[GNC] So confused about Jobs

[Adrien Monteleone]

Sabina,

I don't think there is any sort of 'reconciliation' feature no matter 
how you use 'Jobs'.

Yes, there is an somewhat easier way:

The term 'Jobs' is probably a bit off unfortunately. There is an old 
thread here from a few years ago, where the programmer (Derek Atkins) 
who added the feature explains it for me in some detail. I'll see if I 
can dig up a link to it for you. (that info should probably be added to 
the Wiki)

A better term would be 'Purchase Orders' and I have an open bug report 
to make that change.

As for tracking costs per project or customer, that is somewhat doable, 
but until some sort of specific tagging functionality is added, you'll 
have to get creative with your reports to see the result.

(I think I even have an old thread on the detailed steps for that as 
well somewhere.)

Until I can find those threads, the basics are this:

1) 'tag' your transactions with some searchable term. You can precede 
this term with a symbol like a '#' or '@' if you like to make it more 
obvious that is a tag. (this might help with spelling consistently, 
since spelling is critical to searching later) You can put this tag, 
just about wherever you like depending on your needs. (Description, 
Notes, or Memo, but I don't think the Action field will work.)

2) Run a Transaction Report filtered based on the desired tag. (such as 
a customer name, or project name) There is a built in Filter feature for 
this report, but I find more utility using the Regex feature.

3) If you need a full P&L type report for a customer or job, you'll have 
to export that Transaction Report to a spreadsheet and do final 
formatting and manipulation from there. The current P&L (Income 
Statement) Report doesn't include filtering by custom text like these 
tags. (It can do other filtering, just not this one, yet)


-----
I'll conclude for now with a heads up that even thinking of 'Jobs' as 
really 'Purchase Orders', might not still be of much use in some cases.

A prime case they don't work for is where you order from a supplier, but 
for multiple customers/projects/jobs. GnuCash can't do that. It is a 1:1 
relationship. So if you order several products from Vendor A on a bill 
tied to a Job, and need to invoice some line items to Customer B and 
other line items to Customer C, GnuCash won't let you.

And to complicate matters, 'Jobs' with a Vendor, and 'Jobs' with a 
Customer are *not* the same actual 'Job' in the database, even if they 
share the same name! (confusing, I know)

Regards,
Adrien

On 7/5/21 12:47 PM, Sabina Iseli-Otto wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I think I might be misunderstanding how jobs work. I’ve gone through the list archives and the help information on the website but I think I might be missing something super-basic — too used to my old way of doing things!
> 
> I would like to assign the cost of materials to specific jobs: to track them, not necessarily to have them appear on invoices for customers.
> 
> I’m not sure if it matters, but so far, I have not been using GnuCash’s invoicing feature (making my own separately).
> 
> I think I need to add job costs directly to invoices for specific customers, is that right?
> 
> If I add those job costs to invoices, will those job costs show up in a place where I can reconcile them against my statements?
> 
> Is there a better way to track individual job costs?
> 
> Thank you for your help!
> 
> Warm wishes from soon-to-be-sunny Alberta,
> Sabina