Projects
In DYCE Project Billing Projects are used to invoice services. In order for services to be provided and invoiced, it is mandatory that at least one Project for each customer is created in Business Central.
Setting up a new Project
To create a new Project, a new Project Card is created, which is filled with all the necessary information for later processing. The easiest way to create a Project is to use the customers or the contacts overview. The Project action (in the New Document action group) can be used for this purpose.
Since each Project can potentially be invoiced, a customer has to be set in the Project. If a Project is to be created via a contact, the contact must be linked to a Customer (via a Business Relation). For further explanation of contacts and business relations, see this part of the DYCE documentation (which belongs to DYCE IT-Business Toolkit).
This way the master data will be automatically transferred to the new Project. Alternatively, a Project can also be created using the New action in the lookup of the Project No. field in the sales document cards.
If a Project is created manually (action New in the Project overview), at least the invoice recipient must be explicitly selected. In addition, the existing Projects are visible in the customers and the contacts overview. Via the fact box Sell-to Sales History (tile Projects) a particular Project or the one just created can be opened directly.
In addition, Projects can also be called up either via the Role Center, the navigation menu or via the system-wide search (Alt+Q).
Structure of the Project Card
Fast tab General
When a new Project is created, an empty Project Card is opened first. You should consider using a manual number series for the Project No., since in many places only the Project No. field is visible. A speaking name instead of a consecutive number can then be advantageous. If the Project Card was created via the customers or contacts overview, the corresponding master data fields are already filled. The following steps are necessary to create a Project:
- If necessary, select a customer (in the Bill-to Customer No. field).
- Enter a more detailed description of the Project in the Description field.
- Categorize the Project by selecting a Project Type.
- In the field Time and Travel Model Code a model code for the recording of times for this Project can be stored. This specification is optional.
- The Project Manager can be deposited in the field of the same name via the selection of the users available in the system. From this point on, the Project is automatically displayed in the Role Center part My Projects of this user. In addition, further responsible persons can be entered in the fields Person Responsible and Salesperson Code. These must have been previously created as a resource or seller with the required information. Both fields are optional entries.
- Autom. Detail Overview printing field causes accompanying details to be automatically added to the invoice when billing for Services or printing a corresponding sales invoice for this Project. The Detail Overview contains details of the invoiced Time Recordings and, if applicable, goodwill times. The indicator can already be set up as a default in the customer templates and can also be activated in the customer card. New Projects will then adopt the value from the customer. This can be changed manually there however if necessary.
The field Bill-to Customer No. can only be set to another customer as long as no further processing or posting has taken place for the Project.
Fast tab Tasks
The lines in the Project Card represent the individual project components (Project Tasks). They show both quantities and values or the Project Ledger Entries cumulatively in the respective columns. By clicking on a field, the details can be viewed.
With DYCE Project Billing Project Tasks can be created both manually or via Sales Orders (actions Create Service Project Tasks or Create other Project Tasks in Process). Project Planning Lines of the type Budget are also created at the same time. These are used in the further course to assign Time Recordings and thus form a decisive part for the billing of services. New Project Tasks that have been created via a sales order are compounded based on the order number. For this purpose, additional Begin-Total and End-Total lines are created for the first Project Task. Further Project Tasks from the same sales order will be sorted accordingly.
In the standard version of Business Central, Project Tasks and Planning Lines can only be created manually. However, this would not only be very inconvenient for recording of times, but this would also mean that the project's components would not be linked to the respective budget from the related sales order. DYCE Project Billing links these two parts together.
When Time Recordings are posted, Project Planning Lines of the type Billable are automatically created. These are used as the basis for billing the services in the next step. If a Project Task is linked to a Sales Line (e.g. in a Sales Order), the posting of the Billable Project Planning Lines is done automatically when invoicing the corresponding Order Line.
The description of the Project Tasks and Project Planning Lines generated via the sales order depend on the descriptions used in the order line, which in turn are based by default on the items used.
The display of the Project Tasks in the Project Card is used for controlling purposes and, if necessary, for the administration of the individual Project Planning Lines.
Further explanations of Project Tasks and Project Planning Lines can be found in this part of the DYCE documentation.
Fast tab Posting
- Status field shows the current status of the Project. When a new Project is created, the status is always set to Open. However, this can be changed manually. Only open Projects can be posted to.
The following status options are possible:
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Planning | The Project is in the planning phase. Posting is not possible in planning status. |
| Quote | This status allows you to make preliminary calculations. No posting is possible. |
| Open | All Project control functions can be used and changed if necessary. Postings are only possible in this phase. Sales Invoices and Credit Memos can be used to create customer invoices and credit memos for the individual Project Tasks. |
| Completed | Completed Projects can no longer be posted. Invoicing is also no longer possible. This step closes the Project. The statistics functions can be used for comparison purposes for completed Projects, or to facilitate planning for future Projects. The actual costs of a completed Project can be compared with the planned amounts. This information is useful not only for comparisons, but also as a guideline or default for future Projects. |
- Project Posting Group determines which General Ledger Entries are posted to when batch processing Post WIP to G/L batch job is run. WIP is used to reconcile expenses and revenues. The field is copied from Projects Setup when a Project is created.
- In Business Central, WIP and revenue recognition for sales and expenses can basically be calculated in several ways. The distinction is in the selection of the WIP Method for the Project. For more information on WIP methods, please refer to this part of the Microsoft documentation. The field is taken from Projects Setup when a Project is created.
- WIP Posting Method controls whether the WIP method is applied per Project or per Project Ledger Entries. For the Per Project selection, WIP is calculated by Business Central using total WIP costs and sales. For Per Project Ledger Entry, the summed values for WIP costs and sales are used by Business Central. The field is taken from Projects Setup when a Project is created.
- The Allow Budget/Billable Lines field must always be set to YES for Projects in DYCE Project Billing to create one Planning Line of type Budget and one of type Billable. Otherwise, the invoicing of Services is not possible. The field is taken from Projects Setup when a Project is created.
- Apply Usage Link indicates whether Project Ledger Entries of type Usage are linked to Project Planning Lines. The link should be activated whenever quantities and amounts of remaining work are to be tracked to view a link between demand planning, consumption and sales. The Usage Link is only used for Project Planning Lines of type Budget. This field is usually already predefined with YES and should not normally be changed. The field is taken from Projects Setup when a Project is created.
Fast tab Duration
The Start Date and End Date can be used to maintain the start and (expected) end of the Project for information purposes. Both entries are optional.