Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation: Setting a Sales Price for Expenses

Edited on:
February 26th 2018

Tested on:
Dynamics 365 version 9.0

When submitting and approving Expenses in Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation, one quickly realizes the value on the Amount field on the Expense form equals the Cost Actual that is generated when the Expense is approved. This is convenient for the users as they get to submit an Expense at its actual cost without having to worry about a sales price or a markup percentage.

For an expense/project approver, the story may be a little different. Many businesses want to add something extra on expenses. This can be achieved by setting Transaction Categories and Expense Categories and following these four steps.

1. Add a Transaction Category Price record on a project Price List

Create a Price List in the context of Sales and add Transaction Category Price records under the Category prices tab. You can choose between Price per unit, At cost or Markup percentage under Price Calculations. In this example Price per unit is used.

2. Add a Project Contract and a Project-based Line

Create a Project Contract and add a Time & Material Project-based Line. Remember to set Include Expense to Yes. The Transaction Category Price set on the Price List can be viewed when choosing Chargeability View under Related Records. The prices seen on the Chargeability View will equal the Sales Price under Project Approvals.

3. Submit and approve Expenses

Submit Expenses and approve them under Project Approvals. The Sales Price set on Chargeability View is transferred to the Sales Price field on Project Approvals. The Billing Type should be Chargeable if you want to invoice the Expenses.

4. View and verify Expenses under Actuals

The approved Expenses will show under Actuals. Verify that all the details are correct. For corrections, Journals can be used.

Using a workflow to set Sales Price

If Price Lists are too much work to manage and maintain, an alternative solution is to use a workflow that sets the Sales Price field to match either the Amount or Total Amount field of the Expense entry. This is a simple way to ensure expenses are billed at cost. The Sales Price can still be edited on approval.

When using a workflow to set the Sales Price, the Price Calculation of Transaction Categories on the Product Price list must be set to At cost. Otherwise the Actuals that are created after approving the Expense entries won't have the correct Price. In the fourth image below, the Transaction category Project management has a Price of 140 € despite the workflow setting the Sales Price to 11 € on Project Approval.

Disclaimer: 
All my blog posts reflect my personal opinions and findings unless otherwise stated.

Edit, February 26th, 2018:

- Added requirements for the workflow.