Note: It is not necessary to use the Budgeting functionality within OnTrax Timesheets. Project planning & tracking is designed to be performed within the Project area of OnTrax Timesheets. Budgeting is for planning across Multiple-Related projects and can be configured at a later point in time.
Project Item Maintenance in OnTrax Timesheets is where cost tracking categories are created and defined. Project items can be used as high level ''Categories" of costs, or can be defined as extremely low level cost collection items.
The settings set here in the project item maintenance screen are used as DEFAULTS when a project item is assigned an individual project. All values can be changed at the project level unless the 'Locked Locally' flag in the project item maintenance screen is selected. If the 'Locked Locally' flag is selected for a particular project item, a manager CAN NOT override the settings set in this screen (project item maintenance screen) when the project item is assigned to a project.
There are 3 categories of project items. These categories are as follows:
Time- Category for payroll and employee costs that are time based. All time type project items will be available to post against in a users 'Time Entry' screen. Some examples of Time type project items would be: Research, marketing, sales calls, overtime, non-billable etc..
General Expenses – General Expense type project items can only be posted against by users who have 'Manager' authorizations assigned to their user ID within the project they are trying to post against. General expenses are meant for large project related costs, that are not associated with any particular user and are not reimbursable to any employee--- ie: a new generator is needed. These are typically one time costs for items such as equipment - directly associated with the project.
Expenses- Expense type project items are items where users post their project related costs. Such costs typically include travel, mileage, meals etc.. Expense type project items will be available for any user to post against who has 'Expense' authorization for the particular project that is being posted against.
To create a new Project Item:
1. Select Projects from the main menu
2. Select Project Items from the sub-menu
3. Enter the name of the Project Item Long and Short Text
4. Select Item Type from the drop down menu
5 . Set the default rates to be used for the project item when assigned to a project. This is applicable to time objects only!
Note: This rate(s) can be changed at the project item assignment level.
Note: Only Project Items of type 'Time' have Internal/External rates.
Use internal/Use External - If these boxes are checked, the rate to the right of each check box is carried down and used as the default rate (internal/external) at the project level for item based projects only (Individual rates for task based projects are controlled by the project plan at the task/user assignment in the project task plan). If these boxes are not checked, the internal/external rates entered in the Rate boxes will have no effect on the projects that this project item is assigned to.
Example for an Item based project: Bob bills out at $30 externally, Sue at $40, Jack at $50. All of these rates are pre-set in their user master records. However, your company has a category for preliminary consulting where you offer services for the first appointment at a flat rate of $25 per hour. If you put $25 in the external rate and check the check box, any user that posts time to the "Preliminary Consulting" project item will be billed the customer (external rate) at the flat rate of $25. This change will override the rates in the user master and guarantee that any time credited to this task is billed at an external rate of $25 per hour.
Locked at Project Level - If this box is checked, when this project item is assigned to a project, the values set for this project item in the project item maintenance screen (this screen) CAN NOT be overridden or altered at he project level. This allows an organization to set up the items in the Project Item Master section on a global basis, and then enforce that the project level definitions for the project item can not be altered by managers when creating/defining new projects.
Billing Type Locked - If this box is checked, the 'Billable/Non-billable' setting is locked. This allows an organization to set up the items in the Project Item Master section on a global basis, and then enforce that the project level definition for the project item. Once assigned to a project, this definition can not be altered by managers when creating/defining new projects.
External Reference (Primary and Secondary)- Reference fields you can use to identify information from these project items for use in the 'data export' and 'OLAP Reporting' area of the application.
Budget Item - If using the budgeting functionality of OnTrax Timesheets, select the appropriate budget item that this project item should be correlated with. Example: All 'Time' type project items may be mapped to a budget item called 'Employee time'.
Select SAVE to save your project item. All project items are available for inclusion in individual project definitions.