Walkthrough: managing projects
This walkthrough introduces you to the project management features. Projects are a way for you to schedule the usage of your company's resources and to keep track of the various costs associated with the resources on a specific project. Projects involve the consumption of employee hours, machine hours, inventory items, and other types of usage that you might want to track as a project progresses.
This walkthrough covers the setup of a new project and related tasks:
- Handle fixed pricing
- Make payments in installments
- Post invoices from projects
- Copy projects
About this walkthrough
This walkthrough demonstrates the following tasks:
Setting up a project
With the budget structure set up for projects, creating a project is straightforward. This walkthrough covers the following procedures:
- Set up project task lines and planning lines.
- Create project-specific prices for items, resources, and general ledger accounts.
- Invoice customers for a project.
Handling fixed prices
You can handle fixed prices and the prices for services or goods that are agreed upon in advance with customers. In this walkthrough, you'll learn how to:
- See how contract and invoice values are determined.
- Allow for extra work in the schedule that isn't invoiced.
Copying a Project
This part of the walkthrough focuses on how to copy part or all of a project in order to reduce manual data entry and improve accuracy.
- Copy part of a project to a new project.
- Copy project-specific prices.
- Copy planning lines.
Making Payment by Installment
When a large, expensive project lasts for a long period, the customer often makes an agreement with the company to pay by installments. This scenario shows how you set up payment by installments and covers:
- Create payment by installments for a project.
- Invoice payments to customers.
- Account for usage in a project set up for payment by installments.
Roles
This walkthrough includes tasks for the following roles:
- Project Manager
- Project Team Member
Prerequisites
Before you can perform the tasks in the walkthrough, you must:
- Install the CRONUS demonstration database.
- Create sample data by using the steps in the following section.
Story
This walkthrough focuses on CRONUS, which is a fictional design and consultancy firm that designs and fits new infrastructures. For example, conference halls and offices with furniture, accessories, and storage units. Most of its work is project oriented. Prakash, a project manager at CRONUS uses project to get an overview of each ongoing task that CRONUS started and completed. Prakash is usually the one who sets up deals with customers and enters the core of the project, which is task and planning lines in addition to prices, into Business Central. Prakash finds that creating, maintaining, and reviewing information is straightforward. Prakash also likes the way Business Central enables copying projects and payment by installments.
Tricia, a project team member who reports to Prakash, is responsible for monitoring the project day-to-day. Tricia enters the work done by technicians on every task, records the items that they used, and the costs that they incurred.
Preparing sample data
To prepare for this walkthrough, you must add Tricia as a resource.
To prepare the sample data
Choose the
icon, enter Resources, and then choose the related link.Choose the New action to create a new resource card.
On the General FastTab, enter the following information:
- No.: Tricia
- Name: Tricia
- Type: Person
Choose the Base Unit of Measure field, and choose the New action to open the Resource Unit of Measure page. In the Code field, select Hour.
On the Invoicing FastTab, enter the following information:
- Direct Unit Cost: 5
- Indirect Cost %: 4
- Unit Cost: 10
- Gen. Prod. Posting Group: Services
- VAT Prod. Posting Group: VAT 25
Close the page.
In the next procedure, you create a project journal batch for Tricia in order to post their usage.
To create a project journal batch
Choose the
icon, enter Project Journals, and then choose the related link.On the Project Journal page, choose the Batch Name field. The Project Journal Batches page opens.
Choose the New action to create a new line with the following information:
- Name: Tricia
- Description: Tricia
- No. Series: JJNL-GEN
Choose the OK button to save the changes.
Setting up a project
In this scenario, CRONUS won a contract with a customer, Progressive Home Furnishings, to design a conference and dining hall. The customer is based in the United States and the project requires special software. The project manager reaches an agreement with the customer and creates a project that covers the agreement.
To set up a project
Choose the
icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.Choose the New action to create a new card.
On the General FastTab, enter the following information:
- Description: Advising on conference hall setup
- Bill-to-Customer No.: 01445544
On the Posting FastTab, enter the following information:
- Status: Planning
- Project Posting Group: Setting Up
- WIP Method: Cost Value
On the Duration FastTab, type today's date into the Starting Date and Ending Date fields. These dates help apply currency conversions when the project is invoiced.
On the Foreign Trade FastTab, set the currency code to USD. If you select USD in the Invoice Currency Code field, the project is invoiced in U.S. dollars and planned in the local currency of CRONUS only.
You can customize the pricing for customers on a per project basis, depending on the agreements you have. In the next procedure, the project manager specifies a cost for Tricia's time, sets the price for the required software, and adds in the travel costs that the customer agreed to pay.
To customize pricing
From the Project Card, choose the Resource action.
On the Project Resource Prices page, enter the following information:
- Code: Tricia
- Unit Price: 20
Close the page.
Choose the Item action.
On the Project Item Prices page, enter the following information and customized price:
- Item No.: 80201 (Graphic Program)
- Unit Price: 200
Close the page.
Choose the G/L Account action.
On the Project G/L Account Prices page, enter the following information and the cost of travel, for which the customer agreed to pay cost plus 25 percent:
- G/L Account: 8430 (Travel)
- Unit Cost Factor: 1.25
Close the page.
The final steps in setting up a project are adding the project tasks and the planning lines that are part of each task. The planning lines determine what is invoiced to the customer.
To add project tasks
On the Project card for the new project, choose the Project Task Lines action.
The following table describes the information that you should enter in the fields.
Project Task No. Description Project Task Type 1000 Consulting on hall setup Begin-Total 1010 Consultation meeting with customer Posting 1020 Development Posting 1090 Consulting Total End-Total To show that some tasks are subcategories of other tasks, choose the Indent Project Tasks action.
A planning line can be one of the following types:
- Budget: Added to the schedule, but not invoiced.
- Billable: Invoiced, but not added to the schedule.
- Both Budget and Billable: Invoiced and added to the schedule.
In this walkthrough, the project manager uses Both Budget and Billable. They create three planning lines for task 1010, and two planning lines for task 1020.
To create planning lines
Select line 1010, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action.
Create planning lines with the following information:
Line Line Type Planning Date Type No. Quantity Unit Price 1 Both Budget and Billable (today's date) Resource Tricia 40 2 Both Budget and Billable (today's date) Resource Timothy 40 3 Both Budget and Billable (today's date) G/L Account 8430 (Travel) 2 400 Close the page. The totals are updated on the Project Task Lines page.
Select line 1020, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action. Enter the following information:
Line Line Type Planning Date Type No. Quantity Unit Price 1 Both Budget and Billable (today's date) Resource Tricia 80 2 Both Budget and Billable (today's date) Item 80201 (Graphic program) 1 Close the page. Totals are updated on the Project Task Lines page.
Calculating remaining usage
Tricia, the team project member, has been working on the project for a while and wants to register their hours and usage. Tricia didn't work more hours than was agreed upon with the customer in advance. Tricia uses the Calculate Remaining Usage batch job to calculate remaining usage in a project journal. For each task, the batch job calculates the difference between scheduled usage of items, resources, and general ledger expenses and the actual usage posted in project ledger entries. The remaining usage is then displayed in the project journal, and Tricia can post it.
To calculate remaining usage
- Choose the icon, enter Project Journals, and then choose the related link.
- On the Project Journal page, in the Batch Name field, open the Project Journals Batches list. Select the Tricia project journal batch.
- Choose the Calc. Remaining Usage action.
- On the Project Calc. Remaining Usage page, on the Project Task FastTab, choose the Project No. field, and select the relevant project number, typically project J00010.
- On the Options FastTab, type J00001 in the Document No. field. This information makes future tracking of the posting easier.
- Enter today's date as the posting date.
- Choose the OK button. This action generates project journal lines based on the planning lines that Prakash created.
- Choose the OK button on the confirmation page. The generated lines are added to the project journal.
- Make sure that all the document numbers are J00001, and then choose the Post action. Choose Yes to confirm the posting.
The lines are now posted.
Creating and posting a project sales invoice
Next, Tricia can create a new invoice for the whole project or for part of a project. Tricia can also attach the invoice to another invoice for the same customer for the same project. In this case, Tricia invoices for the whole project because the project is now completed.
To create a project sales invoice
- Choose the icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.
- Select the project that you created earlier, and then choose the Create project Sales Invoice action.
- On the Project Task FastTab, clear any filter on Project Task No. in order to invoice the project. In the Project No. field, select the relevant project.
- On the Options FastTab, fill in the posting date and define whether you want to create one invoice per task or just a single invoice for all tasks.
- Choose the OK button to create the invoice and choose the OK button on the confirmation page.
After Tricia creates the invoice, it's available from the Sales Order Processor Role Center, for example.
To post a new sales invoice
- Choose the icon, enter Sales Invoices, and then choose the related link.
- Open the invoice for Customer No. 01445544. You can see the information that was entered from the planning lines.
- Choose the Post action. Choose Yes to confirm the posting.
To view the posted invoice
- Open the project, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action.
- Select any of the planning lines that were invoiced, and then choose the Sales Invoice/Credit Memo action.
- On the Project Invoices page, choose the Open Sales Invoice/Credit Memo action.
Tricia has a question about the prices, costs, and profits that are relevant to this particular project, so Tricia accesses that information on the Statistics page.
To open the Statistics page
- Choose the icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.
- Choose the Statistics action. You can review detailed information about the project prices, costs, and profits in both local and foreign currencies.
- Choose the Close button to close the Project Statistics page.
Handling fixed prices
CRONUS is contracted to set up conference rooms. As the project manager, Prakash wants a good overview of the tasks required for the project with the associated budgeted and incurred costs for each task. In addition, Prakash wants to know the total contracted price for the project and the amount that was invoiced to this point. They're in agreement with the customer regarding fixed pricing for the project.
To manage fixed pricing in projects
Choose the
icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.Select the Guildford project number, and then choose the Project Task Lines action.
Select line 1120, and in the Budget (Total Cost) field, right-click the amount and choose DrillDown.
By reviewing the Project Planning Lines, it's determined that Prakash needs Tricia for 30 hours for this stage of the project. Prakash agrees on a fixed price with the customer.
On the Project Task Lines page, select line 1120, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action. Create a planning line with the following information:
Line Line Type Type No. Quantity 1 Both Budget and Billable Resource Tricia 30 Close the page.
In the Budget (Total Cost) field, right-click the field, and choose Drilldown again on the Project Task Lines page. View the changes to the schedule. You see that 30 hours are added to the schedule.
Close the pages.
After being added to the schedule for this task line, Tricia works 25 hours on the project, and enters these hours into the project journal.
To enter hours in a project journal
Choose the
icon, enter Project Journals, and then choose the related link.On a new line, enter the following information:
- Line Type: (blank)
- Posting Date: (today's date)
- Document No.: J00002
- Project No.: Guildford
- Project Task No.: 1120
- Type: Resource
- No.: Tricia
- Quantity: 25
Choose the Post action.
A few days later, Tricia works for another 10 hours on the project and has worked 35 hours in all. Because the agreement is for 30 hours with the customer, only five of these hours are charged to the customer. Tricia manually adds the other five hours to the schedule.
On the Project Journal page, choose the Calc. Remaining Usage action.
On the Project Calc. Remaining Usage page, on the Options FastTab, enter the following information:
- Document No.: J00003
- Posting Date: (today's date)
On the Project Task FastTab, enter the following information:
- Project No.: Guildford
- Project Task No.: 1120
Choose the OK button to run the calculation.
There are five hours of work remaining for Tricia. The Line Type field is blank, which indicates that only the usage remains to be posted because the work was already scheduled.
In the Project Journal, create a new line with the following information. Make sure that both project numbers are sequential with the numbers you've already used:
- Line Type: Budget
- Project No.: Guildford
- Project Task No.: 1120
- Type: Resource
- No.: Tricia
- Quantity: 5
If you use the Budget line type, there are updates to the scheduled costs and prices, but no updates to the contract costs and prices that are invoiced to the customer.
Choose the Post action. Choose the OK button to close the page.
Open the Projects list.
Select the GUILDFORD project, and then, in the Project Task Lines section, select line 1120 and in the Budget (Total Cost) field, right-click the amount. Choose DrillDown to view the information.
Changes are automatically entered on the line for Project Task No. 1120. In the total cost of scheduled work, five more hours of work by Tricia were added to the schedule.
Choose the Close button to close the page.
Right-click the amount in the Contract (Total Cost) field and choose DrillDown to view the information.
In the total price for the contract, only the original contracted 30 hours are included, as agreed upon with the customer.
Copying projects
Prakash reached an agreement with a customer, Selagorian Ltd, to set up 10 conference rooms. The agreement resembles an earlier project. Therefore, it saves time to copy that earlier project.
On the Copy Project page, you can select the project and task lines that you want to copy.
- Copy the source project ledger entries to create planning lines based on actual use.
- Copy the source project planning lines to copy the original planning lines to the new project.
You can then choose what planning line or ledger entry line type that you want to include, selecting only what is relevant to this new project. Finally, you can select the project that you want to copy to and define whether prices and quantities should be copied as well.
To copy a project
Choose the
icon, enter Projects, and then choose the related link.Choose the New action to create a new project. Enter the following information:
- Description: Setting up 10 Conference Rooms
- Bill-To Customer No.: 20000
Choose the Copy Project Tasks from action.
On the Copy Project Tasks page, enter the following:
- Project No.: Guildford
- Project Task No. From: 1000
- Source: Project Planning Lines
- Incl. Planning Line Type: Budget + Billable
- To Project No.: GuildfordSetting up 10 Conference Rooms
- Select the Copy Dimensions and Copy Quantity fields.
Choose the OK button to copy the project, and then choose the OK button to close the confirmation page.
By comparing prices, project task lines, and project planning lines for the two projects, you can see that the information was successfully copied.
Making payments by installments
CRONUS just landed a large project that will take a year to complete. Because it requires many resources, the project manager sets up the contract so that the customer pays part of the price up front, part when the project is halfway completed, and the final payment upon completion.
To set up a new account
Choose the
icon, enter Chart of Accounts, and then choose the related link.On the Chart of Accounts page, choose the New action to create a new card.
On the New G/L Account card, enter the following information:
- No.: 40255
- Name: Project Payment
On the Posting FastTab, in the Gen. Prod. Posting Group field, select Services. Close the page.
On the Chart of Accounts page, select No. 40255 Job Payment, and then choose the Indent Chart of Accounts action. Choose Yes to confirm.
The following procedures show how to create a new project, set pricing, and then set up payment by installment. In the project task lines, you can create specific lines dedicated to the payment by installments. All work completed on the project that is added to the schedule will be entered on the usage lines. For each payment task line on the planning lines, the line type is Billable, which means that the customer will be invoiced. Enter a new line for the down payment. On the usage task line, you can enter the information for the items and resources that have been used in this project, which will increase the schedule, such as employee hours and items used on the project.
To make a payment by installment
Create a new project.
On the new Project card, fill in the following information:
- Description: Redecoration of Reception Area
- Bill-to-Customer No.: 30000
- Project Posting Group: Setting up
- WIP Method: Cost Value
On the Project Card, choose the Prices action, and then choose the Resource action. Enter the following information:
- Code: Tricia
- Unit Price: 10
Close the page.
On the Project card, in the Tasks section, add project task lines as described in the following table:
Line Project Task No. Description Project Task Type 1 1000 Payment-Down Payment Posting 2 2000 Usage Posting 3 3000 Payment - Midway Posting 4 4000 Payment - Completion Posting Choose task 1000, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action.
Create a planning line with the following information:
Line Line Type Planning Date Type No. Quantity Unit Price 1 Billable (today's date) G/L Account 40255 1 5000 Close the page.
Choose task 2000, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action.
Create a planning line with the following information:
Line Line Type Planning Date Type No. Quantity 1 Budget (today's date) Resource Tricia 120 2 Budget (today's date) Item 70104 10 Close the page. On the Project Task Lines page, you can see the schedule amounts have been updated.
Choose task 32000, and then choose the Project Planning Lines action.
Create a planning line with the following information:
Line Line Type Planning Date Type No. Quantity Unit Price 1 Billable (a future date) G/L Account 40255 1 5000 Close the page.
Create a similar planning line entry for project task 4000.
Now that the task and planning lines have been entered, Prakash creates an invoice for the first payment. Prakash does this from the project task lines to make sure that the invoice only contains the lines for the first payment. You can open the sales order from the planning lines or the task lines.
To create an invoice
- On the Project Task Lines page, select line 1000, and then choose the Create Sales Invoice action.
- On the Create Sales Invoice page, set today's date as the posting date, specify Per Task, and choose the OK button to create an invoice with the default information. Choose the OK button to close the confirmation page.
- Choose the Sales Invoice/Credit Memo action. On the sales invoice, you can see that only the down payment is included in the invoice. You can now send this to the customer as agreed.
Summary
This walkthrough has taken you through some of the basic steps of working with projects in Business Central. You have learned about how to create a new project, how to copy a project, and how to handle payments. Also, you have seen a demonstration of how to track hours and create invoices.
See also
Business Process Walkthroughs
Setting Up Project Management
Use Resources
Monitor Progress and Performance
Invoice Projects
Work with Business Central
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