J O B S
Job Cost Overview
ProBooks provides for:
|
Job Cost 10-1 |
If you enter job numbers when you enter payroll hours, purchases, bills of materials, and sales invoices, the job cost files are automatically updated during normal posting.
Reports are available for profitability, job estimates, job progress, as well as detailed itemized reports on costs, labor and billings.
Basic Job Costing or Multi-Level Job Costing + Estimating
You can choose to use either Basic Job Costing or Multi-Level Job Costing and Estimating, for any company/set of books or division.
This selection can be made in the Jobs, Setup & Utilities menu, or in Company Setup screen 1.
When you choose basic job costing, ProBooks will ask for only a job number when you attach a job number to an item, form, or card.
When you choose multi-level job costing + estimating, ProBooks will ask for a Job Item. That is .. an item, within a job subphase, within a job phase.
Now don’t give up yet. It may sound too complicated, but it’s not. A multi-level job estimate need have only one item... Phase 1, Subphase 1, Item 1.
|
10-2 Job Cost |
JOBS
While some of the field names in the Jobs file are oriented towards construction oriented projects, the Job Cost module can be used for tracking costs, revenues and profitability on any kind of job. In the case of non-construction projects or jobs, some of the available fields may be ignored, while most fields are applicable to any type of job.
Job cards store information on your Jobs. When you select [Jobs] from the Jobs or Lookup menus, the first Job in your file will be displayed.
Using Card Files
You can find a more detailed description of how ProBooks Card Files work and the various features available in all card files in the Using ProBooks chapter of your manual.
Lookup mode and Edit Mode
Card files have two modes, lookup mode and edit mode.
When the first customer card is displayed, you will initially be in lookup mode.
When you want to add a new card or change an existing card, activate Add or Edit mode by selecting [Add] or [Edit] or clicking on one of the fields in the card screen.
|
Job Cost 10-3 |
Finding the card you want
Think of your ProBooks card files as rotating card files.
UpArrow/DownArrow
You can flip through the cards by using the [UpArrow]/[DownArrow] keys on your keyboard, or selecting one of the arrow buttons on the control panel, much like turning the wheel on a rotating card file.
You can also lookup up a particular Job several other ways:
Lookup Buttons
Select one of the lookup buttons to lookup a Job by Job number, Job name, or Customer Number by selecting the appropriate button in the Job card.
Home/End
You quickly skip to the first or last card by pressing [Home] or [End] on your keyboard, or by double-clicking on one of the arrow buttons on the control panel and holding it down until the first or last record is found.
PgUp/PgDn
You can skip through several cards at a time by pressing [PgUp] or [PgDn] on your keyboard, or by double-clicking on one of the arrow buttons on the control panel and holding it down.
Find
Select [Find] to locate Jobs on additional fields in the Jobs record.
Filter
Select [=Filter] to select a Job(s) using an expression or search string.
Multi-screen cards
Some card files keep more information than will fit in one screen. The files use tabbed multi-screen cards to provide several screens for each record in the card file.
To access the hidden screens click on the tabs for each screen, or select [Screen]
Adding New Jobs
Select [Add] to create a blank Job card to add a new Job.
Job Number/Name
Job numbers and names are assigned when you add a new Job.
Jobs are identified by a 6 digit Job Number, and by a 25 character Job Name.
Whenever the Jobs lookup list is displayed, you can locate a Job by Job Number or by Job Name.
When you press a number key, ProBooks will automatically set the order of the list to Job Number, and search by Job Number.
When you press an alphabetical key, ProBooks will automatically set the order of the list to Job Name, and search by Job Name.
A number representing the number of cards in your file plus one, will be displayed when you select [Add] to add a new Job record.
|
10-4 Job Cost |
Changing Job Information
Select [E]dit or click on one of the fields in the card screen to activate Edit mode.
When you’re in edit mode, pressing [Tab]/[Shift]+[Tab] will move the cursor through the various fields and buttons in the card screen.
Enter the appropriate changes in the desired field or fields.
To save the changes you’ve made and return to lookup mode select [Edit] again, or [PgDn], you will be prompted to confirm or cancel changes, [Ctrl]+[W] will automatically save changes made.
Deleting Jobs
Select [Delete] to delete a Job.
Normally you will not be allowed to delete cards if there are open invoices for the selected Job.
Job
The Job Number
Job Name
The Name you’ve given the job.
SalesRep
The primary sales rep for the job.
Custno
The Customer code for the Customer for this job.
Owner Name
In the case of construction or services, the owner of the job site. For other types of jobs you may determine how this field will be used.
Job Address
The physical address of the job.
Subdivision
An optional location for the job.
Contractor
Super
Name of the Job Superintendent.
Legal
Name of the legal counsel for the job.
Wpacct
The default work in progress account number
|
Job Cost 10-5 |
CostAcct
The default Cost account number
Certified
Whether a certified payroll is required [T/F].
Estdate
The date the estimate was completed.
Estamt
Estimate amount.
Size
The size of the Job. For a floor refinishing job, or for a new home, size might be in square feet. For other types of jobs, size might be hours, days, weeks, or any other appropriate measure.
Unit
The unit of measure related to Size.
Model
If the job estimate is based on a model job, the number of the model job.
Cont. Amt
The contract amount
Contract
The contract number for the job.
Beg. Date
Job start date
End. Date
The date the job was completed.
Last PR #
The date of the last payroll for this job.
Last CostDt
Last recorded cost date.
Last Cost
Last recorded cost amount.
CostToDate
Total costs to date.
RetngPct
Retainage percentage.
RetngLimit
Maximum retainage.
RetngBal
The balance remaining of the retainage.
Bill Freq
Billing Frequency.
Bill Day
Normal periodic billing day of the month.
|
10-6 Job Cost |
Billed $
Total billing (invoiced) to date.
Last Bill
The date of the last billing.
Adding a new Job
Select [Add] to add a new Job.
The minimum amount of information you should enter for any job is the Job Number and Job Name.
Once you’ve added a Job, you can attach a Job number to just about any ProBooks form, form item, transaction, and attach a default job number to customers, vendors, employees and paycodes.
Additional information is optional, and what fields you fill in will depend upon how you choose to utilize ProBooks Job features.
Job Estimates
Using Jobs Estimates
If you have selected Basic Job Costing you don’t need to worry about Job Estimates.
|
Job Cost 10-7 |
If you have selected to use ProBooks Job Cost + Estimating features, you need specify a specific Job Item when you attach a job number to labor hours, purchases, invoices, or any other item that allows you to attach a job number to it.
Job Items are setup in the Job Estimate, by selecting [Estimate] from the Job Card.
Preferably, you should you should setup your Job items before posting any items to the job. To setup your job you create a Job Estimate.
The simplest multi-level Job will have at least a Job number, 1 Phase,
1 Subphase and 1 Item. For this basic Job, the Job Number assigned with
all hours, purchases, etc. would be
Job 1 Phase 1 Subphase 1 Item 1
What are Phases, Subphases, Items?
Phases
Each Job can have up to 999 Phases.
Smaller jobs, like the floor refinishing example, might have only one phase.
More complex jobs might be set up with various phases.
If you’re building a house, these might be Design, Sight Prep, Construction, Landscape, Cleanup, etc.
|
10-8 Job Cost |
Subphases
Each Phase can have up to 999 Subphases.
In the Floor Service sample, the subphases are Repair, Sanding, Staining, etc.
If you’re building a house, these might be the various components of the house, like foundation, framing, plumbing, roofing, etc.
When you enter the estimated units for a subphase, this number should represent a unit of measure, like the number of square feet, squares (100 sq ft), etc.
|
Job Cost 10-9 |
Items
The last level of detail in the job estimate is the Item.
Each Subphase can have up to 999 Items.
A job item might be a nail, a 2 x 4, or an hour of labor.
When you enter the estimated units for an Item, enter the number of nails, 2 x 4’s, hours, etc., you estimate will be used on this Subphase, of this Phase, of this Job.
Model Estimates
You can build generic estimates, or models, that can be used to quickly create new estimates, that are similar to the model.
For example, in the Master Refinishing Model, the subphase units are all 100 sf. The items which make up the subphase are the estimated units, per 100 sf.
When you create a new job, and model this new job on an existing job and it’s related estimate, all of the phases, subphases and items which have been set up for the model job will automatically be added to the estimate for the new job.
|
10-10 Job Cost |
You need only enter the new number of units for each subphase in the new job estimated and the program will calculate the correct number of units for each item in each subphase for the new job.
For example:
A model job estimate might have a subphase of 100 units (let’s
say square feet), and the estimated items for this subphase are 1 labor
hour and 1 gallon of stain.
If you model a new estimate after this job, then enter 1000 as the units for this subphase and select [Calculate], the estimate will now show 10 labor hours and 10 gallons of stain as the estimated items for this subphase.
If you have more than one model estimate, you can select a different model, to see what the costs for the new job would be using different models.
If you’re jobs often have the same Phases, Subphases and Items, you may want to keep several model jobs on line to save time when setting up new jobs.
In the floor refinishing example, you might have different model estimates set for different types of finish, or colors of stains, or quality of materials.
Job Estimate
Creating and Changing the Job Estimate
Select [Estimate] in any job card to display the Job Estimate.
|
Job Cost 10-11 |
If you’ve already setup the job, the existing phases, subphases and items will be displayed.
To edit a phase, subphase or item, select [Edit] to activate the estimate list, highlight the line you want to change using the arrow keys, then press [Enter]. Or double-click on the line you want to edit with the mouse.
New Phase
Select [P] to add a new phase.
New Subphase
Select [S] to add a new subphase.
New Item
Select [I] to add a new item.
Modeling a New Job after an Existing or ‘Model’ Job
Copy
Select [C]opy to model a new job after an existing job.
When you select [C]opy, and select the model job, all phases, subphases and items for the model will be added to the current job.
You can fine tune the estimated units and unitcost to suit the individual job as required.
Model
You might have several models with the same structure. For example, a flooring installation might have the same structure, but different levels of quality or materials.
Select [Model] to select the model to be used to calculate costs for the current job.
Recalc
Select [Recalc] to apply the cost estimates from the selected model to the current estimate.
By selecting different models and recalculating, you can see how your estimate works out using various models.
Unit
Unit is the measure on which the estimate is based. In the Floor Restoration Model, for example, the unit is SF (square feet).
Clear
Select [Clear] to clear all phases, subphases and items for this estimate.
Forms
Select [Forms] to activate the Job Reports menu from which you can print various reports for this job, including estimate, progress, and detail reports.
|
10-12 Job Cost |
Job Item
Item
The item number for this item.
Name
The name you’ve given to this Job Item. If you leave this field blank when you add a new item, it will be filled in with ‘Item’ plus the new item number.
Code
Your item can interface with ProBooks Items, Employees and Vendor files.
Item
Select [I]tem if the Item code is an Inventory Item. When you select an Item, the item’s cost will be used as the cost per unit for this estimate item.
Employee
Select [E]mployee if the Item code is an Employee number. When you select an Employee, the employee’s hourly rate will be used as the cost per unit for this estimate item.
Vendor
Select [V]endor if the Item code is a Vendor code.
Other
Select [O]ther if the Item code is none of the above..
Description
If you’ve selected [E]mployee, [I]tem, or [V]endor as the Code for this item, the Employee Name, Item Description or Vendor Name will appear in the description field.
You can change the description if you prefer to use the field for other information.
|
Job Cost 10-13 |
Units
The number of units estimated for this Item.
UnitCost
The Cost of one unit.
+/-Select [+] or [-] to increase or decrease the number of units for this item by one.
Info
If you’ve selected [E]mployee, [I]tem, or [V]endor as the Code for this item, select [Info] to activate the Info control panel for the Employee, Item, or Vendor.
INVOICE REGISTER
The Job Invoice Register reports sales that were associated with Jobs, by assigning a job number to a line item, or an entire invoice.
The default report settings will be for all invoices, for all Jobs, for the current period.
Custno
The Job Invoice Register can be printed for a specific Customer. Select [Custno] to look up a customer by customer number, or enter a customer number.
Customer
Select [Customer] to look up a Customer by Customer name, or enter a name in the Customer field.
|
10-14 Job Cost |
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to print a report for a specific job or jobs
Summary /Detail
Select Summary to show invoice totals only.
Select Detail report to show item detail for each invoice.
Date/Invoice
Select by Date to sort the report by invoice date.
Select Invoice to sort the report by invoice number.
From/To
Select [From] to select the beginning date for the report.
Select [To] to select the ending date.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for the Invoice Register.
With user defined reports you can:
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information on user defined reporting.
|
Job Cost 10-15 |
JOB SUMMARY
The Job Summary report provides a quick summary of the total billings, costs, and profitability for any, or all Jobs.
Custno
Select [Custno] to lookup a customer by customer number.
Customer
Select [Customer] to lookup a customer by customer name.
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to print a report for a specific job or jobs
From/To
Select [From] to select the beginning date for the report.
Select [To] to select the ending date.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Status Report.
With user defined reports you can:
|
10-16 Job Cost |
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information on user defined reporting.
See Also: Jobs, Customers, Customer Ledger, Receivables Aging, Sales Register, and Cash Receipts Register.
JOB REPORTS
|
Job Cost 10-17 |
Jobs Lists
Job Lists loads a basic Report Writer setup for printing job lists.
You can use the features of ProBooks report writer to:
For more information on modifying user defined report and label forms,
and other Report Writer options, please refer to the chapter Report Writer
in your manual.
Job Labels
Job Labels loads a basic Report Writer setup for printing job labels.
You can use the features of ProBooks report writer to:
|
10-18 Job Cost |
For more information on modifying user defined report and label forms,
and other Report Writer options, please refer to the chapter Report Writer
in your manual.
The Job Purchases report lists the detail of all purchases, other than labor, charged to a job.
The job costs file is updated with purchase information when you post purchases and bills of materials you have associated with a job, by assigning a job number to purchase invoice items, or bill of materials items.
Job costs can also be updated by posting general ledger journal entries which have been assigned job numbers.
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to specify an individual Job or range of Jobs for the report.
Detail Level
Select Detail level desired...Job, Phase, Subphase or Item.
By Date/Invoice
Select whether the report should be sorted by date or by invoice number.
|
Job Cost 10-19 |
From/To
Select [From] to select the beginning date for the report.
Select [To] to select the ending date.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Purchases Report.
With user defined reports you can:
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information
on user defined reporting.
|
10-20 Job Cost |
Job Labor
The Job Labor report lists the detail of all labor charged to a job.
The job costs file is updated with payroll information when you post payroll checks you have associated with a job, by assigning a job number to hours entries.
Job costs can also be updated by posting general ledger journal entries which have been assigned job numbers.
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to specify an individual Job or range of Jobs for the report.
Detail Level
Select Detail level desired...Job, Phase, Subphase or Item.
By Date/Invoice
Select whether the report should be sorted by date or by invoice number.
From/To
Select [From] to select the beginning date for the report.
Select [To] to select the ending date.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Labor Report.
|
Job Cost 10-21 |
With user defined reports you can:
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information
on user defined reporting.
Combined Costs
The Combined Costs report lists the detail of all purchases and labor charged to a job.
The job costs file is updated with purchase information when you post purchases and bills of materials you have associated with a job, by assigning a job number to purchase invoice items, or bill of materials items.
The job costs file is updated with payroll information when you post payroll checks you have associated with a job, by assigning a job number to hours entries.
|
10-22 Job Cost |
Job costs can also be updated by posting general ledger journal entries which have been assigned job numbers.
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to specify an individual Job or range of Jobs for the report.
Detail Level
Select Detail level desired...Job, Phase, Subphase or Item.
By Date/Invoice
Select whether the report should be sorted by date or by invoice number.
From/To
Select [From] to select the beginning date for the report.
Select [To] to select the ending date.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Costs Report.
With user defined reports you can:
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information
on user defined reporting.
|
Job Cost 10-23 |
Job Estimate
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to specify the Job you want to print the estimate for.
Detail Level
Select Detail level desired...Job, Phase, Subphase or Item.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Estimate.
With user defined reports you can:
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information
on user defined reporting.
|
10-24 Job Cost |
Job Progress reports show estimated and actual quantities, costs, cost to complete, variances and percentage of completion.
Options allow you to select the level of detail, and how estimated costs to complete are calculated.
Jobs
Select [Jobs] to specify the Job you want to print the estimate for.
Detail Level
Select Detail level desired...Job, Phase, Subphase or Item.
Units/Totals
When Units is selected, actual cost to complete will be calculated based on actual unit cost to date.
Estimated cost to complete is calculated based on the number of units estimated times estimated unit cost.
Actual cost to complete is calculated based on estimated units times actual unit cost. In this case ‘Actual Cost to Complete’ might more accurately be termed’ Estimated Cost to Complete based on Estimated Units and Actual Unit Cost to Date’.
Percentage of completion will be calculated for both units and total cost.
Select [Print] to print the report with the selected options.
Additional Options
Select [Form] to load the Report Writer setup for a Job Estimate.
With user defined reports you can:
|
Job Cost 10-25 |
Please refer to the Report Writer chapter in your manual for more information
on user defined reporting
JOB COST SETUP & UTILITIES
Re-calc Job Totals
Job totals are normally updated automatically when you post transactions that have been assigned job numbers.
For example, when you have entered job numbers with your payroll hours, and you post payroll checks. Or when you have assigned job numbers to purchase invoice items, and you post the purchase invoices.
|
10-26 Job Cost |
You might choose to re-calculate job totals if you feel the job totals may have become incorrect for any reason, for example a hardware problem, or error in posting. Or if you have made manual changes to the job detail files and want these changes to be reflected in the job totals.
When you re-calculate job totals, the totals in your job cards, and in your job estimate/progress file will be recalculated from the current detail in your job detail files.
PC Accountant users note: PC Accountant kept job labor detail and job purchases
detail in separate files. ProBooks keeps this detail combined in a single
file.
If you have updated from PC Accountant to ProBooks, when you re-calculate job totals ProBooks will ask if you want to load information from your job labor and job purchases file into the combined job costs file. Normally you will want to answer [Yes].
Change Job Number
On occasion it will be desirable to change a Job number.
Select [Change
Job Number] from the Job Cost, Setup & Utilities menu to change a Job number.
Change Job Number creates a copy of an existing job record with a new job number, and updates all historical records for the original job number with the new job number.
|
Job Cost 10-27 |
What Happens When You Change a Job Number
Global Updating
Global Updating allows you to quickly change a field in all or a selected group of records.
For example, let’s say you want to change the Bill Frequency for all jobs.
One
way to do it would be to edit each job card one by one. Even if you had
only ten jobs that would take a few minutes. But what if you had ten thousand
jobs? That would take quite a while. But with global updating you can change
any field in ten or ten thousand job records very quickly with a minimum
of effort.
Global updating provides a way to update a specific field in the active file for all records, or for records selected according to the criteria specified in the selection screen.
|
10-28 Job Cost |
Always backup your data files before using Global Updating. You might make
unintentional or accidental changes and want to restore from your backup.
For more information on using Global Updating please refer to the section
Setup & Utilities in the System chapter in your manual.
Job Cost Detail
Normally the Job Detail files are updated automatically during posting, when a job number has been entered while Invoicing, entering Payroll hours, entering Purchases, or a Bill of Materials.
Sometimes it may be desirable to manually enter job cost items in the detail files. Detail files are maintained for Job Invoices, Job Costs, which combines Job Purchases and Job Labor.
The Job Costs file contains the detail information from any Purchase, Bill of Material, or Sales Invoice for which a Job number was entered.
You can enter manual changes by checking [X] Enable Editing and entering changes in the Browse list.
|
Job Cost 10-29 |
Job Invoice Detail
Normally the Job Detail files are updated automatically during posting, when a job number has been entered while Invoicing, entering Payroll hours, entering Purchases, or a Bill of Materials.
Sometimes it may be desirable to manually enter job invoice or income items in the detail files. Detail files are maintained for Job Invoices, Job Costs, which combines Job Purchases and Job Labor.
The Job Costs file contains the detail information from any Sales Invoice in which a Job number were entered.
You can enter manual changes by checking [X] Enable Editing and entering
changes in the Browse list.
[ ] Jobs + Estimating
Un-check [ ] Jobs + Estimating to select Basic Job Costing for this company or division.
Check [X] Jobs + Estimating to select Multi-Level Job Costing for this company or division.
|
10-30 Job Cost |
|
Job Cost 10-31 |