Project Costing

The Project Costing application helps you track income accrued and costs incurred during work on a project. Using Project Costing, you can set up projects, record time and material costs for the project’s phases and tasks, and create a billing invoice and close the project when work is complete.

Project Costing measures income in two ways: time and materials billing or job costing. The most notable difference between the two is the use of the term Work in Process, or WIP. In a time and materials billing environment, WIP represents the unbilled accrued income associated with costs incurred on a project. In a job costing environment, WIP simply represents the costs accrued to date.

While each project can measure income in only one way, Project Costing allows you to make this distinction on a project-by-project basis and can accommodate both project environments. If your company performs project work only in a job costing environment, you can elect to work only with Project Costing's job costing functions.

In addition to the two methods of tracking income, Project Costing allows you to record project phase and task information by using one of five project types. Project Costing uses a hierarchy of levels to define project structure: projects contain phases which in turn contain tasks. The project type you pick determines whether the project can use phases and tasks, accrue income, and allow billing. For more information on projects and project types, refer to your user's guide.

Project Costing works closely with the TRAVERSE Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable applications to track income and cost amounts. After you've defined your projects, use Project Costing's function to enter time costs and manage billing information, and the Accounts Payable (or Purchase Order) Transactions function to enter purchases and record material costs for project work. Project Costing tracks these entries for each project in a transaction history table that is updated each time you post information in either Project Costing, or Accounts Payable/Purchase Order.

As project work continues, use Project Costing's reports to analyze project progress and evaluate performance. When the project is complete, use Project Costing's built-in administrative functions to close projects and perform routine periodic maintenance.