17.2 .1 Field Descriptions

Job

This field is display only and displays the Job Id from the first screen. All activities entered become part of this job. The only activities that can be displayed are ones for this job.

Activity

This 15 character field can be numeric, alphabetic or a combination of both. This field, like the Type field below, is informational only. It does not have to be unique. In other words, job 1000 can have an activity 100, as can jobs 1001 and 1002, etc. The only field which must be unique is the Activity Id field.

Type

This field is a means of identifying each activity as to a specific type. Activity types might be labor, materials, subcontract, etc. The field is user defined. A particular activity can be identified with just one type. For example, an activity for a job that involves building a house is painting. The house is the job, painting is the activity. You should create an activity code for both the materials involved with painting the house and for the labor involved with painting the house.

Activity Id

The Activity Id can be automatically created by pressing the RETURN key. The format of the default Activity Id is job.activity type. For example, say you are making an entry for materials, Type = m. If the Job Id is 1001 and the Activity is 100, then the default Activity Id appears in the following format:

1001.100m

Alternately, you can use your own conventions for coding the activities. In this case, you enter the Activity Id instead of using the default.

Description

Enter the full description of the activity in this field.

Expense Account

Enter the general ledger account that will be expensed once this job is completed. During the time a job remains open, all expenses charged to the job will be accumulated and transferred to an asset account called Work in Process. The Work in Process Account number is entered when you create job master records.

If you cannot remember the general ledger expense account to enter here, a second screen is provided for searching the general ledger account master file. The screen is displayed by pressing the VALID button (<F1> then the letter V). This allows you to QUERY <F2> and FIND <F3> the desired general ledger account. After the general ledger account has been found, press <F1> then the letter E, to return to the activity screen with the general ledger account code filled in.

Budgeted Figures

These two fields are optional, but when used, you enter the number of projected units and the dollar amount of expense for each activity. The Units field could reference amounts like hours of labor, pounds of material, or days of subcontracting. Remember that these figures are for the individual activity and not the whole job.

Actual Figures

The actual accumulated costs for the activity are displayed here. No data entry is allowed in these fields. The costs are accumulated from each of the accounting modules that have used the activity number. Common sources of job costs are the Accounts Payable, Inventory Control, and Payroll modules.