Feature List for the Jobs Module

The Jobs module provides a comprehensive database of job/project data, and a number of facilities to assist job managers.  Lawyers usually use the term "matter" for their jobs.  For simplicity we will use the term "job" throughout this feature list.  We trust that you can bear with us in this if you are more familiar with other terminology.  (Note that in the software itself, the terminology is configurable.  The software will use the word "project", "matter", or whatever else you like throughout all modules.)

Table of Contents:

• Data Fields
• User defined fields
• Handy Functions
• Drill-Down to other data
• Reports
• Configuration Options
• Security

Data Fields

• Job code.  This is extremely flexible.  In the job settings you can define a template which will ensure that letters, numbers, and punctuation all go in the correct place.  The job code can include a suffix for sub-jobs (or phases of a project).  If you use a purely numeric job code scheme, the software can automatically provide you with the next code in sequence when you add a new job.  (Branch offices in larger practices can specify the range for their own job codes and the software will assign the next number within this range when a new job is raised.)  The software will also support legal firms, who often base their matter codes on a unique client ID.  (With new matters, it can automatically raise the next number in sequence, if the client already has other matters.)
• Job Type  (You can use whatever code scheme you like, to facilitate good management reporting)
• Job Name
• Client
• Job Manager (your own person who is primarily responsible for this job)
• Start date and expected finish date
• A completed flag
• Primary client contact person (can also be used as the addressee on invoices)
• Invoice client (if different from the firm that is coordinating the work with you)
• Invoice addressee (if different from the primary contact)
• Default staff rate to use for this job (e.g. Rate 3 for everyone working on it)
• A fixed dollar rate to use for all people working on the job (an alternative to the above)
• Charge approved (or estimated if working on a time and materials basis
• Estimated number of hours (or units) for the job
• Flags:  Is this a fixed price job ?  Does the fixed price include disbursements ?   These settings are used to calculate a write-up or write-off when generating invoices from timesheets
• Description text for invoices, allowing you to provide wording that will identify the job on the invoice (particularly when useful if you simultaneously are working on several jobs for large clients)

User Defined Fields

• Up to 10 pages of additional user-defined data fields
• Data types include character, numeric, logical (yes/no), date, user-defined list of values, memo field (unlimited text), and link to another entity in the address book
• Templates to control formatting of data within fields
• Automatic positioning of fields (centrally aligned), or manual positioning (to fit more data on the page)
• Able to be used for filter criteria and specifying the sort order in the Jobs and Time & Cost modules
• Tabular editing of user-defined field data (especially valuable when you have just added a new field and want to fill in values for existing jobs

Handy Functions

• Search for a job (or jobs) based on desired selection criteria, including a word / phrase in any text field.
• Tabular view (and editing) of jobs.  You can apply filter criteria and view just the matching jobs in any desired sort order
• Hot link into Terra View (land information software) to view the appropriate deposit plan and other maps for the job you are currently viewing - New Zealand only

Drill down to other data

From the jobs module , you can very easily view data associated with the job you are currently displaying.  You can view associated client details, timesheets, invoices, debtor balances (for the client), notes for the job, and supplier invoices in Creditors, with just two clicks of the mouse.  The secondary windows displaying this data can be kept open simultaneously, and will all refresh if you move on to another job in the primary window.

Reports

The report wizard is very flexible and powerful.  It allows you to specify the desired basic type of report, selection criteria, and sort / total preferences.  Your settings can be saved as a named report definition for use again next time (perhaps with minor changes).  Reports can be previewed on screen.

• Current jobs catalog
• Client and job details list
• Detailed jobs list
• Job summary report
• Job profit report
• Single job status report
• Job cover sheet

Configuration Options

The options that are most commonly adjusted to suit your own preferences are:

• Job Code template (ensures conformity to your scheme with regard to position of letters, digits, and special characters such as hyphens, slashes, decimal points, etc. 
• Whether a sub-code suffix is included in the job code template, and if so how wide is it
• Maximum length of the job name/description (prevents unnecessarily wasting disk space)
• Whether purely numeric job-codes should be right justified
• Range for job job codes (useful for firms with branch offices)
• Whether the job code is based on Client ID
• Define your own list of job types
• Do fixed price jobs normally tend to include disbursements / expenses in the fixed price 
• User defined field setup

Security

The jobs module has fairly comprehensive security facilities.

• You can prevent certain users from accessing the jobs module altogether
• You can give certain users read-only access to main jobs data and/or user defined fields
• You can prevent users from viewing the financial details of the job or drilling down to secondary data
• You can allow job managers to edit just their own jobs, and drill down to the associated secondary data.  (You might also give them read-only access to other name and address data.)
• You can control who is allowed to print reports of address book data