Billable projects often operate on the basis of a contract with a customer.
Users of Oracle Projects
may therefore be interested in incorporating Oracle Project Contracts into their Applications footprint. This paper provides a brief outline of the functionality which is available.
Introduction to Concepts: A project and a contract are two separate entities: A project is the place to plan the work, assign resources, develop a budget, collect actual costs, track progress, and generate revenue. A project is a vehicle to manage the execution of work. A contract is the commercial agreement between the customer and project organisation. The contract typically defines the funding model for the project e.g. time and material rates or fixed amounts triggered at specific project milestones.
Billable projects may be linked by a funding agreement to one or more contracts. Event based project billing may be triggered from the Contracts Deliverable Tracking system.
Oracle support many to many relationship between projects and contracts. Standard Oracle functionality does not provide a method to create a project from a contract. (This summary sourced in part from input authored by Dina Rotem and posted to an Oracle Discussion forum). 1 3 June, 2013 The key reference for further detail is the Oracle Project Contracts User Guide R12.1
The author would also like to acknowledge input from the following helpful material: An Overview of the Oracle Project Contracts Module by Peter Atkinson, delivered to New Zealand Oracle User Group in 2003 Integration of Oracle Project Accounting with Oracle Project Contracts by Jill Hill from Mirant, delivered to the Atlanta Oracle Applications Users Group Oracle Contract Management by Monica Loomis delivered to the Northern California OAUG User Group in 2006 Project Contracts Implementation by Dan Brevetti at Collaborate 2013 (available from OAUG conference paper database)
3 June, 2013 2 There graphic provides an overview of the points of integration between Oracle Project Billing and Oracle Project Contracts: Assign a Master Project to a Contract You can assign a master project at the contract header level and subprojects or master project top tasks at the contract line or sub-line level. Create Project Agreement from the Funding Workbench You can create a project agreement from the Funding Workbench. You can update the project agreement from the Funding Workbench before or after a baseline has been created. Collect and Report on Project Costs Manufacturing and engineering costs can be collected into Oracle Project Costing. Initiate Billing and Generate Invoices and Revenue You can create a deliverable-based billing event from Oracle Project Contracts. You can then generate revenue and invoices in Oracle Project Billing using the events. There are 3 main components of Oracle Project Contracts: Authoring Work Bench (including the Contract Organiser and Authoring Wizard) Funding Work Bench (integrated with project agreements and funding) Deliverables Tracking (integrated with project billing events) Each of these is shown in more detail in the following slides 3 June, 2013 4 Control access to Project Contracts functionality by using this screen. To assign an employee to a security level role: 1. Navigate to the Security Role Assignments window. 2. In the Employee field, select the employee from the list of values. 3. In the View box, select one of the views, either by All Assignments or Active Assignments Only. 4. Select a security level in the Level field: Site: Indicates access to all contract documents for employees with similar access within an organization. Program: Program level assignments provide similar benefits for organizations that group contract documents into programs. Contract: Security access is defined for a specific contract document. 5. Select a value in the Number field if the security level is program or contract. Refer to Appendix B page 2 of Oracle Project Contracts User Guide for further information (Note that you may need to understand this functionality in order to gain view access to any data in the Contract Organiser window) 3 June, 2013 5 3 June, 2013 6 The Contract Organizer window is a graphical workbench that you can use to access functionality in Oracle Project Contracts; it provides a single entry point to access and define contract documents. You can access deliverable tracking, funding, hold management, contract revisions, and other contract related activities. The Contract Organizer window is comprised of tree tabs, panes, and a view selection. The tree tabs (A) are located in the left section of the window and enable you to toggle between the Solicitation, Proposal, and Contracts areas for contract documents. The left pane (B) is the tree hierarchy. There are four items on the Navigation Tree. They can be expanded by left-clicking the plus sign (+) with your mouse to select a node detail to display associated subfields.
Depending on your tree tab selection, the right pane (C) displays data that is associated with the selected item on the tree. The Summary and History tabs display all existing historical and current documents for this item.
From the View By (D) list box, you can select to view the data in the tree by Group, Organization, Product Line, or Program. (Further detail from Chapter 2 of the Project Contracts user Guide) 3 June, 2013 7 Use the Go To button in the Contract Organiser window to access contract functionality using function-specific workbenches, e.g.: The Contract Authoring workbench The Funding Workbench The Deliverables Tracking System Refer p. 2-7 in Project Contracts User Manual for details of each option
3 June, 2013 8 This screen shot displays the Contract Authoring Workbench, which has been opened from the Contract Organiser using the Go-To (Actions) button. The tabs provide access to specific functionality: Contract Header: This is a region of information applying to the entire contract including type, status, start date, document number, and any applicable master agreement. Contract Lines: The individual lines within a contact contain information specific to that line such as quantity, due date, part number, description, and status. Parties and Contacts: You can specify the parties to the contract, their contract roles, and contact names. Terms and Conditions: This text contains clarifying language about rules, instructions, notices, agreements, and other parameters under this contract. Articles: This is standard or nonstandard text clauses for the contract. Administration: You can assign workflows to a contract, such as an approval workflow. It can be generated from this region in order to receive authorizations. Standard Notes: You can enter and view standard notes for such items as packaging or shipping instructions. Print Forms: This tabbed window is used to define print forms, if required for this contract. User Attributes: Each user-defined attribute group is defined as a descriptive flexfield context. You can define as many contexts as required. The drop down list in the first field on the header window enables you to access several different regions: Main: Used to enter primary contract. Administrative: Used to enter dates and customer requirements. Financial: Used to enter costing and other accounting information. Billing: Used to enter billing information for various contract types. Additional Billing: Used to enter additional billing data such as incentive information. Other: Used to enter export and inspection data. 3 June, 2013 9 This process of creating a new contract is described in detail in chapter 3 of the Oracle Project Contracts User Guide. The next few slides provide an overview of how the Contract Authoring Wizard Guides you through the creation of a new contract. The creation of a new contract may be initiated using the Actions button in the Contract Organiser. 3 June, 2013 10 3 June, 2013 11 3 June, 2013 12 The tabbed windows provide the following functionality Contract Header: This is a region of information applying to the entire contract including type, status, start date, document number, and any applicable master agreement. Contract Lines: The individual lines within a contact contain information specific to that line such as quantity, due date, part number, description, and status. Parties and Contacts: You can specify the parties to the contract, their contract roles, and contact names. Terms and Conditions: This text contains clarifying language about rules, instructions, notices, agreements, and other parameters under this contract. Articles: This is standard or nonstandard text clauses for the contract. Administration: You can assign workflows to a contract, such as an approval workflow. It can be generated from this region in order to receive authorizations. Standard Notes: You can enter and view standard notes for such items as packaging or shipping instructions. Print Forms: This tabbed window is used to define print forms, if required for this contract. User Attributes: Each user-defined attribute group is defined as a descriptive flexfield context. You can define as many contexts as required.
The first field in the header and lines windows, provides a drop down menu that enables you to access several different regions; listed here for the contract header (and shown in the next slide for the Lines window): Main: Used to enter primary contract. Administrative: Used to enter dates and customer requirements. Financial: Used to enter costing and other accounting information. Billing: Used to enter billing information for various contract types. Additional Billing: Used to enter additional billing data such as incentive information. Other: Used to enter export and inspection data. 3 June, 2013 13 This screen shot also shows the contract lines tab. The system supports the typical structure of a contract, i.e. header with lines and specific other attributes such as specified customers, general terms and conditions and specified deliverables. 3 June, 2013 14 Slide shows the link to the customer 3 June, 2013 15 3 June, 2013 16 Contract Printing: Any version of a contract document authored in Oracle Project Contracts can be printed as a draft document for internal review and recordkeeping purposes. You can print the document in whole or in part using your unique style format. This capability enables printing of a contract document from the Authoring Workbench for internal review and approvals, and for recordkeeping purposes. Contract Printing requires XML gateway and XML Publisher (XDO) installation. 3 June, 2013 17 Changes and Versioning: You can manage amendments and modifications to contract documents, an audit trail of contractual requirements is provided. Change management is workflow-based to implement approval and review of changes throughout the organization. Approval and Status Management: Approval hierarchies and cycles for different document types can be defined. Appropriate escalation routines and notifications are created to alert administrators about deadlines for proposal submittals and solicitation response receipts. 3 June, 2013 18 Sophisticated search functionality is provided to assist you locate specific contract lines Refer to pp.2-9 ff of Oracle Project Contracts User Guide for further information about Search Functionality 3 June, 2013 19 Before funding a contract, setup files and information used for some of the features: Set Up Project Agreements if integrating with Oracle Projects You can create PA Agreements in Oracle Project Contracts. However you may want to use the PA Agreements and funding set up in Oracle Projects. Define Funding Pools You can define a funding pool and its related funding source. Funding sources and allocations can be defined directly through Oracle Project Contracts if you do not use funding pools. Enter funding information in the Contract Authoring Workbench: The contract value information is entered in the Financial region, the Fund By party in the Parties and Contacts window, and the receivables terms and conditions in the Terms and Conditions window if integrating with Oracle Projects.
Refer Chapter 4 of the Oracle Project Contracts Guide for further information on Funding 3 June, 2013 20 Use the Go-To / Actions button to open the Funding Workbench.
To define a funding source: 1. Select a contract and navigate to the Funding Workbench. In the Contract region, the values in the Number, Change Request, Version, and Value fields default from the Contract Header window of the Contract Authoring Workbench. The Total Funded Amount field is 0 until you create and save a funding record. The value in this field is the combined total from multiple funding sources for this contract. 2. In the Funding Source region, select the organization funding this contract in the Party Name field. 3. In the Agreement Org field, you can assign an agreement owning organization. You can select any project owning organization assigned to the operating unit as the organization that owns the agreement. 4. If you want to create a Project Agreement, then enter an agreement number in the Agreement Number field. 5. If you are using a funding pool, then select that name in the Pool Name field. 6. In the Funding Status field, select Definitized if the information on this funding is set, or Undefinitized if other factors still need to be determined. (The Federal Government can issue a contract where the pricing, terms and Conditions will be negotiated at a later date. This type of contract is known as an Undefinitized Contract Action. The contractor needs to know when the government intends to finalize (Definitize) the contract.)
3 June, 2013 21 This slide shows the Funding Workbench 3 June, 2013 22 The Funding Workbench lets you define and modify the source of funds used to purchase contract items. When you initially choose Funding Workbench, the Contact Funding Wizard displays for creating a funding source. 3 June, 2013 23 If you want to create a Projects Agreement from contract funding, then enter an agreement number in that field here. Then click on the Allocations button to link the funding to specific projects 3 June, 2013 24 If this is a new funding source without an agreement, when you choose Create / Update Agreement for the first time, the Agreement Options window displays. If this agreement has already been created, the record is updated in Oracle Projects.
3 June, 2013 25 If you choose Convert Existing Project Agreement, then the Contract Funding Wizard lets you link existing agreements created in Oracle Projects to this contract for funding. Available agreements are those for the projects in the contract project hierarchy, using the same customer defined in the Fund By party role. When you record an agreement, you can specify payment terms for invoices against the agreement, and whether there are limits to the amount of revenue you can accrue and bill against the agreement 3 June, 2013 26 From the Oracle Projects Billing perspective the linked contract is also visible through the Project Agreement window. The Description Created by Project Contracts will be inserted if the agreement was created from the Funding workbench as described earlier. 3 June, 2013 27 Deliverable-Based Billing: The Find Billable Deliverables window is where you can query a document for items that are available for invoicing. From this window you can navigate to the Deliverable-Based Billing window to create billing transactions. See: Overview of Deliverable-Based Billing, page 7-1 in Oracle Project Contracts User Guide 3 June, 2013 28 Refer Chapter 5 of Oracle Project Contracts User Guide
If you click on the View button, one of the options is Projects data 3 June, 2013 29 Refer to chapter 7 in the Oracle Project Contracts User Guide for further detail on Billing.
Individual deliverables are available for billing when: If you are using Oracle Projects for deliverable-based billing, the event types are defined Either the Definitized or Bill Without Definitization indicator is selected on the Financial region of the Contract Lines tabbed window The Billable indicator on the Main region of the Contract Lines tabbed window is selected for each line to be billed In the Deliverable Tracking System, the Ready To Bill indicator is selected The status of the contract line has Eligible for Invoicing enabled
3 June, 2013 30 To find available deliverables for billing: 1. Select your contract and navigate to Deliverable-Based Billing window from the Actions window. The Find Billable Deliverables window displays for entering criteria for querying records. You can search all billing records or specify those that are created, initiated, or neither. You can also search on items, lines, deliverables, and deliverable dates. 2. Enter all criteria you want to use, and click (B) Find. The Deliverable-Based Billing window displays. This window is used to view or initiate billing transactions for contract lines. When the window initially displays, it is in a view only mode. All available contract lines and corresponding deliverables that meet your search criteria display. 3. The line rows display information in the following fields: Line, Deliverable, Organization, Item, Order Quantity, Quantity Shipped, Unit Of Measure, Unit Price, Currency, Delivery Date. You can access the regions used to view the billing events by choosing View Events or Initiate Events: When you choose View Events, the Billing Events region displays all events for a contract, both processed and not processed. This is indicated by the Event Processed? check box. When you choose Initiate Events, the Saved Events window displays all the events for a record that have been saved but not initiated.
3 June, 2013 31 1. Select a record and choose View Events to display billing record events created for a deliverable. The Billing Events region displays (screen shot above). 2. Select a record and choose New to create a billing event for this record, or Open to view the details of the billing record event. The Events Details window displays; it has two tabbed regions, Billing Information and Reference Information. Events that are processed, cannot be changed. 3. In the Billing Information region, select billing event values; e.g. the Event Date and Event Type (as defined in Oracle Projects). The Event Number field and Event Processed check box are updated when billing is initiated and this information is passed to the Events Summary window in Oracle Projects. 4. The value in the Billing Project field is defaulted from the Project field for the line in the Contract Authoring Workbench or Deliverable Tracking System. You can add or change it. 5. Optionally, you can select a value in the Billing Task field. 6. Billing Organization, Item, and Description fields are defaulted from the Contract Authoring Workbench and the Deliverables Tracking System: these values can be changed. 7. The Bill Quantity displays the deliverable quantity value, and can be changed. If changed, the value in the Unit Price field automatically adjusts to the new quantity. 8. Select the Multi-Currency Billing Enabled check box if required and then enter Currency info.. 9. The value for the Bill Amount field is calculated and displayed. 10. Revenue Amount displays the same value as the Bill Amount, but can be changed. 11. In the Reference Information tabbed window, you can enter reference information and other details. 12. Optionally, you can select a Change Request # for this line as a notation on the bill record. 13. Select any applicable funding reference information in the three Funding Reference fields. 14. Choose Initiate Billing to generate the Deliverable-Based Billing records. Note: If after the billing records were generated, there is an inconsistency in the billing amounts between Oracle Project Contracts and Project Billing, the system displays the Re-initiate Billing button. To synchronize the billing amounts, click the Re-initiate Billing. 3 June, 2013 32 This screen shot shows the Billing Events created in Oracle Project Billing by Oracle Project Contracts 3 June, 2013 33 Delivery Based Billing Events Delivery-based billing events are created based on completed deliverables in the Deliverable Tracking System (DTS) in Oracle Project Contracts. They are used only with Oracle Project Contracts integration. In the Oracle Project Contracts DTS, you can designate a contract deliverable line as billable. After a contract deliverable is delivered to the customer, the DTS initiates an Oracle Projects event. The billing event is automatically created in Oracle Projects for further processing. You can bill either individual events or multiple events at once. Generating a Delivery-Based Billing Event from the DTS - - When items are ready for billing (for example, shipped and inspected), you can select all billable deliverables ready for billing, enter an event type and date, and create an event eligible for draft invoicing. Tieback Billing Event to Deliverables - You can tie back the billing event created for a deliverable to the deliverable for collection activity tracking. Workflow Message to Project Manager on Event Creation - The project manager can receive a workflow notification that a billing event has been created for the contract project. The project manager can then review the event and make changes as necessary in the Oracle Project Contracts DTS. Subprojects Association If you are using Oracle Project Contracts, you can associate a project task with one or more projects to create a project hierarchy. This project hierarchy provides you with the ability to have multiple billing methods per project, complex organizational work structures, and different overhead rate structures within a project. For more information about billing project contracts, refer to the Oracle Project Contracts User Guide. 3 June, 2013 34 This graphic summarises the interaction between Oracle Project Contracts and Oracle Project Billing