Walkthrough: Calculating Work in Process for a Job

Note

This walkthrough requires sample data that is not available in the default demonstration company in Business Central. For more information, see To create a company with complete sample data in a sandbox.

With jobs, you can schedule the usage of your company's resources and keep track of the various costs associated with the usage of resources on a specific project. Jobs involve the consumption of employee hours, machine hours, inventory items, and other types of usage that have to be tracked as a job progresses. If a job runs over a long period, you may want to transfer these costs to a Work in Process (WIP) account on the balance sheet while the job is being completed. You can then recognize the costs and sales in your income statement accounts when it is appropriate.

About This Walkthrough

This walkthrough illustrates the following tasks:

  • Calculating WIP.
  • Selecting a WIP calculation method.
  • Excluding part of a job from the WIP.
  • Posting the WIP to the general ledger.
  • Reversing a WIP posting.

Each step of the process calculates the value and moves the job transactions to the general ledger. The calculation and posting steps are separated to help you review your data and to make modifications before posting to the general ledger. Therefore, you should make sure that all information is correct after you run the calculation batch jobs and before you run the posting batch jobs.

Roles

This walkthrough uses the project team member (Tricia) as the persona.

Prerequisites

Before you can perform the tasks in the walkthrough, the Business Central must be installed on your computer.

Story

This walkthrough focuses on CRONUS International Ltd., a design and consultancy firm that designs and fits new infrastructures, such as conference halls and offices, with furniture, accessories, and storage units. Most of the work at CRONUS is project-oriented and Tricia, a project team member, uses jobs to have an overview of each ongoing job that CRONUS has started and also the jobs that are completed. Some of the jobs can be very lengthy and can run over months. Tricia can use a WIP account to record the work in process and to track the costs throughout the job.

Calculating WIP

CRONUS has taken on a lengthy project that has now extended across reporting periods. Tricia, a project team member, calculates the work in process (WIP) to make sure that the financial statement of the company will be accurate.

During this procedure, Tricia will select a specific group of tasks that will be included in the WIP calculation. On the Job Task Lines page, she can specify these lines in the WIP-Total column.

The following table describes the three options.

Field Description
Leave blank if the job task is a part of a group of tasks.
Total Defines the range or group of tasks that are included in the WIP and recognition calculation. Within the group, any job task with Job Task Type set to Posting will be included in the WIP Total, unless its WIP-Total field is set to Excluded.
Excluded Applies only to a task with Job Task Type of Posting. The task is not included when WIP and recognition are calculated.

In the following walkthrough, Tricia applies the Cost Value method, her company standard, to calculate WIP. She specifies what part of the job will be included in the WIP calculation by assigning WIP-Total values to various job task lines.

To calculate WIP

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Jobs, and then choose the related link.

  2. In the Jobs list, select the Deerfield job, and then choose the Edit action. This will open the job card in edit mode.

    WIP can be calculated based on Cost Value, Sales Value, Cost of Sales, Percentage of Completion, or Completed Contract. In this example, CRONUS uses the Cost Value method.

  3. On the Posting FastTab, choose the WIP Method field, and then select Cost Value.

  4. Choose the Job Task Lines action and set the following values in the WIP-Total field.

    The following table describes the values.

    Job Task No. WIP-Total Field
    1130 Excluded
    1190 Total
    1210 Excluded
    1310 Excluded

  5. Choose the WIP action, and then choose the Calculate WIP action.

  6. On the Job Calculate WIP page, you can select a job that you want to calculate WIP. On the Job FastTab, select Deerfield in the No. field.

  7. In the Posting Date field, enter a date that is later than the work date.

  8. In the Document No. field, enter 1. This creates a document that you can refer to later for traceability.

  9. Choose the OK button to run the batch job. A message is displayed. Choose the OK button to continue. Close the Job Task Lines page.

    Note

    The message states that there are warnings associated with the WIP calculation. You will review the warnings in the next procedure.

  10. On the Job card, expand the WIP and Recognition FastTab to see the calculated values. You can also see the WIP Posting Date and the values that have been posted to the general ledger, if any.

Notice that the value for Recog. Costs Amount is 215.60 in the To Post column. This reflects the total costs of two of the items in the group of job tasks 1110 – 1130. The third item was set to Excluded, and therefore is not included in the WIP calculation.

To review WIP warnings

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Job WIP Cockpit, and then choose the related link.
  2. Select the Deerfield job, and then choose the Show Warnings action.
  3. On the Job WIP Warnings page, review the warning associated with the job.

After the accounting period ends, Tricia has to recalculate the WIP to include completed work to this point.

To recalculate WIP

  1. On the Job card, choose the WIP Entries action to view the WIP calculation.

    The Job WIP Entries page shows the WIP entries that were last calculated on a job, even if WIP has not yet been posted to the general ledger.

  2. You can follow the steps in the procedure that explains how to calculate WIP to recalculate WIP. Every time WIP is calculated, an entry is created on the Job WIP Entries page.

  3. Close the page.

Note

Work in Process and Recognition is only calculated. It is not posted to the general ledger. To do so, you must run Post WIP to G/L batch job after you have calculated the WIP and Recognition.

Posting WIP to General Ledger

Now that Tricia has calculated WIP for this job, she can post it to the general ledger.

To post WIP to general ledger

  1. From the Jobs list, select the Deerfield job.

  2. Choose the WIP action, and then choose the Post WIP to G/L action.

  3. On the Job Post WIP to G/L page, on the Job FastTab, select Deerfield in the No. field.

  4. On the Options FastTab, in the Reversal Document No. field, enter 1.

  5. Choose the OK button to post WIP to the general ledger.

  6. Choose the OK button to close the confirmation page.

    After you have completed the posting, you can view the posting information on the WIP G/L Entries page.

  7. In the Jobs list, select the Deerfield job, and then choose the WIP G/L Entries action.

    On the Job WIP G/L Entries page, verify that the WIP has been posted to the general ledger.

  8. Close the page.

  9. Open the Job card for the Deerfield job.

  10. On the WIP and Recognition FastTab, notice that in the Posted column, the Recog. Costs G/L Amount field is now filled in, which indicates that WIP was posted to the general ledger successfully.

  11. Choose the OK button to close the card.

Reversing a WIP Posting

Tricia determines that the job tasks that were excluded from the calculation of WIP should have been calculated in WIP. She can reverse the incorrect postings without having to post new WIP postings.

To reverse a WIP posting

  1. From the Jobs list, select the Deerfield job.

  2. Choose the WIP action, and then choose the Post WIP to G/L action.

  3. On the Job Post to WIP to G/L page, on the Job FastTab, select Deerfield in the No. field.

  4. On the Options FastTab, in the Reversal Document No. field, enter 1.

  5. In the Reversal Posting Date field, enter the original posting date. It should be the same date that you used to calculate WIP the first time.

  6. Select the Reverse Only check box. This will reverse previously posted WIP, but does post new WIP to the general ledger.

  7. Choose the OK button to run the batch job, and choose the OK button to close the confirmation page.

  8. Open the Job card for Deerfield.

  9. On the WIP and Recognition FastTab, verify that there are no posted WIP entries.

  10. Close this page.

  11. In the Jobs list, select the Deerfield job, choose the WIP action, and then choose the WIP G/L Entries action. The WIP entries have the Reversed check box selected.

  12. Close this page.

  13. Open Job Task Lines for the job, include the parts of the job that should be in the WIP calculation, and then recalculate and post the new value to the general ledger.

    Note

    Suppose Tricia calculated and posted WIP for a job with incorrect dates. Following the method that was discussed earlier, she can reverse the incorrect postings, correct the dates, and repost to the general ledger.

Next Steps

This walkthrough has taken you through the steps of calculating WIP in Business Central. In larger jobs, it may be useful to transfer the costs to a WIP account periodically while the job is being completed. This walkthrough has shown you how to exclude task lines from a calculation. It also shows you when you would have to recalculate. And finally, this walkthrough demonstrates how to post the WIP to the general ledger. An example of how to reverse a WIP posting to the general ledger is also included.

See Also

Business Process Walkthroughs
Walkthrough: Managing Projects with Jobs
Understanding WIP Methods
Monitor Progress and Performance
Working with Business Central