Pay special attention to the Configure Project Settings screen, the Manage Project Account Groups screen, and the Manage Project Types screen.
Use the Configure Project Settings screen to control such things as:
The Length of the first segment of all your project numbers — This is a global length because it applies to all projects and cannot be modified after a project is entered into Costpoint. Make sure that the length of the first segment is sufficient to accommodate growth in the number of projects that are needed.
Whether you want to use the "detail" method or the "summary" method of validation for the Project/Account/Org table (see the documentation for the Validate Project Charging by Organizations check box).
Whether you require an Incurred Cost Submission code for all projects — If you select the Require Incurred Cost Submission Code for all Projects check box, you must enter an Incurred Cost Submission Code for every project, including B&P, IR&D and Commercial projects, on the Manage Government Contract Information screen.
Your default revenue posting method — Posting revenue is based on the Owning Organization of each project or on the Performing Organization.
How to burden your jobs — Using Year-To-Date Rates or Current Period Rates, and how to calculate Cost of Money.
Use the Manage Project Account Groups screen to set up the various groups of account numbers that are valid for different types of projects. For example, you could use different accounts for a Bid and Proposal project than for a direct, billable project. You would not include revenue, billed and unbilled accounts for a Bid and Proposal project, but you would want to set them up for the direct project.
Any account groups that you set up here appear as selections when you set up projects on the Manage Project User Flow, and the accounts you include in each account group are the ONLY accounts you can charge on a project.
You must set up at least one account group before you enter a project on the Project User Flow because the project account group is a required field in these screens.
Use the Manage Project Types screen to identify a project type that is associated with each project on the Project User Flow. Project Types are user-defined; some examples are Cost Reimbursable, Time & Materials, Fixed Price, Level of Effort, and so forth. Costpoint uses the type when printing various reports such as A/R Aging. When you print the A/R Aging report (Print Accounts Receivable Aging Report screen), you can sort on the project type.
Use the Manage User-Defined Labels screen to furnish labels for each user-defined field on the Manage User-Defined Information screen. The use of user-defined fields is optional, and you can use them to track information about a project that is not already tracked by Costpoint.
Use the Link Projects/Accounts screen and the Link Projects/Organizations screen to establish your charging criteria. These screens are necessary only if you have selected the Limit Organizations or the Limit Accounts check boxes on the Basic Info tab of the Manage Project User Flow.