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A
arkvalleyinfo
November 28, 2018
Question

I enter my labor through projects, but it doesn't post to the job. I am not getting an accurate job cost output. How do I do it correctly?

  • November 28, 2018
  • 3 replies
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Original commenter did not share additional details

3 replies

Rose-A
Rose-A
November 29, 2018

Hey there, josh5.

I'm here to ensure that you'll be able to enter your labor via projects in QuickBooks Online.

 

For me to be able to provide you with the right answer, could you please tell me what information that doesn't show to the job? 

 

Projects are a feature in QuickBooks Online Plus that helps you organize all the moving pieces of your project, including transactions, time and running reports. With this feature, you can look at an individual job or all open jobs to see transactions, profitability, and outstanding invoices.

 

Here's an article that you might find helpful about projects: QuickBooks Online Projects.

 

The Community is always here to help you out. You can always get back to me,  I'll help you the best I can. Have a nice day!

M
MVG1
March 28, 2020

This question appears to have never been answered. And I'm now having a similar issue. Have built several dozen PROJECTS for my homebuilder client. And up until now, for the past month, the job PLs have been working and accurate. Tonight I log in to his books and the labor costs are GONE from his project PLs. If I review the TIME ACTIVITY reports in the projects all of the times are detailed there. But they no longer populate into the PLs. No explanation as to why.

 

As an aside to this, this is the 3rd issue I've had with using this feature of QBO (client on Advanced version). Projects feature is buggy and unstable. Suggest anyone considering using it tread lightly.

R
RCV
March 28, 2020

Let's perform some troubleshooting solutions to get the Profit and Loss working, MVG1.

 

I've checked here on our end and there's no reported case where the labor costs are not posted in the Project report There are times when a browser's cache data becomes full of frequently-accessed pages or damaged. When this happens, pages like accessing your report doesn't load properly.

 

To better isolate if this is a browser issue or not, let's access QuickBooks Online (QBO) using a private or incognito window.

 

Here's how:

 

  • Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
  • Microsoft Edge: Ctrl + Shift + P
  • Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
  • Safari: Command + Shift + N

 

Then, go back to the Project report to see if the transactions posted in the Time Activity column is reflecting in the Project Columns section.

 

If it works, let's clear your browser's cache to delete temporarily stored files and free some space on your browser. You can also use other supported, up-to-date browsers to be thorough. 

 

If the same thing happens, try clearing Intuit-specific cookies to refresh website preferences on your program. Just proceed to Step 2: Clear Intuit-specific cookies from your browser section in this article: Clear cache and cookies to fix issues when using QuickBooks Online.

 

I'll also personally share your feedback with our engineers regarding the instability of the Project feature. 

 

To learn more about Projects, please refer to these articles:

 

I'm just one reply away if you need a hand with creating recurring transactions or any QBO related. I'm determined to ensure your success. Wishing you and your business continued success in all that you do. 

S
SarahannC
May 6, 2020

Hi there, Roofer.

 

There are things that we'll need to figure out why the labor costs are not posting to the projects itself. We can start reviewing the setup. Let's ensure that we haven't missed any of this needed information.

 

Within the Projects page, make sure to add the correct employee and cost rate. For the complete details, you can check out here. This is to ensure that the labor costs will be posted to your projects.

 

Aside from that, we can also run the Time Activities by Employee Detail report and filter it to show the billable time. It'll show the labor costs that was to a project. Here's how:

 

  1. Click Reports on the left panel.
  2. Type Time Activities by Employee Detail in the search box.
  3. Click the Customize button in the upper right-hand corner.
  4. Maximize the Filter section.
  5. Check the box for Billable, and then select Billable.
  6. Click Run report.

 

You may want to check out this article. It's all about customizing the reports in the Online product.

 

Post again if you have other questions. I'm right here to help. I hope you're good. Stay safe, and be well.

M
MVG1
May 6, 2020

Hey, Stupid Roofer. 

 

You're not Stupid at all. In fact, you've stumbled on to a ***known bug*** in the system that has an open ticket with Intuit Engineering on which multiple of us are waiting for a fix. So, with all due respect to Sarahann C, the advice given here isn't useful. There's no fixing this issue at the moment.

 

Sarahann, would recommend you talk with the Engineering Department for more information on if or when this issue will be fixed. While the information you provide here would be useful if the software were calculating Project PLs correctly, it's not useful in this particular scenario. In fact, the issue is with the software, not the setup. I've now spent a sum total of more than 8 hours on support calls with various people at Intuit, none of whom would believe that the software wasn't working correctly and all of whom were, same as you are here, certain it had something to do with the setup. 

 

Simple answer: the software is broken at the moment.

 

Now, one could be forgiven for asking how it is that Intuit is selling and promoting software that doesn't perform as advertised. Great question. Making matters worse here, Intuit appears to be in no particular hurry to fix the issue. We've been grappling with it for several months now. Having to manually add back in all of the labor on multiple construction projects underway.

 

To those of you reading this who haven't yet bought this software: beware. If Project PLs is a feature you're looking for be advised they do not work; they do not calculate correctly. Intuit is aware of this and has an open ticket going that it's not prioritizing or making any progress toward fixing. And likely won't unless and until pressured to do so.

 

MVG

 

 

    N
    ndamo
    May 22, 2020

    The worst part about this is that all of the reps act like they have never heard of this issue.  

      J
      JennaM
      January 23, 2021
      I have a construction business, and have been using Quickbooks Online for over 5 years. A couple weeks ago, I started learning how to use the newer "Project" feature. I was excited to utilize it, because it fits our industry and how I use QB well. I was disappointed when I got everything setup and talking to each other (ie. TSheets), only to find out my labor costs on each project are not being calculated on the "Project Profit Margin" calculations. It looks like this is an old issue, but has not been resolved. When are the QB engineers planning to fix it?
      M
      mv32
      January 23, 2021

      I appreciate that you'd inquired about the update, @JennaM.

       

      Thanks for sharing with us your interest and insights in this functionality. Our engineers were able to fix this months ago. I'll help you get this resolve at once in the Project Profit Margin calculation.

       

      The cache files may have interrupted, which leads to why you're unable to get the desired results when it calculates the profit margin. In this case, let's isolate this by running QuickBooks Online on an incognito mode.

       

      • Google Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N
      • Microsoft Edge: Ctrl + Shift + P
      • Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + P
      • Safari: Command + Shift + N

      If this works, go back to your regular browser, then clear its cache. Alternatively, you can run QuickBooks with other supported browsers.

       

      However, if the issue persists, I'd suggest contacting our Customer Support team to review this further. From there, you can submit a snippet to support this and get examined. 

       

      I've added other articles that you can check more about this feature:

       

      Feel free to place a comment if you have more questions about QuickBooks. I'm always here to help. Keep safe, JennaM!

      R
      roadkings
      March 19, 2021

      I don't show that this issue has been corrected. I have tried running QBO through the incognito window and I still can not see the labor cost in the project reporting. I have more luck keeping track manually.

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