How to allocate external costs to projects

In this article

• External costs

• How to add an external cost

• How to edit an external cost
• How to delete an external cost
• Want to know more?

External costs

There may be instances where costs are incurred by a project outside the scope of Chalkstring. The ‘Costs’ section is where these can be allocated to the correct packages and budgets.

Costs could be:

• Online shopping e.g. purchasing an onsite printer.
• Staff expenses e.g. travel to site.
• Overhead contributions for directly employed staffing costs.

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How to add an external cost

1. Expand the main Chalkstring black menu bar and click the ‘Projects’ menu.
2. Select the project that you want to view the onsite assessment for.
3. Click the 'Project hub' button. This will take you to the blue onsite menu.
4. Expand the main Chalkstring blue menu bar and click on the ‘Costs’ menu.
5. Click the '+New cost' button.
6.  Enter the details for the cost.

•     Name - Add a descriptive name for the cost.
•     Package - Select which package from the drop down that the cost is being allocated against.
•     Effective date - Add the effective date which you want the cost to apply to the project.
•     Supplier - Choose a supplier from the drop down list.
•     Budgets - Enter the monetary value of the cost into the relevant budgets:
  • Material & Waste
  • Labour
  • Contingency
  • Fixed cost

• Nominal code - Select a relevant nominal code for the cost budget from the drop down list.
• VAT rate - Select the VAT rate applicable for the cost. This ensures the correct transfer of accounts data in relation to these costs into Sage 50 or 3rd party accounts software (CSV file). 
• Attachments - Attach any supporting information, such as receipts & invoices.

6.  Click ‘Save Cost’.

How to edit an external cost

1. Expand the main Chalkstring black menu bar and click the ‘Projects’ menu.
2. Select the project that you want to view the onsite assessment for.
3. Click the 'Project hub' button. This will take you to the blue onsite menu.
4. Expand the main Chalkstring blue menu bar and click on the ‘Costs’ menu.
5. Search for and click on the cost you want to edit.
6. Click the edit button in the top right corner.
7. Make any required changes.
8. Click 'Save cost'

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How to delete an external cost

1. Expand the main Chalkstring black menu bar and click the ‘Projects’ menu.
2. Select the project that you want to view the onsite assessment for.
3. Click the 'Project hub' button. This will take you to the blue onsite menu.
4. Expand the main Chalkstring blue menu bar and click on the ‘Costs’ menu.
5. Search for and click on the cost you want to edit.
6. Click the delete button in the top right corner.

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