Business Central gives you several tools to track whether a project is staying within budget, from planning lines that define expected costs and revenue, to WIP calculations that control when costs and income hit your general ledger. This guide covers how to use those tools in practice.
This builds on the Projects module setup covered in How to Use the Projects Module in Business Central. The Projects module was previously called Jobs in versions before Business Central 2023 Wave 2.
Set Up Budget Planning Lines
Budget planning lines define the expected cost and revenue for each project task. They are entered at the task level, broken down by resource, item, or G/L account.
- Open the project from Projects using
Alt + Q. - Select a Posting task line, then choose Project Task > Project Planning Lines.
- Add a new line and set the Line Type:
- Budget, represents expected cost. Not invoiced.
- Billable, represents expected revenue. Used to generate invoices.
- Both Budget and Billable, creates a single line that covers both the cost budget and the billable amount.
- Set the Type field to Resource, Item, or G/L Account.
- In the No. field, select the specific resource, item, or account.
- Enter the Quantity, and confirm the Unit Cost and Unit Price.
Repeat this for each task across all phases of the project. The total of all Budget lines forms the cost budget; the total of all Billable lines forms the revenue budget.
Compare Budget to Actual Usage
As usage entries are posted to the project, Business Central tracks them against the planning lines. There are two main ways to see this comparison.
Project Statistics Page
- Open the project card.
- Select Statistics from the action bar, or press
Ctrl + F7. - The Project Statistics page shows:
- Billable (Invoiced Price), what has been invoiced
- Billable (Total Price), what is planned to be invoiced
- Usage (Total Cost), actual costs posted
- Budget (Total Cost), planned costs from budget lines
Project Analysis Report
For a more detailed breakdown by task and line type:
- Search for Project Analysis using
Alt + Q. - Set filters for the project number, date range, and which amounts to compare (budget, usage, or both).
- Run the report to see a per-task view of planned versus actual figures.
Understand WIP Methods
WIP (Work in Progress) is the mechanism Business Central uses to recognise revenue and match costs on the general ledger during an active project, before the project is complete and final invoicing occurs.
Without WIP posting, costs hit the P&L when they are incurred, but revenue is only recognised when invoices are posted. For long-running projects, this creates a mismatch in financial reporting.
Business Central supports several WIP methods:
| WIP Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Cost Value | WIP is based on the budgeted cost compared to actual usage. |
| Sales Value | WIP is based on the contract value of work completed. |
| Percentage of Completion | WIP scales linearly based on how much of the budget has been consumed. |
| Completed Contract | No revenue or cost is recognised until the project is completed. |
| Cost of Sales | Costs are matched to recognised revenue. |
The correct method depends on how your organisation recognises project revenue and what your auditors or accounting standards require. Most service businesses use Cost Value or Percentage of Completion.
Set the WIP method per project on the project card in the WIP Method field, or set a global default in Projects Setup.
Calculate Project WIP
WIP must be calculated before it can be posted to the G/L. This is typically done at period end.
- Search for Calculate Project WIP using
Alt + Q. - In the request page, set the Posting Date to the end of the period you are calculating for.
- Apply a filter on Project No. if you want to run it for specific projects rather than all open projects.
- Select OK.
Business Central calculates WIP entries for each project based on its assigned WIP method and posts them to the Project WIP Entries table. No G/L entries are created yet at this stage.
Post WIP to the General Ledger
After calculating WIP, post it to G/L to update your balance sheet and income statement.
- Search for Project Post WIP to G/L using
Alt + Q. - Set the Posting Date, this should match the date used when calculating WIP.
- Apply the same project filter if needed.
- Select OK to post.
Business Central creates G/L entries using the accounts defined in the Project Posting Group assigned to each project. These accounts typically include WIP asset accounts and recognised revenue accounts.
To review what was posted, open the project card and select Project > WIP G/L Entries from the action bar.
When a project is marked as Completed, run Calculate Project WIP and Project Post WIP to G/L one final time to clear the WIP balance and close out the project.
Check Resource Availability
Before assigning a resource to a project, you can check whether they have capacity available in the required period.
- Search for Resource Availability using
Alt + Q. - Enter the Resource No. and set the Period Type to Week, Month, or another interval.
- Review the Qty. Available column, which shows capacity minus already allocated hours.
You can also view availability directly from the resource card:
- Open the resource from Resources.
- Select Resource > Resource Availability from the action bar.
Allocate Resources to Project Tasks
Once you have confirmed availability, add the resource to the project planning lines.
- Open the project and navigate to Project Planning Lines for the relevant task.
- Add a line with Type set to Resource and select the resource.
- Set the Line Type to Budget or Both Budget and Billable.
- Enter the planned Quantity (hours).
The resource is now part of the budget and will appear in the budget comparison as usage is posted against the project.
To record actual hours worked against these planning lines, see How to Track Time with Timesheets in Business Central.