Question

Work type and Task Type

  • 23 June 2022
  • 9 replies
  • 225 views

Userlevel 3
Badge +8

I would like to see how other peer firms here use Work Type and Task Type, What scenario are each of these two types used for what purpose?  and how to setup these two types to avoid overlapping. 

I currently set up more than more than 10 internal work type (non-chargeable, for internal management, like marketing, HR, finance etc.)  and more than 10 internal tasks type (similar to work type). I want to cut task type to “chargeable” and “non-chargeable”. not sure if that will cause any useful report having less data.


9 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

Hi @MikeLiang,

Our work types correspond with our products in QBO:

Accounting: Adjusting Journal Entries

Accounting: Adjusting Journal Entries - Year-end

Accounting: Business Consulting

Accounting: Business Loans and Grants

Accounting: Financial Statements

Accounting: PPP Loan Forgiveness Application

Accounting: Rework

Bookkeeping: 1099 Prep

Bookkeeping: Accounts Receivable

Bookkeeping: Annual Report

Bookkeeping: Cleanup/Special Project

Bookkeeping: Client Training

Bookkeeping: Federal Excise Tax

Bookkeeping: Income Tax - Year-end

Bookkeeping: Internal

Bookkeeping: Payroll Tax

Bookkeeping: Payroll Tax - Year-end

Bookkeeping: Recurring

Bookkeeping: Rework

Bookkeeping: Sales Tax

Consulting: Financial System Design

Consulting: QuickBooks Online Conversion

Consulting: QuickBooks Online Payroll Setup

Internal

Internal: Accounts Receivable

Internal: Process Improvement

Internal: Staff Training

Internal: Staffing

Sales: Bookkeeping Sales

Sales: On-boarding

Special Project

Tax: 709 (Gift)

Tax: Corporate Income Tax Return

Tax: Individual Income Tax Return

Tax: Individual Income Tax Return - Paper Only

Tax: Non-Profit Return

Tax: Notice

Tax: Partnership Income Tax Return

Tax: Planning

Tax: Rework

Tax: S-Corp Income Tax Return

Tax: Sole Proprietor Income Tax Return

Tax: Trust Return

Our task types are used as descriptor of the staff’s work:

When exporting to QBO through a custom billing worksheet that we use, the invoices result in lines like this:

Bookkeeping for 2022 Year-end Bookkeeping - 2 hours - $XXX.XX

I’m curious about how other people use these fields.

Userlevel 7
Badge +13

We have very specific Work Types.  This allows us to create custom dashboards in the work view and use the work type filter to see just that type of work. So if you are working on 1099s you can create a dash view that filters for Work Type: 1099, Assignee: Me.  You can also filter to see your team's assignments. This is a great way to focus.  Here are our Work Types.

We also use the task type to describe what function is being done.  Admin, Bookkeeping, Payroll, etc.

 

Userlevel 3
Badge +8

Thank you all friends. I am wondering how is the ROLE fit in in terms of dimension interact with work type and task type.

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

We use the role to signify the role the staff member was using:

Ours are broken down by department and then role. We use this to keep track of average times to complete work by department and role.

Roles are also the mechanism used for hourly billing rates, so we have some roles setup to specific staff who have unique billing rates (see pixelated roles).

It’s not a perfect system right now, so I’m curious to learn from others.

 

Userlevel 3
Badge +8

Aren't the role a bit overlap with the the task type and work type? The timesheet's accuracy is really relying on the staff' behaviour of attention to details, I am looking into this to gave less options to avoid any overlap, this will help improve the  time sheet accuracies.

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

It’s not an overlap in how we implement it. When someone enters time, they might be doing work outside their role… I want to know that. I want to know if a bookkeeping preparer is doing client training or bookkeeping prep. I also want to know if the bookkeeping reviewer is doing review work or staff training.

What I would love to see is the ability to limit roles to staff, and to limit task types to roles so that only the appropriate roles and task types are available when someone enters time. Some task types should never be done under certain roles. A bookkeeping preparer should not be able to enter time under sales, for example.

Userlevel 2

We use the role to signify the role the staff member was using:

Ours are broken down by department and then role. We use this to keep track of average times to complete work by department and role.

Roles are also the mechanism used for hourly billing rates, so we have some roles setup to specific staff who have unique billing rates (see pixelated roles).

It’s not a perfect system right now, so I’m curious to learn from others.

 

Can you discuss if the “role” is the same as a person’s internal title?  I feel that whatever my title, my “role” on a client could be different and specific to billing, not to our HR process.  Thoughts?

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

This is a great discussion!  We are all over the place with work types but have really limited the task types to be more reflective of the actual work.  My team has expressed a desire to have less options available to keep things simple but I want useful reporting - we are trying to find the balance.

We use work types to be able to create meaningful dashboards.   Each service item in Ignition pushes to a work order template in Karbon which has a work type already assigned so no decisions need to be made there.

We use task types and roles to see what teammates are working on and we keep that list small.

In our world role and title are the same.  Since we are value pricing each role has a charge out rate and we price based on the each role that will be contributing to the work.  At this point any role can be working on any of these task types. 

It’s also useful to note that we do not use time & billing in Karbon so budget tracking/capacity planning is a manual exercise right now.

I want to know when someone at a different charge out rate is doing the work so I have a true picture of the budget on that project.  

I look forward to seeing how other are utilizing these features

Userlevel 7
Badge +19

It looks like limiting the role and task type when entering time is in design, so that’s exciting! 😀

Go vote as you feel led. 😀

Can you discuss if the “role” is the same as a person’s internal title?  I feel that whatever my title, my “role” on a client could be different and specific to billing, not to our HR process.  Thoughts?

We are a small firm, so our staff can have multiple roles. For instance, sometimes I’m filling in for a bookkeeper and other times I’m dong operational consulting with a client, so I chose appropriate roles and task types to match.

We want to get a lot more strict and strategic with the roles and task types, but that will come later. 😀

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