Use the Project - Phases/Job Codes preferences to create and modify default phases and associated job codes. This screen is divided into two panels. In the Phase panel, you can add the default project phases your firm typically uses, control whether phases should be hourly by default, and configure phases so they are automatically added to all new projects. In the Job Code panel, you can add a new root job code or add a child job code to a selected root job code. You can also define job codes as basic or additional service types and determine whether they should be automatically added to all new projects.
Phases
This section displays existing project phases.
Action
Load Default:
Choose this option to reload ArchiOffice default phases.
Add Main:
Select to insert a phase at the root level.
Sort A to Z:
Click to sort phases in ascending alphanumeric order.
Sort Z to A:
Click to sort phases in descending alphanumeric order.
Duplicate:
Click to duplicate the phases and their sub phases within a project. Only those job codes are duplicated that are part of the phase or sub phase
Sub:
Select to insert a phase as a child of a selected parent phase.
Delete
If you want to delete a phase from the defaults, select this option. This will not affect any existing projects already using this phase.
Move Up and Down:
Select one of these options to change the phase order.
If you make use of child phases, we do not recommend having more than
one level of children.
Save:
Click to save changes made to phase settings.
Phase Name:
Enter or edit the name of a selected phase. You can name them anything you want. Keep in mind your users will be selecting from available project phases when entering time and expense entries, so make sure the phase descriptions are precise allowing employees to classify their time and expenses properly.
Active:
Normally this check box is selected. Only active phases are available when users attempt to enter time entries on this project. If, for some reason, you decide the phase should be a part of all new projects, but when added should not be active at the beginning of the project, then clear this box.
Budget Hrs:
The default hours (if any) to be used for this phase. You do not need to specify anything here, as it is quite common for every project to have its own specific needs. The budget hours can be entered in the Projects-Budget screen. On creating a sub-phase, the budget hours specified in the sub-phase override the ones in the parent phase.
Add:
If you want a phase to be added automatically to all new projects created in the system, then select the check box.
Hourly:
If this phase is to be considered hourly when invoiced, regardless if the rest of the phases are fixed fee, then select this check box. If you are working with a fixed fee project, by selecting this check box, you are instructing the system to consider all time entries entered against this phase as time and material, and they will be billed as additional hourly fees on a fixed fee Invoice. It is not necessary to check this box if the projects are billed on an hourly basis.
Parent Phase:
Displays the name of the phase to which a child-phase belongs.
Phase List:
Displays a list of existing parent and child phases. Highlight a listed phase to view its associated codes in the adjacent Job Code panel.
Job Codes
This section displays existing project job codes.
Action
Load Default:
Choose this option to reload ArchiOffice default job codes.
Add Main
Select to insert a job code at the root level.
Sort A to Z:
Click to sort phases in ascending alphanumeric order.
Sort Z to A:
Click to sort phases in descending alphanumeric order.
Sub
Select to insert a job code as a child of a selected job code.
Delete
If you want to delete the job code from the defaults, then select this option. This will not affect any existing projects already using this job code.
Move Up and Down:
Select one of these options to change the job code order.
Add to all Active Projects:
Click to add the selected job code to all the active projects. If the phase associated with the selected job code is present in the project, the selected job code is then added to the project and marked checked for that phase.
Based on certain invoice formats, we do not recommend adding child job
codes. However, if you choose to make use of child job codes, we do not
recommend having more than one level of children.
Save:
Click to save changes made to job code settings.
Code Name:
Enter the name of the job code. You can name them anything you want. Keep in mind your users will be selecting from available project job codes when entering time and expenses, so make sure the job code descriptions are precise allowing employees to classify their time and expenses properly.
Active:
Select this check box to make the selected job code available for projects. When this option is cleared, the job code will not display in project job code list for new projects. Deactivating a job code does not affect existing projects.
Bill Rate:
You can specify a default bill rate for any job code. This will be used as the default, but can be changed on a project-by-project basis. This allows you to use a different rate for different services, independent of the project team member's billing rate. For example, if the project team member's billing rate is normally $125/hour, but you specify a $35/hour rate for an "Admin" job code, then the $35/hour rate would be used by any employee who records a time entry and uses the "Admin" job code. Keep in mind, not all employees see the billing rate (this is controlled by the settings a user account in the Users - Security preferences).
Add:
When this check box is selected, the selected job code will be added to all new projects so that the members of the team can choose this job code when entering time.
Basic:
Choose this option when working with fixed fee projects if you want to use the job code for time that is part of the fixed fee.
Additional:
Choose this option to have all time billed as time and materials, in addition to the fixed fee.
Typically, job codes corresponding to expenses will be set to basic, as
all expenses are billed in addition to any fixed fee.
Parent Code
Displays the name of the code to which a child-code belongs.
Code List:
Select which of the available job codes you want to associate with a selected project phase.
By default, Basic Services, Additional Services and Administration job
codes are checked for the all phases and sub phases.
Button Panel
Help:
Opens the ArchiOffice Help in the Preferences section.