18 Project Foundation Configuration: Define Project Calendars and Periods

This chapter contains the following:

Define Project Foundation Configuration: Overview

Maintaining Accounting Periods and Project Accounting Periods: Critical Choices

FAQs for Define Project Calendars and Periods

Define Project Foundation Configuration: Overview

In the Define Project Foundation Configuration activity, you configure all foundation components for creating and maintaining projects in Oracle Fusion Projects.

Define Project Foundation Configuration

Setup tasks in the Define Project Foundation Configuration activity are grouped into the following task lists:

Task List	Description
Define Project Calendars and Periods	Manage calendars, accounting period statuses, and project accounting period statuses used for costing, budgeting, forecasting, billing, and project performance reporting.
Define Types and Categorizations	Manage various classifications used to describe and group projects, tasks, and transactions.
Define Project Roles	Define project roles and the business rules that control how the roles are assigned.
Define Project Spaces	Configure how Oracle Fusion Projects interacts with Oracle WebCenter Spaces.
Define Project Resources	Define job mapping, attributes, and rate schedules for project resources.
Define Rate Schedules and Costing Rules	Define rate schedules and costing rules used for costing, billing, work planning, and financial planning purposes.
Define Labor Costing Business Unit Options	Configure the business unit implementation options related to managing labor resources in projects.
Define Project Resource Breakdown Structures	Define resource breakdown structures used for project planning, billing, and reporting.
Define Burdening	Configure options used to calculate, group, and apply indirect costs to project expenditure items to report and account the total cost of a project.
Manage Project Types	Create classifications for projects and configure basic options that are inherited by each project associated with that project type.
Define Business Unit Cross-Charge Options	Configure the business unit implementation options related to cross-charge transactions.
Define Cross-Charge Options	Configure options used to charge project costs across organizations.
Define Transfer Pricing	Define rules and schedules to determine the transfer price amount of cross-charge transactions that require borrowed and lent or intercompany billing processing.
Define Action Controls	Define source products and configure action controls to determine which actions cannot be performed in Oracle Fusion Projects on data imported from a particular third-party source.
Define Project Extensions	Implement client extensions to customize the project approval process.
Define System Administration and Maintenance Options	Perform system administration functions including the definition of descriptive flexfields, distribution of desktop integrator, and configuration of system options.

Maintaining Accounting Periods and Project Accounting Periods: Critical Choices

During business unit implementation you determine whether to maintain common accounting and project accounting periods, or define project accounting periods that have a different frequency than the accounting periods.

Accounting periods are used by Oracle Fusion Projects to assign accounting periods and dates to transactions. Accounting periods are maintained by ledger and use the same calendar as the general ledger periods. Project accounting periods are used by Oracle Fusion Projects for project planning, costing, billing, budgeting, forecasting, and performance reporting. Project accounting periods are maintained by business unit and typically do not use the same calendar as the accounting and general ledger periods.

Maintaining Common Accounting and Project Accounting Periods

If you want to report project information with the same frequency as the accounting periods, you can use the accounting period as both the accounting and project accounting period.

When you maintain common accounting and project accounting periods, period maintenance is simplified, calendar periods are not copied to Oracle Fusion Projects, and period information is maintained in one physical location. Use Oracle Fusion General Ledger to maintain accounting period statuses and run the processes to open and close accounting periods.

Defining Project Accounting Periods that are Different from Accounting Periods

If you want to account for project transactions and report project information more frequently than the accounting periods allow, you can define project accounting periods that are shorter than the accounting periods. For example, you can define weekly project accounting periods and monthly accounting periods, as shown in the following diagram.

Diagram showing project accounting
periods that are different than accounting periods

Use Oracle Fusion General Ledger to maintain accounting period statuses and run the processes to open and close accounting periods, and Oracle Fusion Projects to maintain project accounting period statuses and run the processes to open and close project accounting periods.

FAQs for Define Project Calendars and Periods

What's the difference between a project accounting period, an accounting period, and a general ledger period?

Project accounting periods are used to track budgets and forecasts, summarize project amounts for reporting, and track project status. Project accounting periods are maintained by business unit. You can set up project accounting periods to track project periods on a more frequent basis than accounting periods. For example, you can define weekly project accounting periods and monthly accounting periods. If you use the same calendar as your accounting periods, the project accounting periods and accounting periods will be the same, although the statuses are maintained independently.

Accounting periods, which are used to derive accounting dates, are maintained by ledger and use the same calendar as the general ledger periods. Period statuses for the accounting period and general ledger period are maintained independently.

Note

You can select an option on the business unit definition to maintain common accounting and project accounting periods. This option allows the accounting period to be used as the project accounting period so you need to maintain only one period status.

How can I set up project accounting periods that are different from accounting periods?

Complete these tasks to set up project accounting periods that are different from accounting periods.

Set up the accounting calendar and manage the accounting period statuses in Oracle Fusion General Ledger.
During project business unit implementation, specify the project accounting calendar for each business unit.
- Verify that the option to maintain common accounting and project accounting periods is not selected.
Copy the accounting calendar into the project accounting period table, which copies the period start and end dates.
Manage the period statuses for project accounting periods.

How can I set up common accounting and project accounting periods?

Complete these tasks to set up common accounting periods and project accounting periods.

Set up the accounting calendar and manage the accounting period statuses in Oracle Fusion General Ledger.
During project business unit implementation, set the project accounting calendar to the accounting calendar and select the option to maintain common accounting and project accounting periods.

Can I change a project accounting period date range?

No. You cannot change a project accounting period date range if the following conditions exist:

The period exists in the project accounting period table.
The period exists as an accounting period that is associated with a project accounting period.
The period exists in project summarization tables.

What happens if I close an accounting or project accounting period permanently?

You cannot enter any transactions in the period you have closed and you can adjust transactions in subsequent periods.