Functions in Projects

Let us have a look at some of the functions that can be performed in the Projects module.

Enabling Time Tracking

Before you can start creating projects, you will have to enable the Timesheet module. Here’s how you can do it:

Go to Settings by clicking the Gear icon in the top right corner.
Select Configure Modules under Setup & Configurations in the Organization Settings.
Mark Timesheet under Project Management.
Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Creating Project

To create a new project in Zoho ERP:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Click + New.
Enter the name of the project in the Project Name field and provide a Description, if necessary.
Select the customer from the Customer Name dropdown.
Click the Search icon next to the Customer Name to search for customers based on the name, phone number, email etc.
Enable your customers to approve the time entries before you invoice them by marking the Enable Customer Approval for the time entires of this project checkbox.
Select the Billing Method for the project from the dropdown.

Billing Method

The billing methods that you can use are:

Fixed Cost for Projects

Fixed cost for projects sets a fixed rate for the project. The project will be invoiced for the amount set in this field.

Enter the Total Project Cost.
Mark Add budget for this project, if you want to add a budget.

Fields	Description
Total Project Cost	Enter the project’s total cost for which you will be billing your customer.
Users	Select a user to work on the project. You can also add an extra user by clicking + Add User.
Tasks	Enter the tasks that need to be done to complete the project. You can add more tasks by clicking + Add Task.

Tasks can also be created later for the project.

Based on Project Hours

This option will calculate the number of hours spent on a project and the customer will be invoiced accordingly.

User and Task fields are the same as the above type.
Enter the rate that will be charged for an hour of work that goes into this project in the Rate per hour field.

At the completion of the project, you can charge your customers based on the number of hours logged for the project.

Based on Task Hours

The project will be billed based on the hourly rates of the task and the customer will be billed accordingly.

User field is same as for the above sections.
Enter the Tasks and the Rate Per Hour to finish that particular task.
Marking the Billable checkbox will add this cost to the invoice and the customer will be billed for it.

At the completion of the project, you can charge your customer based on the tasks completed.

Based on Staff Hours

The project bill will be calculated based on the hourly rate of the staff and the customer will be invoiced accordingly.

User field is same as for the above sections.
Enter the User Name, Email Address and the Rate Per Hour. You can add more users by clicking the + Add User option.

Budget

Cost and Revenue budget

Cost Budget is the total amount you expect to spend on a project.
Revenue Budget is the amount you expect to receive from the client for the project.

Entering a budget will help you analyse the actual amount spent or earned from the project when compared with the estimated budget. You can also evaluate the project’s performance and progress under the Profitability Summary section of the Project Overview page.

Budget Type

If you have any budgetary constraints and would like to have a report based on the allocated cost or hour and the cost or hour actually spent, you can do it in Zoho ERP. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Click + New.
Enter all the details.
Mark Add budget for this project.
Select the type of budget you would like to track from the Budget Type dropdown.

Total Budget Cost

Enter the estimated amount you’ll be spending on this project. You can then view the estimated amount and the amount spent in the Project Summary.

Total Project Hours (HH:MM)

You can set the number of hours that can be logged for this project. You can also view the budget hours vs the logged hours in the Project Summary report. This will help you understand if the budgeted hours meet the actual hours and you can plan accordingly.

Hours Per Task

You can allocate the number hours that you want to assign for a particular task.

Hours Per Staff

You can add users and allocate the budget hours for each user.

Account Level Budgets

By creating account level budgets, you can plan the amount that you intend to spend on each area of the project. Creating a budget at the account level helps you compare the budget versus actuals for a particular account. You can choose to create an account level budget or multiple account level budgets for a project in Zoho ERP.

Scenario: Brandon is a client for whom you’re working on a web development project. He wants you to create an account level budget for this project, as he wants to know if he will exceed the amount that is allocated for this project. In this case, you can select the project and create an account level budget for the project. When transactions are recorded, the amounts are tracked under the respective expense and income accounts for the project. When the project comes to a close, you can run the Actuals versus Budget report. This report will help you know the profit or loss incurred under each account for that project.

Creating Account Level Budget

You can create an account level budget for a project you’ve created. To add an account level budget:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select an existing project or create a new project by clicking + New.
Click the Account Level Budget tab next to the Overview tab.
Click Create Budget.
Next, enter the name for the budget and select the income and expense accounts for the budget.
Click Create Budget.
Enter the budgeted amount for each account.
Scroll down and click Save.

Insight: You can create multiple account level budgets for a single project in Zoho ERP.

Pro Tip: You can clone an account level budget to create a duplicate version of the account level budget.

The budget you create will be listed in the Account Level Budgets tab when you select the relevant project.

Budget versus Actuals Report

This report helps you see the difference between the budget and the actuals for each account based on the transactions that were recorded for the project. To view the report:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you want to view the report.
Click the Account Level Budget tab next to the Overview tab.
Hover over the account level budget and and click View Budget Vs Actuals.

You will be navigated to the report. You can use the customization options to customize the report and view it.

Tasks

A project can comprise of a single or multiple tasks that need to be completed. You need a task associated to the project before you log time. To add a task:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project that you created.
Click More and select Add Task from the dropdown.
Enter the Task Name and Description.
Mark Billable, if you want to charge your customer for the task.
Click Save.

Importing Projects

If you already have a list of projects and tasks in your existing accounting system, you can import them into Zoho ERP in the CSV, TSV or XLS format.

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Click the More icon in the top right corner and select Import Projects from the dropdown.
In the Import page, click Choose file and select the file you want to import.

Notes:

You can only import files in CSV, TSV, and XLS formats.
The file size must not exceed 25 MB.

Pro Tip: You can download and use the sample file as a reference for the format, and if needed, fill in the data you want to import.

After you select the file, under the Configure tab, fill in the following fields:
- Character Encoding: The default is UTF-8 (Unicode). Ensure you select the correct encoding based on your file.
- Auto-Generate Quote Numbers: Mark this to automatically generate project numbers for the imported projects.

Insight: If your file is in a different format, use an online or offline converter to convert it to a supported format (CSV, TSV, or XLSX).

Click Next.
In the Map Fields tab:
- Default Data Format: The default Date format will be Select format at field level, and the Decimal format will be 1234567.89. Click Edit to customize the format if needed.
- Map the fields based on your preference. Click Save these selections for use during future imports to reuse the mapped fields for future imports.
Click Next.
Then, in the Preview page, review the fields you mapped, and click Import.

Now, the file containing the projects will be imported into Zoho ERP.

Similarly you can import tasks. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Click the More icon in the top right corner and select Import Project Tasks from the dropdown.

Insight: Zoho ERP will auto-match the file headers of the imported file to the closest matching field in Zoho ERP. You can manually edit each field to match the headers, and save these preferences. On proceeding, Zoho ERP shows you any unmapped field you may have left out or could not match. You can map these by adding new fields with matching headers.

Logging Time

Once you create a task for a project, you can log time for the time spent on each task. You can log time in two ways:

Recording Manually

You can enter the time you’ve spent on a project manually. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you want to log time.
Click Log Time at the top.
Enter the Date, select the Project and the Task you’re associating it with.
Enter the Time Spent or choose the start and end time by clicking Set start and end time instead.
Mark Billable if you do not wish to bill the task.
Select the User.

Insight: The option to select users will be available only for Admins.

Click Save.

Starting Timer

You can log time for a particular project using the timer. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Click Start in the top right of the page or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/cmd + t.
Enter the Note and click Start Timer.
The timer will run on the left sidebar and you can choose to Stop, Pause or Discard the entry.

Once you stop the timer, you can enter the project details in the following popup.

Tracking Project Cost and Revenue

When accounting for a project based company, you might want to track the project’s cost and revenue, and also summarize it accordingly.

In Zoho ERP, this process can be done by associating projects with transactions. Once the projects are associated with transactions, you can view the summary of the project’s profitability from the Reports module.

Creating and Sending Project Quotes

Before you begin working on the project, you can send a quote of the project and the prices to your customers. They can either accept, reject, or comment on the quote. After a quote is confirmed, it can be converted into an invoice.

To create a quote for a project:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you want to create a quote.
Click New Transaction from the top right corner of the page.
Select Create Quote.
Enter all the required details.
Click Save.

You can also create a quote from the Quotes module and associate a project to it. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Quotes module at the top.
Click + New in the top right corner of the page.
Enter the customer details, item details, and other required fields.
Click the Project Name dropdown and select the project with which you want to associate the quote.

The total expense will be created and the projects details will be available in the timesheets module.

Invoicing Customers for Projects

You can create an Invoice and send it to your customers for partial or full completion of a project.

Insight: You can associate multiple project to an invoice.

You can create an invoice for a project from the Project details page. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you want to raise an invoice.
Click New Transaction from the top right corner of the page.
Click Create Invoice.
In the Bill up to field, enter the date up to which you wish to bill your customer.
Select the method in which you like the data on invoice to be sorted from How to sort data on invoice dropdown.
Click Add.
Make the necessary changes to your invoice.
Click Save and Send.

Billing Method	Available Options
Fixed Cost for Projects	Only Single line for the project option will be shown.
Based on Task Hours	The option Group by users will not be shown.
Based on Staff Hours	The option Group by users will not be shown.
Based on Project Hours	All the options will be shown.

Similarly you can associate other sales transactions such as Sales Orders and Credit Notes to a project.

Recording Project Expenses

Projects have certain expenses. It can be anything from buying a coffee for your user to purchase tools for a task. To record expenses for a project:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you need to record an expense.
Click New Transaction from the top right corner of the page.
Click Create Expense.
Fill in the required details in the Expense creation page.
Click Save.

Insight: The Customers and Projects fields will be automatically populated.

You can also create an expense for a project from the Expense module. Here’s how:

Go to Purchases on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Expenses tab at the top.
Click the + New button in the top right corner.
Fill the required details.
Select the Customer Name from the dropdown. The Project dropdown will appear on selecting the customer name.
Mark the Billable checkbox if you want to bill this customer for this expense.
Click Save.

Creating Retainer Invoices for Projects

At times you might have to take an advance payment to arrange the resources for the project you are going to work on. Create a retainer invoice for the project and accept advance payments. You can later adjust them with the invoice you create from the project.

To record an advance payment for a project:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you need to create a retainer invoice.
Click New Transaction from the top right corner of the page.
Click Create Retainer Invoice.
Fill the required details in the following page.
Click Save or Save and Send.

You can also record advance payments from the Retainer Invoices module. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Retainer Invoices tab under Invoices at the top.
Create a new transaction or edit an existing one.
Select the project from the Project Name dropdown.
Enter the other required details.
Click Save.

Insight: All the sales transaction can be viewed in the Sales tab under the respective module names.

Once the Retainers are in the paid status, you can choose to apply them to your invoice. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you have created a retainer invoice and recorded payment.
Go to the New Transaction dropdown and click Create Invoice.
In the Project Invoice Information page, mark Would you like to apply the retainers collected to the invoice.
Click Add and you will be taken to the invoice creation page
Enter the necessary invoice details and click Save and Send.

The retainer amount will be deducted from the invoice. You can then view this in the total section.

Billing the Vendors for a Project

When you are working on projects for your customers, you may incur various bills purchase of a software, tool etc. You can associate customers and projects to these bills and mark them as billable. Here’s how:

Go to Purchases on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Bills tab at the top.
Create a new bill or edit an existing one.
In the Items Details section, select the Customer from the Customer Details dropdown.
Click the Edit icon next to Non-Billable and mark Billable if you want to bill this item.
Select the project name from the dropdown.
Click Update.

Similarly you can associate other purchase transactions such as Purchase Orders and Vendor Credits to a project. To do this:

Click the More icon next to the line item.
Select the Project from the dropdown.
Click Save.

Manual Journals

You can create journal entries to keep of other transactions associated with this project manually. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select a project for which you want to create a journal entry
Click the More Transaction button in the top right corner of the page.
Select Create Manual Journal from the dropdown.
Enter the necessary details.
You can associate a project to each entry by clicking the More icon next to the row.
Select the project from the Associate Project dropdown.
Click Save.
Then, click Save and Publish.

Bulk Update Line Items

You can bulk associate projects to line items of an invoice. You can select multiple items and associate projects easily in just one click.

To bulk update projects:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
navigate to the Invoices at the top.
Click + New in the top right corner of the page.
Enter the other required details.
Click the Bulk Update Line Items option above the Item Details table on the right.
Click Update Projects.
Select the projects to update from the Projects dropdown.
Click Update.

Tracking Transactions

The transactions that you’ve recorded for a project can be tracked in the project module. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you wish to see the transactions.
You can view all the sales transactions under the Sales tab and all the purchase transactions under the Purchases tab.

Tracking Project Cost for Staffs

A project can have multiple users working on it. Each user will spend a specific amount of time working on the project, and each user can have a different cost for every hour each works on the project.

Scenario: For example, Brandon and Miles are two users who are working on a project. The cost for Brandon is $10 per hour, and for Miles, it is $12 per hour. If both work for 4 hours each, then the cost for Brandon would be $40 (104) and for Miles, it would be $48 (124). Using the Cost Tracking feature in Zoho ERP, you can allocate cost to a user, record time logs for them and track the cost incurred from the reports.

Enabling Cost Tracking

Before you create a project, you will have to enable the Cost Tracking option.

Notes: Only an admin of the organization can enable cost tracking.

To enable:

Go to Settings by clicking the Gear icon in the top right corner.
Select Timesheet under General in the Module Settings pane.
Mark Track costs for time entries.
Click Save.

Allocating Cost to the Staff

You can set a predefined cost per hour for each user. To enter the cost:

Go to Settings by clicking the Gear icon in the top right corner.
Select Users under Users and Roles in the Organization Settings pane.
Click Invite User in the top right corner of the page.
Fill in the details and enter the predefined cost in the Cost Per Hour field.
Click Send.

To edit the cost for an existing user:

Go to Settings by clicking the Gear icon in the top right corner.
Select Users under Users and Roles.
Click the Gear icon next to the user.
Click Edit at the top.
Enter the cost per hour for that user.

The Cost Per Hour will be pre-filled in the new projects based on the amount specified for the user in the Users and Roles section. The updated cost per hour for the staff will not affect the existing projects or time entries.

On the other hand, if you missed to update the Cost Per Hour for a user before project creation, an admin can edit the project and specify the **Effective From **date. All the time entries created for the project after the selected date will be updated with the new cost.

Editing the Cost Per Hour While Logging Time

While logging the time, an admin can edit the Total Cost or Cost Per Hour by clicking the Edit icon.

To edit:

Click the Edit icon next to the Total Cost and click the Edit icon next to Cost Per Hour in the popup.
Enter the new cost per hour.
Click Update and the changes will reflect in the Total Cost section.
Next, click Save in the New Log Entry.

To view the timesheet of a project with the Total Cost:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Timesheet tab at the top.
Set the VIEW BY Status and Period as All.

You can view the total cost of each entry in the Total Cost column.