Other Settings
The Projects application has many configurable parts. You can enable Earned Value Management (EVM) metrics; designate that EVM metrics employee costs are from primary loaded cost, secondary loaded cost, tertiary loaded cost, or job code; and enable different project pricing scenarios.
To access the Projects Other settings:
-
Go to Administration > Application Settings > Projects Settings > Other settings.
Enable transfers: A cost transfer feature is available within OpenAir when this option is activated. Transfers are set up with a cost rate and bill rate function that permits the cost of an employee to be transferred to another cost center based on the projects worked. The use of the transfer feature is dependent on cost center setup including how cost center settings are inherited (i.e., employee, project, or service) when an employee works on a particular project. When transfers are activated, it prevents the billing of resource project time using the invoice application for the employees and projects that have transfers set up. Projects not involved in transfer setups are not impacted.
Enable task assignment at the project level: This option can only be enabled if you input planned hours at the task level rather than the assignment level. Send an email request to OpenAir Customer Support if you are not sure of your configuration. This feature lets you assign a set of employees to tasks on tasks on the task form by checking the Use the project assignments box. Employees may still be selectively assigned if the box is cleared on the task. This is typically determined during account configuration, but send an email request to OpenAir Customer Support if you want to change it.
Use a scrolling picker to assign employees to tasks: Employee selection by default is handled by a selection list with highlighting of desired employees on the left and adding them to the right for assignment. Assignments using a selection list do not have the ability to select individual employee planned hours nor other employee level value settings depending on internal switches activated in your account. Activating the scrolling picker gives you a row-by-row view of employees with each row allowing a drop-down list of employees to be assigned.
Enable task cost and billing projections: Activation of this option permits OpenAir to compute and display forecasted costs at the task level in the project outline view (for employees based on their cost rates or cost overrides on the project or task, if those features are activated) using the task assigned hours. Financial projections for billing are performed and displayed based on the employee assigned hours. If this option is not activated, you are not able to view the forecasted employee cost or billing from the outline view of the project. This calculation is hard coded and cannot be changed. Use Reports to view a more customizable view of projections.
Enable manual override of task cost and billing projections: Activation of this option permits the computed value by OpenAir on each task to be overwritten manually. Use of this option is helpful in unit pricing or fixed fee pricing or cost (such as a subcontractor) at the task level.
Enable project rate cards to be used in billing projections: Activation of this option provides the ability to calculate projected billing forecasts based on rate card rates rather than employee hourly rates. This option requires the “Enable task cost and billing projections” feature to be switched on. To use this feature, select Rate card from the Projected Billing options for the project and the required rate card to base the calculation on. The job code is taken for the employee and can be overridden at the task assignment. If the job code is not found on the rate card then a warning is issued and the hourly rate is used in the calculation. See also the “Use zero rate for billing projections when no job code is available” feature.
Use zero rate for billing projections when no job code is available: This feature can be used when the “Enable project rate cards to be used in billing projections” feature is switched on. Activating this feature will result in a zero value being taken for employees that do not have a rate card rate defined for their job code on the rate card specified for the project.
Make the task percent complete drop-down read-only: Enable this setting to make the percent complete drop-down on tasks read-only for all users.
You should check this box if OpenAir calculates percent complete automatically, that is, if hours remaining or "Update percent complete as approved hours divided by planned hours" are enabled. If this drop-down is editable and OpenAir is auto-calculating, a user can change the dropdown, but the selection will revert to the calculated value on subsequent updates of approved/planned/estimated hours.
Require service in tasks: If you have implemented services, this option lets you make this field required for all tasks when the form is created or modified. This requires you to define a complete set of services so that a valid value is always able to be selected for any type of task. Checking this option is particularly important if you have checked the timesheet option to retrieve the service from the task for timesheets if one is not entered or the option to always get the service from the task. The task level service setting may be passed to timesheet and included or overridden in billing rules and recognition rules based on service settings within the rules. Service settings are not kept historically on a task but are recorded historically on timesheet entries that pick up the service from the task level.
Use only invoiced charges for WIP calculations: WIP or Work-In-Process is an accounting computation regarding the state of revenue recognition based on revenue recognition and invoicing. This is only derived in reporting, no WIP transaction is generated with the application. Depending on your accounting practice and the setup of billing rules within OpenAir to drive your revenue recognition, charges may be created that are used for revenue recognition but not invoicing. An example is a fixed price project which has an hours complete revenue recognition policy. If you are generating two sets of charges for this situation, one set of charges is used for invoicing (the fixed amounts) and the other is used to drive revenue recognition (as billed). WIP in this case should only be based on invoiced charges so this option would be checked. Likewise, any deferred billing charges would also not be included in WIP if they were not added to an invoice.
Enable project-wide resource substitution: Resource substitution can be done on the task level with or without this option by selecting the resource name and selecting a substitution candidate from the list provided via the search criteria option set (see below). The team link within a project also provides a list of employees which can be substituted by selecting their name within the team link. Activating this option permits a project wide substitution of a resource if selected within the team link. The employee does not get an option to pick which tasks should be substituted when this option is activated - all tasks have the resource substituted to which they are assigned.
Search criteria for finding a resource to substitute for another on a task assignment: The search criteria is a pattern match of the selected employee among all other employees and generics that are active in OpenAir for possible matches. The resource profile match depends on the skill database setup you've put in place. Depending on the complexity of the skill database, resource matching may become too unique and therefore limit or eliminate viable candidates due to a missing profile element. The job code value per employee is a one-to-one setting so a match is more likely due to the simplicity of data entries. If you have not set up a skill profile, then using this search criteria returns a list of all active employees/generics since an empty profile matches among all employees.
Exclude project constraints from search criteria during resource substitution search by profile: Activation of this option removes any availability of resource checks when performing a profile match against employee and generic candidates.
Require a service selection in recognition rules: Recognition rules inherit the service passed on billing transactions and charges, if you have set up services within OpenAir, unless it is overridden on the recognition rule. If your policy is to control the service settings to match your revenue recognition accounting policy (such as a specific account used to capture revenue in your accounting system), activate this option to require a setting of the service, which overrides any service setting from the billing transaction or charge. This requires you to define a complete set of services so that a valid value is always able to be selected for any type of revenue.
Task percent complete interval choices: You have the option to define how precise the % complete value is used within OpenAir. A 5% interval is a popular choice for ease of customer communication.
Employees available for assignment to a project: Options that make employees available for assignment provide control over which employees are viewable for project or task assignment by your project setup resources. The booked employees or all if none booked permits an open employee selection unless an employee has been booked to the project. After an employee is booked then only booked employees are displayed. If you use assignment groups, this option is viable provided no employees are booked. After an employee is booked, the ability to use assignment groups on the project is removed. Booked employees option displays only employees booked to the project. All employees always displays all employees, including assignment groups. This can be used for generics and regular users alike.
Enable support for select resources to always be available for assignment to a project: If checked, this trumps the "Users available for assignment" setting.
Requires a custom field named exactly "resource_always_assignable" to be created.
Project pricing scenarios can get hours from: The pricing feature within the project uses hours set up under scenarios to compute a project price. There are three possible ways to use hours for the scenario setup: Estimated hours, Booked hours, and Assigned hours. You may opt to allow all three scenarios during setup or identify a specific one which drives your employees to a standard for pricing. Estimated hours are entered within the pricing feature as hours per job code which drives the scenario. Booked hours are the employee bookings entered via the project booking worksheet or resource booking tab. Assigned hours are those entered on tasks with employee assignments. Any resource type (regular or generic) may be used for the pricing scenarios. Booked hours and assigned hours for pricing may use Generics to earmark the type of resource needed if the project is a proposal or for the actual resource on the project if a contract extension is being forecasted.
100% field for project pricing reports: When setting up a pricing scenario, an analysis displays opportunity revenue, gross revenue, and net revenue. This option lets you define how the %'s are treated on the analysis report by selecting a revenue type as the base for 100%. For example: If gross revenue is selected, then the % of opportunity revenue and net revenue are computed against the gross revenue amount.
Project pricing probability interval choices: You have the option to define how precise the % probability value is used within OpenAir. A 5% or 10% interval are popular choices to use for a pipeline maturity process.
Enable workspace member synchronization: When creating a project, you may also create a workspace associated with the project. The workspace may pre-exist and be copied or be initially created when the project is created. Selecting this option permits all employees involved with the project via task assignments to be included automatically as members of the workspace with read/write capability. Unchecking this option permits manual control of workspace membership by the project manager or project creator via the Workspaces application. If you do not create workspaces when creating a project, then this option has no system impact checked or unchecked.
Inactivate project when all tasks are closed: A project active check box is separate from the individual task closed check boxes. A project may have all tasks closed but still remain active for timesheet and expense report capturing provided tasks are not used on these items. Checking this option automatically inactivates (or clear the Active box) the project when all tasks are closed.
Mark closed tasks 100% complete: The % complete field may be manually set or computed automatically by OpenAir. If this option is unchecked, then closing a task by checking the Closed box keeps the % complete as it was set when the task is closed. Checking this option changes the % complete field automatically to 100% if the task is closed. Use of this feature is both dependent on your project management methodology and possibly your customer billing if it is driven by a fixed fee on % complete of the project, phase, or task.
Closing a phase will close all sub-phases and sub-tasks within that phase: A time saving feature that permits a complete closure of a phase including sub phases and sub-tasks if the phase level is closed (checking the Closed box on the phase). If this option is not checked then the phase may be closed while leaving sub-phases and sub-tasks open.
Disable “Pull OpenAir resources” menu item in OpenAir Projects plugin: This option involves the use of the OpenAir Project Connector add-on service. When using the Project Connector to import a project, the resources identified within the Microsoft Project plan may be mapped to valid active resources within the OpenAir application. Checking this option disables the resource mapping feature, which disables the import of employee assignments to tasks when the project plan is imported.
Require a charge description on billing rules: Billing rules define how customer invoicing is done and may drive revenue recognition. The charge description field is included on generated charges when the rule is executed. By default the field is left blank and may be entered optionally either within the rule which applies the entry to each generated charge or on individual charges when manually edited by an employee with the appropriate permissions. Charge descriptions may be displayed on an invoice. If you have defined an invoice format (layout) that displays the charge description, you may consider making the charge description field required to ensure information is available for invoices.
Require a charge service on billing rules: Time billing rules inherit the service passed from a timesheet, if you have set up service within OpenAir, or be blank unless it is overridden on the billing rule. If your policy is to control the service settings to match your customer invoicing accounts (such as a specific account used to capture receivables in your accounting system), activate this option to require a setting of the service, which overrides any service setting from the timesheet. This requires you to define a complete set of services so that a valid value is always able to be selected for any type of billing. This forces a selection of a service on billing rules other than time billing if your business requires services on billing transactions.
Enable project issues: Issue tracking is an optional feature within the Project applications which permits employees to capture project issues, tracked due dates and close dates, assign issues to employees, and track general information such as the type of issue or state of the issue. When the feature is checked, a series of Issues configuration items are available including Issue Stages, Issue Categories, Issue Sources, and Issue Severities. See Issues.
Issue prefix: By default issues have a prefix of IS- unless you choose to override the it. To reset the prefix, enter a new value in the text box next to the prefix pull down and save the form.
Show totals for numeric, hours and days task custom fields on project outline: By default, custom fields of numeric, hours, or days type do not automatically display total amounts when value on the tasks are rolled up to a project total. Checking this option permits the display of task custom fields of these types to appear at the project outline level. When this option is unchecked, the task level custom fields are not available for display in the project outline.
Require unique project names by customer: Many of the menu drop-down lists display customer : Project entries, which may make it difficult to select values unless they are unique. Employees may see project uniqueness via an assignment, the booking process or having a filter set assigned, which limits projects the employee can access. However, unique project names may still exist. To ensure project names are unique for each customer, check this option.
Enable task successor assignee notification custom field feature: When you enable this feature, you create a Project check box custom field that you can select to notify task assignees when predecessor tasks are marked 100% complete or closed. This can be set as a default value for all projects, and when you create a project from another project, if you choose the option to Duplicate notification settings, you can copy the value of the custom field.
Enable Earned Value Management (EVM) metrics: Earned Value Management metrics allow companies to have increased visibility into project status and profitability. Using data from planned and completed work within OpenAir, managers can readily assess the state of their projects. Schedule and cost metrics provide valuable understanding into the health of your projects. The EVM metrics include: Planned Value (PV), Actual Cost (AC), Earned Value (EV) as a monetary value, Earned Value (EV) as a percent complete value, Budget Variance (BV), Cost Variance (CV), Schedule Variance (SV), Cost Performance Index (CPI), Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and Critical Ratio (CR).
Method to use when computing 'Earned Value Percent Complete' for projects and phases: Two methods exist for the accounting of earned value. The weighted by cost method permits a cost tracking model of the hours worked. This means more expensive resources increases the earned value results. The unwatched method applies hourly cost values evenly among resources, which results in a strict hours worked earned value model.
EVM metrics employee costs are from: When using Earned Value Metrics, you have several selections you can use to specify where employee costs are determined. These are: Primary loaded cost, Secondary loaded cost, Tertiary loaded cost, and Job code. OpenAir provides you with the ability to assign three levels of costs by employee. In addition, costs can be determined by the Job code. See Job Codes and Cost under Employees.
Require a cost center selection in recognition rules: Enable this setting to require a cost center selection in recognition rules. Forms will error on submission/save if a cost center has not been selected.
Require a charge cost center on billing rules: Enable this setting to require a cost center selection in billing rules. Forms will error on submission/save if a cost center has not been selected.
Gantt chart reordering sorts task IDs: Project plans may be complex and long. There may be a need for project managers to adjust tasks by moving them up or down in the timeline of a plan. The Gantt view provides visibility into the progress of a project, as well as the ability to easily re-order tasks and phases leveraging up/down arrows. When you enable this feature, OpenAir sorts the Gantt view by automatically re-ordering tasks in the Outline view based on the revised order in the Gantt view.
There is an option located in the hints section of the Gantt view: Click here to re-order task IDs by current chart order. This option accounts for existing projects that have tasks that should be sorted based on the Gantt order.
Default tab for projects: Select the default tab to show when users go to Projects > Projects > [Select a project] unless a different default tab is set at the user level. If the user does not have access to the default tab, the first tab on the left is shown instead. You can select a specific tab or the metavalue [Company default] configured for your OpenAir account. To change the Company default tab, contact OpenAir Customer Support.
Users can set their default tab preference in Personal Settings.
Enable prevent deletion of employee assignment with logged hours: When this option is enabled a warning is displayed to prevent the deletion or substitution of a user from a project task when the user has already logged hours.