Jobs - Activity Codes and Groups

ACTIVITY CODES:

(A new wiki page is under construction, click here to see if it's available.)

Activity Codes are user defined cost codes used for recording and reporting job cost transactional data and are intended to describe the specific type of cost to facilitate effective job management and reporting.
Activity Codes are required for all the different types of cost transaction used by Workbench such as: Time, Purchases, Subcontracts, Retentions, Disbursements, Stock, Plant, Internals and Overheads.

In order to export Workbench cost data to your Accounts Payable and General Ledger systems it is necessary to assign the appropriate GL code to each Activity. The standard rules for applying GL codes are determined by the transaction type. Generally the Activity Code specifies the debit GL Account.

In summary these rules are as follows:

• Time: DR GL Account (Expense)
• Purchases (Jobs): DR GL Account (Expense)
• Purchases (Stock): DR GL Account (specified on Stock Control Job)
• Subcontracts: DR GL Account (Expense)
• Retentions: DR GL Account (Clearing)
• Disbursements: DR GL Account (Expense) CR GL Account (Expense Recovery)
• Stock Issues: DR GL Account (Expense) CR (DR GL Account specified on Stock Control Job)
• Plant: DR GL Account (Expense)
• Internals: DR GL Account (Internal Expense)
• Overheads: DR GL Account (Expense)

Type
These predetermined types are used to group like activity codes in reports and invoices.

Sub Type
All Time based Activities must be setup with a Sub Type to facilitate Employee Productivity Reporting in Timesheet Reports.

Default Work Centre
Work Centres are user defined codes used to group Activity Codes into meaningful cost management and reporting groups.

All cost transactions require a valid Activity and Work Centre. To assist with data entry default Work Centre codes must be setup but alternative codes can be selected during data entry.

SALES CODES

Similar to Activity Codes but used for Revenue transactions. For more information regarding Sales codes refer to Sales Codes in Billing

Workbench offers a number of invoicing methods including Input Based which derives invoice lines from the job cost transactions. In order to group these cost transactions into meaningful sales invoice lines, it is necessary to link each Activity to the appropriate Sales Code. (This is a permanent link that cannot be changed during the invoicing process). The Sales Codes you define will therefore be determined by the level of detail you wish to display on your sales invoices.

Internal Sales Codes
Similar to Sales Codes above but are used by the system when creating *Internal Sales*.

GST Type Code
These are optional codes that can be used to facilitate GST/VAT tax reporting.

Cost Rate/Selling Rate
Used as the cost and selling rate for Disbursement Type transactions. Other cost transaction types derive their rates as follows:

• Time: Employee Class
• Purchases: Suppliers Invoice
• Stock: Stock Master
• Plant: Plant Master

Note: Sales transactions derive their sell value firstly from the Price Code, if no Price code then the Transaction Type, if no Transaction Type then the Activity Code.

• Transaction: Type
• Time: Employee Class
• Stock: Stock Master
• Plant: Plant Master

Base/Overhead/Other Cost
For time based Activities you can set the costing rate by checking each of these options to include the corresponding value defined by the Employee Class Table. (e.g. include overhead on Chargeable Activities but exclude this on Non-Chargeable).

Markup Percent
Used to derive a Selling Price from the cost value if the Selling Rate is blank.

Unit
This is a unit of measure that can be used in reporting. (E.g. Hrs, Tonnes, Metres).

Payroll Code
An optional code used to export Timesheet transactions to your Payroll system. Enter the required Payroll code to which this Activity relates.

Dr GL Account
Specify the appropriate DR GL Account

Cr GL Account
Specify the appropriate CR GL Account for the Disbursements Expense Recovery.  The box is greyed out for all other Types.

Internal
Specify alternative GL accounts if you wish to account separately for costs generated by the Internal Sales Process. By maintaining separate Internal Sales and Cost accounts in the General Ledger you will be able to eliminate these values when producing consolidated reports.

GST Account
Can be used where separate Input Tax accounts are required for different types of expenses.

GST Rate
The Input Tax Rate that is applied to this Activity Code during Purchase Invoice entry.

REPORT CODES

These user defined codes enable Activity Codes to be grouped under various categories for reporting purposes.

ACTIVITY GROUPS

(A new wiki page is under construction, click here to see if it's available.)

Activity Groups are used to restrict the use of Activity Codes on specified jobs and to provide a filtered list of Activities on Timesheets.

Activity Groups will enable you to define different groups of activities that you wish to make available to corresponding job types. For example, you may wish to limit jobs you regard as "Chargeable" to those Activities that are of a chargeable nature and thus avoid erroneous use of "Admin" type Activities. All data entry programs validate the Activity Codes used against the Activity Group defined on the Job Masterfile.

Code
Enter a meaningful Code.

Activity Type
This can be used to filter Activity Codes when selecting Activities to add to this Group. All Activity Codes are linked to a predetermined Activity Type..
To make Activity Groups mandatory set the Job Costing Control Parameter

To facilitate use of the Personal Timesheet individual employees can be linked to a default Activity Group which will display only those Activities they use. Depending on the security setup, the employee may have the opportunity to override this and view all Activity Codes. This option is purely to aid Activity Code selection and does not override the control exercised by the Job Activity Group.

For more information on Jobs, you can refer to the Job Costing or Job Invoicing User Guides