Again Timesheet - bill more than one timesheet

1

Hallo,
i have a project and inside the project i have some tasks.
In my thinking it is a solution, that every task has its own timesheet (only in this way i have a chance to see what is plan, what is done) inside the tasks in a project.
Now, for example, i want to submit and bill two of these timesheets.

In the timesheet list, i can mark them together, but in meny i cannot choose “make sales invoice” for those marked timesheets. and yes, they are submitted.

Inside a timesheet i can say “make sales invoice” - but the result is only the timeheet logs of this one timesheet … but how to include more other timesheets?
And, by the hand, although i have the customer in project, task AND timesheet log, now i get again the question, who is th customer. Hey, that only could be a joke, that is not a solution for every day.

Since month i am searching for a solution to use the project-management-System inside erpnect. But a basic or classical usecase is not working. Many many questions here in the forum are open, nobody can give a answer.
I think we stop to use erpnext.

Also CRM - so many crm-Solutions are in the web - they are so easy to use - so many basic things ready to use - but not in erpnext.It is difficult.
So many project-management-Systems are in the web. I have a project, inside the project i have tasks. inside the tasks i make my logs. if one or more tasks are ready, i bill them to a sales invoice.
NOT in erpnext - it is so difficult.

As we looked for a solution, that was erpnext 6.x, there was time-logging-system - that works. Because of this, we started to use erpnext.
But later there are timesheets. An there are more discussions about the usage - they are all open. Who knows, why this is not important.
And i duscussed with some people outside this forum - they all have the same problems with that, not me alone.

But if this is the way of erpnext, i cannot go with, because i need a simple program to make my project management. and i cannot do here.
Any help, info or comments? It would be a pleasure to find a solution!
best reagrds

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Hi @quintact,

Sorry to hear about your struggles with ERPNext.

I do agree that the project and timesheet module are not the best in ERPNext, but the beauty of open-source is that we can change things as a community.

Can you please propose some small incremental changes that could be implemented one after the other to enhance the project management module ?
The main issue with enhancing a module is that a lot of people are not happy with some functionalities, but we rarely have a detailed document of what and how things could be changed.
You can create each point as an issue on Github.

You are also welcome to the next community call for the project module volunteers ? (I need to propose a date in the next days)
Last call: Project Module Volunteers

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3

Yes this forum clearly confirms - to resolve how to apply ERPNext, to work precisely as desired, is seldom obvious nor easy.

You have sought ways and means of understanding and support Understanding Timesheets - #7 by quintact

Unless your relief is with another tool, of course to engage support for that is one option so you can work on other tasks instead.

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Hallo,
thanks for your reply - and @chdecultot, i am interested to work with you in the next community call.
And - i like erpnext very much and every day a hassle to kick or to go on …

As there are many things not round (basic data is not fetched - example: Customer is named in project and in task. If i make a timesheet, there also the field for customer - but empty … small thing, but not really a good solution.

But my biggest problem is, that i have no chance to make an invoice of some timesheets inside a project. And as i explained, someties i have to make an invoice of mire than one timesheets.
This is my thinking, because i need to have a connection between a task and a timesheet. If i go in the timesheet-list i see nothing. i see the number, the status … no customer, no project …

If i need to log in a task again, my way today is, to go inside the task, press “view” and >“Timesheet”. Then i see the linked timesheet and can make a new row for my logging. fine so far.
Bur if now i have to bill for example two tasks, because they are ready, i cannot bill them, because i have no idea, how to get all rows ot those tasks (note: all inside ONE project, ONE Customer …) in one invoice.

And at the end, my thinking is, that tasks can be different activity types - different cost.
And in the moment, i say “make invoice” the popup-window asks me, who is the customer (??? - the customer is named in project, in task, in timesheet-log … and again i have to say who the customer is) and what activity type?
That makes no sense, if inside this invoice are different activity types (based on different tasks)

Eventually you can see, that the working an project-basis today is NOT functional.
If i have a quotation>>sales-Order as basis, i can make the sales-order to a invoice. But in a team it is much more better for work as a project. We are not selling goods, we are making hours - sometimes less than plan, but sometimes more than plan.

And yes, fine, i can make a sales order to a project and have, what i need.

Then, the next thing nice to have would be a view - a report or a visual chart - to see, if the planned hours (in the quotation/sales-order) in balance to the worked hours (in project/timesheet). Clasical basic thing in a project management system.

OK, please let me know, how i can give my input - or anybody can tell me, if i am wrong.
I know, i have to be flexible, i dont expect, that erpnext has to work 100% like my older software … but i hope you could understand, that in this status, it is not usable.

At least: This is based on my thinking, that i have one timesheet for one task. (it would be the best for me, i have the view and balance in every activity type inside a project).
But if i change my thinking, and mean, that i have one timesheet for one project, or one timesheet for one employee - that certanly doesent work.
Or is there another philosophy, i did not heeded?

How to go on?
Let me know about next community call or in which way i can give input?
Should i make a process-plan?
Should i make videos from screen with commentation?

Thanks a lot

5

Hello @quintact,

maybe I am able to explain this to you as easy as possible. I have found the best way to user timescheets,projects and invoice is as followed:

  1. Create quotation for Customer
  2. Make Sales Order from Quotation (1. is no must!)
  3. Make Project from Sales Order (This will place all Items from your Sales Order as TASKs in your Project)
  4. When working on your Project, you create Timesheets. In the Timesheet-detail you fill Project and Task accordingly
  5. When the project ist finished, you create a Sales Invoice from the Project (or Sales Order) and reference the Project. Referencing the Project will pull all timesheets from the project with the box “invoice/billable” ticked and list these in your Sales Invoice.
  6. Finalizing your Invoice will mark all referenced timesheets as “billed”. You are then not able to “re-use” these timesheets in future invoices.

Maybe try this on your system and let me know if this makes sense to you or not :slight_smile:

Best
Wolfram

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