Job Budgets Lines Sub-Tab

This section includes the fields and descriptions for the Job Budgets Lines sub-tab.

Field Description
Description In this field, you enter a text, which is attached to the activity on quotes and order confirmations. If you enter an activity, Maconomy suggests either the activity text from the “Description” field in the Activities window or the description of the entered task (if any) in the Job Tasks window, but you can change it on the budget line. In the Activities window, you can set up which text to derive as budget line description for each activity. The original activity text is displayed in the field “Activity Name.”
Line Type In this pop-up field, you select the type of the current job budget line. Selecting a value is mandatory. In the card part, the field “Default Line Type” in the island Line Creation defines the default value of this field, that is the value which is automatically suggested when you create the line. You may then select something else. You can choose from the following values:
  • Sum/Text — If you select this value, the current line can be used as a text line, simply adding a line of text to the budget, or as a sum line. A sum line is used as a grouping level when you use a work breakdown structure as described in “Getting Started with the Java Client.” In both cases, no reference to activity or task may be specified on the line, and the line cannot be marked as a milestone.
  • Time — If you select this value, the current line is used for specifying a time activity. The activity number will change to the activity specified in the job parameter attribute “Default Time Activity” of the type “Budgeting.”
  • Outlay — If you select this value, the current line is used for specifying an outlay activity. The activity number will change to the activity specified in the job parameter attribute “Default Outlay Activity” of the type “Budgeting.”
  • Amount — If you select this value, the current line is used for specifying an amount activity. The activity number will change to the activity specified in the job parameter attribute “Default Amount Activity” of the type “Budgeting.”
  • Milestone — If you select this value, the current line is used for specifying a milestone. Any existing activity number will be removed, and the field “Milestone” will be marked (this field is not shown in the standard layout of the Job Budgets window).

Note that by changing the line type, you change the activity number. See the description of the “Act. No.” field for considerations with regard to changing the activity number.

If you specify an activity in the “Act. No.” field, this field will change to reflect the type of activity that you entered, that is, “Time,” “Amount,” or “Outlay.”

Task In this field, you can specify the task to which the job budget line is to be assigned. Specifying a task list is mandatory, if a task list has been specified for the job, typically via the template based on which the job was created, or if the action “Require Tasks” has been selected in the Job Tasks window.

If neither of the system parameters “Create Tasks from Job Budgets” nor “Extended Task Creation from Budgets” (see below) has been marked, you must enter a task that exists in the task list in question.

If both this field and the “Act. No.” field are left blank, the line can be used as a text line for a more detailed budget description or as a grouping level in a work breakdown structure.

If either of the system parameters “Create Tasks from Job Budgets” or “Extended Task Creation from Budgets” has been marked, you can enter a task that does not already exist in the job’s task list. When you do, Maconomy will create the task in the job’s private task list, using the activity entered on the line as derived activity. If a job-specific task list does not already exist, the shared task list assigned to the job will be copied and made job-specific. For more information, see the description of the Job Tasks window.

If the system parameter “Mark ‘Overwrite Activity’ On Tasks” is marked, the “Overwrite Activity” field is marked in the new task. The description entered in the “Description” field is transferred to the new task and used as task description according to the rules outlined in the description of the two system parameters that concern task creation. Be aware that the specified activity can be set up to derive either the activity text or the task description in the “Description” field. The way the new task is named is defined by and described in the system parameters “Number of Trailing Characters for Task Names” and “Extended Task Creation from Budgets.”

Tasks may need to be approved (see the Approve Tasks window). If this is the case, you cannot use the actions “Submit Budget” or “Transfer to Sales Order” until all tasks in the budget have been approved.

If dimension values have been specified for the task, these dimensions are automatically suggested on new budget lines unless other values have been entered manually. If the Job Tasks or Task Lists window specifies that derived dimension values should overwrite existing dimensions values, any manually entered dimensions will be overwritten.

Activity No. In this field, you enter the number of the activity for which you wish to make a budget estimate. If both this field and the field “Task” are blank, the line is a text line. If this field shows “*,” the line is a summary line which creates a subtotal when the budget is printed using the “Standard” layout.
Quantity If the job is for several similar units, for example, two advertisements, three houses, or ten meters of cable, the quantity of these units can be given here. You can then use the Budget island in this window and the Summary island in the Job Card window to see the “Total” values per unit.
Employee Category No. In this field, you can assign a certain employee category to the job budget. If no specific employee has been specified for this line, Maconomy will instead use the cost, intercompany, or billing price for the specified employee category for price calculations if the “Hourly Rate” field in the System Information window in the Set-Up module has been set to “By Employee” or “Employee Priority.”

If the current job is set up for price control from budgets (see “Price control from budgets”), the employee category is added to the Employee Category Prices island in the card part when you add or change the employee category, if it is not already present in that island.

If you specify or change an employee category on an existing line, prices are only recalculated if the system parameter “Update prices upon dimension change” has been marked. For further information about price calculations, see “Appendix A” Price Calculation in the Job Cost Module” and the system parameter “Update prices upon dimension change” in the Set-Up module.

If the system parameter “Empl. cat. on job budgets required” is marked, it will not be possible to leave out an employee category number in this field, unless the “Empl.” field is also blank.

Planned Start Date

Enter the date on which you plan to begin the activity.

Maconomy uses the prices valid as of this date when deciding which version of the price list assigned to the job, if any, should be used for price calculation on job budget lines. If you do not specify a date in this field, Maconomy uses today's date for the calculation of prices.

If you later change the value in this field, Maconomy will recalculate prices on job budget lines only if the budget has not been approved, and if the system is set up to update prices upon dimension change in the System Parameters workspace. You can also choose to have Maconomy recalculate prices by using the Recalculate Job Budget action. When you use this action, Maconomy will also use the price lists valid as of the date specified in this field, if any, for the recalculation.

By using the Transfer Job Dates action, you can prepopulate this field with the value of the Start Date field in the Jobs workspace for the current job. At the same time, the Planned Ending Date field is populated with the value of the Estimated Ending Date field in the Jobs workspace.

When you create requisitions or purchase orders from the current line, the date in this field is transferred to the Pref. Deliv. Date field in the tab of the requisition or purchase order and the Delivery Date field in the sub-tab. In addition, the specified date can be used in reports.

If you copy a budget with a planned starting date to a new budget with the same job number, this field will also be copied to the new budget. However, you should note that a date in this field does not influence the possibility of assigning periods to the budget line in the Periodic Job Budgets workspace.

When the Calculate Dates on Budget Sum Lines Only When All Sublevels Have a Date system parameter is enabled, the planned starting date is displayed only when all the sublevel lines have a date.

Planned End Date

Enter the date on which you plan to end the activity. The date specified will be of importance in the Detailed Planning workspace in the Resource Planning module; the date specified in this field will be copied to planning lines created based on the budget in question.

By using the Transfer Job Dates action, you can prepopulate this field with the value of the Estimated Ending Date field in the Jobs workspace for the current job. At the same time, the Planned Starting Date field is populated with the value of the Start Date field in the Jobs workspace.

When the Calculate Dates on Budget Sum Lines Only When All Sublevels Have a Date system parameter is enabled, the planned ending date is displayed only when all the sublevel lines have a date.

First Possible Starting Date Enter the first possible starting date of the activity. The specified date is for reference only, for example, for use in reports. Enter the first possible starting date of the activity. The specified date is for reference only, for example, for use in reports.

When the Calculate Dates on Budget Sum Lines Only When All Sublevels Have a Date system parameter is enabled, the first possible starting date is displayed only when all the sublevel lines have a date.

Last Possible Ending Date Enter the last possible ending date of the activity. The specified date is for reference only, for example, for use in reports.

When the Calculate Dates on Budget Sum Lines Only When All Sublevels Have a Date system parameter is enabled, the last possible ending date is displayed only when all the sublevel lines have a date.

Baseline Budget Quantity This field shows the quantity in baseline budget.
Latest Estimate Date (Task Progress) This field shows the latest date of task progress evaluation.
Completed (Task Progress) This field shows how many budgeted hours have been completed.
Estimated Time to Completion (Task Progress) This field is applicable for time activities and amount activities for progress by quantity only when the unit of measure is Hours.

This field shows the number of hours/quantity or the expected costs required to complete the planning budget line as of the date specified in the “Date” field. The field thus shows the suggested estimate to completion, but you can change the value if you want to modify the suggested estimate.

ETC Deviation (Task Progress) This field is applicable for time activities and amount activities for progress by quantity only when the unit of measure is Hours.

This field shows the deviation of the “Total” field compared to the same field of the previous row. If no previous row exists, this field will have the value “0.” In other words, this field shows the difference between the current and the previous job progress evaluation with respect to the total number of hours or costs as planned in the planning budget.

Total (Task Progress) This field shows the sum of used and estimate to completion quantity, also for amount activities marked for progress by quantity.

This field shows the new estimated total as of the estimate date. This field equals the sum of the values of the “Actual” and “Estimate to Completion” fields. The field corresponds to the total estimate of the “Quantity” field in the Job Budgets window.

Completed, Updated (Task Progress) In this field, you can enter the updated date the activity is completed.
Total, Updated (Task Progress) This field is applicable for time activities and amount activities for progress by quantity only when the unit of measure is Hours.

This field shows the resulting total number of hours/quantity or costs estimated for the job. The number is calculated as the sum of the “Actual” and “Estimate to Compl.” fields, and the sum total corresponds to the value of the “Quantity” field (if you are currently showing Hours) or the “Total Cost, Base” field (if you are currently showing Cost Price) in the Job Budgets window.

Line Path This field shows the line path. For top level budget lines this is the line number. For indented lines it shows the parent line number “dot” sub line number. For example, the line path of subline 1 of parent line 2 would be “2.1.”
Line No. This field shows the budget line number. Note this may not be unique. For indented lines numbering restarts so several indented lines may have, for example, line number 1.
Instance Key This field shows the instance key of the budget line.
Parent Job Budget Line For indented budget lines this field shows the instance key of the parent budget line. For a top level budget line it is blank.
Approved as Instance Key This field shows the instance key of the budget line in the latest approved revision.
First Instance Key This field shows the instance key of the first revision of this budget line.
Job Budget Line Reference If job budget merging functionality is used this field may hold a reference to the first instance key of another budget type.