Task costs, vendors and linked documents

A task's cost is made of ordinary documents you already use: expenditures, vendor job orders and the bills raised from them, and stock consumptions. The Costs & documents panel on the task lists every document linked to it and adds them up. Nothing is typed in twice: each document is created in its usual screen and linked to the task as it is saved.

The Projects module only appears when your subscription plan includes Projects.

Before you start

• The task and its project must be open (not Done, Cancelled or Completed).
• You need the usual permission for each document: recording purchases for expenditures and job orders, and so on. A button is hidden if you do not have that permission.

Steps: add an expenditure

Use this for costs paid out for the task: hired equipment, transport, permits, a supplier invoice for something used on site.

1. Open the task and, in Costs & documents, click Add expenditure.
2. The Expenditure screen opens. A banner at the top says "This document will be linked to task …". The department and note are filled in from the task.
3. Complete the expenditure as usual and click Save.
4. You return to the task. The expenditure is listed and its amount is added to Cost.

Steps: engage a vendor (subcontractor)

Use this when an outside vendor does part of the work.

1. Click Engage vendor.
2. The Job Order screen opens with the task banner, and the department and note filled in. Choose the vendor and enter the service lines.
3. Click Save. The job order is listed on the task with status Open. Its value shows as On order — money you have committed but not yet been billed for. It is not counted as cost yet.
4. When the vendor's work is done, open the job order and convert it to a bill as usual.
5. The bill then appears on the task automatically, marked (from job order). Its amount counts as Cost, and the job order's on-order amount drops to zero.
6. Pay the vendor through Pay Bills as usual. The bill's status on the task shows Unpaid, Part paid or Paid.

Steps: link a document that already exists

If a document was created without starting from the task, you can attach it afterwards.

1. Click Link existing.
2. Choose the type: Expenditure, Job order, Vendor bill, Stock consumption, Stock transfer or Invoice.
3. The list shows the 100 most recent documents of that type that are not linked to any task. Click Link on the one you want.

Rules

• One task per document. A document can belong to one task only, so its cost is never counted twice.
• Unlinking never changes the document. Click the × at the end of a row to unlink it. The document stays exactly as it was. It just stops counting towards this task.
• An invoice made with Generate invoice cannot be unlinked, because its lines are tied to the task's services.
• A bill that came from a linked job order has no ×. Unlink the job order instead.

What the columns mean

The tiles at the top of the task show the totals. Margin is billed minus cost. Stock transfers are listed but carry no cost, because the cost is counted when the stock is consumed.

The banner on linked screens

When you open Expenditure, Job Order, Stock Consumption, Stock Transfer or Invoice from a task, a blue banner names the task and project. After you save, you go straight back to the task. If the banner is red, the task cannot take new documents (for example it is done). Save is greyed out and the banner says why.

Tips

• Always start from the task when you can. It fills in the department and note and links the document in one step.
• Watch On order on big jobs. It tells you what is still coming in vendor bills before the margin is final.
• Click any document number to open it.

Common problems

• The Add expenditure or Engage vendor button is missing → the task or its project is finished, or you do not have permission to record purchases.
• The banner is red: "Task … is done. Reopen it before adding documents." → reopen the task to To do or In progress.
• "The task's project is closed. Reopen the project before adding documents." → reopen the project first.
• "This document is already linked to task …" → a document belongs to one task only. Unlink it from the other task first.
• "This document is already linked to this task." → nothing to do.
• The document I want is not in the Link existing list → only the 100 most recent unlinked documents of that type are shown, and documents already linked to a task are left out.
• "This invoice was generated from the task's services and cannot be unlinked." → that is by design. To correct it, deal with the invoice itself.
• "You need Projects permission to link documents to tasks." → ask your administrator for the Projects permission.
• "Your plan does not include Projects, so documents cannot be linked to tasks." → the subscription plan does not include Projects.
• The job order is billed but the task cost did not change → the bill must be made with the job order's convert-to-bill action. A bill entered separately is not connected to the job order; link it with Link existing → Vendor bill.