Skip to main content

Work Order

A work order is a central document that supports the execution and billing of a specific project, task, or service. For time recording users, a work order represents a concrete work instruction. It serves as a hub for communication, planning, execution, and tracking of work packages of all kinds — from internal maintenance tasks to tasks in complex, billable customer projects.

The documentation for DYCE Project Billing contains a general Introduction to billing professional services with DYCE and detailed information on properties of Work Orders.

This documentation describes how to handle work orders from the perspective of time recording in DYCE Time Tracking.

Billing Work Orders and Sub-Work Orders​

Customers and planners think in terms of topics — a change request, a project phase, a workshop. They want to see effort, cost, and progress aggregated at that level, and they want to estimate, quote, and approve work at that level too. How the team breaks the topic down internally — into individual tasks or tickets — is a separate question. Work orders support both views with a two-level structure:

  • The Billing Work Order represents the topic. It carries the Customer, the Project, and the master set of budget allocations (Work Order Lines), and it is the level at which time and cost are reported and invoiced.
  • Sub-Work Orders are the individual pieces of work underneath. Each Sub-Work Order rolls its time recordings up to its Billing Work Order, inherits Customer, Project, and Budget Type from the parent, and may only use Work Order Lines that exist on the parent.

For straightforward work, a single work order is enough. Sub-Work Orders are worth considering when a topic is split into multiple phases or assigned to different resources, while still being reported and invoiced as one. They are typically created in the source system that already organises work hierarchically — currently Business Central, Jira, or Azure DevOps — and arrive in Connect via synchronisation.

The Work Order List​

The Work Order List provides a comprehensive overview of all work orders assigned to the currently logged-in user. It can be accessed via the main menu item Work Order.

The primary purpose of this page is to give the user quick and direct access to all relevant tasks. The list is therefore always automatically filtered to the work orders assigned to the user. To further narrow down the view, any number of saved filters can be created per user.

By default, the following columns are displayed:

  • No.: The unique number of the work order (e.g., WO00092).
  • Title: A short, concise headline.
  • Description: A detailed description of the work to be done.
  • Customer: The external or internal client.
  • Project No. and Description: The parent project of this work order.
  • Resource: The assigned main resource.
  • Resource Group: The assigned resource group.
  • Location: The physical or virtual place where the work is performed.
  • Original Estimate: The estimated time required (in hours or days).
  • Completed: The current status (yes/no).

If desired, additional columns can be displayed via the column menu (…).

The Work Order Card can be opened either by double-clicking or via the context menu (right-click) on the corresponding row.

The Search field allows for a quick search across the following properties:

  • No.
  • Resource
  • Title
  • Description
  • Customer
  • Project No.
  • Project Description

A search restricts the list to the work orders that match the entered search term. Clicking the x icon in the search field removes the restriction.

Define, Save, and Retrieve Filters​

The list can be filtered by one or more properties and criteria by clicking the filter icon (Y). The application permanently remembers the active filter criteria and therefore displays the same list each time it is opened.

If a set of filtered criteria is needed frequently, it can be saved as a filters using the save icon (💾). The saved criteria can then be easily recalled with a simple click on the filter name.

tip

The color of the filter icon indicates whether filter criteria have been defined.

  • Gray icon: no filter criteria active
  • Blue icon: filtering by one or more properties

Work Order Card​

The Work Order Card is the central detail view for a single work order. It bundles all relevant properties from the areas of description, assignment, commercial details, and planning in one place.

This view is typically opened when a user double-clicks an entry in the Work Order List or navigates to a linked work order from other parts of the application, such as the "Tasks" page or the context menu of a time entry.

General Structure​

The Work Order Card is clearly divided into three main areas: the header, the tabs, and a dynamic sidebar.

  • The header displays the most important identifying features of the work order: the work order number, the title, and brief info on the customer, type, and status.
  • The tabs group the properties into four areas: General, Invoicing, Planning, and Details.
  • The right sidebar contains a dynamic dashboard that summarizes the most important key figures of the work order. The content of this bar changes slightly depending on the selected tab.

General Tab​

This tab contains the basic descriptive information of the work order necessary to understand the task. The following fields can be edited by the time recording user:

  • Title, Description, and Resolution: Define what the work order is about.
  • Internal Note: Text field for additional, non-public information.
  • Type: A classification of the work type (e.g., Story, Bug, Task). The list of possible values is maintained centrally in the respective source system (e.g., Business Central, Jira, Azure DevOps).
  • Completed (Toggle): Specifies whether the work order is considered done. The status in the header area (Open / Completed) is directly derived from this toggle.
  • Blocked (Toggle): Can be used to block a work order from further time recording.

For more information, see the chapter properties of a work order.

Invoicing Tab​

All information relevant for invoicing and budgeting is configured and viewed here. The tab is divided into four sections: Customer & Project, Budget, Work Order Estimates, and Time Recordings.

For a time recording user the tab is mostly read-only — the fields are populated by the planner and the integrations (Jira, Azure DevOps, Business Central). The Remaining Estimate is the exception and can be updated to give the planner feedback on progress. This section explains what those values mean.

Customer & Project​

The basic assignment of the work order. The Customer and Project drive everything that follows: which planning lines can be picked, which activity rates apply, and where the invoice ends up.

info

On a Sub-Work Order the two fields are inherited from the parent Billing Work Order and can not be changed, so every Sub-Work Order under the same Billing Work Order posts against the same customer and project.

See Customer and Project Rules for the full reasoning.

Budget​

  • Billing Work Order: Read-only reference to the Billing Work Order on which the time will be invoiced.

  • Budget Type: Either Open or Project, set by the planner. The setting determines how strictly your time recordings are tied to the work order's planning lines — see the Budget Type chapter for what each option means.

  • Work Order Lines: A grid showing which Project Planning Lines are budgeted for this work order — each row is one allocation.

    Columns:

    • Project Task No., Project Task Description, and Project Planning Line Description — together these identify the Project Task and Project Planning Line the Work Order Line points at. This is the reference to the budget; time recordings booked against the line consume that planning line's budget.
    • Activity — optional. If the planner sets one, it serves as the default activity for time recordings against this line; the user can always change it on the time recording.
    • Service Billing Type — Time & Material, Budget, or Fixed Price; a dollar-icon next to the activity shows the billable status
    • Reserved Qty. — optional; how much of the planning line's budget is reserved exclusively for this work order. Treat it as the time-recording budget for the task. If it is 0, no exclusive reservation is in place and the whole planning-line budget is available to draw from.
    • Qty. Available to Reserve — what is left of the planning-line budget after current reservations

    Quantities under 8 hours are shown in hours; 8 hours or more are shown in days (1 day = 8 hours).

Work Order Estimates​

  • Original Estimate: The initially estimated effort.
  • Remaining Estimate: Can be updated to track the remaining effort and give feedback to the project manager.

Time Recordings​

Shows a list of all time entries booked to this work order. All users can see all entries, but each user can only edit their own time entries. Editing is done via double-click or the context menu. Creating new entries is not possible in this view.

Planning Tab​

This tab is for operational planning and resource assignment.

  • Planning Fields: Shows the primarily assigned resource, a resource group, and optionally a location, sprint, or area. The primary resource and resource group cannot be changed by the time recording user.
  • Events: "Events" are specific appointments or scheduled work blocks. Users can plan their work on the work order in detail for one or more resources here, including specific start and end times. New events can be created via ⊕ NEW, and existing ones can be edited or deleted.

For more information, see the chapter properties of a work order.

Details Tab​

This tab contains links, references, and historical data that are for informational purposes only and generally cannot be edited.

  • External Link: Links the work order to the original item in an external system (e.g., a Jira issue).
  • Billing Work Order: Refers to a parent work order if this is a subtask.
  • Link: A direct link to this work order card.

The sidebar provides a quick overview of the work order's status:

  • Planning:
    • Scheduled: A status indicator (visualized by a green checkmark next to the resource) shows if the work order is scheduled. The checkmark appears as soon as at least one Event (planned work block) exists in the Planning tab.
    • Resource: Shows the primarily assigned resource.
  • Time Recording:
    • Estimated: The originally estimated effort in hours (this value comes from the Original Estimate field in the Invoicing tab).
    • Actual: The sum of all hours actually recorded for this work order, regardless of the recording resource.
  • Budget:

    • Budget Type: The budget type selected on the Invoicing tab.

    • Quantity: The budget set for the work order (e.g., in days), derived from the linked Project Planning Line (type Budget) (appears only if a Project Planning Line has been selected).

    • Actual: The portion of the budget already consumed (appears only if a Project Planning Line has been selected).

Work Order Events in the Task List​

A work order event is a specifically scheduled block of work for a particular resource at a set time. While the work order describes the task itself, the event defines the exact time of execution.

As soon as a planner creates an event for a resource, it automatically appears in the Tasks view of the respective user. These entries serve as a personal daily or weekly plan, showing which tasks are to be completed and when.

Each event in the task list offers a quick time entry function. By clicking on New Time Recording, a time entry is created that is already fully pre-populated with data from the work order and the event:

  • Date, Start, and End Time are taken directly from the scheduled event.
  • Customer, Project, Project Task, and Activity are taken from the billing details of the linked work order.
  • The Description can be pre-filled with the title of the work order.

This eliminates the manual search for the correct project data, significantly speeds up time tracking, and reduces the likelihood of errors. The user only needs to confirm or slightly adjust the recorded time.

Restrictions for Time Recording Users​

Users of Time Tracking are subject to certain restrictions to ensure the consistency of planning and budget data.

Disallowed Actions:

  • Work orders cannot be deleted.
  • Commercial and budget-relevant fields cannot be changed. This includes:
    • Customer
    • Project
    • Budget Type
    • Original Estimate
  • The Work Order Lines grid is read-only: lines cannot be created, selected, edited (Activity, Reserved Qty.), or deleted.
  • Planning-relevant fields such as the primary resource or resource group cannot be changed.

Allowed Actions:

Time recording users can edit all fields relevant to the description and status of their own work:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Internal Note
  • Resolution
  • Type
  • Completed (Status)
  • Remaining Estimate
  • Area
  • Sprint
  • Manage Events (create, edit, delete)