Project Manual - Defining settings and creating master data
Defining settings and creating master data
Introduction
This chapter describes the process of creating financial, logistic and project master data and defining the package settings necessary for Exact Project.
First, you have to define the package settings for your company. After defining the settings and creating the master data, you can use your company. Package settings are option settings and defaults that affect the way in which the various parts of your project accounting system work. What you define in the package settings determines what data should be entered in the project accounting system and therefore what data can be retrieved. For example, you can define that a department may consist of several sub-departments. In that case, you can create sub-departments for each department you create.
The package settings link the project accounting system to your financial accounting system and any other packages. Some settings can be changed during the process once data has been entered. However, there are some settings that cannot be changed once you start using a company, so make sure you take time to define them accurately and consider their implications.
The master data provides the basis for your entire project accounting system. It consists of more or less permanent information on employees, machinery, cost categories, etc. After you have created the master data you can check it in the options in the sub-menu of [Project: Master data, Reports].
Some of the master data required is created in the Finance menu. How to create this master data is described in the Exact Finance manual supplied with your software. It relates to the following master data:
- VAT codes
- General ledger accounts
- Journals
- Payment conditions
- Currency codes
- Exchange rates
- Bank account numbers and types
- Language codes
- Countries
- Titles
- Delivery methods
- Debtors
- Creditors
- Items
- Cost centers
- Cost unit
- Invoice codes
- Item groups
Procedure
- Defining settings
- Creating master data
Defining package settings for Exact Project
Most project data remains essentially the same when you budget, record, journalize and compare project expenses and revenue. Instead of entering this data for each separate project, it is quicker and easier to define a number of default settings that can be used in most situations and then change the data where necessary. You can define a couple of general and number settings in each company you use to suit your requirements. All employees who use Exact Financials will then be able to enter and process data in a uniform way.
If you are using Exact Project for the first time, you may not yet have decided which settings suit your requirements best. Not all settings can be changed after you have defined them. For instance, settings for journalize expenses or revenue in [Project: File, Company settings, Project settings] on the 'Processing' tab cannot be changed after entries have been posted.
Define the settings in [Project: File, Company settings, Project settings]. The following package settings should be defined for Exact Project:
- General settings
- Entries settings
- Processing settings
- Project invoices settings
Define the project rate priority in [Project: File, Company settings, Project rate priority].
! Settings defined in [Project: File, Company settings, Project settings] are only valid for the company you are currently working in.
Defining rate priorities
The rate used while calculating your costs or invoicing your customers depends on which rates have been created and the priority given to each rate. Exact Financials distinguishes between priorities for employee and machinery rates. For each of these rates internal and external rates exist. You can define a priority ranking for each of these rates by putting them higher or lower on the priority list.
The rate with the highest priority is at the top of the list. Rates that are further down the list have a lower priority. When the system determines which rate should be used, it selects the rate with the highest priority.
Rates are created in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Rates] and priority of each rate is defined in [Project: File, Company settings, Project rate priority].
Internal rates apply to expense entries. They are used to calculate the expenses incurred for a project. External rates apply to revenue. They are used for invoicing. You can define different rate priorities for internal and external rates based on your organization's requirements.
Example
An employee has to work overtime to finish a project on time. You do not want to charge your customer with the higher wage that you have to pay to your employee. However, to calculate the correct expenses incurred for the project, you can calculate your employee costs internally, using the higher wage. You can use different internal and external rate priorities to allow this situation.
As defining rate priorities for internal/external employee rates and internal/external machinery rates are essentially the same, only defining rate priorities for internal employee rates will be described.
Creating master data
All units, debtors, positions, machinery, hour categories, employees and project groups use rates. These rates are calculated according to the default unit, entered in the project settings. In addition, you can create specific rates for combinations of employee and hour category or machinery and unit, as well as rates for these combinations in relation to a particular project. The internal rates are used when you create budgets or make project entries to calculate the expenses involved in the work done by a piece of machinery. Which rate to be applied is determined by a number of factors. Whether this rate is used is defined in the settings in [Project: File, Company settings, Project rate priority].
The external rates are used when you create budgets or make project entries to calculate the revenue generated by the work done by a piece of machinery. Which rate to be applied is determined by a number of factors. Whether this rate is used is defined in the settings in [Project: File, Company settings, Project rate priority].
The rate you enter will be used literary. If you want to stop using a particular rate, it will not disappear by entering '0'. You need to delete the rate. You can do this by entering a question mark instead of a number in the sub-menu of [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General] which involve rates.
Creating departments
Most organizations consist of more than one department, each of which has different tasks and responsibilities. By creating departments you gain insight into the structure of the organization and you can also assess the performance of each department in terms of expenses and revenue. Create departments in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Departments]. You can then indicate in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Department structure] which department is a sub-department or has one or more sub-department(s). Departments can be linked to your employees. They can be used to provide additional information on your employees. Departments can also be used to monitor the realizations of projects. You should create at least one department before you create employees.
Departments as such cannot be used to analyze the expenses and revenue realized in each department. If you want to analyze the expenses and revenue, you should define your departments as cost centers.
Once you have created departments:
Creating department structures
After you have created a number of departments, you can create a department structure. You can link sub-departments to other departments and sub-departments to other sub-departments and so on. You can create a structure with [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Department structure].
Creating cost center structures
Cost centers usually represent departments. Budgets, expenses and revenue are allocated to departments. With the help of cost centers, efficiency of each department can be assessed by comparing the budgeted expenses and revenue to the expenses and revenue realized. However, sometimes more detailed information is required. This can be obtained by using sub-cost centers. Sub-cost centers allow you to create a hierarchical structure of cost centers. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Cost center structure] to create cost center structures.
Example
Cost center '8000 Sales' consists of the sub-cost centers:
'8100 Domestic Sales'
'8200 Foreign Sales'
'8300 Overhead Sales'
By making entries for the sub-cost centers you can retrieve more detailed information from your project accounting system.
Linking cost categories to units
If you want to indicate the use of means of production, you need to create units. Units are used to specify the activities performed by your machinery. When you enter machinery entries for your machinery, select the correct unit for each activity and enter how many of these units have been used.
Example
You may use a company car to visit customers and drive 250 kilometers. A power shovel may move 500 cubic meters of soil or level out 500 square meters of building land. So you create units for kilometers, cubic meters and square meters.
Create units in [Sales: Master data, Maintenance, General, Units]. Once units have been created, you can add additional information. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Units and cost categories] to enter project-specific master data. You can enter internal and external rate per unit. The rates are used to calculate the costs and revenue of the machinery. Usage of these rates are depends on the settings that you defined in your project accounting system.
Creating debtor rates
You can create an individual rate for a particular debtor. This rate will only be applied to this debtor but will be ignored for all other debtors. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Debtors] to create rates for each individual debtors. Which rate is applied in a particular situation is depends on what you have defined in your settings in [Project: File, Company settings, Project rate priority].
! You can only create debtor-specific rates in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Debtors] for debtors already created in [Finance: Debtors, Master data, Maintenance].
Creating positions
The various tasks performed in your company tend to be the responsibility of one or more of your employees. By creating particular positions, you can indicate for each employee which activities belong to his or her regular duties. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Positions] to create positions.
The positions that you have created are linked to your employees. They also serve as additional information on your employees. Besides positions, you can enter information on internal and external rates, capacity and units. The rates you enter here are not necessarily used when you make project entries depending on your project settings.
Creating locations
Locations are places where projects or activities take place. Most companies use a variety of locations for their daily activities. To be able to select them in your project accounting system you should create them first. Locations may include conference rooms, classrooms or projection rooms. An external location, perhaps called 'External' may also be created for your off-site activities. Create locations in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Locations].
Once you have created locations you can link a location to a project in [Project: Projects, Master data, Maintenance, Project master cards].
Creating machinery
If you use certain durable means of production in your projects, you will want to see the expenses of using these means of production in your project expenses. In Exact Financials, means of production are called machinery. You can enter an internal rate and an external rate to be able to calculate the expenses incurred and the resulting charges for your customer. Create machinery in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Machinery].
Creating cost categories
Each project generates costs and revenue. Use cost categories to subdivide these costs and revenue into separate groups. Each cost category you create must be one of the following types:
- Hour
- Item
- Machinery
- Direct
- None
The cost category 'Hour' can be sub-divided into different hour categories. When you create hour categories, only cost categories of the type 'Hour' or 'None' can be selected. Use [[Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Cost categories] to create cost categories.
Furthermore, you can decide to link your journalizing types to cost categories. Your project expenses and revenue will be journalized per cost category according to the linked journalizing types.
! If you want to use the cost category type of 'None', you need to take note that this could cause some trouble when you want to use the result cards. These cards do not always contain the expected information.
Creating hour categories
For a clear understanding of the expenses and revenue that result from employee activities, you need to be able to specify exactly what an employee did on a particular day and how many hour(s) the employee has worked in total on a given project. Creating different hour categories allows you to charge your customers at different rates for different employee activities. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Hour categories] to create hour categories.
Information which you can record on hour categories includes internal and external rates. These can be used while making project entries to register the employee's working hours. Whether these rates are used are depends on the rate priorities list that you have defined.
Creating employees
For the proper operation of a project accounting system, you need to record certain data on the employees who involved in project activities. The employee file includes internal as well as external employees who are hired through an employment agency and perform activities for your projects. You use this data when you enter employee entries for the number of hours devoted to a project by each person. Personal data such as address and date of birth may be recorded merely for the sake of convenience. This personal data will also be displayed in reports.
Once employee data is created, activities for a project can be performed via entering employee entries and this can be included in your project planning. You can link a cost center, a department and a position to your employee. The employee data includes data that is essential to your project accounting system, as it determines the expenses and revenue realized in your projects. Other examples of such data are the rate at which the cost of one hour of work is recorded for internal purposes, and the rate at which it is charged to the customer. Create employee in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Employees].
Creating project statuses
When you work with projects, you may want to differentiate between the different statuses of a project can have in your organization.
Example
A project can have the status of 'On hold', 'In process' or 'Rejected'.
Create the relevant project statuses so that you can indicate which status the project has. Create statuses in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Project statuses]. You can link the current project status to a project in [Project: Projects, Master data, Maintenance, Project master cards].
Creating project types
Projects often have different characteristics. When you create project types and link them to projects, you can characterize a project. If you check the project type, you will know what to expect and what activities should be performed. Create project types in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Project types].
Example
If you work in the construction industry, you may use project types for 'Renovations', 'Major repairs' or 'Additional jobs'.
Creating project groups
In an organization you can define groups of projects that share certain characteristics. You can create project groups to separate the different types of projects. Create project groups in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Project groups]. You can link a currency to project groups. You can enter internal and external rates for the project groups. The currency selected is used to calculate your project expenses, if you indicated that these rates should be used.
After creating project groups you can link a project group to a project in [Project: Projects, Master data, Maintenance, Project master cards].
Creating surcharge codes
Surcharges are used for invoicing. There are two types of surcharge codes: a percentage or a fixed amount. You can create surcharge code in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Surcharge codes]. Surcharge codes can only be used with cost categories of the type 'Direct'. With the other cost categories you can use rates. You can only use surcharge codes with two of the invoicing methods, namely 'Installments with final invoice' and 'Actual expenses'.
Creating invoice groups
You can link an invoice group to projects to indicate how they should be invoiced. Create invoice groups in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Invoice groups]. Once you have created invoice groups, you can link an invoice group to projects in [[Project: Projects, Master data, Maintenance, Project master cards]. Linking an invoice group to a project will determine how the project is invoiced and which invoice group lines are generated.
Creating invoice group details
You can define what lines are included in the invoices generated for each invoice group. You can enter details for the invoice group lines that you generate and then indicate which cost categories should be included for the particular invoice group line. You can include lines to an invoice group in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, General, Invoice group details]. After selecting the invoice group, you can enter a new invoice group line by clicking on the 'Start' with the right mouse button. By clicking on this invoice group line with the right mouse button, you can link a cost category to this invoice group line. If you have selected 'Installments' as the invoicing method when creating invoice group, you can only link cost categories of the types 'Direct' and 'None'. After you have linked a cost category, you can link one surcharge code to this cost category (if the cost category is of the type 'Direct'). To each cost category of the type 'Direct', you can link one surcharge code, but not if you have selected 'Installments' as the invoicing method.
Example
You want the expenses of a project to be displayed per employee; therefore an invoice group line is generated for each employee with the details you enter in 'Description'. Select {Employee} in 'Compression level'. Then, select the cost categories for which the amounts should be included per each invoice group line. If you want one invoice group line for the total expenses made in a project for the cost categories linked, enter a relevant text in 'Description' and select {Total} in 'Compression level'.
Troubleshooting
- I have entered a description for the invoice group linked to the project I invoiced, but the invoice group line was not generated. What happened?
There were no expense entries for the cost categories linked to the compression level selected for the line you entered or the specific cost category was not linked to an invoice group line.
- What should I do to insert an empty line on my invoices, which I want to generate per project?
Leave the description of the particular sequence number empty and do not link any cost categories.
- Why can't I use a surcharge code with cost categories of the hour, machinery or item type?
With these cost categories you can already use a rate. The surcharge code can only be used with cost categories of the type 'Direct', while you cannot use rates for the type 'Direct'.
Creating phase lists
When you work with a wide variety of projects, you may want to differentiate between the phases in the course of a project. Depending on the type of project, phases may include estimating the costs of a project, submitting the quotation, carrying out the work involved and performing any additional activities.
When you create a phase list and link it to a project, you can decide which phases are included in the project. If you create more than one phase list, you can select the relevant phase list per project. Before you can compile phase lists you have to create phase lists and descriptions. Create phase lists and descriptions in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Phase lists, Phase lists].
Then create the phases that should be included in each phase list. Create phases in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Phase lists, Phases].
Then you can link the phases to the relevant phase lists to compile phase lists in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Phase lists, Phase lists].
Example
You have standard projects and more extensive projects. For the standard projects you create a phase list description code 'Standard' and you create the phases relevant for this phase list. For the more extensive projects you create another phase list description and the additional phases and you link the phases to the phase list description to form the phase list.
Creating multi-component rates
Rates are created in different places in Exact Project. Rates for entities in your master data such as employees, positions, debtors, units, machinery, hour categories and project groups are maintained in the same functions in which you have created these entities. Besides that, you can also create rates for different entities in project master data, rates for combinations of these project master data entities and rates for entities in a particular project in [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Rates].
Journalizing
Creating journalizing types
A journalizing type can be seen as a specific entry line for a certain standard situation. You can create journalizing types for the following standard situations:
- Work in progress expenses
- Coverage expenses
- Cost price projects
- Work in progress revenues
- Coverage revenues
- Revenue projects
Choose different general ledger accounts to distinguish between, for example, journalizing types for employees and machinery. The journalizing types determine which general ledger accounts will be used during journalizing. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Journalizing, Journalizing types] to create journalizing types.
! Which journalizing type will be used for actual journalizing will depend on your project group settings.
Linking journalizing types
After you have created your journalizing types, you have to link the created journalizing types to project groups or cost categories. When you create a project group, indicate whether the projects linked to that project group should be journalized according to the project group or according to cost categories. This setting defines whether either the journalizing types linked to the project group or the journalizing types linked to the cost category are used.
Use the following functions to link journalizing types:
Creating cost allocations
A cost allocation is a more specific division of an entry line you have specified in a journalizing type. Using cost allocation allows you to allocate expenses to several accounts or cost centers instead of only one account or cost center.
! Cost allocation in Exact Project should not be confused with cost allocation sheets where costs are distributed form indirect to direct cost centers.
Once you have created cost allocations, you can link cost allocations to a journalizing type. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Journalizing, Cost allocations types] to create cost allocations.
Linking cost allocations to journalizing types
A cost allocation allocates a certain percentage of an amount to another general ledger account. By linking two or more cost allocations to a journalizing type, you can allocate the whole amount entered in the general ledger account of the journalizing type to other general ledger accounts.
Once you have created cost allocations, you can link cost allocations to a journalizing type. Use [Project: Master data, Maintenance, Journalizing, Journalizing types] to link cost allocations to a journalizing type.
Project Manual > Contents > Defining settings and creating master data
| Main Category: |
Support Product Know How |
Document Type: |
Support - On-line help |
| Category: |
On-line help files |
Security level: |
All - 0 |
| Sub category: |
General |
Document ID: |
18.030.204 |
| Assortment: |
Exact Financials
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Date: |
03-11-2009 |
| Release: |
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Attachment: |
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| Disclaimer |