Project Billing

Project Billing in DYCE streamlines invoicing for professional services and projects by enabling multi-level control and posting of time recordings across project tasks, with options for bulk or individual approvals and advanced functions like quantity transfers and time splits. After release, time recordings are posted, linked sales orders prepared for invoicing, and invoices generated, with cancellation also supported from the same interface.

General

With Project Billing, DYCE provides a tool that supports the user in completing his tasks in the context of invoicing professional services and projects as simply and clearly as possible. Controlling and posting of the Time Recordings to the respective project components are done in a multi-level administration page for any number of (filtered) project tasks.

• The recorded times for the individual project tasks can thus be easily controlled and released for posting by the project manager.
• This release can be done either per Time Recording or for all Time Recordings in a document at once. Alternatively, several project tasks can be marked and released in one step.
• Useful functions such as the transfer of (remaining) quantities to other project tasks or the splitting of recorded times are available.
• Next step is posting of Time Recordings. The function takes all released Time Recordings into account. In the process, possible linked Sales Order lines are prepared for invoicing in parallel.
• In a further step the Posting Documents (service invoices) are generated.
• The cancellation of services can also be triggered via this page.

Billing for projects

The Project Billing page contains the overview of the project tasks to be checked, in addition to the selection option of individual views (with previously saved filter presets). In detail, the page is structured as follows:

1. Filter area
   • Here a Project Billing Overview Preset can be selected.
   • The date in Show Time Recordings up to can be predefined via the preset (if a Time Recordings Formula is stored there - see below). The date can also be adjusted manually. It is used to filter the related project tasks based on the Service Date and display them accordingly for posting.
   • The Invoice Posting Date specifies the date used when posting the Time Recordings (in the Usage type project ledger entries) and for the respective Billable project planning lines.
2. Actions
   • Post Time Recordings (Process)
     The action posts all released Time Recordings to the (via the Project Billing Overview Preset) displayed project tasks.
   • Post Quantity To Invoice (Process)
     Posts the quantity from Quantity to Invoice of the selected project tasks.
   • Cancel Service (Process)
     Invokes the Cancel Services function for the selected project tasks.
   • Create Purchase Orders (Process)
     Action refers to ordering external services and creates Purchase Orders for the selected project tasks. For further explanation, see this part of the DYCE documentation.
   • Invoicing (Process)
     The page that opens displays the project planning lines that can be invoiced. This can be used to create Posting Documents - even without a Sales Order.
   • Quick Filter (Process)
     For ad hoc filtering of project tasks, this action can be used in addition to Project Billing Overview Presets. It opens a filter page where the criteria for filtering can be entered. This will take the filter criteria from the currently selected view as default values.
   • Release Time Recordings (Time Recordings)
     Time Recordings for all selected project tasks are released at once.
   • Reopen Time Recordings (Time Recordings)
     This action resets the release of Time Recordings for all selected project tasks.
   • Edit Time Recordings (Time Recordings)
     Opens the page of the same name where Budget project planning lines can be viewed and Time Recordings can be edited.
   • Project Card (Project)
     The action opens the project Card of the selected project task.
   • Project Sales Invoices (Project)
     The action opens an overview of unposted Sales Invoices for the selected project.
   • Posted Project Sales Invoices (Project)
     The action opens an overview of posted Sales Invoices to the selected project.
   • Project Sales Orders (Project)
     The action opens an overview of the Sales Orders belonging to the selected project.
   • Project Task Card (Project Task)
     The action opens the card of the currently selected project task.
   • Project Planning Lines (Project Task)
     The action opens the project planning lines of the currently selected project task.
   • Sales Order (Project Task)
     The action opens the Sales Order (if any) belonging to the currently selected project task.
3. Project Tasks (lines)
   • The Project Billing lines show the project tasks for which times have been recorded within the specified filter (see Project Billing Overview Presets).
   • In addition to project and customer, the related Sales Order (if any), total Time Recordings and Budget information are also shown.
   • When switching Project Billing Overview Preset, the display of project tasks will be updated if necessary.
   • Clicking on any of the Time Recordings fields (Time Recordings Not Released, Time Recordings Released, Billable Time Recordings, Not Billable Time Recordings) opens an additional page for checking, editing and releasing the Time Recordings.
   • Clicking on one of the budget fields (Quantity Sold Budget, Budget (Total Price)) opens the corresponding project planning lines (for Invoiced (Total Price) the project ledger entries).
   • As an alternative to the actions and fields, a variety of calls for Time Recordings, projects and project tasks are available via the AssistEdit of the lines.

Include all past Time Recordings

The date in the header field Show Time Recordings up to will take all past Time Recordings into account. This way, no service to be invoiced can be overlooked (as long as the filter criteria from the Project Billing Overview Preset are correct), since all past Time Recordings are automatically part of the filter.

KPI

Remaining Budget indicates the remaining budget (quantity) for the project task. All project planning lines with a Service Billing Type are used for calculation. This KPI should not turn negative.

$$Remaining \ Budget = \sum\limits_1^n Quantity \ Project \ Planning \ Line_i \ (Budget) \ - \sum\limits_1^n Quantity \ Project \ Planning \ Line_i \ (Billable)$$

Not Billable Time Recordings indicates the duration of time recordings (display unit from Project Billing Overview Preset) that will not be invoiced.
In a time recording with a duration of 1 hour and a billable duration of 45 minutes, 15 minutes are not billable. If the KPI is negative, more than the duration will be invoiced after releasing and posting the time recordings. This is usually the case when rounding from the Time & Travel Model has been applied.

Example: A time recording with a duration of 5 minutes and a billable duration of 15 minutes (e.g., due to rounding from the Time & Travel Model to 15 minutes) results in Not Billable Time Recordings of -10 minutes. Not Billable Time Recordings of 0 means that the entire duration will be invoiced. If the KPI is disproportionately far from 0 and it is not an internal project, the time recordings should be checked more closely.

$$Not \ Billable \ Time Recordings = \sum\limits_1^n Duration \ Time \ Recordings_i \ - \sum\limits_1^n Billable \ Duration \ Time \ Recordings_i$$

The time recordings are filtered by Status Open and Approved.

Project Billing Overview Presets

Any number of views (as filter presets) can be created for filtering the services (project tasks) to be invoiced. Clicking on the AssistEdit in the Project Billing Overview Preset field will open the related page. In addition to a unique code and description, each view requires the specification of filter criteria and defaults for date calculation. The defaults for date calculation are specified in the form of a dateformula. For more information on using dateformulas, please see this part of the Microsoft documentation.
The actual date values are then calculated based on the workdate when a view is selected. This allows the defaults to be used continuously without having to be adjusted. When a view is selected, the filters are applied as to which project tasks should be displayed in Project Billing page. All fields from the project tasks are available as filter criteria.
To define the filters, the Edit Project Task Filter action is called. A filter page opens where the criteria can be defined. In addition to the pre-set criteria, further criteria can be added (via + Filter...). If the filter page is closed via OK, the criteria are saved in the view. This can be recognized by the fact that a check mark is set in the Project Task Filter field.
If only those projects are to be displayed in which the user himself is stored as Project Manager, the indicator can be set for this in the My Projects field.
In the Time Recordings Formula field, a dateformula is entered that will be interpreted when using the view in the Show Time Recordings up to field. This field is then used to filter the project tasks to be billed (based on the Service Date in the Time Recordings). If no dateformula is specified, Project Billing will not use a filter.
The Display Unit field is used to specify the unit in which Time Recordings are displayed. The choices here are Day and Hour.
In addition, the Copy Preset action provides the option of creating a copy of the currently selected view including all filters. Thus not all criteria must be entered again, but only the deviating criteria must be changed.

Note

If you only want to view a specific project or invoice per project, filter on the Project No. - either via a Project Billing Overview Preset or via the Quick Filter. On the other hand, if a project manager wants to check all of his projects at once, filtering on the Project Manager makes sense.

Special filter criteria

Time Recordings to Release and Time Recordings to Post The two filter criteria are related to Time Recordings that belong to the specific project task. Time Recordings to Release tends to be more applicable to the project manager, Time Recordings to Post tends to be more applicable to the person posting the Time Recordings. Three options can be selected for each of the two criteria:

Option	Meaning
EMPTY	This option displays all data.
Yes	This option is used to display project tasks in which Time Recordings are either to be released or to be posted.
No	This option is used to display all project tasks that do not contain releasable or to be posted Time Recordings.

Using special filter criteria

Especially the filter criterion Time Recordings to Release should be carefully considered. Depending on what is to be displayed, it may make sense to leave the filter set to Empty for the time being. If the filter is set to NO, all project tasks that contain Time Recordings that have not yet been released for posting will be displayed. However, at the moment of releasing, these are immediately filtered out and thus disappear from the list. This behavior is useful, for example, when you want to work through the release of Time Recordings and the progress should be visible.

Edit and release of Time Recordings

Time Recordings can generally be released without a detailed check. To do this, select the project tasks and call up the Release Time Recordings action (via Time Recordings, see above). This way of working can be useful in individual cases, but is generally not recommended.
On the other hand, the detailed check and subsequent release of Time Recordings is done either by clicking on the value e.g. in the Time Recordings Not Released field or via the Edit Time Recordings action (via Time Recordings, see above). It opens the page of the same name, where the Budget project planning lines are displayed and the Time Recordings can be edited and then released. Separate areas display the services (Budget project planning lines) at the top and the Time Recordings of the employees at the bottom.
The following actions are available in this page:

• Increase quantity
  This action increases the quantity of the project planning lines using a query. This shows the current quantity and, if applicable, the Sales Order. If the project planning lines is linked to a Sales Order line, the change also affects the Sales Order line.
• Toggle Time Recordings
  This action toggles the status for all selected Time Recordings. In each case, the other value (Open / Released) is set.
• Release All Time Recordings
  The action releases all Time Recordings for posting.
• Reopen Time Recordings
  The action resets the release for all Time Recordings.
• Post Quantity To Invoice
  The action posts the value in the Quantity to Invoice field of the currently selected project planning Line.

Time Recordings are related to a service (see top of the page) and are therefore generally billable. However, they can also contain non-billable parts such as Goodwill, Warranty or Internal times. By assigning them to services, the Time Recordings will be bold formatted based on the highlighted service in each case.
As long as a Time Recording is not yet posted, all fields can be changed. In addition, a Time Recording can be split differently in terms of total duration or moved to another project task (or even to another project - see below). If a part of a Time Recording should not be invoiced, the time can be reduced accordingly in the Billable Duration (or Billable Duration (Hours)) field. Initially, these fields are predefined by the Duration (and Duration (Hours)). In case of a reduction, a reason for the non-billing (field Non-billable Reason) must be specified at the same time. Here, the selection is initially predefined as Internal or based on the Time & Travel Model line. However, this can be changed.
Via the line menu, the Move Time Recordings function provides the option of moving a time recording that has not yet been posted from one project task to another project task or even to another project. When the action is called, a selection page opens, in which the data of the Time Recordings are already given as a starting point. For moving the project, the project task and the Budget project planning Line can be selected. By clicking OK, the Time Recording will be moved accordingly.
For further explanation on Time Recording and non-billable portions, please refer to this part of the DYCE documentation.

Proof of activity via Timesheets

Before receiving a Service invoice, some customers require advance proof of which services will be invoiced soon. For this purpose, the Create Timesheet Report action (menu group Time Recordings) is available in the Project Billing page. It allows for each project task to create a summary of Time Recordings in the form of a receipt that can be printed or emailed to the customer.
When called, the DYCE Timesheet page opens, displaying the Time Recordings for the previously selected project task, which are within the date filter. Time Recordings cannot be edited in this page. For each Time Recordings, it will show whether it was already included in a prior Timesheet report (Printed=YES). The Print field is used to indicate which Time Recordings should be printed (or emailed). Time Recordings that have already been printed can be printed again. To select all Time Recordings at once, the Toggle Print action is useful.
The Print action opens a dialog that controls the output of the previously selected Time Recordings.

Process: Review, release, and post Time Recordings

The following part of the documentation will introduce the process of billing services using Project Billing by an example of a particular project task.

Manage Time Recordings

In practice, the review and, if necessary, adjustment of the Time Recordings made by the employees, as well as the subsequent release of these project consumptions for billing, is usually carried out by the respective project or team leaders, since they are better able to evaluate the content of the activities carried out than, for example, a Sales Order Processor.
To ensure that only the employees' time recordings that have not yet been posted are displayed in the first step, it is advisable to create a suitable view for checking and approving the project tasks. Suggestion for defining the filters for the view for checking and releasing the consumptions:

• My Projects = Yes
• Time Recordings Formula = -CM-1D (here: to the last day of the previous month)
• Time Recordings to Release = Yes (Filter page Project Tasks)
• Time Recordings to Post = No (Filter page Project Task)

Increase or decrease the recorded quantities

The total of assigned Time Recordings for a billable service (Budget project planning Line) is displayed in the Billable Time Recording Released or Billable Time Recording Posted fields. If the Time Recordings exceed the original calculated billable quantity, a decision must be made as to the correct procedure for this project task:

• For a project planning Line with Service Billing Type Time & Material, it is assumed that the (billable) quantity may be increased by expense without any problems. This is done automatically and may be carried through to the Sales Order line. In this case, no user intervention is required, because when the Time Recordings are posted, the quantity in the project planning Line is automatically increased to match the associated Time Recordings.
• If, on the other hand, the project planning Line is of one of the Service Billing Types Budget or Fixed Price, this rule does not apply. In these cases, the service has been sold as a flat rate or Fixed Price and cannot be increased at will. For better visibility, the project task that contains such an overbooked project planning Line will be displayed in red format in the Project Billing page. The project manager (or other responsible person) must now decide how to handle the overbooking of the service: Can and may the quantity in the project planning Line be increased? This question arises especially if the project planning Line is linked to a Sales Order:
  • If the Sales Order Line still offers an available quantity, a manual increase of the quantity in the project planning Line to the assigned quantity would be possible in principle.
  • However, if the quantity in the Sales Order for this line is already exhausted, the quantity in the project planning Line cannot be increased. In this case, the only option (after consulting with the customer) is to increase the quantity in the Sales Order line. However, this must be done manually.

The action Increase quantity can be used to increase the quantity including the adjustment of the Sales Order line, e.g. after consultation with the customer. If a quantity increase in the (flat-rate) project task line is excluded for contractual reasons, there is still the possibility of transferring the Time Recordings that have not yet been booked to another project task (or also to another project) with quantities that are still free. The corresponding function Move Time Recordings (see Edit and release of Time Recordings) is located in the line menu of the bottom section of the Edit Time Recordings page.

Special feature: Billing of Fixed Price services

In order to invoice Services at Fixed Price, they must be somehow marked as completed. This is done by entering the (total) quantity to be posted in the Quantity to Invoice field in the Budget project planning Line. This step cannot be done automatically, as only the project manager (in coordination with the Time Recorder, if applicable) can assess whether the related activities have been completed and the corresponding Sales Order line can therefore be invoiced.
If the total quantity of a Fixed Price item is reached with the posting (delivery), the Qty. to Invoice field in the Sales Order line is automatically predefined with this quantity.

Releasing consumptions

To release the Time Recordings, the project manager filters (via an appropriate View) on the projects or project tasks for which he is responsible, for example. If in this view the filter for checking Time Recordings is set to YES and the filter for releasing project tasks is set to NO, all project tasks that have not yet been released for posting will be displayed. Immediately after checking and setting the release in all Time Recordings, the project task disappears from the current view due to the set filter and the project manager can continue with the next project task in the list.
Releasing can be done per Time Recording (Edit Time Recordings page) or by using the Release Time Recordings action in the menu bar of the Project Billing page for all selected project tasks at once. In the latter case, the Status field is automatically set to Released for all Time Recordings that have not yet been posted. In doing so, the Quantity to Invoice field in the related Budget project planning Line is updated for each release.

Post released Time Recordings

If the time recordings have been checked by the project manager and the posting release (Status field = Released) has been set, the posting of the consumptions (or Time Recordings) can also be done by a Sales Order Processor using batch processing. For this, the person also uses the Project Billing page - but with a different view:

• My Projects = No
• Time Recordings Formula = -CM-1D (here: to the last day of the previous month)
• Time Recordings to Release = No (Filter page Project Task)
• Time Recordings to Post = Yes (Filter page Project Task) Posting of released Time Recordings is done via the Post Time Recordings action (via Process). When posting, the Billable Time Recording Released and Billable Time Recording Posted fields are updated in the respective related Budget project planning lines. If applicable, the amount of the Budget project planning Line is also increased for Budget project planning lines with Service Billing Type Time & Material. If there is also a link to a Sales Order and the total quantity there is also exhausted, the quantity will also be increased accordingly.

Set quantity to be invoiced manually

If less quantity has been allocated to consumption than originally planned, the Quantity to Invoice in the project planning Line can be set to the quantity to be billed for services with one of the billing types Budget (if required) and Fixed Price. Afterwards, the action Post Quantity to Invoice must be called.
If this less consumption should actually be billed less (e.g. final billing), the Quantity to Invoice in the project planning Line (for the two billing types Budget and Time & Material) can be reduced to the actually assigned quantity of Time Recordings.

Create Posting Documents

After the Time Recordings have been posted, the services still need to be invoiced. This can be done either directly via the respective Sales Order or via Posting Documents (Invoices and Credit Memos). The Sales Orders that contain billable services are displayed in the Project Orders - Service Billing page. Here, using the Post menu item, invoices can either be created in batches and posted directly (Batch Post action) or individual unposted invoices can be created (Create Sales Invoices action). The page can be opened via the search (Alt+Q).
Alternatively, the Invoicing call is available in Project Billing page. This opens the Project Invoicing page, which displays all the project planning lines that can be invoiced. Here, too, there is the option of creating the posting documents by batch processing and posting them directly, if necessary.
Further details on posting documents are explained in more detail here.