Retainers > Creating a Retainer Project

A retainer project is used to group all jobs covered by the retainer for reporting purposes.

There are two places to create a retainer project in WorkBook:

Against a client in the resources module
At job creation

Who can create retainer projects will depend on access rights and your agency process.

Before a retainer project can be created the retainer module needs to be enabled, please refer to the article on the Retainer Module Setup

ON THIS PAGE YOU WILL FIND:

CREATE A RETAINER PROJECT AGAINST THE CLIENT

To create a retainer project against a client go to:

The resource module > resource default grid > select the client
Open the client id card > select the projects tab

Go to the project settings tab > click create project button
Give the project a name - something recognisable that will differentiate the retainer project from other projects against the client e.g. client name | retainer | period covered
Check the project retainer box
Click ok

There are now two projects against this client – one is the retainer project and the other is the default project WorkBook has setup for the non-retainer jobs
When you next create a job for that client, the retainer project will be available in the project drop down

CREATE A RETAINER PROJECT AT JOB CREATION

It is also possible to create projects at job creation. However, this does depend on access rights and your agency process.

The first job created against the retainer project will default to the master billing job

To create a retainer project at job creation go to:

The jobs module > jobs list > click create new job button
Complete the job fields as per the usual process
When you get to the project field > click the + button on the right

If there is no + button present, you do not have access to this feature

Give the project a name - something recognisable that will differentiate the retainer project from other projects against the client e.g. client name | retainer | period covered
Check the project retainer box
Click ok

There are now two projects against this client – one is the retainer project and the other is the default project WorkBook has setup for the non-retainer jobs

RETAINER PROJECT CONFIGURATION

Once the retainer project has been created, there is some further configuration required.

From the resource module > resource default grid > select the client
Open the client id card > select the projects tab
Go to the project settings tab > select the newly created retainer project
Click the retainer project basic settings sidebar

The project basic settings sidebar contains the following information:

Project Basic Settings

The project’s basic settings contains the following information:

Project number - this is created automatically by WorkBook
Project name - the name you gave the project at creation

You can amend the project name here if you need to

Description - a free text field to describe the project retainer
Handle as project retainer - indicates that this project is a retainer project

This should automatically be checked as part of the retainer project creation

Retainer Settings

If you scroll down you get to retainer settings.

The below table takes you through the retainer setting options:

SETTING	OPTIONS	RESULT
Delivery job closing settlement method (Determines job closure settlement methods)	Invoice amount is equal to approved price quotes	With this option totals are taken from the price quote, not the total expenditures. The invoice amount will be taken from the “externally approved” price quote hours on delivery jobs, it will deduct these from the master billing job
	Invoice amount is equal to actuals applied to the job	With this option totals are taken from total expenditures on the delivery job and a corrective price quote will be created automatically on the master job to offset the budget. For example: if there was originally 100 hours approved on the delivery job, but actuals equaled 40 hours, upon completion, 60 hours will be returned to the master job
Delivery invoices trigger (What is the trigger to create automatic invoices on the delivery jobs & credit notes on the master billing job?)	Price quote is approved	When the price quote status is changed to “externally approved” on the delivery job, that will trigger the automatic invoice creation on the delivery job and a credit note will automatically be created on the master billing job, allowing users to track remaining retainer budget
	Job is in status 3 “ready for closing”	The trigger in this instance is when the job status is changed to status 3 “ready for closing”
	Job is in status 4 “closed”	The trigger in this instance is when the job status is changed to status 4 “closed”
Allow delivery job to exceed master budget when closed	Yes No (via a check box)	If yes is selected, If no is selected,
Activities not included in master price quotes are considered out of scope	Yes No (via a check box)	If yes is selected, If no is selected,
All corrective price quotes and invoices to be done on one activity	Yes No (via a check box & activity selection via a drop down)	If yes is selected, the price quote and invoice lines will contain one master activity If no is selected, the price quote is copied directly to the corrective price quotes and invoices

Retainer Details

Scrolling further down you come to retainer details. This is where you can track agreed hours and spending on your retainer.

Go to Retainers > Creating a Master Billing Job to continue your retainer setup