Understanding Project ChartFields

ChartFields store the chart of accounts and provide the basic structure to segregate and categorize transactional and budget data.

See Understanding PeopleSoft ChartFields.

The PeopleSoft system provides these six project ChartFields:

  • Project Business Unit (BUSINESS_UNIT_PC)

  • Project (PROJECT_ID)

  • Activity (ACTIVITY_ID)

  • (Optional) Source Type (RESOURCE_TYPE)

  • (Optional) Category (RESOURCE_CATEGORY)

  • (Optional) Subcategory (RESOURCE_SUB_CAT)

Use the Standard ChartField Configuration page (STANDARD_CF_TMPLT) to modify these project ChartField attributes:

  • Field display order.

    You can change the placement of the group of project ChartFields when they appear in a grid with all other general ledger ChartFields. All project ChartFields move together in a block when you change the order of the Project ChartField.

  • Status (active or inactive).

    • The Project ChartField must remain active if you use PeopleSoft Expenses, Resource Management, or Project Costing.

    • Source Type, Category, and Subcategory ChartFields must remain active if you specify on the Project Costing Options page that these are required fields for the project business unit.

    • The Source Type ChartField must remain active if you specify on the Project Costing Definition page that Category field values are related to the Source Type.

    • The Category ChartField must remain active if you specify on the Project Costing Definition page that Subcategory field values are related to the Category.

  • Default field label.

  • Field display length.

The Project Business Unit, Activity, Source Type, Category, and Subcategory ChartFields do not appear for selection in the IntraUnit Related ChartField drop-down list on the Standard ChartField Configuration page.

Note: The Analysis Type field (ANALYSIS_TYPE) is not a project ChartField; therefore, it does not appear in the Standard ChartField Configuration page. However, the Journal Lines page (JOURNAL_LN_FS) includes the Analysis Type field with the project ChartFields in the Journal Line Data grid. If you reorder the project ChartFields on the Standard ChartField Configuration page, the Analysis Type field retains its position between the Activity and Source Type ChartFields on the Journal Lines page.

Project Costing uses transactions to track, analyze, and report on actual and planned project costs. You assign source types to individual transactions to identify the transaction's purpose.

Source types can be as general or as specific as needed. For example, you can use a Labor source type to track total project labor costs, or use overtime labor and standard labor source types to track overtime and standard labor separately.

PeopleSoft delivers the following source types as default; however, if you do not need any of the functionality provided with the source types, then they can be modified or removed.

Source Type

Description

AFUDC

AFUDC Interest

DIRCT

Direct Costs

LABOR

Labor

MATER

Materials

OVER

Overhead

Categories and subcategories further define source types. You can combine categories and subcategories in source groups for reporting and analysis. Although defining categories and subcategories is optional, using them provides greater flexibility and granularity for tracking and analyzing costs.

For example, you can divide a labor source type into different categories of labor, such as architect labor, carpenter labor, and plumber labor, and use subcategories for regular hours and overtime hours. By using these categories and subcategories, you can track items such as total labor costs for a project, total overtime hours, architect overtime hours, and carpenter standard hours.

Source types, categories, and subcategories provide flexibility for defining transactions. You can define relationships between these fields to control data-entry options for specific fields, which reduces the possibility of error.

The relationships can be one-to-one or one-to-many. If you relate source types to specific categories, and assign a source type to a transaction, you can assign a category only if it is related to the source type. For example, a transaction with a labor source type can only be entered in a category that is related to labor by its definition. The same is true for relationships between categories and subcategories.

To enable relationships between source types, categories, and subcategories, select Related as the Category Edit Option and SubCategory Edit Option on the Project Costing Definition page (BUS_UNIT_TBL_PC).

See Creating Project Business Units.

Defining relationships between source types, categories, and subcategories is optional. If you do not establish relationships, the system does not limit the categories and subcategories that are available for selection.