About the JB Progress Billing Form

Use this form to enter and/or adjust a contract’s billing amounts.

Use the Info tab to enter/modify information about a bill, and the Items tab to enter/modify information about individual bill items.

Note: When you have set a maximum retention limit for a contract, this form displays a message in red that says "Contract set for Max Retention limits." For more information, see Setting a Maximum Retention Amount for Contracts.

Entering Bill Information

You can set up billings manually or automatically (by initialization). To initialize billings, select File > Initialize Billing. When you initialize a progress billing, all items on a contract with a Bill Type of ‘Progress’ or ‘Both’ are added to the billing and display on the Items tab. The system initializes all previous values (Previous Units and Previous Amount) for each item. For more information on the initialization process, refer to JB Progress Bill Initialize in Related Topics below.

When entering a bill manually, much of the information on this form defaults once you specify the contract. This information includes the customer, billing address, and payment terms. As with initialization, only contract items with a Bill Type of ‘Progress’ or ‘Both’ are added to the billing. All previous values for each item are included.

Previous bill values are initialized as the sum of the Previous and This Bill amounts for the contract’s last billing (the billing whose bill month/number are prior to the current bill month/number). If there are no previous billings for the contract, the previous values default as 0.00.

Note: If you certify billings (that is, you have selected the Certify Progress Billing Claims check box in the JB Company Parameters form), additional fields are available for entering the claim date, flagging the bill as ‘certified’, and entering the certification date. For more information, see Certifying Billings.

Setting Grid Information for the Items Tab

Once you have entered billing information (manually or through initialization), item information for the bill displays on the Items tab. The Items tab displays standard information that can be edited for each item on the invoice. The Options menu contains four grid options that display additional information that you can enter/edit as necessary. The following list describes each option.

  • Item Unit Entry – Displays columns for Unit Price, Contract Units, Previous Units, This Bill Units, and To Date Units columns. If the unit of measure is LS (lump sum), these fields are not available for input/edit.
    Note: Changes to Contract Units, Contract Amount, Previous Units, and Previous Amount can only be made if the Allow Changes to Previous and Contract Amounts check box in JB Company Parameters is selected.
  • Item Retainage Entry – Displays columns for Retainage % and Retainage.
  • Item Notes Entry – Displays a column for Notes.
  • Show Standard Item Code – Displays a column for Std Item on the Items and Item SM/Tax tabs. This display-only column shows the standard item code assigned to each contract item.
  • Show Bill Group – Displays a column for Bill Group on the Items and Item SM/Tax tabs. This display-only column shows the bill group assigned to each contract item.
Note:
  • You can set the show/hide function for both the Std Item and Bill Group columns independently on the Items and/or Items SM/Tax tabs using the F3 Properties form. However, be aware that selecting/deselecting the corresponding options from the Options menu (Show Standard Item Code and Show Bill Group) automatically updates the F3 setup; therefore, if you wish to maintain the individual settings, you should not use show/hide options in the Options menu.
  • Sorting or filtering by the Std Item or Bill Group column on one tab will automatically sort/filter by the selected column on the other tab.

Viewing Bill Items Information

The Bill Items Info section (above the grid) displays Previous and This Invoice values at the Contract and Item level. As you work on an item, the system automatically updates ‘this invoice’ values for Work Complete, Stored Materials, Total, and % Complete. Stored Materials purchased for a contract item increase the Total, whereas ‘installed’ materials decrease the total.

Click the chevron button () to view the Bill Items Info section. Click the chevron button () again to close the Bill Items Info section. The system will automatically retain the last show/hide setting implemented when form is closed.

Adding and Deleting Bill Items

You will typically not need to add items to the billing, since they are added automatically when the invoice is entered. Use the option to add a new item when a new item is added to the contract (a change order item) after the billing is created.

Note:
  • If a billing’s contract is closed, you can only add items if the Post to Closed Jobs option in JC Company Parameters is checked.
  • If you have applied a maximum retention amount for the current contract, and you exceed the maximum retention limit, the system will display a warning and you can decide whether or not to have the system automatically set the maximum retention amounts.

If you select not to set the maximum retention amounts, and later decide that you want to do so, select File > Limit Current Bill to Maximum Retention Allowed. The system will check to see if the maximum limit has been reached and you can then decide to set the maximum retention amount.

Items can be deleted from a progress invoice only if all previous and current amounts for the item are zero. To delete an item, select the item and click the Delete button.

Editing Items

For items with a lump sum unit of measure, update progress by entering a new percent complete (% Complete field), a new to-date amount (To Date Amount field), or the amount to bill for this item this time (This Bill Amount field). When one field is changed, the other two automatically recalculate.

For items with units, you can update progress by changing amounts in the % Complete, To Date Amount, or This Bill Amount fields. If Options > Item Unit Entry is selected, you can also update progress by entering new to date units (To Date Units field) or the units to bill this time (This Bill Units field). When one field is changed, all others automatically recalculate.

Note: If a billing’s contract is closed, items can only be added when the Post to Closed Jobs check box in the JC Company Parameters form is selected.

If you certify billings, additional fields are available for entering Claimed Units and/or Claimed Amount. However, these fields are initially hidden and must be set to ‘Show in Grid’ using the Field Properties (F3) form. For more information, see About Certifying Billings.

Overriding Retainage

Retainage amounts automatically calculate based on the rates set up for the contract or items and typically do not require altering. However, if you need to override the calculated retainage, enter retainage for each item or select File > Retainage Totals, or click Retainage Totals, to enter retainage at the contract level using the JB Progress Bill Retg Totals form. Entering retainage at the contract level overrides the rate/amount specified for each item, even if an item’s standard retainage was originally overridden at the item level. For more information, see JB Progress Bill Retg Totals.

Retainage entered for stored materials works in the same manner. Use the JB Progress Item SM and Tax form to enter retainage for stored materials at the item level, or use JB Progress Bill Retg Totals to enter stored materials retainage at the contract level. Retainage at the contract level overrides rates/amounts entered at that item level.

Entering Stored Materials/Tax Information

The Item SM/Tax tab allows you to enter stored materials that have been purchased and/or installed since the last billing, as well as to override tax information, if necessary. For more information, see Item SM/Tax in Related Topics below.

Printing the Worksheet

After entering/editing the information on a billing, you can view and/or print the information by selecting File > Print Worksheet. The JB Contract Progress Worksheet report will appear, displaying the Previous, This Billing, Current, and Stored Materials amounts for the current contract/billing. Use this worksheet to gather current billing information for creating invoices.

Created By / Created Date

The Created By and Created Date columns are displayed on the Grid tab only, and identify who created each billing and when. These columns are informational only and may be used for reporting purposes. However, the Created By field can be used in JB Interface to restrict the billings displayed in the 'billings to interface' grid.

Bill Status Tracking

The Bill Status Tracking section allows you to assign a JB reviewer group, and then track the review and approval process for Progress billings. Once you assign a reviewer group, the Reviewers tab shows the reviewers in the specified reviewer group. The Reviewer tab is display only.

Tip: You can change the field values in the Bill Status Tracking section only when the Status drop down value is either A-Active or C-Change.
The following are related topics: