Activate Defaults

Use the Activate Defaults page to specify the industry and country in which your enterprise operates and define your coding system for projects.

During the Activation process, you can identify up to three levels of project numbering, although many firms use only one (for example, project) or two (for example, project and phase). For example, you might say that you identify each of your projects using a seven-character code such as 45622.01, in which the first five characters are the main project and the final two represent additional work. The two parts are separated by a period, called a delimiter.

If you already have a project numbering structure, you should probably continue using it. If you are considering a change, consult with your project management and finance teams to be sure that any changes that you make address their needs.

The project number is just one element of the work breakdown structure that your enterprise could use. To learn more about the overall work breakdown structure, see the Work Breakdown Structure Overview help topic.

To activate your defaults:

1. On the Activation menu, click Activate Defaults.
2. On the Industry Defaults tab, in the Industry field, select the industry that best matches the work that your enterprise performs, and select your country in the Country field.

   Based on the industry that you specify, some settings and terminology in DPS automatically change to reflect common industry practices. For example, if you choose Architecture and Engineering Services, DPS uses a chart of accounts that is common to the A/E industry and uses terms such as "project," "project manager," and "client" throughout the user interface.

   These settings and terminology are just a starting point. After you complete the Activation process, you can review these default settings and terms and further tailor DPS to your needs. For example, you can use the Label and Lists page in Setup to change the names of specific fields or change the items that are available in drop-down lists. Or you can use the Time page in Setup to modify the default settings for employee timesheets.

3. Click Use Industry Defaults. The WBS (work breakdown structure) tab displays. This is where you specify the structure of your project numbers.
4. Click the WBS Structure tab.
5. Set up the work breakdown structure for the way your enterprise manages projects. If you are using QuickBooks integration with DPS, you can set up work breakdown levels in DPS, but any project data from DPS that is passed to QuickBooks is passed at work breakdown level 1 (project) and not lower levels.
6. Click Done Activating Defaults.