This article explains the budget and contract adjustment features introduced in JobRunner V22, including how they affect job budgets, contract values, Work in Progress (WIP) reporting, and revenue recognition.
Use this article to understand how product substitutions, budget adjustments, and contract adjustments are handled while maintaining financial accuracy and audit trails. The article also covers related changes to the Profits tab.
Applies to: JobRunner V22 and later. The Profits tab improvements also apply to FloorManager.
Overview
JobRunner V22 introduced additional financial controls to improve the accuracy of the WIP report and provide flexibility when adjusting budgets and contract totals.
These changes include:
- A Budget Adjustment tool in the Profits tab under More Details.
- A Contract Adjustment tool in the Profits tab under More Details.
- Restrictions on adding and deleting job lines.
- Restrictions on modifying sell quantities, budget amounts, and sell prices.
- Restrictions on modifying labor lookups and job line dates.
- Restrictions on overriding job grand totals.
- Restrictions on modifying gross profit margins (GPM).
These controls help preserve the original financial information associated with a job and provide a traceable history of adjustments.
Profits tab improvements
Available for: JobRunner and FloorManager
Improvements to the Profits tab change when projected costs are updated on individual order entry lines and in the summary fields at the bottom of a sale.
Additional improvements support the auditing of cost trends on individual order entry lines.
Important: These changes apply to the Sales Agreement module only. They do not affect Quotes.
Training video: Profits tab improvements
Watch the following video to understand the changes to projected cost calculations and the auditing of order entry line trends.
Watch the Profits tab improvements video
Budget adjustments
Available for: JobRunner only
Why budget adjustments were changed
Product availability and supply chain shortages can require materials to be substituted during a project.
For example, a particular manufacturer's flooring product may be unavailable, but a comparable product from another manufacturer may be available.
These substitutions may not require a change to the original job budget or contract value. Previously, however, substituting products during order entry could change these financial amounts.
JobRunner V22 introduced changes to accommodate product substitutions while maintaining the accuracy of job budgets and contract values.
Challenge 1: Product substitutions
When a product catalog item was selected during order entry, JobRunner could retrieve the associated budgeted cost and selling price again.
This could change the overall job budget and contract value, even when the intention was only to substitute a comparable product.
Restoring the original amounts could be difficult, particularly when the original line-level budget needed to remain available for reference.
Solution: Preserve original financial values
JobRunner allows users to substitute a product without automatically changing the budget or selling price on the order entry line.
The original budget and overall contract value remain unchanged. The substitution occurs without an additional message prompt.
Preserving these values is important because overstated or understated budgets can affect percentage-of-completion calculations and produce incorrect revenue recognition adjustments.
Challenge 2: Adjusting the overall budget
Although original line-level budgets remain unchanged, the overall job budget may need to be adjusted when projected costs differ significantly from the original estimate.
Directly modifying individual line budgets does not provide the audit history needed to identify when and why a budget changed.
Without this history, budget modifications can affect the WIP report and revenue recognition calculations without a clear explanation.
Solution: Budget Adjustment tool
The Budget Adjustment tool creates a separate order entry line specifically for adjusting the overall job budget.
The tool allows users to:
- Increase or decrease the overall job budget.
- Make multiple budget adjustments as a project progresses.
- Maintain an auditable history of budget adjustments.
- Preserve the original budgets on individual order entry lines.
- View budget adjustment lines within the job.
Important: Budget adjustment lines are visible within the job but do not print. They also do not appear on the Schedule of Values.
Choosing when to apply a budget adjustment
The date associated with a budget adjustment follows the header date of the job stage where the adjustment is entered.
Choose where to apply an adjustment based on when the budget needs to change:
- Original master contract: Apply the adjustment to the original master contract when the budget needs to be changed from the beginning of the project.
- Existing change order: Apply the adjustment to a selected change order when the budget needs to change at a later date.
- No Charge change order: Create a No Charge change order when a separate change order is needed solely for a budget adjustment.
Training video: Budget adjustment overview
Watch the following video for an overview of budget adjustments in JobRunner.
Watch the budget adjustment overview video
Training video: Budget Adjustment tool
This additional training video demonstrates the Budget Adjustment tool used to create auditable budget adjustments.
Watch the Budget Adjustment tool video
Contract adjustments
Available for: JobRunner only
Why contract adjustments were introduced
Change orders may be submitted for payment but rejected because of a dispute over the contract value.
The Contract Adjustment tool allows users to change the overall contract value and resubmit the adjusted amount for approval.
These adjustments are recorded to maintain an auditable history of contract changes.
How contract adjustments work
Similar to the Budget Adjustment tool, the Contract Adjustment tool creates a separate order entry line.
The adjustment can increase or decrease the overall contract value.
Contract adjustment lines:
- Maintain an auditable record of contract value changes.
- Can be printed on documents.
- Can be bundled with other order entry lines.
- Can be classified as material or labor for applicable sales tax purposes.
Schedule of Values considerations
Contract adjustment lines appear on the Schedule of Values for payment application purposes.
Important: When the Schedule of Values is prepared using the bundled layout, contract adjustment lines may not appear separately.
Training video: Contract Adjustment tool
Watch the following video to understand how the Contract Adjustment tool modifies contract values while maintaining an audit trail.
Watch the Contract Adjustment tool video
Understanding the differences
Budget adjustments and contract adjustments serve different purposes, even though both create separate order entry lines.
| Feature | Budget adjustment | Contract adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Modify the overall job budget | Modify the overall contract value |
| Increase or decrease | Yes | Yes |
| Creates a separate order entry line | Yes | Yes |
| Maintains an audit trail | Yes | Yes |
| Prints on documents | No | Yes |
| Appears on Schedule of Values | No | Yes, unless the bundled layout is used |
| Material or labor classification | Not specified | Supported |
Summary
JobRunner V22 introduced the Budget Adjustment and Contract Adjustment tools to improve financial reporting and auditability.
Budget adjustments allow users to modify the overall job budget while preserving original line-level budgets.
Contract adjustments allow users to increase or decrease contract values while maintaining an auditable record.
These tools help maintain the integrity of WIP reporting and revenue recognition calculations as projects progress.
Review the training videos in this article for additional information about the changes introduced in JobRunner V22.