Phasing Jobs in ActionFlow

There are multiple ways to phase jobs in ActionFlow depending on if you use the Quickbooks integration. Talk to your account manager about the best way to manage commercial jobs!  

Table of Contents

• Phasing Jobs by Creating a New Job (0:00)
  • Creating a New Phase Group (0:23)
  • Adding to an Existing Phase Group (0:46)
• How the Jobs/Phases Appear in QB (0:59)
• Creating Multiple Phase Groups (1:17)
• Editing Phase Group and Phase Numbers (1:47)
• Phasing Areas into New Jobs/Phases (2:30)
• Phasing Jobs w/o QB - "Jobs" have different names (3:04)
• Setting up Phase Columns (3:40)

Phasing in ActionFlow
The way to phase jobs in ActionFlow depends on whether you export jobs to Quickbooks.

There are 2 ways to create a new phase in ActionFlow:

1. Create a New Job 
2. Phase Areas from an Existing Job

Quick Review - Customer vs Job vs Area

But before we jump in, it may be helpful to review how a "job" is defined in ActionFlow.  ActionFlow data is broken into 3 different levels: Customer, Job, and Area. A job is a group of areas that will be fabricated, billed, and installed together.

Residential Example

Customer: Sally Sue Jones

Job: Primary Home, Vacation Home

Area: Kitchen, Bath, Laundry Room

Commercial Example

Customer: Apartment Building

Job: Unit A, Unit B, Unit C

Area: Kitchen, Bath, Laundry Room

In commercial jobs or in large residential jobs, there may be times when the job is billed, fabricated, and installed in "phases."

Therefore, jobs in ActionFlow can be defined as "phases" which are part of a "phase group." 

In this example, there are 3 phases that are a part of Phase Group 4081 (PG#4081).

• Phase 1: Job/Phase 4081
• Phase 2: Job/Phase 4082
• Phase 3: Job/Phase 4083

The phase group is based on the job number of the first phase.

For Shops using the Quickbooks Integration

In order for the invoices for phases to show up in the same job in Quickbooks, they must have the exact same job NAME. When you add jobs to phase groups, ActionFlow automatically uses the exact same job name which contains the phase group number. Otherwise, each job will create a new job in Quickbooks.

Phasing Jobs by Creating a New Job

To phase a job by creating a new job:

1. Check the "Phased?" box if there is an existing job that will part of your phase group
   1. ActionFlow adds a "Phase Number" in the "Phase" column
   2. ActionFlow adds a Phase Group Number (PG#1234) to the end of the job name
2. Create a new job by clicking the green plus sign
3. Check the "Phased?" box
   1. ActionFlow will ask if you would like to create a new phase group (Yes) or add this job to the most recent phase group (No)
4. After ActionFlow sets the phase group and phase number, make sure both are correct.

Multiple Phase Groups

You can have multiple phase groups within one ActionFlow "Customer."

• When you add a new job as described above, you can either choose to create a new phase group or add it to the most recent phase group
• You can always set the phase group for a job based on that job's number or another job's number.
• Adjust the phase numbers based on their correct order. 

In this example, there are 2 phase groups with 2 phases each:

PG#4081

• Phase 1: Job/Phase 4081
• Phase 2: Job/Phase 4082

PG#4083

• Phase 1: Job/Phase 4083
• Phase 2: Job/Phase 4084

Edit/Sort Phase Groups and Phases

Click the job name to edit the phase group or click to edit the phase number. When you check the "Phased?" box ActionFlow automatically sets the phase number so make sure the phase number is correct.

Uncheck the "Phased?" box to remove the phase group from the job name. 

Use a Custom Text Field to Track Job Name

Because the Job Name is the same for all jobs in the phase. You could add a Custom Text Field called "Description" to track distinguish the jobs. Talk to your account manager or check out how to create Custom Job Fields.

Phase Areas from an Existing Job

To phase areas from an existing job, select the areas, then click the area task icon, then click "Phase."

The "Bathroom" and "Master Bath" were phased from Job 4087 to Job 4088 - both jobs are in phase group #4083.

ActionFlow will ask if you would like to duplicate the actions history - you would not duplicate the actions if the new phase will effectively be tracked as a new job. If you duplicate the actions, the phase keeps the history and status up until that point when you may be scheduling or charging differently than the other phases. However, you will want to work with your account manager to confirm if and when it makes sense to duplicate actions for new phases. 

In this example, the existing job had 2 areas - Bathroom and Master Bath. The phase/job (4088)  already had a deposit and template. The Master Bath was phased into a new job (4090) which kept the kept existing history.