How to Setup Jobs in WorkflowMax

Background 

It is important we capture the necessary information on jobs when they are set up so we can get accurate reporting on them.  Accurate reporting allows us to easily identify which jobs are at risk of going over budget, and which jobs might miss their deadlines.  By understanding which of our jobs are at risk, we can take the necessary action to minimise the extent of the write offs, and therefore improve the performance of our practice.

The most important thing to set up correctly in our jobs is our task budgets.  This allows us to track our billable values against the budgets, so when we go over budget on a task, we can see the projected write offs. 

We can enter out task budgets one of two ways:

Option One:  Add a quote to the job and ensure you are quoting each task independently.  This is done by estimated times to each task, then loading a fixed price against each task.  You do this by changing the pricing mode of the quote to ‘fixed price’, then updating the quoted amount in the boxes.  If you are not interested in tracking estimated vs actual time on each task, you can skip this set and just load the fixed price against the task.  This will be sufficient to get the reporting on projected write offs.  This option is easier for engineers, architects, consultants, etc.

Option Two: Add a budget to the job, and estimated times to each task.  You can do this by editing the job, then entering the total job budget into the budget field, then entering an estimated time into each task.  Link Reporting will apportion the budget against the estimated times in each task.  For option two to work, you need both a budget and estimated times entered.  This option is easier for accounting practices that have a high volume of similar jobs.

Note:  Option one takes precedence over option two.  If you have a quote loaded, this will populate the budget value in Link Reporting.  If no quote is loaded, the logic in option two will be used.

Steps to set up a job using Option One:

• Create a new job.
• Navigate to the financial tab on the job and create a new quote.
• Hit ‘Options’, then ‘Apply additional templates’.
• Select the relevant job template from the list that will populate the tasks on the job.
• Change the pricing mode of the quote to ‘Fixed Price’.
• Update each task estimated time to the appropriate value (this is optional!).
• Enter the budget of each task in the boxes adjacent to the tasks in the list.
• Issue and accept the quote.
• Your job is now set up and ready to be worked on. 

Steps to set up a job using Option Two:

• Create a new job, or click into the job you are about to start work on.
• Edit the job.
• Add the job budget to the budget field. This should be the total amount you plan to invoice for this job.
• Hit save.
• Check all tasks have the appropriate estimated times against them. If they do not, edit them and enter the estimated times.
• Your job is now set up and ready to be worked on.

Working on the job

As the job is worked on, timesheets and disbursements should be captured against the job as they arise.  Once a task on the job has been completed, the task should be marked as complete by checking the box next to the task on the job information screen.  This locks the tasks so no more timesheets can be added to it, and allocates the task a completed date.  If the task is completed under budget, it will display as a projected write up in the Open Job report.

How to close a job when it is finished

1. Ensure all tasks are marked as completed (and therefore all timesheets are entered).
2. Ensure all costs are marked as actual costs.
3. Ensure all invoices have been sent/captured on the job.
4. WIP washup has been done by hitting ‘Remove from Invoice List’ in the financial tab of the job.
5. Change the job state to ‘Completed’.

Need help setting up, fixing up, or getting up to speed on WorkflowMax?

We can help at www.linkacademy.com