assign numbers text itself, such 1.proposal, 2.discovery, 3.identification. i'd avoid that. there feature in access allows me assign ordinality , sort of factors r?

add numeric column, name position or rank... sort column. that's way can achieve this.