Projects
A plan and a cost collector at once. The join between them is the work breakdown structure — a WBS element is simultaneously a piece of work and an account assignment.
Where to find it
- Module: Accounting
- Group: Projects & Margin
- Section: Projects & Portfolios
- Screen: Projects
Address in the console: /accounting/projects
List · 16 columns · 33 fields on its form · 2 of them required · 5 actions
What the list shows
These are the columns of the list, in the order they are drawn. Any of them can be sorted on, filtered on, hidden, or exported.
| Column | Kind | Field name |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Code | project_no |
| Name | Text | name |
| Type | Status | project_type |
| Program | Code | program_code |
| Manager | Text | manager_name |
| Customer | Text | account_name |
| Budget | Amount | budget_amount |
| Committed | Amount | committed |
| Actual | Amount | actual_cost |
| Available | Amount | available |
| Complete % | Number | percent_complete |
| CPI | Number | cost_performance_index |
| Slip | Number | schedule_slip_days |
| Late | Yes or no | is_late |
| Health | Status | health |
| Status | Status | status |
The form
What is asked for when a record is created here. Required fields are marked; a choice drawn from a configuration list is one an administrator can extend without a release.
| Field | Type | Choices | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name required | Text | ||
| Program | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Portfolio | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Parent project | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Type required | Choice | Configuration list | |
| Cost object | Choice | cost_collector, asset_under_construction, billable, statistical, investment | Decides what settlement does with the cost at period end. Getting it wrong strands the cost. |
| Customer | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Opportunity | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Revenue contract | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Project manager | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Sponsor | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Cost center | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Profit center | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Baseline start | Date | ||
| Baseline end | Date | What was promised. A project that keeps only the current plan cannot show slippage. | |
| Planned start | Date | ||
| Planned end | Date | ||
| Actual start | Date | ||
| Actual end | Date | ||
| Currency | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Budget | Number | ||
| Approved | Number | ||
| Contract value | Number | ||
| Estimate to complete | Number | ||
| Estimate at completion | Number | ||
| Progress method | Choice | Configuration list | |
| Accepts postings at header level | Yes or no | On a real project it should not: a header that takes cost grows a bucket nobody analyses. | |
| Asset under construction | Choice | Looked up from existing records | |
| Health | Choice | green, amber, red | |
| Priority | Choice | critical, high, medium, low | |
| Risk level | Choice | high, medium, low | |
| Description | Long text | ||
| Notes | Long text |
What you can do here
Open the plan primary
Schedule
Forward and backward pass — earliest and latest dates, float and the critical path.
Update progress
Asks for: Method Estimate to complete Estimate at completion
Charge cost
Refused over budget unless you send an override with a reason.
Asks for: Work breakdown element Value type Amount* Account Description Hours Posting date Billable Budget override reason
Capitalise to an asset
Asks for: Existing asset Or create one named Asset class In service from Useful life (months)
* required
The rules that apply here
Everything on this screen obeys the platform rules rather than rules of its own. The ones worth knowing before you use it:
- Narrowing a list — search, conditions, sort, totals, export and saved views.
- What may be changed — the five grounds a record may not be edited on.
- Companies and business units — what the switcher above this list is doing to it.
- Creating a record — required fields, where choices come from, and how the number is allocated.
- Importing a spreadsheet — this screen accepts one, and it runs through the same rules as typing.