Project Classes and Project Types

Project Classes
Project classes are system defined. You must set up at least one project type for each project
class you plan to use. The project classes are:
• Indirect
- Track overhead activities and costs.
• Capital
- Track product/asset development activities and costs, and costs are capitalized as
one or more assets.
• Contract
- Contract projects track cost, revenue, and billing.
Project Types
The project type controls how Oracle Projects creates and processes projects, and is a primary
classification for the projects your business manages. You must set up at least one project
type to create projects in Oracle Projects. In a multi–organization environment, you must set
up project types for each operating unit.

Project Creation
A project is a primary unit of work that can be broken down into one or more tasks.
You can create a new project by copying a project template or an existing project. Oracle
Projects copies the project, its project structure, and all of the project and task options to the
new project and the budget amounts to the new project’s budget.
• If you copy an existing capital project, Oracle Projects copies all the asset assignments
and most asset data to your new capital project. It does not copy the asset number, asset
location, employee to which the asset is assigned, and actual date placed in service. It
shifts the Estimated In Service Date by the number of days between the start date in the
project template and the start date that you enter.
• If you copy from a template with an agreement, funding, and revenue and cost budget
baselines, Oracle Projects copies the agreement, funding, revenue budgets, and cost
budgets to the new project.
• If you copy a project from an existing project that has an attachment, the attachment is
copied to the new project.
Oracle Projects does not copy any transactions associated with the source project to the new
project. These transactions include expenditure items, requisitions, purchase orders, supplier
invoices, and billing events (contract projects).
Project Creation (continued)
Defining Your Financial Structure When you create a project from a project template or an
existing project, Oracle Projects copies the financial structure from the source project or
template. When you create a project template, Oracle Projects automatically creates one
default task for the financial structure. You may want to alter this structure by creating a new
top task to begin a new branch of the work breakdown structure or by creating additional
subtasks under an existing task.
Defining Your Workplan Structure
1. Navigate to the Project Setup page for a project and select Structures.
2. Select the Enable Workplan Structure check box.
3. If you want the financial structure to be the same as the workplan structure, select the
Share Workplan and Financial Structures check box.
- When a workplan structure is shared with a financial structure, you can set the
workplan up so that the system automatically updates task transaction dates to
reflect the most up–to–date workplan dates, such as actual or scheduled dates.
- If the financial and workplan structures are shared, you can enter progress
information only through the web interface.
Projects and Tasks
In Oracle Projects, a structure is a hierarchical arrangement of tasks used by a project. You
can set up different structures in a project for different business purposes. In each project
structure, you can define numerous tasks, using as many levels of tasks as you want.

A project can have two types of structures: the workplan and financial structures. Workplan
structures organize the tasks that define the project work. Financial structures help project
managers track billing, costs, budgets, and other financial information for projects.

You can create a project with one structure defined for workplan management and another for
financial management or you can use one structure for both purposes.

You use workplan structures for planning project work and collecting progress information
for projects and tasks. You can create multiple versions of the workplan for what–if analysis
for project managers and a historical archive of changes to the workplan.

You can set up a financial structure for a project that is separate from the workplan structure.
For example, the ability to create a separate work breakdown structure for financial purposes
helps you budget and track costs at a general level of detail while you manage the workplan
for the project in greater detail.

Defining Tasks
When defining tasks, consider whether the new task should be a subtask or a peer task to an
existing task.
You cannot create subtasks for a task that has any of the following:
• Transactions charged to it
• Budget amounts (and the task is not a top task)
• Transaction controls
• Burden schedule overrides
• Any billing overrides for contract projects
• Asset assignments for capital projects (and the task is not a top task)

Budgets: Budget Entry

You can create budgets when you want to use Oracle Projects budgetary controls and budget
integration features. To create or revise budgets, perform the following:
1. Enter or revise a draft budget for the project.
2. Enter budget amounts in the draft budget using any of the following methods:
- Copy the budget from the project template or existing project when you first create
the project.
- Enter the budget cost and/or revenue amounts directly.
- Enter the budget quantities. Oracle Projects calculates the cost and/or revenue
amounts.
- Copy the budget from an earlier version of the project’s budget, if you are revising
a budget for which you have previously created a baseline.
- Copy the actual amounts to the budget amounts.
3. Submit your budget to indicate that budget entry is complete.
4. Create the budget baseline.

Budgets: Entering a Budget Draft

A budget draft is a holding area for budget data that is currently in process. You enter or
revise
the budget amounts for a project in a draft. The status for a draft is Working. You cannot
report against a draft or use it to compare budgeted to actual amounts.
To enter or revise a budget draft:
1. Navigate to the Budgets window.
2. Select the budget type
3. Click Find Draft.
4. Enter the version name.
5. Optionally, enter a change reason.
6. Optionally, enter a description for the budget version.
7. Select a budget entry method.
8. Select a resource list, if necessary.
9. Optionally, select the New Original check box.

Budgets: Budget Levels

You can budget your project at one of these levels:
• Project
• Top task
• Lowest task
• Top or lowest task, different levels in different work breakdown structure (WBS)
branches
You should choose the budget level and detail for tracking variances, which is not always at
the lowest level.
• If you budget at the project level, you cannot budget at the task level.
• If you budget at the top and lowest task levels, you can use a combination of the top tasks
and the lowest tasks in the same budget but not within the same WBS branch.
• You can never budget at the middle task level.

Budgets: Submitting a Draft and Creating a Baseline

When you submit a draft, Oracle Projects calls the budget verification extension.
• If the draft passes the rules in the budget verification extension, the budget status changes
to Submitted.
• If the draft does not pass the rules in the budget verification extension, its status remains
set to Working.
If the budget type of the budget uses Workflow to process budget status changes, the budget
status becomes In Progress when a draft is submitted. While the budget Workflow is active
for a budget, you cannot enter data for the budget and cannot change the status using the
Budget window.

When a baseline is created, the system copies the draft amounts into a new baseline budget,
the Current Budget, which is used for reporting. All previously created baseline budgets are
historical baseline versions. The Current Budget and all other baseline budget versions have a
status of Baselined.
If a budget type uses Workflow for budget status changes, a draft budget automatically has
the baseline created after it is submitted, if it passes all the Workflow approvals and other
requirements.

Budgets: Baselining Budgets

The first time you baseline a budget, that budget becomes the Original Budget.
The most recent baseline version is the Current Budget, used for reporting.
All previously created baseline budgets are historical baseline versions.
The Project Status Inquiry (PSI) compares actuals to the Current and Original (or revised
original) budgets.

Transactions: Entry Methods

Preapproved Batches Approved on paper; batch entry online in Oracle Projects.
• Timecards
• Expense reports
• Usage logs
• Miscellaneous transactions
Oracle Self-Service Time and Expenses
Transaction Import
Imported from external cost collection systems.
Project Allocations
Other Oracle Applications Standard use of product.
• Requisitions (Oracle Purchasing)
• Purchase orders (Oracle Purchasing)
• Supplier invoices (Oracle Payables)
• Timecards (Oracle Self Service Time)
• Expense reports (Oracle Self Service Expense)