Allocate costs

How the office puts a subcontractor's invoice line on the right job so its cost shows in that job's margin, how FSMCore does this by itself where it can, and how to mark a line as overhead.

What it is for

A subcontractor's invoice line often names a site but no job, or no site at all. Until the line is on a job, its cost is in no job margin, and the job looks better than it was.

Allocate costs is the list of those lines. For each one you say which job the cost belongs to, or that it is overhead (a cost of the business, not of one job).

The page is headed Allocate subcontractor costs. Under the heading it says: Subcontractor lines with no job yet, so their cost is in no job margin. A line with no site is normal (office work, sales, design): allocate it to a job, or mark it as overhead. Overhead is not listed here (Overhead filter). The subcontractors' invoices are not changed.

The subcontractor's invoice never changes. The job or site it was submitted against, its PDF, its number and its totals stay exactly as submitted. Your answer is kept beside the line and only the job margins move. A job margin counts a line on the job the office chose. If the office chose none, on the job named on the line. If the line names none, on the job named on the invoice.

You get to the list in three ways:

• The menu: Crew, then Allocate costs.
• The grey Allocate costs button above the crew invoices list. It reads, for example, Allocate costs (3) when 3 lines are waiting.
• The Allocate subcontractor costs link in the grey Incomplete banner of a job's Margin section. It opens the list filtered to that job's site. See Incomplete margin.

The same actions are also in the ⋮ menu of each line on the Lines tab of a crew invoice, so you can move a cost that is already on a job. See Crew invoices.

The words Crew and Subcontractor may be different in your company.

Who can use it

The list and its actions work only while the Job margins and job costs switch is on (Settings, Features). When it is off, Allocate costs and Reallocated costs leave the menu, the button above the crew invoices list goes, the allocation and overhead actions go, the notes under the lines on a crew invoice's Lines tab go, the Costs are overhead, not job cost switch leaves the person's record, and any attempt is refused. Nothing is deleted: what was allocated before is still there when the switch is turned on again. The automatic rule keeps running while the switch is off: nobody sees its result then, and the lines are already on their jobs when the switch is turned on. See Job costs and margin.

The menu badge

The grey number beside Allocate costs in the menu is the number of lines waiting for a job. Overhead lines are not counted. There is no badge when nothing is waiting.

The button above the crew invoices list shows the same number.

The automatic rule

The subcontractor does not have to pick a job. When a crew invoice is submitted, FSMCore looks at each line and puts it on a job by itself where exactly one job fits. It never guesses.

The rule runs at the moment of Submit. A line it had to leave waiting is looked at again later, see When a waiting line is looked at again.

The rule also runs while the Job margins and job costs switch is off. That is meant: the lines are on the right jobs when the switch is turned on.

The rule only looks at a line that:

• names exactly one site,
• has no job on the line and none on the invoice,
• has never been allocated or put back by a person,
• is not overhead.

For such a line it tries three steps, in this order:

1. The only job on the site. If the site has one job, the cost goes on it.
2. Deployment. If the site has several jobs, it looks at where the office deployed this person in the line's dates. If that is exactly one of the site's jobs, the cost goes on it. If the person was deployed to two or more of them, the line is left for you.
3. Working days. If no deployment was found, it compares the line's date with the working days of the site's jobs. If exactly one job has a working day on that date, or nearest to it, the cost goes on it. If two or more jobs fit equally, the line is left for you.

The line's dates are its from and to dates. A line with one date counts as that one day. A line with no date uses the invoice's date.

Left for a person, in Allocate costs:

• a line with no site,
• a line naming several sites (older invoices),
• a line whose site has no job,
• a line where two or more jobs fit.

The rule never blocks the Submit. The subcontractor sees nothing of it.

A line the rule allocated is marked as automatic. Its reason starts with Auto: and says how the job was found:

• Auto: only job on site (site) for (date)
• Auto: matched by deployment on site (site) for (dates)
• Auto: working days on site (site) for (date)

On the invoice's Lines tab the note under the line says it was allocated by the automatic rule. In Reallocated costs the By column says Automatic rule.

If the rule chose the wrong job, reallocate the line or undo it from the invoice's Lines tab. A line a person has put back is never allocated automatically again.

When a waiting line is looked at again

A line still waiting in Allocate costs is looked at again by the same rule, without anyone asking, when:

• a job is created on the line's site,
• a job is moved to the line's site (its site is changed),
• the office deploys the subcontractor of the line to a job on the line's site.

Only the waiting lines of that one site are looked at, and after a deployment only the lines of the person deployed. The rule is the same as on Submit: the cost goes on a job only when exactly one job fits, and it is never guessed. The line is then marked as automatic with an Auto: reason, like on Submit.

Never looked at again: a line a person allocated or put back, an overhead line, a line of an invoice that has its own job, and a line with no site or several sites.

Nothing else starts it. Changing a job's working days, or deleting a job, does not.

Allocate one line

1. Open Crew, then Allocate costs.
2. Open the ⋮ menu of the line and click Allocate cost to job.
3. The window Count this cost on another job opens. It says: The subcontractor's invoice is not changed: its job, PDF, number and totals stay as submitted. Only the job margins move. Then Submitted against: and the job the line was submitted on. With no job it reads Site only: and the site, and with no site either, Not allocated.
4. Pick the job in Count the cost on job.
5. Type the Reason (for the accountant).
6. Click Reallocate cost.

You see Cost reallocated, Both jobs' margins now reflect it. The line leaves the list.

On a crew invoice's Lines tab the action is called Allocate cost to job while the line is on no job, and Reallocate cost to job once it is on one. It works the same way.

Fields

Allocate several lines

1. In Allocate costs, tick the lines that belong to one job.
2. Choose Allocate to job from the bulk actions.
3. The window Allocate the selected lines to one job opens. It says: The subcontractors' invoices are not changed. Each line gets its own audit entry.
4. Pick the job in Count the cost on job. The jobs on the sites of the ticked lines come first.
5. Type the Reason (for the accountant). The same reason is stored on every line.
6. Click Allocate.

You see Costs allocated and, for example, 3 lines now count on the chosen job.

It is all or nothing. If one of the ticked lines is refused, none of them is changed and you see Not changed with the reason.

Undo a reallocation

Undo puts a cost back where the subcontractor submitted it. It is on the crew invoice, not in the Allocate costs list.

1. Open the crew invoice and go to Lines.
2. Open the ⋮ menu of the line and click Undo reallocation. It is only there on a line whose cost was moved.
3. The window Put this cost back where it was submitted? shows Back to: and the submitted job, or Site only: with the site, or Not allocated.
4. Type the Reason. It is required.
5. Click Undo reallocation.

You see Reallocation undone, The cost counts where it was submitted again. The stored reason starts with Undone: followed by what you typed.

If the line was submitted with no job, it is waiting in Allocate costs again. The automatic rule does not touch it any more.

Picking the job the line was submitted on, in Reallocate cost to job, does the same as an undo. You then see Reallocation undone, The cost counts where it was submitted again.

Overhead

Overhead is a cost of the business, not of a job: office coordination, IT, sales, design. An overhead line:

• counts in no job margin,
• is never allocated by the automatic rule,
• is not in Allocate costs and not in its badge,
• never makes a job margin Incomplete,
• asks for no RCT SIN (when RCT is switched on for your company).

A line is overhead in one of two ways.

The office marked the line. See the steps below. The line keeps the job it counted on. After Undo overhead it counts there again.

The person's costs are overhead. A person with Costs are overhead, not job cost switched on has all their crew invoice lines and all their hours left out of every job margin. An owner or admin sets it on the person's record. See People. To bring such a person's lines back into job margins, switch it off on the person. While it is on, that person's lines have no Mark as overhead and no Undo overhead in their ⋮ menu, and a bulk Mark as overhead skips them: they are overhead through the person.

Mark a line as overhead

1. In Allocate costs, or on a crew invoice's Lines tab, open the ⋮ menu of the line and click Mark as overhead.
2. The window Mark this cost as overhead? says: Overhead is business cost, not job cost: this line will count in no job margin. The subcontractor's invoice is not changed. You can undo it.
3. Type the Reason (for the accountant). It is required. The example in the field is e.g. Office coordination and IT, not work on a job.
4. Click Mark as overhead.

You see Marked as overhead, This cost is no longer in any job margin.

Mark several lines as overhead

1. Tick the lines in Allocate costs or on a crew invoice's Lines tab.
2. Choose Mark as overhead from the bulk actions.
3. The window Mark the selected lines as overhead says: They will count in no job margin. The subcontractors' invoices are not changed. Each line gets its own audit entry.
4. Type the Reason (for the accountant) and click Mark as overhead.

You see Marked as overhead and, for example, 3 lines are no longer in any job margin. The number is the lines really marked.

A ticked line that is already marked as overhead is skipped, and so is a line of a person whose costs are all overhead. A second message that stays on screen names each skipped line with its invoice number and the start of its text, for example 1 line skipped, "CI-0004, Office week 12: already overhead." The other reason reads "all costs of this person are overhead already". When every ticked line was skipped, you see only Nothing marked with the list.

Undo overhead

1. Find the line. In Allocate costs set the Overhead filter to Overhead only. It shows every overhead line, also one that had a job. Or open the crew invoice and go to Lines.
2. Open the ⋮ menu of the line and click Undo overhead. It is only there on a line the office marked, and not while the person's own costs are overhead.
3. The window Count this cost as a job cost again? says: It counts on the job it counted on before it was marked as overhead.
4. Type the Reason. It is required.
5. Click Undo overhead.

You see Overhead undone, The cost counts in the job margin again. A line that was on no job is waiting in Allocate costs again.

The list

The list opens on the lines waiting for a job: lines of crew invoices that are submitted, approved or paid, where there is no job on the line, none on the invoice, the office has not allocated the line and it is not overhead. Draft, rejected and void invoices are not in it. The newest lines are first. Overhead lines are reached with the Overhead filter.

A job's margin only counts a subcontractor's line once the invoice is approved or paid. Lines of submitted invoices are listed already, so the cost is on the right job the moment the invoice is approved.

Rows do not open anything when clicked. There is nothing to create, edit or delete here.

When nothing is waiting, the list says Every subcontractor line is allocated to a job, Nothing to do: every submitted subcontractor cost counts on a job margin.

Columns

Filters

Search

The search box looks in the Description. You do not need the exact spelling: words in any order and small typos still find the line.

Row actions

The ⋮ menu of a row holds:

Bulk actions

Tick lines to get Allocate to job and Mark as overhead. See Allocate several lines and Mark several lines as overhead.

What happens after

• The job margins change at once. See How the margin is worked out.
• When the last waiting line of a site is allocated or marked as overhead, the grey Incomplete banner leaves the margins of that site's jobs.
• Every allocation, undo and overhead change is recorded on the line: who, when and why. It shows in Reallocated costs, where the accountant can read it too. History in the line's ⋮ menu lists all of them.
• A cost moved in to a job or out of it is listed in that job's Margin section. See Moved costs.
• On the crew invoice's Lines tab a note under the line says Cost counted on: with the job, who, when and why, or the overhead note.
• No email and no notification is sent. The subcontractor is not told.

Common mistakes

When an action is refused you see Not changed with one of these messages.

• "Give a reason, for the accountant." The reason is required for every allocation, undo and overhead change.
• "This cost already counts on that job." You picked the job the cost is on now. Pick another job, or cancel.
• "Pick a job of the same company." The job does not belong to your company.
• "This line has not been reallocated." There is nothing to undo: the cost counts where it was submitted.
• "This line is already overhead." The line was marked before.
• "This line is not marked as overhead." There is nothing to undo.
• "All costs of this person are overhead already. To change that, switch off "Costs are overhead, not job cost" on the person." The line is overhead through the person, so it takes no mark and no undo. Change it on the person's record.
• "Only an owner or admin can reallocate subcontractor costs." and "Only an owner or admin can mark subcontractor costs as overhead." Ask an owner or admin.
• "Job margins are switched off for this company." Turn Job margins and job costs on in Settings, Features.
• "Only subcontractor invoice lines can be reallocated." Lines of client invoices and estimates cannot be moved this way.

Other things that go wrong:

• No Allocate costs in the menu. You are not an owner or admin, or job margins are switched off.
• A line is not in the list. It is on a job already (the automatic rule may have placed it), it is overhead, or its invoice is still a draft, or was rejected or voided.
• The job is not in the picker. Before you type, the picker shows the 200 newest jobs by start date. Type part of the job title or site name: the search looks at all jobs of your company.
• Trying to fix the job on the invoice. The invoice is the subcontractor's document and stays as submitted. Move the cost here instead.
• Marking real job work as overhead. That job's margin then looks better than it was. Overhead is for work that belongs to no job.
• Looking for Undo reallocation in this list. It is on the crew invoice's Lines tab.