Project Command Center window (Project Info tab)

Use the Project Info tab of this window to:

This tab also appears on the Project Templates window .


The Project Info tab consists of these subtabs:

General subtab

Business Development subtab (unavailable in ajeraCore)

Billing subtab

Invoice subtab

Contacts subtab

Beginning Balances subtab

Permissions subtab (unavailable in ajeraCore)

Attachments subtab

Notes subtab

You can also add additional columns to the right of the project tree.


Project Info tab > General subtab

Field Description

Description

Required. The name for the project or phase. It appears on invoices. Be sure not to use any slashes / \ in the name.

ID

The identifier for the project or phase. It can appear in reports and selection lists.

Note: You choose to print the ID by selecting the Setup > > General > Invoice Formats > General tab > Print Project ID check box.

Company

Multi-company only.

Required. The company responsible for the project

Department

Only applies if your company is defining departments in Ajera. It is the department that owns the project.

Project type

The project type, which is used to sort and group information on reports. For example, your company may group governmental and private sector projects separately for companywide reporting.

Project manager

The manager of the project or phase

Principal in charge

The principal responsible for the project or phase

Marketing contact

Your company's marketing representative for the project or phase

Marketing phase

unavailable in ajeraCore

Appears when you click a production phaseClosed Term used to differentiate a billable work-related phase from a phase that represents business development effort.in the project tree.

It links the production phase to the Business Development phase to track your BD efforts through reports and inquiries.

Location

The location of the project or phase

Payroll wage rate table

Appears only if you selected to use wage rate tables on the > Setup > Company > Preferences > Payroll tab

The wage rate table to use for employees whose rate of pay is based on the work they are performing (their employee type). Ajera uses the wage rate table to retrieve pay rates when you enter time or add resources to budgets. 

Project requires certified PR report

unavailable in ajeraCore unless you have the Payroll add-on

Appears only if you selected to use certified payroll on the > Setup >Company > Preferences > Payroll tab

Certified payroll tracks employee hours for government projects, prevailing wage projects, or any other contracts requiring certified reports. Certified payroll reporting is available only if you process payroll in-house. Ajera does not calculate the complete payroll detail if you use a payroll service (outsource payroll).

Status

The status of the project or phase, as follows:

Marketing (unavailable in ajeraCore)

You want to track BD efforts and win rates, and project your pipeline. Time and expenses can be entered to the project or phase. The client cannot be invoiced.

Preliminary

The project is not ready for billing. Time and expenses can be entered to the project but the client cannot be invoiced.

Active

The project is active. Time and expenses can be entered to the project. The client can be invoiced. Ajera enters a status of Active until you change it. 

Hold

Time and expenses cannot be entered to the project. The client cannot be invoiced.

Work hold

Time and expenses cannot be entered to the project. The client can be invoiced.

Billing Hold

Time and expenses can be entered to the project. The client cannot be invoiced.

Closed

The project is complete, but you still want to include it in reports.

Note: When you select a status of Closed for a project, all phases for the project are closed and any draft invoices are removed from the Manage Client Invoices list.

Payroll Taxes

The next two fields appear only if you selected the > Setup >Company > Preferences > Payroll tab> Allow state taxes from multiple states on one paycheck check box.

State

Enter a state if you want Ajera to withhold state tax when employees enter time to this project (or phase).

If you do not enter a state for a phase, Ajera uses the state you entered for the project if you entered one.

If you do not enter a state for the project, when you process payroll, Ajera uses the state you entered for the employee in the Setup > Employees > Payroll Taxes tab > Default Work State field.

Local tax

Enter a local payroll tax applicable for work on the project.

A tax is available only if you set it up as location-based ( > Setup > Company > Payroll Setup > Taxes >Type field with the Local option selected > Calculation Method field with the Percent of Taxable option selected, and the Taxable Type field with Location Based selected).  

Restrict time and expense entry to Resource only

If selected, employee will see this Project and all of its phases if they are a labor resource anywhere on the project.

If My Department filters are turned on and the employee's department matches a phase department, but they are not a labor resource on the project, they will not see the project on their list.

Note: If selected, it overrides My Department filters, but not My Company filters.

Project Info tab > Business Development subtab

unavailable in ajeraCore

This subtab consists of four subtabs you use to start and update a BD project.

Project Info tab > Business Development subtab > Marketing Info subtab

Field Description

Description

The name of the project

Client, Status

The name of the client who would be hiring your firm for the project

The Status field indicates if you worked with this client in the past.

Owner, Status

The name of the company paying for the project. For example, the owner may be the developer.

The Status field indicates if you worked with this owner in the past.

AE, Status

The prime or primary on the project. For example, if your company is an engineering firm, the AE of the project may be an architectural firm.

The Status field indicates if you worked with this AE firm in the past.

Project type

The type of project, such as residential or a medical facility

Priority

If tracking projects by priority, the priority of the project ranked as low, medium, or high. The priority is useful for reporting purposes or quickly sorting and grouping projects by priority.

% chance of winning

The percent probability that your firm can win the project

Scope

A description of the work you are to perform on the project

Costs:

Total project

The total cost of the project for the owner. It includes permits, fees, construction, design, furnishings, and so on.

Construction

The total construction cost of the project

Fees:

Contract

The contract amount for the project

Consultant

The amount of fees charged by subconsultants you are using on the project

Total project

The total amount of fees charged for the project, including your firm's fees and fees charged by subconsultants.

Project Info tab > Business Development subtab > Stages subtab

Note: This subtab does not appear on the Project Templates window, as stage information is best entered when working with the specific project.
Field Description

Status

The current status of the marketing stage. You can only assign one stage a status of In Progress at a time.

Stage

The stage, or particular step, in the lifecycle of the BD project

Due Date

The date when the marketing stage reaches completion

Start Date

The date when the marketing stage begins

Completion Date

The date when the marketing stage is complete

Notes

Any notes about the marketing stage

Final disposition

The reason that you won, lost, or declined a project

Awarded to

The firm that was awarded the contract for the project

These buttons appear below the table:

Field Description

Refresh

If the names of stages were changed during this session, click this button to see the new stage names.

Long Description / Short Description

If you entered a long description for stage names, click this button to see either the long description or short description in the table.

Project Info tab > Business Development subtab > Contacts tab

Field Description

Contact

Identifies a contact for the project. To enter a new contact, after clicking , click the New button. 

Notes

In the Notes field to the right of the Contact field, type any descriptive information about the contact.

Project Info tab > Business Development subtab > Notes subtab

Use this tab to enter any notes about the project.

Project Info tab > Billing subtab

The Billing subtab appears when you select the project or phase.

Field Description

Billing type

Required when setting up a project

Billing type is the way the client is billed according to the contract.

Billing types are:

Time & expense

You bill the client for actual hours worked and expenses incurred on the project. You can use this type if you bill the client with a billing rate or a markup of cost.

Ajera allows your billing to exceed the contract amount. However, it alerts you by highlighting in red the Invoice Amount field on the Client Invoice List window.

Fixed fee

You charge the client a fixed amount for the project and bill a fixed amount on each invoice.

Percent complete

You charge the client a fixed amount for the project. You bill a percent of the total amount based on the amount of the project that is complete.

Unit price

You charge the client a price per each unit completed, such as square feet.

Percent of construction cost

You charge the client for the actual or estimated cost of construction for the project.

Nonbillable

You do not charge the client for the project. Use this billing type to track project-related time and expenses that you cannot invoice to the client. You can set up a nonbillable phase so that you can enter charges against the project which contribute to the total cost but cannot be billed.

Marketing

You track the marketing cost for the project. Use this billing type to track time and expenses related to winning the project. You can enter and track time and expenses, but the client cannot be invoiced. You can change this billing type to one of the billable types after the project is won, if the contract allows you to recover any of these costs.

Overhead

You can optionally set up an overhead project to track your internal expenses. You can enter and track time and expenses, but no client is associated with the project and no invoice is produced.

Adjustment

Appears only when working with an adjustment phase

You increase or decrease an invoice amount by adding an invoice adjustment. When you add an adjustment, Ajera automatically assigns it a billing type of Adjustment, which cannot be changed.

Note: You cannot change an Overhead billing type to a billable type.

Rate table

Required when setting up a project with a billable billing type

The rate table is the pricing structure for the project or phase.

If you change the rate table for the project and want the existing WIP entries to use the new rates, you must recalculate the billing rates on the client invoices.

Require notes on timesheets

Select if notes are required on timesheets for this project.

If selected, this check box is also automatically selected for all phases in the project. You can clear the check box for individual projects or phases, if needed.

Sales Tax:

Apply sales tax

Select this check box if any of the labor or expenses for this project or phase are subject to sales tax.

Tax code

If sales tax applies to the project or phase, this field contains the tax code that applies to the project.

Tax rate

If sales tax applies to the project or phase, this field contains the sales tax rate as a percent. For example, enter 6 for 6%.

Bill as Time & Expense:

Labor, expense, consultant

These fields only appear for fee-basedClosed The project or phase is contracted to bill for the value of the work performed, not for the actual time and expenses expended. These projects or phases are identified with a billing type of Fixed Fee, Percent Complete, Unit Price, or Percent of Construction Cost. billing types.

If the fee on a contract does not include labor, expense, or consultant fees, but you want to bill them as time and expense, select these check boxes.

For example, a fixed fee on a contract includes labor and consultant fees. However, in addition to the fixed fee, you are also billing expenses as time and expense, so you select the Expense check box.

Note:

If the billing type of the phase is Percent Complete or Percent of Construction Cost, to ensure that the billed amount is reported correctly in the Fee section of the invoice, do the following:

  • If you are billing expenses and consultants in addition to the contract amount, select these check boxes.
  • If you are not billing expenses and consultants separately from the contract amount, clear these check boxes. Be sure to enter the contract amounts in > Manage > Project Command Center> Manage tab. To enter the amounts, first click the for the phase.

Is billing group

Appears only for phases.

Select this check box to designate a phase as a billing groupClosed A grouping of phases within a project used to summarize or subtotal those phases on a client invoice and on project reports. so as to group phases together on an invoice.

Summarize phases

Select this check box to summarize (subtotal) the phases of a project or billing group on an invoice.

Exclude from invoice adjustments

Labor

Expense

Consultant

Each check box appears only if you added an invoice adjustment with that activity type (labor, expense, or consultant) to the invoice group or project.

If you added any invoice adjustments based on the percent of the billed amount for an activity type (labor, expense, or consultant), and you do not want Ajera to include the amount of this phase in calculating the percent for those adjustments, select the appropriate check box.

 

Invoice adjustment options - These options appear only if you are viewing an invoice adjustment phase:

Activity type

Identifies the adjustment as a labor, expense, or consultant

 

Adjustment type

 

The way you want to adjust the invoice, either with a flat amount or percent. A percent reflects the percent of the billed amount for an activity type (Labor, Expense, or Consultant).

Amount

The amount or percent of the adjustment

If you are entering a flat amount and want to decrease the invoice amount with this adjustment, enter a negative amount.

Account

The general ledger account where you want Ajera to make entries for the adjustment

Exclude from billed for reporting

If selected, Ajera excludes the adjustment amount on project reports and inquiries.

Project Info tab > Invoice subtab

Depending on the work breakdown structure in the project tree, this subtab appears when you select the project or phase, or invoice group or billing group.

Note: To enter or change the Client through Scope fields, you must click the applicable project or invoice group on the left of the window. To enter or change the Billing Description through Consultant fields, you must click the applicable phase or billing group on the left of the window.

Invoice examples

Field Description

Client

Required when setting up a project with a billable billing type

This is the client who is invoiced for services.

Invoice format

Required when setting up a project with a billable billing type

This is a set of options that determines the look and content of the client invoice.

Billing manager

The person responsible for billing on this project

Billing contact

The contact for the client that handles billing issues on this project

If the billing contact has an address on record, that address prints on the invoice. Otherwise, the client's address prints on the invoice.

Note: On the > Setup > General > Invoice Formats > General tab, you choose if or where you want to print the billing contact's name on the invoice.

Header text

Enter text that you want to print on the invoice below the client mailing address. You can reenter header text from the > Setup > Company > Preferences window by right-clicking and selecting Refresh header text. (If you use multi-company, the header text is from the > Setup > Company > Companies window.)

If you entered header text in the > Setup > Company > Preferences > Billing tab > Invoice Header Text field, that text appears in this field and prints on client invoices for all projects, unless you change it here for this project. (If you use multi-company, the header text is on the Billing/Payroll tab of the > Setup > Company > Companies window.)

You can also change header text for a specific invoice in the > Manage > Client Invoices > Text & Amounts tab > Header field.

If you do not want the text to wrap to the second line on the invoice, press the Enter key where you want the first line to end.

Note:
  • If you enter header text that is longer than two full lines on the invoice, the fold line on the invoice becomes out of alignment for using the address window on the envelope.
  • Header text only prints on invoices if the Print project text check box is selected on the Invoice Format window.  

Footer text

Enter text that prints on only the last page of the invoice. You may choose to use it to print a holiday greeting or contract information. There is no length limit. You can reenter footer text from the > Setup > Company > Preferences window by right-clicking and selecting Refresh footer text. (If you use multi-company, the footer text is from the > Setup > Company > Companies window.)

If you entered footer text in the > Setup > Company > Preferences > Billing tab > Invoice Footer Text field, that text appears in this field and prints on client invoices for all projects, unless you change it here for this project. (If you use multi-company, the footer text is on the Billing/Payroll tab of the > Setup > Company > Companies window.)

You can also change footer text for a specific invoice in the > Manage > Client Invoices > Text & Amounts tab > Footer field.

Scope

The description of work to be performed for the project

Note: On the General tab of the Invoice Format window, you determine where to print the scope text.

Billing description

The phase name, which prints on the invoice. It automatically contains the name of the phase unless you change it.

In the Print Project box on the Invoice Summary, Fee Type, and Time & Expense tabs of the Invoice Format window, you can choose to print the billing description in bold or uppercase, and to include the phase ID.

Note: If you set up billing groups and select the Summarize phases check box on the Billing subtab, you enter this text for the billing group instead of the phase. The text prints once along with the total for the billing group.

Invoice text:

Phase

Text that prints on the invoice under the particular phase name

Note: If you set up billing groups and select the Summarize phases check box on the Billing subtab, you enter this text for the billing group instead of the phase. The text prints once along with the total for the billing group.

Labor, Expense, Consultant

Text that prints on the invoice under the labor, expenses, or consultants heading for each phase

Note: If you set up billing groups and select the Summarize phases check box on the Billing subtab, you enter this text for the billing group instead of the phase. The text prints once along with the total for the billing group.

Last invoice number

Appears when you select to automatically assign invoice numbers by project ( > Setup > Company > Preferences > Billing tab > Auto assign invoice numbers by field), and you click the project in the project tree

The number to use as the starting point for numbering invoices for the project. For example, enter 999 to start printing invoices with a number of 1000. If zero, the next invoice has a number of 1. 

Print backup attachments with invoice

Check the box to print the backup attachments associated with the invoice.

If selected, any uploaded attachments for vendor invoices, expense reports, and in-house expenses will be included when printing the invoice in Manage > Client Invoices.

Include backup attachments when emailing invoices

Check the box to include backup attachments when emailing invoices.

If selected, any uploaded attachments for vendor invoices, expense reports, and in-house expenses will be included when emailing the invoice in Manage > Client Invoices.

Project Info tab > Contacts subtab

Field Description

Contact

The contact name

Notes

In the field to the right of each contact name, type a description or any notes about the contact.

Project Info tab > Beginning Balances subtab

Field Description

Labor:

Hours

The total hours worked to-date on this phase. Used for project-to-date cost and spent hours on management reports. Included in the Hours Actual column of the Project List

Cost amount

The total cost amount for labor to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date cost on management reports. If you use DPE and overhead to mark up labor cost, enter the total of the cost, DPE, and overhead.

Spent amount

The total spent amount for labor to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date spent amount on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the spent amounts for unbilled work-in-progress (WIP) that you enter as beginning balances for unbilled WIP

If you do not have a spent amount available to enter, you can do one of the following instead:

  • Enter the billed amount, which does not reflect write-offs on project reports.  
  • Enter the cost marked up by overhead and profit percent, which does reflect write-offs on project reports.

Billed amount

The total billed amount for labor to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date billed amount on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the billed amounts of Unpaid Client Invoices you will be entering into Beginning Balances.

If this phase has a billing type of Percent Complete, Unit Price, or Percent of Construction, you must enter a billed amount for your future invoices to calculate the correct Percent Billed and Remaining amounts.

Expense:

Cost amount

The total cost amount for expenses to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date cost on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the cost amounts of open vendor invoices that you enter as beginning balances for open vendor invoices.

Spent amount

The total spent amount for expenses to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date spent amount on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the spent amounts for unbilled work-in-progress (WIP) that you enter as beginning balances for unbilled WIP.

Billed amount

The total billed amount for expenses to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date billed amount on management reports

Caution:

If this phase has a billing type of Percent Complete, Unit Price, or Percent of Construction, you must enter a billed amount here for your future invoices to calculate the correct Percent Billed and Remaining amounts.

Be sure to exclude the billed amounts of Unpaid Client Invoices you will be entering into Beginning Balances.

Consultant:

Cost amount

The total cost amount to-date for consultants for this phase. Used for project-to-date cost on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the cost amounts of open vendor invoices that you enter as beginning balances for open vendor invoices.

Spent amount

The total spent amount for consultants to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date spent amount on management reports

Caution:

Be sure to exclude the spent amounts for unbilled work-in-progress (WIP) that you enter as beginning balances for unbilled WIP.

Billed amount

The total billed amount for consultants to-date for this phase. Used for project-to-date billed amount on management reports

Caution:

If this phase has a billing type of Percent Complete, Unit Price, or Percent of Construction, you must enter a billed amount here for your future invoices to calculate the correct Percent Billed and Remaining amounts.

Be sure to exclude the billed amounts of Unpaid Client Invoices you will be entering into Beginning Balances.

Unit Price:

Units

Applies only if the phase has a billing type of Unit Price. The total units billed to-date for the phase

Caution:

You must enter units here for your future invoices to calculate the correct Prior Billed and Remaining Units to Bill.

Be sure to exclude the billed units of Unpaid Client Invoices you will be entering into Beginning Balances.

Project Info tab > Permissions subtab

unavailable in ajeraCore

This subtab appears only when you select the project in the project tree.

The project security settings for your role determine if you can access projects and phases, and which columns you can view and change on the Manage tab.

Use the Permissions subtab to allow changes to this project's work breakdown structure, resources, tasks, and to allow when a budget is final.

For

Do this

Change work breakdown structure

Indicate if users of the project can change the work breakdown structure as represented in the project tree on the left of the window

If you plan to select the Never option, first enter all your phases, invoice groups, and billing groups, as explained in the remainder of these instructions. Otherwise, you will also be unable to make changes unless you first change this option, which you can do at any time.

Change resources

Indicate if users of the project can change the project's resources

If you plan to select the Never option, first enter all your phases, invoice groups, and billing groups. You then enter resources on the Manage tab when budgeting the project.

Change tasks

Indicate if users of the project can change the project's tasks

If you plan to select the Never option, first enter all your phases, resources, invoice groups, and billing groups, as explained in the remainder of these instructions. You then enter tasks on the Manage tab when budgeting the project.

Budget is final

When the Final budget check box is selected on the Manage tab, you can no longer change amounts in the budget. You can only undo the finalizing of a budget by clearing this field.

Project Info tab > Attachments subtab

This tab contains any attachments about the project.

You can add attachments, by linking to related files. A linked file must be in a shared location for other people to open it (for example, on a shared network or a website).

Project Info tab > Notes subtab

This tab contains any notes about the project.

Project Info tab > Additional columns

On the Project Info tab, you can display additional columns to the right of the project tree by using (Customize).

Column Description

Phase ID

The identifier for the phase

Phase status

The status of the project or phase

Company

Multi-company only.

Required - The company responsible for the project

Department

unavailable in ajeraCore unless you have the Departments add-on

Only applies if your company is defining departments in Ajera. It is the department that owns the project.

Project type

The project type, which is used to sort and group information on reports. For example, your company may group governmental and private sector projects separately for companywide reporting.

Project manager

The manager of the project or phase

Billing type

The way the client is billed according to the contract

Rate table

The pricing structure for the project or phase

Is billing group

If selected, it indicates that the phase is a billing groupClosed A grouping of phases within a project used to summarize or subtotal those phases on a client invoice and on project reports.

Summarize phases

If selected, it indicates that you are summarizing the phases of a project or billing group on an invoice.

Notes

Any notes about the phase