Question:
Hi All
if you are confirming the WBS/ network activity, lets consider that the activity requires 200 man hrs to be completed completely, using cats u have confirmed only for a 2 weeks ( say 100 hrs) lets assume the remaining work is confirmed later
Questions
1) where do find the balance work remaining in hte activity/wbs
2) can the activitiy be confirmed for more than 200 hrs
3)if we were to bill the activity/wbs mid way at actuals where do we pick up the values from , in the next billing cycle is the activity/wbs billed for the remaining work
4)how do we set authorisation in cats to restrict a person to enter the work time for the network he concerned with
5)If i want to bill the actual no of hrs or effort enterd thru cats to activity/WBS, can i use this actual no of hrs value from PS to bill the same in SD,
6) Can we confirm WBS element directly using CATs
has some one implemeted PS for IT industry i may require some cunsulting tips
regards
murali
Answer:
Here are some answers:
1) where do find the balance work remaining in hte activity/wbs
For balance of work remaining in an activity/WBS, I recommend Report CNS40. After running the report, I change the fields displayed to include Actual Work, Remaining Work and Work.
2) can the activity be confirmed for more than 200 hrs
Yes, it can.
3)if we were to bill the activity/wbs mid way at actuals where do we pick up the values from , in the next billing cycle is the activity/wbs billed for the remaining work
I'm not sure what you mean, but I think you could get the values you need from the same report. Just chose the Actual Costs field.
4)how do we set authorisation in cats to restrict a person to enter the work time for the network he concerned with
I'd love to find a way. This from a previous post:
This can be approached in 2 ways
- if the proj mgr wants to stop ALL timecharging, then you can configure a user status for NWA to dis allow timecharging. This may have other implications (such as confirmations etc) which you may have to think about
- the other option is to look into one of the user exits in Timesheets. CATS has about 12 user exits and a lot can be done in terms of data validation when entering time in Timesheets. So the answer is in looking at timesheets and not projects
Hope this helps
GK
My management didn't want to pursue the user exits option, so I'm stuck.
5)If i want to bill the actual no of hrs or effort enterd thru cats to activity/WBS, can i use this actual no of hrs value from PS to bill the same in SD,
Not familiar with SD. Sorry
6) Can we confirm WBS element directly using CATs
Yes, but I do not recommend it if you are using Networks and Activities as well. Totals at the WBS Element will appear screwed up in PS Hierarchy Reports and will drive your Cost folks crazy.
Answer:
Q1) where do find the balance work remaining in hte activity/wbs
A1) It depends. If you are not doing any progress analysis or POC work, than you can just look at any of the planned/actual reports. They will show you the work from the CO point of view, but the quantities should be accurate. You can also look at any of the individual overview to help see the actual "work (confimation)" point of view. CNS47 is pretty good for that.
Q2)can the activity be confirmed for more than 200 hrs
A2) As long as you have no availabiliy control issues if you are budgeting (on your attached WBS element).
Q3) if we were to bill the activity/wbs mid way at actuals where do we pick up the values from , in the next billing cycle is the activity/wbs billed for the remaining work
Q5) If i want to bill the actual no of hrs or effort enterd thru cats to activity/WBS, can i use this actual no of hrs value from PS to bill the same in SD,
A3&5) I will answer them both. If you are billing T&M, and if you are using 4.5b or above, you should look at Resource Related Billing. You configure a DIP profile -- which uses characteristics of the CO posting from COEP to determine the appropriate material. With labor, this is often done with the Activity Type.
The DIP profile remembers what you have billed -- you can automatically generate the invoice as needed. It is fairly standard and basic configuaration -- the documentation should be able to walk you through it. The only difficult solution is when you would need to place a CAP or ceiling on the contract -- you have to code a user exit and a few pricing routines to recognize that cap.
The other advantage is that the DIP profile plays nicely with results analysis, which will be neseccary to adjust the "actual revenue" SD will post with what the accrued revenue should be.
Q4) do we set authorisation in cats to restrict a person to enter the work time for the network he concerned with
A4) There is no way with authorizations that I know of -- but you wouldn't want to use authorizations anyway. The easiest way would be to implement user exit CATS0003. This is a validation of time recorded -- and check the PERNR against the employee assignment (or work center assignment) on the activity. THe other thing you should consider is using the worklist functionality to let the user just choose the project instead of typing it in.
If either of these are too complicated, the easy manual workaround is to change the CATS profile to require approval, then have the PM approve it . Any unapproved hours will not transfer.
Answer:
Hi,
3)if we were to bill the activity/wbs mid way at actuals where do we pick up the values from , in the next billing cycle is the activity/wbs billed for the remaining work
Try CJI3- actual cost - line items report and give a range of cost elements
represeting the activity types and the concerned from and to dates.
This will give you the actual hours & actual cost confirmed per wbs and networks attached to it.
Regards,
manohar
Answer:
Hi All
thanks.. for those suggesstion
My main idea was to monitor the T & M software project where only work done is billed weekly or monthly. but a ceiling of 48 hrs per weeks is applicable. Thru cats each employee confirms the n/w activity for the week which is subject to approval after approval the times are transferred to PS, I also want to monitor actual expenses like travel, laptop costs etc and bill to clients. From PS using DIP profile (resource related billing) the actual effort (per week or month) can billed in SD.
Also i want to bill these efforts monthly or weekly, can i keep track of this progressive billing thru some reports
from the reply i have got i can do this, can you kindly elaborate the process
Thanks and Regards
Muralidhar
Answer:
Muralidhar,
I think elaborating on this solution goes beyond the scope of this forum. To do so would involve knowing more detail about what you are trying to implement.
ON a high level, the DIP profile is your answer, and there is actually pretty good documentation out there on it. There used to be an excellent white paper on SAPNet, I assume it is still there. It went into detail on the configuration and user exits.
If with the documentation, you still are unsure of how to implement this, I believe it would be time to bring in a consultant. Like I said, it would be difficult and dangerous to give exact implementation plans on here. Without knowing everything, we can't elaborate. This is especially true when it comes to billing. If you implement incorrectly when it comes to billing, your cash flow will be negatively impacted for one, and possibly worse, you could actually lose customers.
The DIP profile isn't tricky, but must be done right...
Thanks
Answer:
hi
I have done the DIP profile customisation as per the help documentation, but i am getting message
"no expenditure items found"
although there are confirmation (expenditure like material hours worked) that that exits for that WBS
how do i go from here
Thanks
Answer:
Hi All
The reason for the error message is that it appears you are trying out bits and pieces of PS, and trying to plug holes as it appears.
All your issues can be addressed by more than one way. But one has to review your Business Process, clearly put your requirements together, and then see how to fit in your PS-CATS, PS-SD, and/or CS requirements.
It is hard and risky in production environment to try out bits and pieces of PS/SD/CATS/CS, and you will run the risk of jeopardizing the flow of quantities and values in the system, resullting in erroneous billing and cost/revenue reports/cash flow/profitability analysis etc.
For instance, you can defintely post time against WBSEs through CATS, but there are specific pre-requisites from CO & HR that has to be met first.
I would suggest you call in a consultant who would put all these missing links together.
Alfredo.
if you are confirming the WBS/ network activity, lets consider that the activity requires 200 man hrs to be completed completely, using cats u have confirmed only for a 2 weeks ( say 100 hrs) lets assume the remaining work is confirmed later
Questions
1) where do find the balance work remaining in hte activity/wbs
2) can the activitiy be confirmed for more than 200 hrs
3)if we were to bill the activity/wbs mid way at actuals where do we pick up the values from , in the next billing cycle is the activity/wbs billed for the remaining work
4)how do we set authorisation in cats to restrict a person to enter the work time for the network he concerned with
5)If i want to bill the actual no of hrs or effort enterd thru cats to activity/WBS, can i use this actual no of hrs value from PS to bill the same in SD,
6) Can we confirm WBS element directly using CATs
has some one implemeted PS for IT industry i may require some cunsulting tips
regards
murali