Activities Tab
This section includes the fields and descriptions for the Activities tab.
Activity Island
| Field | Description | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Activity No. | In this field, you enter the number of the new activity.
When you design your activity chart, it is important to systematically number activities and use the same number of characters for all activities. Please note that Maconomy’s standard printouts only show five characters (this can be changed with Maconomy’s layout editing tools). |
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| Description | In this field, you enter the name of the activity. The text is shown with the activity number on all activity printouts and in several windows to minimize the risk of entering a wrong activity number.
The text you enter is furthermore created as an entry in the window Language Texts in the Set-Up module. It is then possible to assign a translation of the activity description to the languages used in Maconomy. This makes it possible, for example, to send an invoice to a German company with the activity descriptions in German. For more information about activity descriptions in other languages, please see the description of the window Language Texts in the Set-Up module. |
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| Activity Type | In this field, you select an activity type for the activity. There are three types to choose from: “Time,” “Amount” and “Summary.” You cannot change the selected value in this field on existing activities. Time activities are used for recording hours in time sheets, and amount activities are used for recording other costs of a job (that is, items and services not related to employee hours, such as commissioned work and internal use of materials).
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| Cost Type | In this field, you can select a cost type for the current activity.
You cannot change the cost type of existing activities. You can choose between the following values: “Turnover,” “Outlays,” or blank according to the following guidelines:
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| Allocation Group | Select an Allocation Group in this popup field. The application uses this group in the Job Invoice Allocation window to present an overview of the allocation split by allocation group. It also affects the Balance action in the Job Invoice Allocation window; see the description of the Job Invoice Allocation window for more information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Invoice | In this field, you indicate whether the current activity is normally one that is to be invoiced to the client. If you mark this field, Maconomy will automatically suggest that job entries for the activity should be invoiced. When creating an entry for the activity in question, a billing price is automatically displayed for the activity in the field “Billing Price to Inv.” in the window Invoice Selection and in the fields “Billing Price, Curr.” and “Billing Price, Base” the window Job Budgets. The amount in the field “Billing Price to Inv.” can be changed on the invoice and on the job budget.
If you do not mark this field, Maconomy will not suggest a price in the field “Billing Price to Inv.” in the window Invoice Selection or in the fields “Billing Price, Curr.” and “Billing Price, Base” in the External Invoice window Job Budgets. It will then not be possible to enter a billing price for these activities. This field must be marked in order for entries to the given activity to be capitalized. This is true even if the job is be assigned to a job group that is to be capitalized. This is because noninvoiceable entries are treated as closed job entries and will only be recorded as costs. They will not be available for further processing. To use this functionality, you will have to set up the list of groups in Popup Fields, set up the allocation group on all relevant activities, and set the ‘Detailed Job Invoice Allocation’ job parameter to Yes. The parameter is of type “On Account Reconciliation.” |
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| External Invoice | This field is used to specify how entries registered for the activity are to be posted in a general journal. The field can only be marked for amount activities, and only if the field “Invoice” above has also been marked. Upon posting of an entry to an activity with a mark in this field, Maconomy will create a closed job entry with a cost of zero, specifying the amount as billing price (a credit results in a positive billing price). In addition, the amount is posted to the account specified as the Sales account by means of a dimension combination in the table part of this window.
This field can be used to record job income that is to be treated as an increase in the job’s billing price. For example, this function can be used by advertising agencies who wish to express a media commission as an increase in the job’s billing price rather than a reduction in the job’s cost. |
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| Employee Utilization | Here you may indicate the employee utilization type. Select from pop-up type “Employee Utilization” as defined in the Popup Types window. |
Company Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Company | In this field, you can specify the number of the company to be used as executing company. If a company in Maconomy owns, for example, a copier, this copier can be created as an amount activity with the company in question registered as owner in this field. When the activity is used on a job, Maconomy will create intercompany entries between the job’s company and the company in this field (the executing company) when posting, if the two companies are different. However, if the system parameter “Create intercompany entries for companies with same parent company” is not marked, intercompany entries are only created if the two companies involved are not both assigned to the same parent company. If you do not specify a company in this field, Maconomy will use the employee’s company as executing company when registering. If no employee is specified, the job’s company will be used.
If you change the company number in this field, or you enter a company number in the empty field, the value in the field “Base Currency” may be changed. This happens if another base currency has been selected in the window Company Information for the company in question. If this is the case, please note that the values in the price fields in the island Price are not changed, but are now shown in the new base currency. It is therefore recommended to adjust the price fields right away if the selected company has a different base currency. This field also shows the name of the specified company. |
| Base Currency | This field displays the currency used as base currency in the company specified in the field “Company No.” above. See the field “Base Currency” in the window Company Information in the G/L module for a detailed description of the concepts of company base currency and enterprise currency. |
Dimension Combination Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Dimension Combination | In this field, you can enter the number of a dimension combination of the type “Dimension Derivation” created in the window Dimension Combinations.
If you specify a dimension combination, Maconomy will use the values in this dimension combination when deriving dimensions from the current activity. However, any dimension derivation values specified in this island will be used instead of those specified for the same dimensions in the dimension combination. This means that the dimension combination only applies to the dimensions for which no value has been entered on the activity. |
Derived Dimensions Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Location | In this field, you can enter a value for the dimension Location if you want a value to be derived from the current activity. If you also want the specified value to overwrite existing values for the dimension, complete the field “Overwrite.” If you do not choose overwriting, the dimension value will only be derived if the dimension field for which derivation is taking place has neither been completed manually nor by entering a registration code.
Even if you have specified a dimension combination in the field “Dim. Comb. No.” above, a value entered in this field will be used rather than the value (if any) found for this dimension in the dimension combination in question. This means that the dimension combination only applies to this dimension if you have not entered a value in this field. Please note that if a dimension combination has been specified in the field “Dim. Comb. No.,” a mark in the field “Overwrite” will only have effect if you have also entered a dimension value. If you mark the field “Overwrite” but you do not enter a dimension value in this field, the “Overwrite” field is ignored, as dimension values and overwriting specification are always retrieved together from the same dimension derivation island, dimension combination or dimension combination line. See the section on dimension derivation in the chapter “Introduction to the G/L module” as well as the description of the windows Dimension Derivation and Dimension Combinations for further information about dimension derivation. |
| Entity | The functionality of this field is similar to the functionality of the field “Location” above. |
| Project | The functionality of this field is similar to the functionality of the field “Location” above. |
| Purpose | The functionality of this field is similar to the functionality of the field “Location” above. |
| Spec. 1-3 | The functionality of these fields is similar to the functionality of the field “Location” above. |
| Local Spec. 1-3 | The functionality of these fields is similar to the functionality of the field “Location” above. |
Creation Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Create from Activity No. | You use this field to specify the activity number you wish to use as a template and copy from to create the activity. All the information from the existing activity will be copied to the new activity, except activity number, description and anything you have entered yourself.
Table lines with activity references will also be copied. |
Outlay Settlement Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Settle via Vendor | In this field, you can specify for amount activities whether the outlays made by employees on the current activity should be reimbursed via a vendor. The outlays are registered in the window Expense Sheets. In the window Employees in the Set-Up module, each employee can be assigned to a vendor, so that the A/P module can be used for handling reimbursements for the employees. In practice, this means that when an expense sheet is transferred, Maconomy creates entries on the vendor to which the employee in question is assigned, instead of on the account for outlay settlement specified by means of a dimension combination in the window Posting References in the G/L module. The vendor entries created in this process must be approved for payment before reimbursement can take place unless the system parameter “Automatically approve expense sheets for payment” has been marked, in which case the vendor entries are approved automatically. |
Sales Orders Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Create Order | If you mark this field, job budget lines created using the current activity will have a mark in the field “Create Sales Order” on the job budget line. This field can only be marked for amount activities. |
Print Control Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Statistics 1-4 | In these fields, you can enter an optional code for the activity. The statistics codes can be selected or deselected in the selection criteria for various printouts of which activities are a part. |
Access Level Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Access Level | In this field, you can enter an access level. A user only has access to the current activity if he has been assigned to this level or a level above this in the window User Access Levels. This access control ensures that when working with for instance a job entry, you can only enter an activity to which you have access, and in this window you can only see and edit the activities to which you have access. Please note that this access control model only applies if the standard access control configuration has not been changed in your Maconomy system. For further information about the standard access control configuration, please see the section “Introduction to the Access Control System” in the Set-Up module.
If you do not specify an access level, any user can register time and expenses on the activity. This field also shows a description of the access level. |
Activity Usage Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow Time Registration | Select this field to make the activity available for time registration in windows such as Time Sheets and SpeedSheet.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. You cannot allow time registration for Amount activities if the “Disallow reg. on amount act. in time sheets” field is selected in the Systems Parameter window. You cannot allow time registration for Summary activities. |
| Allow Expense Registration | Select this field to make the activity available for the registration of expenses.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. You cannot allow expense registration for Time activities. |
| Allow Mileage Registration | Select this field to make the activity available for mileage registration.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. You cannot allow mileage registration for Time activities. |
| Allow Purchasing | Select this field to make the activity available in purchasing-related windows.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. You cannot allow purchasing for Time activities. |
| Allow Invoicing on Account | Select this field to make the activity available in invoicing on account-related windows.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. |
| Allow Invoicing Plan | Select this field to make the activity available in job invoicing plans.
This field is the default value for the corresponding field on tasks if you created a task with the Overwrite Activity field selected. |
Remarks Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Remarks | In these fields you can enter any remarks concerning the current activity. The fields are for information only. |
Status Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Blocked | In this field, you specify whether or not the activity is blocked. If the field is marked, the activity is blocked and cannot be used in any other windows in the Job Cost module. |
Rates Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Time Unit | Use this field to specify the time unit for prices on time activities. |
| Cost | In this field, you enter the cost rate per piece for amount activities. This amount is suggested when you budget and when you make job entries in the window Job Journal.
If there is no amount in this field, Maconomy uses the cost of the item whose item number is entered in the “Item No.” field. If there is neither an amount here nor a number in the “Item No.” field, a zero cost value will be suggested for the amount activity. If the activity is a time activity, you cannot enter a value here, as activity costs are always based on employees. |
| Intercompany Price | In this field, you can enter an intercompany price which will be used as the cost of 1 unit of the current activity if the executing company and the company responsible for the job in question are not identical. |
| Billing Price | If the activity is a time activity, a billing rate per hour is entered here. This amount is suggested in budgeting, and is used for entries in the window Job Journal. This is the case if you have indicated in the “Hourly Rate” field in the window System Information that the hourly rate is to be based on the activity. If the hourly rate is not based on the activity, Maconomy alerts you if you enter a value here.
If you do not enter a value in this field, and if the hourly rate is based on the activity, Maconomy will look for the billing price of an item number in the “Item No.” field. If no amount is entered here, and no item number is entered in the “Item No.” field, Maconomy will suggest a zero billing price for the time activity in Job Budgets and in Job Journal entries. If this is an amount activity, enter a billing price per unit here. This will be suggested in budgeting and in recording entries in the Job Journal. As with time activities, if you leave this field blank, Maconomy will use the billing price of the item in the “Item No.” field. If no billing price is entered here, and no item number is present, Maconomy will suggest a zero billing price in Job Budgets and in Job Journal entries. For more information about price calculation, please see “Appendix A: Price Calculation in the Job Cost Module.” |
| Markup % | In this field, you enter the markup percentage of cost to be used in calculating the billing price of job costs entered in the Job Journal, the window Vendor Invoices (and allocated in the window Invoice Allocation), or the General Journal. The value entered here is used if you wish to add a profit to sale of goods and services in conjunction with jobs that do not involve direct employee hours or the inventory system.
This field only applies to amount activities. If you enter a values in the fields “Cost” and “Billing Price,” Maconomy will always calculate a markup percentage and show it in this field. |
| Standard Billing Price | In this field, you can enter a standard billing price for the current activity. A standard billing price can be used as a measuring point for performance analyses in which you compare the actual, registered billing price with the standard billing price. In this way, the standard billing price acts as a target price which should be achieved for this activity. The standard billing price is derived in the same way as the regular billing price, except for the fact that the item price list system is not used.
For more information about price calculation, please see “Appendix A: Price Calculation in the Job Cost Module.” |
| Standard Markup % | The functionality of this field is similar to that of the field “Markup %” above, except for the fact that it relates to a standard markup percentage. The standard markup percentage is used to calculate a standard billing price which is described above. |
| Item | In this field, you enter the number of an item, whose cost and billing prices will be suggested in budgeting and in entries in the window Job Journal. If the activity is a time activity, Maconomy will use only the item’s billing price (not the cost). This occurs only if you have indicated in the “Hourly Rate” field in System Information that the activity’s hourly rate be determined by the activity (rather than by employee).
This field provides the ability to establish uniform pricing of activities, in that a single item (used to determine price) can be assigned to several activities. Pricing for all these activities can then be controlled by re-pricing the given item. The billing price of the item is entered in a price list in the Inventory module. In order for Maconomy to suggest the item’s billing price as described above, you must assign the same price list to the job for which the activity is being used. When calculating the price, Maconomy includes any relevant quantity discounts, but not item or customer discount agreements. An item’s billing price is not used if you have entered a billing price in the “Billing Price” field. Likewise, its cost will not be used if a value has been entered in the “Cost” field. Maconomy verifies that the item number you enter is that of an item which is not discontinued, and that the field “Activity No.” is blank for the item in the window Item Information Card in the Inventory module. |
| Job Price Group | In this field, you enter the number of a job price group. The current activity is assigned to the specified job price group. When a reference is made to a job price group on a line in a job price list, all activities assigned to the job price group in question will determine the price on the current job price list line. For a more detailed description of job price groups, please refer to the description of the window Job Price Groups. |
| Tax Code | If you do not use tax tables (that is, the field “Use Tax Tables” is not marked in the System Information window), select in this field the tax code to be used when invoicing or crediting job entries for the activity.
You can add up to three different tax codes if necessary. To enable multiple tax codes, the system parameters “Show Three Tax Levels” and/or “Show Two Tax Levels” must be marked in the System Parameters window. When multiple tax codes are enabled, the “Tax Code” field will be replaced by the following fields: “Tax Code 1,” “Tax Code 2,” and, if enabled, “Tax Code 3.” For further information on multiple tax codes, please see the description in “Tax Codes.” If you are not applying differentiated tax rates (rates by inventory item), a blank value in this field will indicate that the job entry associated with the given activity will be posted to the account for non-taxed item sales, specified by means of a dimension combination either in this window or in the Posting References window in the G/L module (see the description of the “Department” field in the table part of this window). You should only enter a value here for activities of the Time or Amount type. If you use differentiated tax and tax tables, the tax code is found by means of a tax table. For further information on this functionality, see the description of the “Reporting Code” field. The tax codes that appear in this window are defined in the Tax Codes window in the G/L module. |
| Item Tax Code | In this field, you can select an item tax code created in the window Popup Fields. Maconomy uses the field to determine which tax code to use for calculation of tax on the current activity, as the reporting code is one of the tax code selection criteria in the window Tax Tables in the G/L module. In the selection, Maconomy uses the tax table specified in the window Company Information for the company responsible for the job. The tax code, however, is only transferred from a tax table, if the field “Use Tax Tables” has been selected in the window System Information, and only if the company responsible for job has been assigned a tax table. If no tax table has been assigned to the responsible company, or if differentiated tax has been selected but not the use of tax tables, Maconomy transfers the tax code specified for each activity in the window Activities. If neither the field “Use Tax Tables” nor the field “Differentiated Tax” has been marked, Maconomy uses the standard tax code, which is specified in the window System Information in the Set-Up module.
If you use tax tables, and the system parameter “Get on account tax code from tax table” is marked, the tax code to be transferred to on account invoices is found in a tax table. But instead of using the item tax in this field, Maconomy uses the on account tax code in the field “On Account Tax Code” in the window System Information in the Set-Up module (along with various other information) to point out the relevant tax table line. If the system parameter “Get on account tax code from tax table” is not marked, the standard tax code specified in the window System Information is always used as the tax code on invoices on account. For further information about the information used to point out the correct tax code, please see the description of the window Tax Tables in the G/L module. The reporting code is used in connection with posting of job entries to determine which tax report entries to create when posting on the current job. Based on the tax report entries, it is possible to create tax reports showing tax and tax basis postings associated with a given tax report field. However, this type of reporting can only be done, if extended tax reporting has been selected in the window System Information. |
Posting Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Job Posting Reference Name | In this field, you specify a job posting reference to use for the activity (they are set up in the Job Posting References window.) |
| Description | If you enter a Job Posting Reference Name, the corresponding description will be retrieved and shown in this field. |
Registrations Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Limit, Time Sheets | In this field, you can enter the daily maximum quantity to be registered by a given employee on the activity on time sheets. This means that the combined quantity registered for this activity on time sheets and daily time sheets on a given day by a certain employee cannot exceed the quantity specified in this field. If the field is left blank, registrations on the activity in question are not limited to a certain number. |
| The value for this field is in hours or days, depending on the time unit selected in the Time Unit for Prices field. | |
| Limit, Expense Sheets | In this field, you can enter the daily maximum quantity to be registered by a given employee on the activity on expense sheets. If the field is left blank, registrations on the activity in question are not limited to a certain number. |
| Employee Required | If you mark this field, an employee number must be specified when making registrations to the amount activity displayed in the window. On time activities this field is always marked and cannot be removed. If this field is marked, an employee number must be entered in windows such as Job Journal, Job Reallocation, Invoice Selection, General Journal, Invoice Allocation, Purchase Orders, and so on, when registering amounts on the activity in question. Thus, the effect of the field applies in all those windows in which you can make registrations on activities and employees. In this connection, you should note that it is not possible to use activities requiring an employee number in windows in which no field for specifying an employee number exists, for example, the windows Sales Orders, Subscription Orders, and Credit Memos.
The field can be marked for an amount activity even though registrations without a specification of an employee number have already been made for the activity in question. The default value of this field when creating an activity is marked for time activities and unmarked for amount activities. |
| Quantity 1 from Quantity on Expense Sheet | If you mark this field, the quantity entered in the field “Quantity” on an expense sheet line is automatically transferred to the field “Quantity 1” on the same line. This is useful if you want to transfer the quantity to the General Ledger, as the number entered in the field “Quantity” is not transferred to G/L. For instance, if the current activity concerns mileage, you would often want the number of miles transferred to the General Ledger for reporting. Marking this field makes it unnecessary to repeat the entry of miles in the field “Quantity 1.” Please note that if a value has already been entered in the field “Quantity 1,” the value in the field “Quantity” is not transferred.
Marking this field for time activities would normally not be useful. |
| Quantity 2 from Quantity on Expense Sheet | The functionality of this field is similar to that of the field “Quantity 1 from Quantity on Expense Sheet,” but transfers the quantity to the field “Quantity 2” instead. |
| Expense Justification Help Text | The information in this field is available on the expense sheet line and informs the user about the type of information required to complete the Expense Justification field.
If this field is not empty the user will have to complete the Expense Justification before submitting the expense sheet. |
| Accrual Type | In this field, you can select an accrual type to automatically be suggested on entries to the current activity. The field can only be completed for amount activities. This means that each time, for example, a job entry is created for the current activity in the window Job Journal, the accrual type in this field will be suggested on the entry where it can, however, be changed.
Please note that when accrual type has been selected in this field, all entries to the activity in question must be accrued, meaning that the field “Accrual Type” cannot be blanked for entries to such an activity. This also means that activities where a value has been selected in this field cannot be used on time sheets. |
| Progress by Quantity | Select this check box to indicate if task progress for an amount activity is tracked according to quantity rather than cost price.
If this field is selected, then a job estimate to completion for an expense on this activity is based on quantity rather than cost price, and the corresponding job budget line quantity field is updated from changes to the estimate. |
Texts Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Job Budget Line Texts | In this field, you can specify the default description to be used for the activity when entered on a job budget line. The following options are available:
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| Time and Expense Sheet Lines Texts | The functionality of this field is similar to that of the field “Job Budget Line Texts.” However, this field pertains to descriptions on time and expense sheet lines instead of job budget lines. |
| AP, GL, Job Journal Line Texts | The functionality of this field is similar to that of the field “Job Budget Line Texts.” However, this field pertains to descriptions on A/P, G/L and job journal related entry lines, for instance general journal lines, invoice allocation lines, purchase order lines, request for quote lines and requisition lines. |
| On Account Invoicing Line Texts | In this field, you can specify the default description to be used for the activity when entered on invoice on account lines. The following options are available:
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Standard Job Budget Text Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | If the name of a standard job budget text is entered in this field, Maconomy will apply this standard text whenever the current activity is used in the windows Job Planning or Job Budgets. The standard text will be transferred to job budget lines to which the current activity is attached. When in use, it is possible to see and edit the text in the window Job Budget Texts. |
Standard Note Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Note | In this field, you can specify the number of a note created in the window Notes in the Set-Up module. The field is used for adding a number of extra fields in which the user can enter information about the activity on the purchase lines (lines in the table part of the windows Requisitions, Requests for Quote and Purchase Orders). This could, for example, be useful if the activity information is too generic and therefore does not provide sufficiently specific information. For instance, if the activity is for a print job, the basic information about the activity is static, but each time a printing job is ordered, you may wish to also register such information as the paper quality, binding, and so on. It is therefore useful to add a number of fields so that a user ordering a print job is allowed to enter this information. You may have many types of generic activities in your system, and most likely they do not all require the same additional information. Therefore Maconomy allows you to use this functionality to extend any activity by any number of fields.
An activity is assigned additional fields by assigning the activity to a note where the headings in the table part represent the additional fields in which the user should enter specific information about the specific activity ordered on a given purchase line. Whenever the activity is entered on a purchase line, a copy of the note specified on the activity is automatically created and assigned to the purchase line in question. However, if the system parameter “Standard note is derived from Activity before Task” is not marked, and a standard note has been specified for the task specified on the purchase line, the note assigned to the purchase line will be a copy of the one specified on the task in question. In the window Notes, the user can then enter the required information in the table part of the note assigned to the purchase line. The information entered in the note will also appear on external printouts. For a description on how to set up standard notes for activities and tasks, see the description of the system parameter “Standard note is derived from Activity before Task” in the Set-Up module. This field also shows a description of the specified note. |
Default Values Island
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| ‘Included in Fixed Price’ on Tasks | If this field is selected, tasks created with this activity will have the corresponding field selected. This field and the job parameter Fixed Price Inclusion Setup determines whether registrations on a certain task are included in fixed price.
Changing the field will not invoke any update of existing tasks. |
| ‘External Cost’ on Job Journals lines | If this field is selected, job journal lines created with this activity will have the corresponding field selected. This field determines whether registration costs are reallocated along in case the entry is reallocated later.
Changing this field will not invoke any update of existing job journal lines. |
User Island
See the chapter “Getting Started” for a description of the fields in the island User.