In our previous posts, I described creating and configuring new projects and resources and items for job consumption. Now we have confirmed contract for our building and we are create new job for it, job named ‘CONSTRUCT’ with description ‘Building of Wall’. We divide this job on two parts: Material transport and Operational build of wall. According this, we created Job Task Lines for it. Now, we have to prepare plan for job execution.
In NAV, it we call Job Planning Line. We can refine each task that we have created for a job into planning lines. A planning line can be used to capture any information that we want to track for our job. We can use planning lines to add information such as what resources are required or to capture what items are needed to fulfill our construction job.
For each planning line we must define a line type. This type can be Schedule, Contract, or both. All of you who works with Jobs in earlier version knows what it is, but for new people, this can be little confused. This is explanation of these types:
- Schedule: Provides estimated usage and costs for the job, typically in a time and materials type contract. Planning lines of this type cannot be invoiced.
- Contract: Provides estimated invoicing to the customer, typically in a fixed price contract.
- Both Schedule and Contract: Provides scheduled usage equal to what you want to invoice.
In addition, we can specify an account Type and fill in information such as quantity. As we add information, cost information is automatically filled in. For example, when we enter a new line, the cost, price, and discount for resources and items are initially based on the information that is defined on the resource and item cards (or specific resource/item price for job if we configure that).
We can create Job Planning Line form Job card. On the Home tab, we need to choose ‘Job Task Lines’ command. We need to select a job task for which the Job Task Type is Posting, in our case these are TRANSPORT or/and BUILDING tasks. On the Home tab, we must choose ‘Job Planning Lines’ and we can start to input planning lines. I choose BUILDING task, use Schedule type for all lines and put the next lines:
- For job preparation, I configure 12h of Preparation Labor Work resource on 08.12.2014
- We plan to consumption 2500 pcs of Bricks and 3.62 cubes of Concrete on 09.12.2014.
- Also, we need some labor for consumption of these items, and I planned 24h (common work of more people) of Build Labor Work resources on the same date.
This is our little plan. Also, we need to configure plan for TRANSPORT task on the same way. When we have created plan, we can start with work.
If we are the project manager for more projects and need to see all planning lines for all jobs at the same time, on the Actions tab, in the Page group, we need to choose ‘Clear Filter’. Then, to see the planning lines for just one or for few jobs, specify the job number filter in the ‘Type to Filter’ box on the filter pane.
If we need to edit some planning lines, we have to choose ‘Job Planning Lines’ and select the value that we want to update, make our modification, and then choose the OK button.
We have some fine functionalities as:
- Job Split Planning Line Batch Job. This command splits planning lines of type ‘Both Schedule and Contract’ into two separate planning lines: ‘Schedule’ and ‘Contract’.
- Change Job Dates Batch Job. This command moves planning lines on a job from one date interval to another. This is useful if we have copied planning lines from another job (I will write about this in some next posts) and now want to rearrange the dates, by moving them all to another date.
A jobs planning line can be system-created if you have set up Microsoft Dynamics NAV to create a line when a job ledger entry is created. If this is the case, when you try to modify the planning line, you receive a message asking if you want to continue. Choose the Yes button to save your modifications and continue.