Introduction
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides fully integrated jobs and resources functionality, which helps a company manage projects efficiently.
A job, or a project, belongs to a series of business activities that combine to fulfill a high-level objective. Jobs allow you to track various costs that are associated with a long-term project. They also track the profitability of the job and compare planned costs and revenues to actual job costs and revenues.
A resource is a person or a machine that performs the business activities of a job.
The Jobs application area supports common project management tasks, such as configuring a job and scheduling a resource. It also provides the information needed to manage budgets and monitor processes.
Job planning is an estimate of costs and selling prices for a job. The program manager schedules the usage of items, resources, and in some cases, G/L expenses. Then, while the job is in process or after its completion, the program manager compares the schedule with the actual usage.
Job planning in Business Central consists of two layers:
Job task lines
Job planning lines
The first layer, job task lines, is mandatory; otherwise, posting the usage of items, resources, or G/L expenses to the job will be impossible. The second layer, planning lines, is a detailed elaboration of the job tasks.
Planning lines specify the detailed use of resources, items, various G/L expenses, and the planned dates when they'll be used and/or invoiced. The planning lines layer is divided into two sublayers: a schedule and a contract line. Only contract lines can be invoiced. Job planning is independent of the sales value of the work to be performed and independent of the job.