Creating and maintaining projects

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Project

If you are viewing a project, this displays the code and description of this project as defined at Project and Description respectively, under the Basics tab. As such, the information cannot be edited here. However, if you are creating a new project, no information is displayed.

Manager

This displays the manager of this project as defined at Manager under the Basics tab. As such, the information cannot be edited here.

Status

This displays the status of the project as defined at Status in the MRP section under the Basics tab. As such, the information cannot be edited here.

Add: Account

Click this to add an account for the project. Once selected, the name, type, status, and address of the creditor or debtor will be displayed.

Delete: Account

Click this to delete an account from the project.

Basics tab

This tab should contain most of the static information of a project. When defining a new project, you should at least enter data under this tab, apart from the Extra tab.

Type

Select one of the following to define this project with the corresponding type:

Note: You can change the project type among Fixed, Time & Material, Internal, Production, and Training before it is saved. Upon saving, you can only interchange the project type between a Time & Material and Fixed until an actual transaction is linked to the project.

Project

Type a unique alphanumeric code to identify the new project. You can type up to 20 characters. This information is mandatory. Once you have saved this project, you can only recode using the Recode functionality. This code depends on the type of project created.

• When creating an Internal or Training project, you can type any project code, as long as it is not an existing project code.
• When creating a Time & Material or Fixed project, the project code is automatically entered as the linked sales order number.
• When creating a Production project, the project code is automatically entered as the linked production order number.
• If the project is generated from a project order, the project number follows the order number.

Note: If you are creating a child project by linking it to a parent project, and then saving it without typing a code, the system will automatically define the code as ‘PARENTCODE.00X’, whereby ‘PARENTCODE’ is retrieved from the code of the parent project and ‘X’ indicates the level of children. For example, if the parent project code is ‘PROJECT’, then the child project code is ‘PROJECT’.001’ when creating the first level child project or ‘PROJECT’.002’ when creating the second level child project. However, if you have defined the code before selecting a parent project, the code will not be overwritten by the system.

Description

Type a description of the project. This information is mandatory.

Manager

Type or select a resource to assign this resource as a manager for this project. This information is mandatory. By default, the resource who is currently logged on the system is pre-filled when creating a new project. Once selected, the resource ID and name will be displayed, and the corresponding cost center will be automatically pre-filled at Cost center.

Note: A project manager has total management control of the overall operations of a project. Among his important roles are planning tasks to resources, realizing the hours on behalf of the resources, authorizing the realizations, and adding or removing project members from a project.

Cost center

The system will automatically pre-fill the cost center based on the project manager defined at Manager. To edit, type or select a different cost center to link this cost center to the project. Once selected, the cost center code and description will be displayed.

Parent

Type or select a project to link the project as a parent for this project. Once selected, the code and description of the project will be displayed, and Project will be pre-filled by the system. For more information, see Project, above. However, if you have defined the code before selecting a parent project, the code will not be overwritten by the system.

Note: Parenting allows several sales orders to be grouped together. As such, a high-level monitoring of all the related projects can be obtained from a single overview. Once a text is typed, the  Open button is enabled.

  Open

Click this to view the details of the parent project.

Note: This button is enabled only when you have entered the parent project in the Parent box.

MRP section

Status

Type or select one of the following statuses to define the project accordingly. By default, Proposed is displayed when creating a new project.

• Active — Select this to activate the project when the actual work and activities are executed, such as when sales orders are created or the project planning is approved. In this status, all types of activities can be registered. If you link a project with this status to a quotation or sales order, the project that is automatically generated will use the linked project as the parent project.
• Blocked — Select this to block any entries from being created for the project and modification from being done to the linked sales order. The possible activities that you can register on this project are processing existing entries. Once the entries are processed, the work in progress amount can be released to the profit & loss statement.  Besides that, you can enter journal entries and link to blocked projects.
• Completed — Select this to complete this project and stop conducting any activities on it. As such, all its child projects and the linked sales orders, invoices, internal use requests, purchase orders, and production orders are completed, and no amounts left on the work in progress ledger. The project will however still be available in the overview of projects.
  Proposed — Select this if this project is still in the proposal stage. By default, the status of a new manually or automatically created project or project generated from a sales quotation is pre-defined with this status. In this status, you can create a quotation or sales order for this project. If you link a project with this status to a quotation, or sales order, the project that is automatically generated will use the linked project as the parent project.

Note: If Time & Material or Fixed is selected at Type and the sales order linked to the project has been removed by the logistic MRP cleaning up tool, the field is disabled when Completed is selected. For more information, see How-to: Cleaning Up Logistic MRP Records.

Planned

Type or select the planned start and end date of the project. The total number of days planned for the project will then be calculated and displayed accordingly. If you leave this blank, the system will fill in the current date as the planned start date and the same date of the next month as the planned end date.

Output (Product)

Type or select an item to link this item as an output of the project. Once selected, the item code and description will be displayed. Leave this blank if you do not wish to link any item as an output of the project. Different rules are applicable for the Training and Internal projects as follows:

• For Training projects, this information is mandatory. Besides that, all items can be selected except phantom items. Phantom items are items created at Manufacturing/Setup/Extra charges. 
• For Internal projects, only standard items can be selected.

Include: Children

Select this check box to include the information of the child projects in the project master card.

WIP method

Select one of the following options to define the WIP method to calculate the profit of the project:

• Percentage of completion cost recognition (PoCCR) — Select this if a project is executed by order of third parties and remains active over many financial periods. The profit is taken proportionally with the actual work done. In order to account the WIP for several projects in a specific period and determine the mutation of the WIP, you have to determine the percentage of completion based on the actual and forecast cost of the project.
  

  Percentage of completion (PoC) = (Actual cost / Forecast cost) x 100% Suggestion of WIP (Change) = [(PoC x Forecast revenue) – Actual revenue] – WIP current

• Percentage of completion revenue recognition (PoCRR) — This method is similar to PoCCR except that the percentage of completion is based on the actual and forecast revenue of the project.

  Percentage of completion (PoC) = (Actual revenue / Forecast revenue) x 100% Suggestion of WIP (Change) = [Actual cost – (PoC x Forecast cost)] – WIP current

• Completed contract method (CC) – This method is also known as the zero profit method. Select this if a project is executed by order of third parties. The profit is taken when a project is completed. In order to account the WIP for several of these projects in a specific period, the revenue should be recognized to the extent of recoverable expenses. The outcome of some projects cannot be estimated reliably except for the fact that the overall project is expected to be profitable. As long as the project is not completed, no profit or loss is taken in the financial results. After generating the WIP, the results for the project on the profit & loss statement should be zero. When the project is finished, the WIP or project results are released. The percentage of completion is based on the actual and forecast revenue, while forecast value is not used in the WIP calculation.

  If Revenue forecast > Actual revenue, Percentage of Completion (PoC) =  0%, then, Suggestion of WIP (Change) = (Actual cost – Actual revenue) – WIP Current

   

  If Revenue forecast < or = Actual revenue,  Percentage of Completion (PoC)= 100%, then, Suggestion of WIP (Change) = – (WIP Current)

• Cost of sales method (COS) — Select this to calculate the profit based on the invoiced quantities and the average purchase price. When you select this method, Exact Globe will introduce the recognized cost functionality. In order to use the recognized cost functionality, you need to select COS as the WIP method, fulfill all sales orders, and process all sales invoices. The percentage of completion is not applicable in this method. Using this method, you can generate a proposal for recognized cost at Projects/Projects/Work in progress.   

  If Actual revenue = 0, then Suggestion of WIP (Change) = Actual cost – WIP current

   

  If Actual revenue <>0, then Suggestion of WIP (Change) = Cost actual – [Qty invoiced x (Actual cost/Qty of item)] – WIP current

   

  If (Actual cost / Qty of item) = 0, then Suggestion of WIP (Change) = Actual cost – (Qty invoiced x Cost price) – WIP current

   

  Suggestion of Recognized Costs (Change) = Qty invoiced x (Actual cost / Qty of item) Note: If the item is a text item with zero standard cost price, the actual cost in the formula will be the cost from invoice.

  Note: This method is available in the license for all countries except the Netherlands. If the method is available for selection, the Suggestion (Recognized costs) check box is available at Proposal in Projects/Projects/Work in progress. Besides that, the recognized amount will also be displayed under the Financial section.

   

• No: WIP — Select this if you do not want to use any WIP method to calculate the profit of the project. As such, the corresponding project will not be listed when you click  at Projects at Projects/Projects/Work in progress and the WIP button is disabled. 
• To be invoiced (TBI) — This method enables booking whenever there is change of price. The new WIP entry will represent the outstanding billable amount to the customer and provide an overview of the amount that has to be invoiced. The calculation is based on realized hours that are authorized but have not yet been invoiced (invoice not processed), multiplied by a sales rate. The percentage of completion is not applicable in this method and forecast value is not used in this method. The rates used are based on the project rate structure.

  Suggestion of WIP (Change) = To be invoiced amount (before invoice is processed) – WIP Current

• Percentage of cost completion cost recognition (budget) (PoCCR budget) — This method is similar to PoCCR except that the percentage of completion is based on the actual and budgeted cost of the project.

  Percentage of completion (PoC) = (Actual cost / Budget cost) x 100% Suggestion of WIP (Change) = [(PoC x Budget revenue) – Actual revenue] – WIP current

  Note: This method is available only if you have SE1050-E-Budget in your license.

• Percentage of cost completion cost recognition (budget) (PoCRR budget) — This method is similar to PoCRR except that the percentage of completion is based on the actual and budgeted revenue of the project.

  Percentage of completion (PoC) = (Actual revenue / Budget revenue) x 100% Suggestion of WIP (Change) = [Actual cost – (PoC x Budget cost)] – WIP current

  Note: This method is available only if you have SE1050-E-Budget in your license. If you select any WIP method other than Percentage of completion cost recognition or Percentage of completion revenue recognition, you will see Percentage complete besides Status in the MRP section. Here, you can type the percentage of completion of the project. Only figures between 0.00 and 100.00 are acceptable. You can define the default WIP method at WIP method in the WIP method section at Project settings.

• WIP cost and revenue transfer — Select this to distinguish between the costs and revenues incurred in separate general ledger accounts. You can book the WIP revenue and WIP cost to the balance sheet accounts. As the project completes, the WIP revenue and WIP cost can be released as generated WIP revenue and WIP cost to the profit & loss accounts. Once selected, you can only select Fixed, Time & Material, or Internal at Type. The WIP method field will be disabled once you generate the WIP entries of the project using this method.  

  Result = (Actual revenue - WIP revenue) - (Actual costs - WIP costs - WIP others) Result + WIP = Actual revenue - Actual cost - WIP production

  Notes: In an integrated scenario for Exact Synergy and Exact Globe, you can create projects using this method in Exact Globe and it is strongly recommended that you maintain the projects and retrieve the WIP information of the projects in Exact Globe too.
  • Editing a project in Exact Synergy will change the WIP method to the first method in the list of WIP methods available in the project maintenance screen in Exact Synergy. Correspondingly, that method will also be displayed in the project maintenance screen in Exact Globe. However, you can still change the WIP method back to WIP cost and revenue in Exact Globe.
  • The information of WIP costs, WIP revenue, WIP production, and WIP (other) will be grouped together in the WIP row in the Financial section of the project maintenance screen in Exact Synergy. However, you can obtain separate information for WIP costs, WIP revenue, WIP production, WIP (other), and Result + WIP in the Basics and Planning tabs of the project maintenance screens, project transaction cards, reports on project results, and Excel Add-in reports in Exact Globe.
• WIP cost and revenue method — Select this to have insight to the work in progress position based on the original cost and revenue accounts. This method does not make use of the transfer accounts to transfer costs and revenues to the WIP accounts but adjusts the original cost and revenue general ledgers. Using this method results in an accurate overview of the costs and revenue for your profit and loss statement per general ledger or individual general ledger card and the ability to relate that back to the WIP position. Once selected, you can only select Fixed, Time & Material, or Internal at Type. The WIP method field will be disabled once you generate the WIP entries of the project using this method.  

  Result = (Actual revenue - WIP revenue) - (Actual costs - WIP costs - WIP others) Result + WIP = Actual revenue - Actual cost - WIP production

Notes: In an integrated scenario for Exact Synergy and Exact Globe, you can create projects using this method in Exact Globe and it is strongly recommended that you maintain the projects and retrieve the WIP information of the projects in Exact Globe too.

WIP

Type or select a general ledger account for the work in progress. Once selected, the general ledger account number and description are displayed.

Note: This option is available only when you are creating a Production project.

Order

This displays the number and description of the sales order linked to the project.

Note: This is available only when you are creating a Time & Material or Fixed project.

Warehouse

Type or select a warehouse to link this warehouse to an Internal or Training project. Once selected, the warehouse code and name is displayed. For Time & Material, Fixed, or Production project, this displays the number and description of the sales order linked to this project. This information cannot be edited for Time & Material, Fixed, or Production project.

Compress: Sales order

Select one of the following options to compress the sales order lines with hour items, linked to this project.
Note: The options are available only when you are creating a Time & Material project. However, it will no longer be available once a realization is authorized.

• None — Select this if you do not wish to perform any compression to the sales order. This is useful when you need the detailed historical information on the project for reference purposes. However, if you select Item at Description in the Invoice lines section via System/General/Settings/Project settings, the sales order will still be compressed even though you have selected None.
• Item,Date,-3 — Select this when you only need item and date related information for certain projects. All resources in the realization record will be converted to ‘Resource -3’, and then grouped by item and date. The invoice amount is based on the external rate or sales price linked to a resource instead of the external rate or sales price linked to an item. Using this method, you cannot do planning from a sales order because the system will use the realization record and create compressed lines in the sales orders.
• Resource,Date,Output (Product) — Select this when you only need resource and date related information for certain projects. Using this method, it is mandatory to type or select an hour item at Output (Product). Once it is invoiced, all items in the realization record will be converted to the selected hour item. Then, it is grouped or compressed by resource and date. The external rate or sales price is used when invoicing customers, whereby the amount is based on the price of the selected hour item, resource, and date. Note that you cannot do planning from a sales order because the system will use the realization record and create compressed lines in the sales orders.
• Create sales order lines : Skipped — Select this when you want the sales order lines to constantly remain as unchanged or static. This is useful when the invoice information is more important than the order information. Therefore, any realization, fulfillment or authorization of hours will not cause any adjustment or update on the sales order linked to the project.

Condition section

This section displays the terms of payment as defined in the sales order linked to the project.

Note: This section is available only for Time & Material or Fixed project and when the corresponding sales order is authorized.

Generate: Invoice

Click this to generate an invoice for the selected term of payment.

Note: This is enabled only when a term of payment which is yet to be invoiced is selected.

Timestamp

Click this to insert a timestamp when adding notes to the project maintenance card.

Insert: Picture

Click this to insert a picture to the project master card.

Delete: Picture

Click this to delete the picture from the project master card.

Note: This is available only if you are viewing a project with a picture. 

Financial section

This section displays the planning, actual, and recognized amount of the revenue, costs, WIP, result, margin, and purchase/production of the project. Different financial information will be displayed, depending on the defined criteria. The descriptions for WIPs are summarized in the following table:

Columns	Descriptions
WIP revenue	This row will be displayed for projects using WIP cost and revenue method. This row displays the actual sum of all amounts in the transaction entries linked to the project and the WIP revenue general ledger account defined at Project settings. By default, “0” is displayed.
WIP costs	This row will be displayed for projects using WIP cost and revenue method. This row displays the actual sum of all amounts in the transaction entries linked to the project and the WIP costs general ledger account defined at Project settings. By default, “0” is displayed.
WIP production	This row will be displayed for projects using WIP cost and revenue method which include children projects. This row displays the actual sum of all amounts in the transaction entries linked to the project and the Production: WIP general ledger accounts  at General ledger settings. By default, “0” is displayed.
WIP (Other)	This row will be displayed for projects using WIP cost and revenue method which include children projects.  This row displays the actual sum of all amounts in the transaction entries linked to the project and the Work in progress (Balance) general ledger accounts at Project settings. By default, “0” is displayed.
Result + WIP	This row will be displayed for projects using any WIP method. This row displays the actual financial results and the actual amounts of all WIPs.

Different sets of buttons will be displayed when you are:

• maintaining a Time & Material and Fixed projects
• maintaining an Internal, Production, and Training projects, and
• in different tabs

Apart from that, all buttons will be disabled when you are creating a new project, except for the Save and Close buttons.

Work in progress

Click this to obtain an overview of work in progress of projects to be generated or completely released.  For more information, see Overview of Work in Progress of Projects to be Generated or Completely Released.

Note: This button is enabled only if you select other than No: WIP at WIP method, and functioning if you have defined the general ledger accounts for WIPs at Project settings. 

Apply rules

Click this to link the appropriate commission item to a single or multiple sales orders. In the Apply rules screen, click Assortments to select the assortments which the items are linked to (if needed) and then click Close. Click Refresh to update the commission item list based on the defined criteria and then click Start to generate the selected commission assigned to the selected sales orders, or click Close to exit.

Note: This button is available only in a Fixed or Time & Material project. 

Recalculate

Click this to automatically recalculate all the invoice proposals linked to this project simultaneously when any rates or discounts have been changed.

Note: This button is available only in a Fixed or Time & Material project, with authorized hour(s).

Planning

Click this to view or maintain the resource planning and tasks linked to this project. For more information, see

Graph

Click this to generate the graph of the actual revenue and costs of this project in Microsoft Excel.

Card

Click this to view the transaction card of this project.

Debtor

Click this to view the debtor master card linked to this project.

Note: This button is available only in a Fixed or Time & Material project.

Sales order

Click this to view or maintain the sales order linked to this project. 

Note: This button is available only for Fixed or Time & Material project.

Complete

Click this to complete this project and update the status to Completed.

Note: You can only complete this project if all its child projects and the linked sales orders, invoices, internal use requests, and purchase orders are completed.

Save

Click this to save the project.  

Close

Click this to exit.