WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) Setup

The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) defines the actual activity for which an employee is recording time and expenses. The WBS allows for 4 levels. The default labels for the WBS are Main WBS, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 ; these labels are client configurable in Systems Labels under Options within Admin. Additionally, DATABASICS Time and Expense allows the creation of Types at Levels 1 and 2 of the WBS. For example, if Project is Level 2, the client may wish to have such Project types as Fixed Cost and Time and Materials.

It is possible to have a WBS for one application and not the other, for example having a WBS in Time but not in Expense. Having a WBS is not required, but if one is used, only level 1 is required.

Level 1 ID's must be unique across the system. The remaining levels only need to be unique within each Level. For example, Client One and Client Two can each be Level 1 ID's. Project One can exist under each Client as a level 2 ID. In addition, Level 3 and Level 4 ID's can be created as global elements, allowing them to be created once and assigned to multiple levels or available for selection by employees during time and expense entry.

All WBS levels have a billable flag. If a timesheet's time code and all WBS levels are billable, Time regards the timeline hours as billable. If either the time code or any part of the WBS on a timeline is not billable, Time regards the timeline's hours as not billable.

It is possible to restrict and assign WBS elements, so that only certain employees will be able to charge time and/or expenses to a particular WBS.

In this section, we employ the default terms mentioned above. If the labels have been changed during installation and configuration, the new labels will appear in the actual menu.

Due to data dependencies during the initial setup, it will be necessary to setup some data elements prior to others. If WBS is to be used, a recommended method is to set up the WBS in the following order: