Introduction to the Project Budget Register

After adding a Project to the Project register, you can create a Project Budget for that Project. This Project Budget record will have two purposes:
  1. It allows you to set a budget for the work required for each Project. You can do this at the Item level i.e. you can specify how many hours of each kind of work carried out by specific employees will be required, what the hourly rate for each kind of work will be, how many purchases, materials and Stocked Items will be required and so on.

  2. It allows you to specify whether a Project will be invoiced on an "Actual" basis (e.g. each hour worked will be invoiced) or on an "As Budgeted" basis (i.e. the Invoice will be for a fixed price agreed in advance).
The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:
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Go back to:

Entering a Project Budget

You can create a Project Budget for a Project using the following methods:
  1. Open the Project Budget register in the Job Costing module and create a new record as described below. Use 'Paste Special' from the Project field in the header of the new Project Budget record to assign it to the Project.

  2. Open the Project in a record window and choose 'Project Budget' from the Create menu (Windows/macOS) or + menu (iOS/Android). The new Project Budget will be assigned to the Project automatically.

  3. If you have created a Quotation for the work that will be carried out and you have connected that Quotation to the Project, open the Quotation in a record window and choose 'Project Budget' from the Create or + menu. The new Project Budget will be assigned to the Project automatically, and the Items in the Quotation will be copied to the Project Budget. The invoicing options on the 'Job Costing' card of the Quotation will also be copied to the Project Budget.

  4. If you have created a Sales Order that you have connected to the Project, open the Sales Order in a record window and choose 'Project Budget' from the Create or + menu. The new Project Budget will be assigned to the Project automatically, and the Items in the Sales Order will be copied to the Project Budget.
You can only create one Project Budget for a particular Project.

If you have already created a Project Budget for a particular Project, you can open that Project Budget using the following methods:

  1. Open the Project Budget register in the Job Costing module and open the Project Budget from the browse window in the usual way.

  2. Open the Project in a record window and choose 'Open Project Budget' from the Operations menu (Windows/macOS) or Tools menu (iOS/Android).
To open the Project Budget register, ensure you are in the Job Costing module and then click (Windows/macOS) or tap (iOS/Android) the [Registers] button in the Navigation Centre. Then double-click or tap 'Project Budgets' in the resulting list. The 'Project Budgets: Browse' window will appear, listing the Project Budgets that you have already entered.

If you need Project Budgets to pass through an approval process and you have configured such a process using the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module, an extra column that displays the Approval Status of each Project Budget record will be added to the ?Project Budgets: Browse? window. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status field on the 'Members' card for brief details about the approval process and here for full details.

If you are using Windows or macOS, there will be three buttons in the top left-hand corner of the 'Project Budgets: Browse' window. These are part of the Limited Access feature. You can use them as follows (Windows versions of the buttons illustrated on the left, macOS on the right):


Lists all Project Budgets.


Lists Budgets for Projects belonging to members of the same Sales Group as the current user (i.e. Projects with at least one Member or Salesman belonging to the same Sales Group as that of the current user).


Lists Budgets for Projects belonging to the current user (i.e. Projects where the Members or Salesman field contains the Signature of the current user).
You can also prevent a user from seeing all Project Budgets in the list by restricting their view to their own Project Budgets or to those of their Sales Group.

Please refer to the page describing the 'Access' card in the Person register for full details about the Limited Access feature.

Double-click or tap on a row in the 'Project Budgets: Browse' window to open a record, or select 'New' from the Create menu (Windows/macOS) or + menu (iOS/Android) to create a new one. If you don't want to open the 'Project Budgets: Browse' window before creating a new record, you can also use the + menu in the Navigation Centre (all platforms).

The 'Project Budget: New' window will be opened, empty if you selected 'New' or containing a duplicate of the highlighted Project Budget.

Since the amount of information stored about each Project Budget will not fit on a single screen, the Project Budget window has been divided into five cards. At the top of each is the header. This contains the Project Code and Description, Customer Number and Name and Date. There are five named buttons ('tabs') in the header.

By clicking the tabs you can navigate between cards. The header is always visible, as a reminder of the Project whose Budget you are working with.

If you are using iOS or Android, there will only be two tabs, marked 'Items' and 'Details'. If you tap 'Details', you will see every card except 'Items' arranged vertically on screen. You can scroll down to see each one, or you can jump to any card by tapping on any tab and selecting the tab you want to go to.

Complete the Project Budget record as appropriate and as described on the following pages, then save it using the [Save] button (Windows/macOS) or by tapping √ (iOS/Android) and close the window by clicking the close box (Windows/macOS) or by tapping < (iOS/Android). Then, close the browse window using the close box or < again.

After saving, it will be possible to change and update the Project Budget at any time, but you can specify that this can only be done by Project Managers. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Assign every member of staff to an Access Group in which you have granted Full access to the 'Disallow Changing Project Budget if not Project Manager' Action. You may wish to grant Full access to the 'Disallow Changing Project if not Project Manager' Action as well.

  2. When entering a new Project, list the Project Managers on the 'Members' card in the Project window. You can assign up to five Project Managers to a Project. If you are using the 'Disallow Changing Project if not Project Manager' Action, be sure to assign at least one Project Manager to a Project before saving for the first time, otherwise it will not be possible to update the Project later.
After following these steps, only Project Managers will be able to edit Projects and Project Budgets. Protecting the Project means that unauthorised users will not be able to appoint themselves as Project Managers, but you may want to achieve this in other ways (e.g. by giving Read access to the Project register or by denying access to that register altogether).

If you need senior managers to be able to edit any Project or Project Budget, do not assign them to Access Groups in which you have granted Full access to the 'Disallow Changing Project if not Project Manager' and 'Disallow Changing Project Budget if not Project Manager' Actions.

After entering a Project, you can proceed as follows:

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Header

This page describes the fields in the Header of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Project
Paste Special    Project register, Job Costing module
Enter the Code of the Project for which you are budgeting. You can only enter one Budget record for each Project.

After you enter a Project Code, the Description and Customer Number and Name will be brought in to the fields below, the Currency will be brought in to the 'Currency' card and the Salesman, Sales Group, Project Leader and Language will be brought in to the fields on the 'Members' card.

Desc.
The Project Description will be brought in automatically when you specify a Project Code in the field above.

Customer, Name
The Customer Number and Name will be brought in automatically when you specify a Project Code in the field above. The Customer in a Budget must be the same as that in the related Project.

Trans. Date
Paste Special    Choose date
Use this field to assign a date to a Project Budget record.

If you create a Project Budget from a Quotation or a Sales Order, the Quotation or Order Date will be copied to this field. If you create a Project Budget from a Project, the current date will be brought in. In a Project Budget that you enter directly to the Project Budget register, this field will be left blank by default. In all cases you can enter or change the date when needed.

If the Currency of a Project Budget is not your home Currency, the default Exchange Rates will be those applying on the date specified here.
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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Invoicing Card

This page describes the fields on the 'Invoicing' card of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Use the options on the 'Invoicing' card in a Project Budget to specify whether the related Project will be invoiced on an "Actual" basis or an "As Budgeted" basis. The four sets of options allow you to set the invoicing basis for each cost type (time, Stocked Items, materials and purchases). You can also set exceptions for individual Items using the Type field on flip C on the 'Items' card.

To specify which of these options will be selected by default in each new Project Budget, use the Budget Time, Budget Stocked, Budget Material and Budget Purchase options in the Project Settings setting.

The options are:

Actual
Select this option to signify that the Items and quantities that you list on the 'Items' card are estimates, to be used for comparison purposes only. When you create Invoices for the related Project using the 'Create Project Invoices' Maintenance function, the Customer will be charged for the hours worked and the purchases, materials and Stocked Items supplied. This information will be taken from Project Transactions.

Although the Items and quantities that you list on the 'Items' card are estimates, the prices by default are not. This will be useful if you have agreed prices with the Customer. When invoicing time, purchases and materials where the originating record is a Time Sheet, and time where the originating record is an Activity, the unit price will be taken from the Project Budget. If you supply an Item that is not included in a Project Budget (or you supply an Item that is included in a Project Budget and you are using the No Price from Project Budget option in the Project Settings setting), the unit price will be calculated using the rules described on the Pricing and Costs - Time, Purchases and Materials from Time Sheets and Activities page. For Stocked Items, prices in Sales Orders that you create from a Project Budget will be taken from the Project Budget.

As Budgeted
Select this option to signify that the Items, quantities and prices of the Items that you list on the 'Items' card are fixed. When you create an Invoice for the related Project using the 'Create Project Invoices' function, the Customer will be charged these fixed amounts (taking any down payment into account) . This option therefore allows you to invoice a fixed agreed price for each Item. The hours worked and the purchases, materials and Stocked Items supplied will still be recorded in Project Transactions, but these Project Transactions will not affect the Invoice.

If you want to invoice different rows at different times, enter the earliest Invoice Dates in the Inv After field on flip C.

When using this option, you should list all possible Item/Person combinations on the 'Items' card. For example, if only one Person is budgeted to work on a Project and a Time Sheet is entered for a second Person, no separate Invoice will be raised for that time.

You should still enter Time Sheets and Activities for "As Budgeted" Projects, to record the work actually carried out. The resulting Project Transactions will allow you to analyse the actual cost of the work carried out, and to compare the actual value of the work with the As Budgeted figures on the 'Items' card in the Project Budget (i.e. the amount charged to the Customer). You can do this using the Spent/Budget comparison in the Project Status report.

If you want to prevent the invoicing of an "As Budgeted" Project until at least one Project Transaction exists, select the Do not Invoice Budgets without Project Transactions when As Budgeted option in the Project Settings setting.
If you add a row to a Project Budget that is not to be invoiced at all, you can prevent the row from being invoiced by setting the Type on flip C to "Internal".

As described above, you can specify separately that each cost type (time, Stocked Items, materials and purchases) will be invoiced on an "Actual" or "As Budgeted" basis. The following phrases have been used in this documentation:

For reasons of brevity, these phrases do not include references to cost types. They should not be read as implying that a Project as a whole can be invoiced on a particular basis.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Items Card

This page describes the fields on the 'Items' card of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Use the grid on the 'Items' card in a Project Budget to list the resources that will be required to complete the related Project.

The level of detail that you use when listing the required resources may depend on the nature and complexity of the Project. For example, you could add a single row to represent the labour required, or you could add separate rows representing the estimated contributions of each member of staff that will be working on the Project. This may depend on whether you charge a single rate for labour or whether you have different rates depending on the type of labour and/or the qualifications of the members of staff who will be carrying out the work.

If a Project will be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, the Items, quantities and prices listed in the Project Budget will be copied to the Invoice. By default, in the Invoice the Items will be listed in cost type order (time, then purchases, materials and finally Stocked Items). If you would like Items to be listed in the same order in the Invoice as in the Project Budget, select the Items listed in same order on Invoice and Project Budget when As Budgeted option in the Project Settings setting.

If a Project will be invoiced on an "Actual" basis, the Items and quantities that you list on the 'Items' card are estimates. Invoices will charge the Customer for the hours worked and the purchases, materials and Stocked Items supplied. This information will be taken from Project Transactions. However, pricing will be taken from the Project Budget. For time, purchases and materials where the originating record is a Time Sheet, and for time where the originating record is an Activity, the unit price will be taken from the Project Budget. If you supply an Item that is not included in a Project Budget (or if you supply an Item that is included in a Project Budget and you are using the No Price from Project Budget option in the Project Settings setting), the unit price will be calculated using the rules described on the Pricing and Costs - Time, Purchases and Materials from Time Sheets and Activities page. For Stocked Items, prices in Sales Orders that you create from a Project Budget will be taken from the Project Budget.

If you need some measure of control over whether you can supply a greater quantity of an Item than was budgeted when working on a Project (or an Item that was not budgeted), use the Usage of Items on Project Budget options on the 'Terms' card of the Project record.

The grid on the 'Items' card is divided into five horizontal flips. When you click (Windows/macOS) or tap (iOS/Android) on a flip tab (marked A-E), the two or three right-hand columns of the grid will be replaced.

Before adding any rows to a Project Budget, ensure that the Exchange Rate (on the 'Currency' card) is correct. As you add Items to the Budget, the correct prices will be brought in automatically, converted into Currency if necessary. If you change the Exchange Rate after you have added Items to the Budget, prices already in the Budget will not be recalculated automatically.

If you are using Windows or macOS, you can add rows to a Budget by clicking in any field in the first blank row and entering appropriate text. To remove a row, click on the row number on the left of the row and press the Backspace key. To insert a row, click on the row number where the insertion is to be made and press Return.

You can bring Items into a Budget by opening the 'Items: Browse' window, selecting a range of Items by clicking while holding down the Shift key, and then dragging them to the Item field in the first empty Budget row. You can also copy a list of Item Numbers in a spreadsheet or word processor and paste them in the Item field in the first empty row.

If you are using iOS or Android, you can add rows by tapping the + button below the matrix. To remove a row, long tap on the row number on the left of the row and select 'Delete Row' from the resulting menu. To insert a row, long tap on the row number where the insertion is to be made and select 'Insert Row' from the resulting menu.

Flip A

Item
Paste Special    Item register
Enter the Item Number, Alternative Code or Bar Code of each Item to be supplied as part of the Project.

Time, purchases and materials (Service and Plain Items) will be priced using the system described on the Pricing and Costs - Time, Purchases and Materials from Time Sheets and Activities page.

Stocked and Structured Items will be priced using the current Price List for the Customer (i.e. the Price List in the Contact record for the Customer or in the Customer Category to which the Customer belongs) or using the Base Prices in the Item register.

If the Item is a Structured Item in which you have ticked the Paste Components During Entry box (on the 'Recipe' card of the Item record), its components will be listed on the following rows when you enter a Quantity. If you then change the Quantity of the Structured Item, the Quantities of the components will be updated automatically.

Person
Paste Special    Person register, System module and Global User register, Technics module
If the Item is a Service or Plain Item, you can enter the Signature of the Person who will be carrying out the work here.

You can leave this field empty if you only need to budget an overall number of hours or quantity of material for the Project, and if each hour of work or unit of material will be charged at the same rate.

Alternatively, if it is likely that several members of staff will be working on the Project, you can enter several rows with the same Item, but different Persons and Prices. This allows work to be charged out at the correct rate for the Person. If you leave the Person field blank in one of the rows, its Price will be used if work is carried out by a Person not otherwise included in the Budget.

Qty
Enter the estimated number of hours to be worked or the quantity of Items to be supplied.

Description
This field contains the name of the Item, brought in from the Item register. Usually, it will be the Item's Description that is brought in but, if you have entered various translations of the Description on the 'Texts' card of the Item record, the correct translation for the Language of the Project Budget (specified on the 'Members' card) will be brought in instead.

Price
The unit price for the Item. This price will be copied to any Project Transactions that are created for the Project/Item/Person combination, overriding all prices elsewhere in the system. This allows you to agree a special rate with the Customer for a Project.

In the case of time, purchases and materials (Service and Plain Items), the default figure placed in this field will be calculated using the system described on the Pricing and Costs - Time, Purchases and Materials from Time Sheets and Activities page. If you do not want prices for time, purchases and materials to be taken from Project Budgets, select the No Price from Project Budget option in the Project Settings setting.

If the Customer has a Price List specified on the 'Pricing' card of their Contact record or belongs to a Customer Category with a Price List, Stocked and Structured Items will be priced according to that Price List. Otherwise, the Base Price of the Item will be used.

This figure will include VAT (and TAX) if the Customer's Price List is one that is Inclusive of VAT or if you have specified on the 'VAT / Tax' card of the Account Usage S/L setting in the Sales Ledger that Base Prices include VAT (or VAT and TAX).

If the Project Budget has a Currency and Exchange Rate, this figure will be in the Currency concerned (i.e. having undergone currency conversion).

After adding an Item and saving the Project Budget, the Price will be fixed to some extent. If you then add additional rows with the same Item, the Price from the original row will be copied to the new rows. This allows any special rate that you have agreed with the Customer to be preserved. If you change the Price in the original row, it will not be copied to new rows until you save the Project Budget again, at which the changed Price will become the new fixed Price.

If the Project Budget has a Currency and you change the Exchange Rate, prices already in the Project Budget will not be recalculated automatically. If you change the Transaction Date and the Exchange Rate changes as a consequence, prices will be recalculated automatically if you are using the Update Prices on records with Currency when changing Dates option in the Item Settings setting in the Sales Ledger, but only in rows you have added since you last saved and only in rows containing Items not previously in the Project Budget, for the reasons described in the previous paragraph.

After adding an Item and saving the Project Budget, the Price will be fixed to some extent. If you then add additional rows with the same Item, the Price from the original row will be copied to the new rows. This allows any special rate that you have agreed with the Customer to be preserved. If you change the Price in the original row, it will not be copied to new rows until you save the Project Budget again, at which the changed Price will become the new fixed Price.

If the Project Budget has a Currency and you change the Exchange Rate, prices already in the Project Budget will not be recalculated automatically. If you change the Transaction Date and the Exchange Rate changes as a consequence, prices will be recalculated automatically if you are using the Update Prices on records with Currency when changing Dates option in the Item Settings setting in the Sales Ledger, but only in rows you have added since you last saved and only in rows containing Items not previously in the Project Budget, for the reasons described in the previous paragraph.

After adding an Item and saving the Project Budget, the Price will be fixed to some extent. If you then add additional rows with the same Item, the Price from the original row will be copied to the new rows. This allows any special rate that you have agreed with the Customer to be preserved. If you change the Price in the original row, it will not be copied to new rows until you save the Project Budget again, at which the changed Price will become the new fixed Price.

If the Project Budget has a Currency and you change the Exchange Rate, prices already in the Project Budget will not be recalculated automatically. If you change the Transaction Date and the Exchange Rate changes as a consequence, prices will be recalculated automatically if you are using the Update Prices on records with Currency when changing Dates option in the Item Settings setting in the Sales Ledger, but only in rows you have added since you last saved and only in rows containing Items not previously in the Project Budget, for the reasons described in the previous paragraph.

%
If you need to offer the Customer a discount on an Item, enter the discount percentage in this field. Enter a negative percentage if you need to increase the price.

If the Item is a Service or Plain Item, a discount percentage taken from the record in the Customer Discount setting for the Customer/Item combination will be placed here. A discount percentage will also be brought in if you have allocated a Discount Matrix that includes the Item to the Customer. In this case, the percentage will be determined by the Item Number and Quantity. You can change to an adhoc rate if necessary.

Any percentage entered here will be copied to the Disc % field in any Project Transactions created from Time Sheets and Activities for the Project/Item/Person combination, overriding the Customer Discount setting.

Sum
The total budget for the row, after discount and after any Markup (specified on flip B).

Phase
Paste Special    Project Phases setting, Job Costing module
If you have divided a Project into Phases, use this field to assign each row in the Project Budget to a Phase. Please refer to the description of the Project Schedule register here for details about Project Phases.

Sign
Paste Special    Person register, System module and Global User register, Technics module
If you have divided a Project into Phases, you can mark a Phase as Completed when all work on that Phase has been carried out. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Enter your Signature in the Sign field in the relevant row in the Project Schedule record. This will prevent the further creation of Project Transactions and will also update the Project Revenue Recognition report. If the Project will be invoiced on an "Actual" basis, this will also ensure that the 'Invoice for Completed Phases' function on the Create menu (Windows/macOS) or + menu (iOS/Android) will create an Invoice for the completed Phase.

  2. If the Project will be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, you should also enter your Signature in the Sign field in the relevant row(s) in the Project Budget record. This will ensure that the 'Invoice for Completed Phases' function will create an Invoice for the completed Phase.

If you have more than one Company in your database, the Signature must belong to a user who has a Person record in the Company in which you are working.

Flip B

Markup
Enter an amount to be added to the total price, or enter a percentage in the form "10%" to calculate a 10% markup. You can enter a negative figure if you need to effect a discount.

The Markup will be applied after the Price has been multiplied by the Quantity and after any discount percentage has been applied.

If you enter a Budget Markup in the Footer, it will be copied to the Markup field in every row.

Cost
The unit cost of the Item. For Stocked and Plain Items, this is the Cost Price of the Item, taken from the 'Costs' card of the Item record. For Service Items (time), it is the hourly cost of the Person, taken from Cost per Hour field on the 'Job Costing' card of the Person record or, if this is blank, from the Service Item Cost Price field on the 'Service' card of the Project Settings setting. If this is also blank, the Cost Price of the Item plus its Extra Cost will be used.

If the Person field in a row contains a Signature, it won't be possible to change the Cost in that row.

GP
The budgeted gross profit of each row.

Inv. No.
If the row will be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, the Invoice Number will be copied to this field when you create the Invoice. The Invoice Date will be shown on flip D.

If you issue a Credit Note against the Invoice, the Invoice Number will be removed from this field automatically, allowing you to create a new Invoice.

Flip C

Time Class
Paste Special    Time Classes setting, Job Costing module
Use this field if you have different charge out rates for various kinds of work (e.g. standard rate, evening rate, etc) and are managing them using Time Classes. For each Person/Item combination you should enter separate rows for each Time Class that you are likely to use on the Project. This has two effects:

  1. The Price Formula from the Time Class will be applied to the Price on flip A, providing the Item belongs to an Item Group listed in the appropriate Time Billing Price List record. For example, if you specify a Time Class for double time, the Price (and Sum) on flip A will be doubled.

  2. When you enter a Time Sheet and specify a Time Class on flip C or you enter an Activity and specify a Time Class on the 'Time' card, the price in the resulting Project Transaction(s) will be taken from the Budget row for the Item/Person/Time Class combination.

Please refer to the Pricing and Costs - Time, Purchases and Materials from Time Sheets and Activities page for more information about Time Classes.

Type
Paste Special    Choices of possible entries
After using the Invoice Time, Invoice Stocked Items, Invoice Material and Invoice Purchases options on the 'Invoicing' card to specify that each cost type will be invoiced on an "Actual" or "As Budgeted" basis, you can use the Type field when you need to make an exception for a particular row.

'Paste Special' offers the following options:

-
Use this option when the row is to comply with the overall invoicing basis that you have set using the Invoice Time, Invoice Stocked Items, Invoice Material or Invoice Purchases option (as appropriate for the type of the Item).

Running
Select this option when you have used the Invoice Time, Invoice Stocked Items, Invoice Material or Invoice Purchases option (as appropriate for the type of the Item) to specify that the overall invoicing basis is "As Budgeted", but the row is to be invoiced on an "Actual" basis (i.e. it is to be treated as an estimate and Invoices for the Item or Item/Person combination in the row are to be created from Project Transactions).

As Budgeted
Select this option when you have used the Invoice Time, Invoice Stocked Items, Invoice Material or Invoice Purchases option (as appropriate for the type of the Item) to specify that the overall invoicing basis is "Actual", but the row is to be a invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis (i.e. the budgeted amount for the Item or Item/Person combination in the row is also the amount to be invoiced).

Internal
Use this option when the Item/Person combination in a row is not to be invoiced.

Inv After
Paste Special    Choose date
Enter the earliest date when the Item/Person combination in the row can be invoiced. If you specify a date that is earlier than the First Invoice Date on the 'Invoicing' card of the Project, the date in this field will be ignored.

If the row is to be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, you can use this field to control when the 'Create Project Invoices' function will raise the Invoice for the row.

If the row is to be invoiced on an "Actual" basis, you can specify an Inv. After date in two places: here, and in each Project Transaction for the Item (or the Item/Person combination in the case of time). If you have specified an Inv. After date in both places, the later of the two dates will determine when the 'Create Project Invoices' function will raise the Invoice from the Project Transactions.

Flip D

Tags/Objects
Paste Special    Tag/Object register, Nominal Ledger/System module
Default taken from    Item or Item Group
The Tags/Objects from the Item record will be copied here when you specify an Item on flip A.

This is for information only. If the row is to be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, and if you have selected the By Items or By Transactions option for the relevant cost type on the 'Time & Purchases' or 'Stock & Materials' card of the Project, the Tags/Objects that will be copied to flip B of the Invoice row will not be taken from here but from the relevant Item record.

Inv Date
If the row will be invoiced on an "As Budgeted" basis, the Invoice Date will be copied to this field when you create the Invoice using the 'Create Project Invoices' function.. The Invoice Number will be shown on flips B and C.

Flip E

GM
The gross margin for the row, expressed as a percentage of the Price.

Footer

Currency
Default taken from    Project
The Currency of the Budget: the exchange rate is shown on the 'Currency' card where you can change it for an individual Budget if necessary. The Currency in a Budget must be the same as that in the related Project.

Sum Time
This field shows the total value of time (i.e. Service Items) in the Project Budget. It will be updated automatically.

Sum Materials
This field shows the total value of materials (i.e. Plain Items in which the Treat Item as Material on Project box is ticked) in the Project Budget. It will be updated automatically.

Sum Stocked
This field shows the total value of Stocked and Structured Items in the Project Budget. It will be updated automatically.

Sum Purchases
This field shows the total value of purchases (i.e. Plain Items in which the Treat Item as Material on Project box is not ticked) in the Project Budget. It will be updated automatically.

Budget Markup
Enter an amount to be added to the total price in every row, or enter a percentage in the form "10%" to add a percentage markup. You can enter a negative figure if you need to effect a discount. In effect, you can use this field to set a default for the Markup field on flip B of each row.

In each row, the overall Markup will be applied after each Price has been multiplied by the Quantity and after any discount percentage has been applied.

When you enter a Budget Markup in this field, it will be copied to the rows that are already in the Budget, and the Sums in those rows will be recalculated. The Budget Markup will not be copied to any rows that you add after specifying it, but you can remedy this by re-typing.

Total Sum
This field shows the total value of the Project Budget. It will be updated automatically.
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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Currency Card

This page describes the fields on the 'Text' card of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Currency
Default taken from    Project
The Currency of the Project Budget, also shown in the footer of the 'Items' card. The Currency in a Budget must be the same as that in the related Project.

Exchange Rates
Default taken from    Base Currency Rates setting and/or Exchange Rate register, System module
By default, these fields will display the exchange rates for the specified Currency on the Transaction Date of the Project Budget (or, if the Transaction Date is blank, the current exchange rates). Ensure that these rates are correct before adding Items to the Project Budget to ensure the correct currency conversion takes place.

If you change the Transaction Date, the exchange rates will change automatically. You can also change the exchange rates in an individual Budget yourself. In both cases, the prices of any Items already in the Budget will not be updated.

One of two conversion methods will be used. The Dual-Base system will be useful for companies that have offices in two countries that need to report in both Currencies, for companies operating in countries where there is a second Currency (usually the US Dollar or Euro) in common use in addition to the national one, and for companies in the Euro zone who retain their old national Currency for comparison purposes. The second method is a simple conversion from the foreign Currency to the home Currency, applicable to the majority of worldwide Currency transactions. These are described below.
Exchange Rates (Dual-Base System)   
If you are using the Dual-Base system, the Base Currency 1 and 2 fields on the left will show in the form of a ratio the exchange rate between the two base Currencies (taken from the record in the Base Currency Rates setting applying on the Transaction Date).

If the Currency is not Base Currency 1 or 2, the Rate and right-hand Base Currency 1 or Base Currency 2 fields will show the exchange rate between that Currency and Base Currency 1 or 2.

Note that European Monetary Union (EMU) regulations specify that the ratios must always show how many units of the home or foreign Currency can be bought with one Euro.

Exchange Rates (Simple Currency Conversion System)
In the case of a simple currency conversion system, the Rate and right-hand Base Currency 1 fields will show a simple exchange rate between the foreign and home Currencies.
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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Text Card

This page describes the fields on the 'Text' card of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Text
The 'Text' card in the Project Budget window contains ten lines of text that you can use perhaps to note any special comments about how the Budget was calculated or about the connected Project. If you need these comments to be printed on Project Budget documentation, add the "Text" field to your Form Template design. Each line of Text will be printed, so you should specify a Line Height for this field.
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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Entering a Project Budget - Members Card

This page describes the fields on the 'Members' card of the Project Budget record. Please follow the links below for descriptions of the other cards:
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Project Members
Default taken from    Project
The Signatures of the members of personnel who will work on the related Project will be copied here when you specify the Project in the header. You cannot change the Members in a Project Budget, but if you change the Members in the Project, that change will be copied to the Project Budget automatically.

Project Manager
Paste Special    Person register, System module
Default taken from    Project (first Project Manager)
The member of your firm in charge of the Project. This will be copied from the related Project and is for information only.

If you have more than one Company in your database, the Project Manager should have a Person record in the Company in which you are working.

Salesman
Paste Special    Person register, System module
Default taken from    Project
The Signature of the Project's Salesman appears here.

This field together with the Members field above is used by the Limited Access feature: please refer to the description of the Sales Group field below for details.

If you have more than one Company in your database, the Salesman should have a Person record in the Company in which you are working.

Language
Paste Special    Languages setting, System module
Default taken from    Project
The Language Code determines the text that will be transferred from various registers and settings to be printed on forms (for example the text for the Payment Term). Leave the field blank to use your home Language.

You can also use the Language to determine the Form Template that will be used when you print the Project Budget, and the printer that will be used to print it. This can include sending the document to a fax machine, if your hardware can support this feature. Do this in the 'Form Definition' window for the Project Budget form, as described here. You can change the Language before printing the Project Budget, to ensure it is printed on the correct printer or fax machine.

When you create Invoices for a Project, the Language in those Invoices will be taken from the Project, not from the Project Budget.

Sales Group
Paste Special    Sales Groups setting, System module
Default taken from    Project or Salesman
The Sales Group will be brought in from the Person record when you specify a Salesman. If you are using the Limited Access feature, you can use this field to prevent a user from seeing every Project Budgets in the 'Project Budgets: Browse' window by restricting their view to their own Project Budgets or to those of their Sales Group. A user's Project Budget is one in which their Signature is in the Salesman field or included in the Members field. A Project Budget will belong to a user's Sales Group if the Salesman or any of the Members belong to the same Sales Group as the user.

Please refer here for full details about the Limited Access module.

Approval Status
You can use the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module to configure an approval process that Project Budgets must pass through. For example, particular managers may need to check and approve every Budget in which the Total Sum is greater than a certain value. If you are using such an approval process, this field will display the stage in the process that a particular Budget has reached.

If a Budget needs to pass through an approval process, the following functions will be disabled until the approval process has been completed:

  • Printing the Budget (if you need particular users to be able to print Project Budgets and other records before they have been approved, assign those users to an Access Group in which you have granted Full Access to the 'Print Unapproved Records' Action).

  • Creating a Purchase Order from the Budget.

  • Creating a HW0502PROJBUDG_Operations_Menu_Create_Sales_Order Sales Order) from the Budget.

  • Creating an Invoice from the Budget.

In brief, the Approval Status of a Budget can be any of the following :

Not Required
The Budget does not need to pass through an approval process, so the functions listed above will be available immediately.

Not Requested
The Budget does need to pass through an approval process, and you have not yet started that process. To start the process, save any changes and then choose 'Request Approval' from the Operations menu (Windows/macOS) or Tools menu (iOS/Android).

Pending
The Budget has been entered into the approval process, and is waiting to be approved or rejected.

If the Status of the Budget is Pending, you will usually not be able to modify it. If you need certain users to be able to modify Pending records, use Access Groups to grant them Full access to the 'Change Record Header when Approval Status is Pending' and/or 'Change Record Matrix when Approval Status is Pending', Actions.

Approved
The approval process has been completed and the Budget has been approved, and the functions listed above will be available.

Rejected
The approval process has been completed and the Budget has been rejected.

Please refer here for full details.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budgets

The Operations menu for the 'Project Budget: New' and 'Project Budget: Inspect' windows is shown above. There is no Operations menu for the 'Project Budgets: Browse' window.

If you are using Windows or macOS, you can open the Operations menu by clicking the button with the 'cog' icon (shown highlighted in the illustration above). If you are using iOS or Android, you can access the Operations menu functions through the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

Note that in Standard ERP version 8.0, some functions that were previously on the Operations menu were moved to the Create and Row menus. On iOS and Android there is no Row menu, so on those platforms the Row menu functions remain on the Operations/Tools menu.

Please follow the links below for details about each function on the Operations menu:

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budget - Budget Report

This page describes the 'Budget Report' function on the Operations menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Budget Report' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

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The 'Budget Report' command prints to screen a Project Quotation/Budget report for the Project Budget currently open in a record window. This version of the Project Quotation/Budget report will be produced using the Budget and Detailed options.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budget - Request Approval

This page describes the 'Request Approval' function on the Operations menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Request Approval' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

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If a Project Budget has to pass through an approval process before you can create Sales and Purchase Orders and Invoices from it (and before you can print it), ensure it is open in a record window and select 'Request Approval' from the Operations menu (Windows/macOS) or Tools menu (iOS/Android) to begin that approval process. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status field on the 'Members' card of the Project Budget window for brief details about the approval process and here for full details.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budget - Cancel Approval Request

This page describes the 'Cancel Approval Request' function on the Operations menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Cancel Approval Request' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

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If a Project Budget needs to go through an approval process before you can create Sales and Purchase Orders and Invoices from it (and before you can print it) and you have started that approval process by selecting 'Request Approval' from the Operations menu (Windows/macOS) or Tools menu (iOS/Android), you will no longer be able to modify the Project Budget. So, if you realise the Project Budget contains an error, you must cancel the approval process before you can correct the error. To do this, open the Project Budget and choose 'Cancel Approval Request' from the Operations or Tools menu. You will now be able to amend the Project Budget and then restart the approval process by once again choosing 'Request Approval'.

If you cannot cancel the approval process, the probable reasons are:

Please refer to the description of the Approval Status field on the 'Members' card of the Project Budget window for brief details of the approval process and here for full details.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Create Menu - Project Budgets

The Create menu for the 'Project Budget: New' and 'Project Budget: Inspect' windows is shown above. If you are using iOS or Android, you can access the Create menu functions through the + menu.

'New' and 'Duplicate' are standard functions that are provided on every Create and + menu. Use these functions to create new records, in this case in the Project Budget register. Please follow the links below for details about the other functions:

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Create Menu - Project Budget - Invoice for Completed Phases

The 'Invoice for Completed Phases' function on the Create menu in the Project Budget record window (+ menu if you are using iOS or Android) is one of several methods that you can use to create Invoices for Projects. Please refer to the description of the 'Create Project Invoices' Maintenance function for full details about creating Invoices for Projects, and to the description of the Project Schedule register for details about Project Phases.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Create Menu - Project Budget - Purchase Order

This page describes the 'Purchase Order' function on the Create menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Purchase Order' function is on the + menu.

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If you need to create a Purchase Order for the Stocked Items and/or purchases listed in a Project Budget, open the Project Budget in a record window and select 'Purchase Order' from the Create menu (Windows/macOS) or + menu (iOS/Android).

For the function to create a Purchase Order successfully, the following conditions must be met:

  1. You must have saved any changes that you have made to the Project Budget.

  2. There must be at least one Stocked Item or purchase in the Project Budget, and you must have configured the Project Item Handling setting so that these are to be transferred to Purchase Orders.

  3. The Project Budget should not be connected to a Project whose Status is No More Transactions or Finished.

  4. You must have logged in as a user who is able to create Purchase Orders from Project Budgets. You can use Access Groups to prevent certain users from creating Purchase Orders from Project Budgets, by denying them access to the 'Purchase Order from Project Budget' Action.

  5. Finally, the function will not create a Purchase Order if there is no valid record in the Number Series - Purchase Orders setting (in the Purchase Orders module). This problem will usually occur at the beginning of a new year.
The function will create a single Purchase Order that will include all valid Items from the Project Budget are included. The new Purchase Order will be opened in a new window, entitled 'Purchase Order: Inspect'. This means that it has been created and saved and is being opened for amendment and approval.

The Purchase Order will contain the following Items:

The order quantity for these Items will be taken from the Project Budget: no attempt will be made to reconcile demand with stock levels. The Cost Price will be taken from the 'Costs' card of the Item records. The Tags/Objects will be taken from the Project Budget.

Because no reference is made to the Purchase Item register, the Purchase Order will be generated with no Supplier details. You should therefore specify a Supplier before you print the Purchase Order. Bear the following points in mind:

The Purchase Order will be connected to the Project using the field on the 'Terms' card, while each row will also be related to the Project using the field on flip C. The Purchase Order and the Project Budget will also be connected to each other through the Link Manager.

As already mentioned, if you have already created a Purchase Order from the Project Budget, the next Purchase Order will only include the Items and/or quantities that are not included in the first one. This is controlled using the Purchase Orders that are listed in the Link Manager of the Project Budget. If you remove a Purchase Order from the Project Budget's Link Manager, or if you use another method to create a Purchase Order (e.g. you add a Purchase Order directly to the Purchase Order register and specify the Project in the Purchase Order but do not place the Purchase Order in the Project Budget's Link Manager), the Items and quantities in subsequent Purchase Orders that you create from the Project Budget may not be as expected.

You can print the Purchase Orders thus created individually using the Printer icon (Windows/macOS) or by selecting 'Print' from the File menu (all platforms) or as a group using the 'Forms' function in the Purchase Orders module. You can then go on to process these Purchase Orders in the normal way, creating Goods Receipts and Purchase Invoices. However, you must create the Purchase Invoices from the Purchase Orders, not from the Goods Receipts. Goods Receipts do not carry Project information, so if you create a Purchase Invoice from a Goods Receipt, it also will not have any Project information and so it won't generate Project Transactions when you mark it as OK.

To close the Purchase Order window and return to the Project Budget, click the close box (Windows/macOS) or tap < (iOS/Android). You will be asked if you want to save any changes.

Please refer here for a full description of the Purchase Order screen, including detailed information about printing, and about creating Goods Receipts and Purchase Invoices.

If you need Project Budgets to pass through an approval process before you can create Purchase Orders from them, you can configure such a process using the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status options on the 'Members' card of the Project Budget window for brief details about the approval process and here for full details.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Create Menu - Project Budget - Sales Order

This page describes the 'Sales Order' function on the Create menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Sales Order' function is on the + menu.

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If you need to create a Sales Order from a Project Budget, open the Project Budget in a record window and select 'Sales Order' from the Create menu (Windows/macOS) or + menu (iOS/Android).

The function will create a new record in the Order register (in the Sales Orders module). It will be opened in a new window entitled 'Order: Inspect'. This means that it has been created and saved and is being opened for amendment and approval.

Virtually all the information entered for the Project Budget will be transferred to the appropriate fields in the Order, reducing the typing load and minimising the risk of error. This will be useful when you have used a Project Budget to plan precisely the Items (especially Stocked Items) that you will need to supply to complete a Project, and when you have agreed special pricing for those Items.

The Order will contain the following Items:

The order quantity, pricing and Tags/Objects for these Items will be taken from the Project Budget.

The Project Code will be copied to the Project field on the 'Terms' card of the Order. When an Order includes a Project Code, you can deliver the Items from the Order in the usual way (adjusting stock levels where appropriate) but you must invoice them using the 'Create Project Invoices' Maintenance function or the 'Invoice' function on the Create or + menu in the Project Budget. The Sales Order and the Project Budget will also be connected to each other through the Link Manager.

As already mentioned, if you have already created a Sales Order from the Project Budget, the next Sales Order will only include the Items and/or quantities that are not included in the first one. This is controlled using the Sales Orders that are listed in the Link Manager of the Project Budget. If you remove a Sales Order from the Project Budget's Link Manager, or if you use another method to create a Sales Order (e.g. you add a Sales Order directly to the Order register and specify the Project in the Sales Order but do not place the Sales Order in the Project Budget's Link Manager), the Items and quantities in subsequent Sales Orders that you create from the Project Budget may not be as expected.

If the function does not create a Sales Order, the probable causes are:

  1. There is no valid record in the Number Series - Sales Orders setting (in the Sales Orders module). This might be a fault in the setting itself, or it might be because the default Order Number on the 'Number Series' card of the current user's Person record or in the Number Series Defaults setting (in the System module) is not in a valid Number Series. This problem will usually occur at the beginning of a new year. If you change the 'Number Series' card of the Person record or the Number Series Defaults setting, you will need to quit Standard ERP and restart for it to take effect.

  2. There are no Stocked Items or purchases in the Project Budget, or you have configured the Project Item Handling setting so that these are not to be transferred to Sales Orders.

  3. You had not saved the Project Budget when you tried to create a Sales Order.

  4. The Project Budget is connected to a Project whose Status is No More Transactions or Finished.
Please refer here for a full description of the Order window, including detailed information about issuing Deliveries.

To close the Sales Order window, click the close box (Windows/macOS) or tap < (iOS/Android). You will be asked if you would like to save any changes that you may have made.

If you need Project Budgets to pass through an approval process before you can create Sales Orders from them, you can configure such a process using the Approval Rules register in the Business Alerts module. Please refer to the description of the Approval Status options on the 'Members' card of the Project Budget window for brief details about the approval process and here for full details.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Row Menu - Project Budget

The matrix in the Project Budget window has its own menu, which contains functions that refer to or affect an individual row in the matrix. This is sometimes known as the "Row Menu".

If you are using Windows or macOS, you can open the Row menu by first clicking in any field in the row in question (i.e. the row to which the function is to be applied), and then right-clicking (Windows) or Ctrl-clicking (macOS) the row number (on the left of the row). A menu will appear, where you can select the function that you need:

On iOS and Android there is no Row menu, so on those platforms you will find the Row menu functions on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon), together with the Operations menu functions.

Please follow the links below for details about each function on the Row menu:

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Row Menu - Project Budget - Item Status

This page describes the 'Item Status' function on the Row menu in the Project Budget record window. This function can't be used on iOS or Android.

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The 'Item Status' function displays the current status (for example, the quantity in stock, the quantity on unfulfilled Sales Orders, etc) of any of the Items in a Project Budget in a separate 'Item Status' window.

To open the 'Item Status' window, first click in any field in the Project Budget row containing the Item you are interested in. Then open the Row menu by right-clicking (Windows) or ctrl-clicking (macOS X) the row number and select the 'Item Status' function. The 'Item Status' window will be opened. For the example illustrated below, we clicked in the fifth row of a Project Budget (containing Item 10156) before selecting the 'Item Status' function:

The 'Item Status' window is unusual in that it always "floats" on top of other windows, even when those windows are active. Therefore, without closing the 'Item Status' window, you can click in another Project Budget row containing a different Item, and the figures in the 'Item Status' window will be updated accordingly. If you then select 'Paste Special' from the Item Number field in any row and highlight an Item in the 'Paste Item' window, the 'Item Status' window will again be updated to show figures for the highlighted Item.

If you have specified a Location in a Project Budget, the figures in the 'Item Status' window will refer to that Location. If you have not specified a Location, the figures will refer to all Locations. This will be the case even if you have specified a Main Location in the Stock Settings setting.

If you would like the 'Item Status' window to open automatically whenever you open a Project Budget (if it isn't open already), select the Show Item Status option in the Item Settings setting in the Sales Ledger.

Please refer here for full details about the 'Item Status' window. This includes details about how the figures are calculated, about using the Item Status Settings setting in the Sales Ledger to choose which figures will be shown in the 'Item Status' window and about displaying different figures in the 'Item Status' window to different users.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budget - Add Header Line

This page describes the 'Add Header Line' function on the Row menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Add Header Line' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

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You can use the 'Add Header Line' function in a Project Budget when you need to insert a row above the Project Budget Items where you can enter some descriptive text. You can use this function at any time while entering the Project Budget, as follows:

In this "Header" row, you can type the descriptive text in the field to the right of the "Header" text, as has been done in row 1 in the illustration below:

When you design the Form Template to be used when printing Project Budgets, you can specify that the special "Header" row will be printed in a different Style to the rows containing the Items (e.g. font, font size, etc). To do this, use the 'Row Styles' function on the Operations menu of the Form Template window.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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Operations Menu - Project Budget - Add Subtotal Line

This page describes the 'Add Subtotal Line' function on the Row menu in the Project Budget record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Add Subtotal Line' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).

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The 'Add Subtotal Line' function allows you to add rows displaying subtotals to a Project Budget.
First, place the insertion point anywhere in the Project Budget row that is to be the first row after the subtotal row. Then, open the Row menu by right-clicking (Windows) or ctrl-clicking (macOS) the row number and select the 'Add Subtotal Line' function. If you are using iOS or Android, select 'Add Subtotal Line' from the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon). A special "Subtotal" row will be inserted in the grid above the row containing the insertion point (row 5 in the illustration below). A subtotal will be placed in the Sum field in this new row, the sum of the previous rows. In the field to the left of the Sum you can type some explanatory text, which will be shown on the Project Budget when it is printed. If the Project Budget already has a "Subtotal" row, only the Items below that row will be included in the new subtotal.

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The Project Budget register in Standard ERP:

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