How to track shop labor?

Question

Hello, 
 
 I am trying to find the best way to track shop labor. Its very difficult to get a straight answer. 
 
 Here is the scenario: 
 
 We have Sage 100 contractor 
 We have Sage SSO 
 We have an in-house shop and 2 mechanics and 100 pieces of equipment. 
 
 How can we track "shop labor" by Employee, by Equipment, by Hour. 
 
 My 1st thought was to create a "DUMMY" job in Sage. 
 Dispatch the DUMMY job to the Shop employees. 
 Have the Shop Employees create a Daily Field Report with Assignment Time records for all of their labor. 
 They would apply Cost Codes, and Equipment records. 
 I could then input this into Daily Payroll. 
 HOWEVER, this method, does not work -- because labor that is tied to a job automatically gets associated to "Direct Labor" expense account. 
 I would like this particular job to hit the "Equipment/Shop" expense account. 
 I don't think it's possible to make an exception for just 1 job? 
 
 How do most people - track Shop labor by Equipment? 
 
 There has to be an easy way to do this?

Char DeLange · Answer

If you have a shop and own 100 pieces of equipment you should buy the equipment module add-on. It will allow you to track the expenses for the equipment and labor in its own section of your income statement separate from Direct but before Gross Profit. 
 Set up your first piece of equipment as #1 and call it shop. Charge any non-specific equipment labor and misc supplies etc to that piece of equipment. The rest would be costed to the specific pieces of equipment. However do not put in small items, just the big stuff like trucks, forklifts, trailers, bobcats, etc. No ladders, tools, supplies, computers etc. That's not the intent of the module.

Char DeLange · Answer

In payroll there is an equipment column that you would code time to if an employee is doing a repair or maintenance on that piece of equipment. If its an AP invoice, you code it to the GL accounts in the equipment range and it will force you to "equipment cost" the expense just like when you code to direct expense it forces you to job cost the expense. Its very similar in that equipment cost records are created just like job cost records and then you can run reports on those pieces of equipment. You will also want cost codes specific to your equipment that are not intermixed with your construction cost codes. I typically code them like 80010, 80020, etc. You'll want major repairs, maintenance, insurance, dmv fees/registration, small tools (use the generic shop #1). 
 You can also allocate your equipment time to jobs and it will charge the job and credit a separate GL code in the equipment range, acting like a re-allocation of expenses. There is a bunch of info in help, you tube, and Sage University classes. Or contact your Sage certified consultant for more details and help.

Sage Construction & Real Estate

How to track shop labor?

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