The Project screen allows you to create and maintain a profile of each project. The information affects business processing rules, budgets, percent complete tracking, billing arrangements and so on. The information is used on reports and invoices.
A project is the scope of work contracted by a client. In BillQuick Online, every client must have at least one project. How you define the scope of work is up to you. In some companies, all the work done for a client can be defined as a single scope of work even though the goals of the work can vary. In other companies, a scope of work can be broken down into smaller parts, called phases, for more efficient management or because the client prefers it. In BillQuick Online, scopes of work can be subdivided further into segments, and segments can be broken down into sub-segments. BillQuick Online supports up to four levels in a project hierarchy. Whether you call a scope of work a project, job, phase, sub-job, segment or sub-segment, it is a unique project record in BillQuick Online.
A project can be broken down into smaller parts. Each part is a project record with its own profile. For example, you can treat this project record as a separate and distinct entity, billing it separately. Or each part can be treated as one of many parts that make up the whole.
In this case, you would probably bill all the sub-projects together on a joint invoice. When you breakdown a project into smaller parts, there is always a parent project at the top of the hierarchy. BillQuick Online supports an unlimited number of parent projects and an unlimited number of child projects under each parent.
Under a parent project you can add child project records. Generally, these are called phases. Phases can be broken down further into segments, each segment being a child project to the parent phase record. Similarly, segments can be broken down into sub-segments. The total amount is received as a payment.
The Parent-Child relationship forms a Project Hierarchy. A project hierarchy can have up to four levels below the client. BillQuick Online refers to these four levels as:
Project
Phase
Segment
Sub-segment
Sitting at the top of the hierarchy, the parent can be a standard project to which you charge time and expenses, or it can be a Main Status project record (no time and expenses allowed). Next is the Phase project record. It can be a standard project record or a parent project to child projects below it. A Phase can carry a status of Main or any other status (for example, Active, Complete, Hold).
BillQuick Online provides a tree structure to keep the Main project and the sub-projects together. In the Project list the Project has a plus sign next to it to expand the tree to see all sub-projects. Click on the project ID to view details for the selected project.
The BillQuick Online Client screen is separated into the following tabs:
The Assign tab becomes visible on the Project screen only when the relevant option is marked in the Preferences screen.
A project profile can be customized. For example, the window title Project can be changed to Engagement, Matters, Job or any term you want. Menu items, reports and other elements adjust as well. Several field masks can be customized too. Customizable fields are noted below, and can be reviewed in Custom Labels screen.
The following information provides details on the options available on the Project button panel.
Help:
Opens the BillQuick Online Help in the Project section.
Print:
Clicking on this button displays a list of in-context reports that you can preview and print.
Notes:
Opens the Notes screen where you can record a new note for a project.
Options:
Click to access various options for the Project screen.
Clone:
Opens the Project Clone screen that enables you to duplicate an existing project.
Attachments:
Click to open the Attachments screen where you can attach one or more files to the Project information. The text link also displays the number of files being attached to the record. The attached files will be copied to the shared file attachment folder as specified by your Admin.
New To Do Item:
Click to open the To Do List screen to add a new to-do item or task for the project.
View To Do List:
Click to open the To Do List screen to view the associated to-do items for the project.
Filters (On/Off):
Turn on or off the defined filters with this option. When this check box is selected, BillQuick Online remembers and applies the previous filter settings. Changes that you make in the Filter tab will take effect only when you select the check box. Clearing the check box is a quick way to deactivate all filters.
Save:
After you have completed entering the information, click the Save button to save the record.
New:
Enables you to enter a new project record. It displays the data entry fields above. Click the Project Code field to start with, where you must type the code and then <TAB> through the remainder of the screen to enter additional project information.
Return:
Closes the Project screen and takes you to the Project List screen. It is important that you exit using the Return button and then log out. Do not close your browser directly as that leaves your connection open on the server for up to 20 minutes and can impact the server performance.