Project Management¶

We have introduced a new level in the system called ‘Project Management’.
This will be used by companies that do mainly contract work.
At the moment we handle this by using the ‘Contract Id’ in the quotation record.
The project management record can be created before any quotations are done.
The ‘project’ will be a building or an address but will be given a name.
This can be activated by a parameter called ‘Use Project Management’, which defaults to false:
If true, then a new button on the quotation enquiry form called ‘Projects’ will appear.

It is possible to add project management records, and then tie quotations to them, either by existing contract id (or job reference) or by entering a quotation that will look up the project table (if ‘Use Project Management’ is switched on).
There are also new tables (in ‘System Tables’) for ‘Architect’, ‘Market Sector’, ‘Tender Type’ and ‘Contract Type’.
Typically what will happen is that a project record will be entered before a quotation is entered.
Let’s take the following example: a project record is created called ‘Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital’.
This is created because a contract customer has asked for a quotation for this project (job – same thing).
The operator will then add a quotation to the system and tie it to the project.
Another customer may then want to a quotation for the same project, so the quotation will be copied and the customer changed.
In both cases, the quotations need to be tied to the project.

This can be done with a lookup for the project table in the quotation entry.
There is also a column choice for ‘Project’ in the quotation enquiry’ form.

Extra fields have been added to the Projects form.

1. All fields are text except for ‘Agreed By’ which will look up the operator.
2. There is a new system table for ‘Lost Reason’. For ‘Project amendments, revisions, updates etc’ there is now a separate table as there could be multiple amendments.

There is now a field for ‘Specified Supplier’ instead of the hardcoded ‘Silent Gliss’.
It has been removed and the ‘Specified Supplier’ put above ‘Specified Products’.
The ‘Specified Supplier’ looks up the supplier company name.

It is now possible to see the list of quotations that are attached to projects.
The customer is no longer mandatory.
The field placings have been altered on this form.

When lost, there is now another field to expand on reason (text). It is called ‘Lost Description’.

Order Book

An ‘Order Book’ spreadsheet can now be produced, but will only be available if ‘Use Project Management’ is switched on.
It is now also possible to hold future estimated payment amounts against project records. Therefore there is a new tab in the Projects form called ‘Order Book Values’.
It is possible to enter records in here that contain ‘Payment Date’ and ‘Value’. These records will then be used to generate the monthly amounts that get exported in the spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet, which can be generated in the ‘Projects’ form using the ‘Export Order Book’ button, contains the following columns:

J/N - Project number
Surv - surveyor held against order appointment
Client - customer held against order
Project - project description
Future Months 1-7 - sum of order values by future month per column
Number of Blinds by Blind Identifier – sum of blinds by blind identifier per column

Import Projects and Quotations

It is now possible to import projects and order enquiry headers into Blindata in Administration > Import From Excel.

Projects

1. Successful S/C (Sub Contractor) – this is a lookup field, which looks up a new system table called Sub Contractor.
2. Specified Products – a new lookup field has been inserted above ‘Specified Products’. A new system table called ‘Manufacturer’ can now be looked up for this.
3. Tender Type and Contract Type are no longer mandatory.
4. There is an ‘Add’ button beside the ‘Architect’ lookup so architects can be added without leaving the Projects form.

There is a new button in the Projects form for printing ‘Survey Request Sheet’.

Projects > File Attachments

It is now possible to create file attachments for projects in the same way as they are done for orders/quotes.
Projects > Survey Request Sheet

Everything except ‘Surveyors Report’ can now be printed from project record

Quotations > Projects

There is a context menu on the ‘Projects’ form.
There are column choice options – added fields for ‘Survey Required Date’ and ‘Completed Date’, ‘Taken By’, ‘Forward To’.
It is also possible to do a ‘Copy To Clipboard’, ‘Save Configuration’, and ‘Default Configuration’.

Quotations > Projects

When a survey is completed, the ‘Completed Date’ is filled in – it now also updates the ‘Survey Completed Date’ and changes the related quotations to ‘Survey Completed’.

There is a new system table called ‘Build Type’. It has two fields, id and Description.
There is a new field in the Projects form called ‘Build Type’ which looks up the Build Type system table.
This field displays below ‘Contract Type’ on the Projects form.

System Reports > Projects Lost Report

There is a report in Reports > System Reports called ‘Projects Lost Report’, with filters for sales area, negotiator (rep) and date range.
The following information appears on the report.

Project No.
Quotation No.
Project Name
Lost Date
Sales Area
On Forecast
Unconverted successful contractor
Quote Value (Net not gross)
Negotiator
Lost Reason
Successful Subcontractor
Lost description
Project Value

Quotations > Projects > Outstanding Sales Survey Requests
There is a new report called ‘Outstanding Sales Survey Requests’. It is in A4 Portrait and has columns for Project No, Project Name, Customer Company Name, Request Date, Passed To.
The report show records which do not have the ‘Completed Date’ filled, but do have a ‘Request Date’.
This report can be accessed from a button on the ‘Projects’ form.

Project Management Report
There is a new report in Reports > System Reports called ‘Project Management Report’. This shows the following fields:

Project – this is the project and the orders are grouped by project.
Quantity – the number of blinds
Shade Type – this is the blind type description and records are grouped within the project.
To Production – this is the order status – these records are grouped by blind status.
Install Target – this field was not available, so we have created a new field in the Totals tab of the order called ‘Install Target Date’. It appears below the ‘Projects’ lookup and only appear if ‘Project Management’ is switched on in Parameters > Quotation Parameters.

As well as printing this report, it is possible to save it as a spreadsheet – which can be done in ‘Save’ (diskette item).
The report shows all live projects ie where there are orders that have status before ‘Invoice Posted’ and there is a project tied to the order.

Quotations > Projects
There is a + so all orders relating to project can be shown.
There is a ‘Contact Management’ button in the Projects form.

Projects > Attachments
It is possible to add an attachment to a Project. It is also possible to display a ‘Project attachment’ button on the ‘Order Amend nquiry’ form. There is an button visibility flag for this in Adminiatration > Users.

Order Processing > Projects
There is now a new menu option called ‘Projects’ which is above ‘Bought In Order Tracking’ in the ‘Order Processing’ menu.
This displays the form that is currently displayed in the Quotations > Projects button. A column has been added for ‘Rep’.
When a project is added or amended, there is a field for ‘Rep’ which will look up the Fitters table (as usual).
When you click on the + sign, currently it shows orders related to the project.
When the orders are shown, columns for Order No, Date Entered, Invoice No, Invoice Date, Sidemark (Cust Ref), Status, Net Total are now displayed.
It is possible to edit the order from this form (if the user has permission).
The form now shows the Actual Total, not the Net Total. There is also a grand total for the Actual Total column for the project.

Projects

If an order is assigned to a project, when a file attachment is added to an order, it is added in the ‘File Attachments’ for the project in Projects and also in Order Amend Enquiry > Project Attachments.
If a file attachment has been added to an order, and after that, a project is assigned to that order, the file attachments are also visible in Projects > File Attachments and also in Order Amend Enquiry > Project Attachments.
The same principle applies to quotation file attachments.
Also if a file attachment is being added in Projects, and there is at least one order related to the project, a window appears asking ‘Do you also want to attach this to an order?’ and displays a choice of related orders.