General
In Simplicate, you can register all sorts of costs. We differentiate between project purchases, project costs, and individual expenses you wish to register as expenses.
Settings
Within Simplicate, it's possible to register costs in different ways. In Settings > Projects > General settings, you can determine how you want to register costs:
Ability to register costs via purchase invoice: When this option is checked, you can manually register purchases under Project Procurement in the Projects module, or via a purchase integration. Procurement is based on a purchase invoice, and purchase lines can only be booked on cost types without a unit.
Ability to register costs via employee: This option allows you to register expenses on an employee. This option will then be available in the Hours module under Expenses.
Ability to register costs via projects: When this option is checked, it's possible to import costs using an import template. You can also manually book costs directly to a cost type with or without a unit.
Projects Module
When the third option is selected in the settings, it's possible to register costs directly on projects. To register costs, go to the Projects module > Project Purchases and then click the 'Add' button in the top right corner. You'll then see the following pop-up with three different options:
The three different options are explained below:
Add expense manually: Use this option when you want to add general costs. Through this method, you can enter cost types with or without a unit.
Import expense: This option allows you to import costs using an import template. Through this method, you can import cost types with or without a unit.
Add purchase invoice manually: Use this option when you have a purchase invoice and want to process it in Simplicate.
The first and third options are manual actions, and the second option is for importing. With this second option, a link to download the import template will also appear in the pop-up. You can also find the import file in step 2.1 of this article.
Important: It's crucial that the order of the columns in the import template is maintained and that no columns are added or removed!
Please note: Importing costs is different from importing expenses. The difference between the two relates to the 'Employee' column. This column is not included in a cost import, but it is in a expenses import!
1. Add expense manually
The first option you can choose when you click 'Add' in Project Purchases is 'Add expense manually'. You use this option when you want to add costs in general. Through this method, you can enter both cost types with or without a unit. In both cases, the cost type will be displayed. After filling in a description and date, you can click 'Add' and you will enter a screen where you can then manually add your cost entries via the 'New cost entry' button. The total purchase amount changes the moment you have entered an amount for your cost entries.
2. Import Costs
Step 2.1: Prepare for Import
An Excel file forms the basis for the import. It's important to use the template below, as the columns within it are leading. Download the template for importing costs here.
Columns in Excel
Date: Use the following format: YYYY-MM-DD
Relation number: This column is required if the contact name column is empty. If you use contact numbers, the contact number must exactly match the contact number in CRM. Please note: the contact number must be unique. If contact number 1234 has been assigned to a company, it cannot also be assigned to a person.
Relation name: This column is required if the contact number column is empty. The contact name must exactly match the contact name in CRM.
Project: This column is optional. The project name must exactly match what is in Simplicate in the project overview.
Project number: This column is optional. The Project number is preferred over the project name.
Service: This column is optional. The name of the service must exactly match how it appears in Simplicate.
Cost type: This column is required. The name of the cost type must exactly match how it appears in Simplicate.
Note: This column is optional.
Amount: This column is required. For cost types without a unit, a '1' must be entered here for the import to succeed. Cells must contain a numerical value, with a maximum of 2 decimal places.
Price: This column is optional. If this field is empty or filled with a '0', the purchase price of the cost type will be checked and adopted if possible.
Step 2.2: Perform an Import
Please note: Simplicate can also find it difficult to undo a faulty import. This takes a lot of time and in some cases, a full backup may need to be restored, which could lead to data loss. Therefore, it is important that you know what you are doing!
To import costs, go to the Projects module > Project Purchases and then click the 'NAdd' button in the top right. You will then see the following pop-up where you choose the second option: 'Import expense'.
When you have chosen this option, you will see that you can always download the import template from this location. After you have filled in the import template, you can upload it as an Excel or CSV file.
Step 2.2.1 File Imported
After clicking the 'Import' button, you will receive a notification in the top right corner when the import is complete. This import will then appear under 'To be processed'. The source indicates how the costs were added. In this case, via an import.
Step 2.2.2: View Cost Entry
If you then click Actions > Edit, you will enter a screen showing the lines that have been successfully imported. In the top left, you can see how many lines of the total lines in the import have been imported. If some have not been imported, you can find the reason in the import errors file:
Additionally, it's possible to adjust the purchase price or quantity (for price per unit) on the page and edit the lines individually.
Finally, via the 'New cost entry' button in the top right, you still have the option to manually add cost entries.
2.2.3: Copy Cost Collection:
After you have imported or manually added costs, you have the option to copy this collection of cost entries. Click the 'Actions' button and click copy, in the overview of 'Project Purchases'. A new cost registration will then be created. All amounts and quantities will be set to 0.
2.2.4: When is a cost import 'to be processed' and when is it 'processed'?
To be processed: A cost import will appear under 'to be processed' if one or more imported lines from the collection are not yet fully completed. If all lines are provided with a service and cost type, this collection will appear under 'processed' after saving.
Processed: As soon as all imported lines of the collection are completed with a project, service, and cost type, the collection will appear under 'processed'.
Example: You have created and imported 10 cost lines in the import file. Ultimately, 8 lines were successfully imported and 2 lines were discarded. The cost line will then appear under 'processed', and you will need to manually check via Actions > Edit whether all lines have been successfully imported. At this moment, you cannot see this directly from the overview. The 'Lines processed' column only indicates how many lines from the import file have been fully registered on a project and does not indicate whether the import was successful.
Please note: If, after importing costs, you go to 'To be invoiced', it may happen that the costs are not immediately visible. By using the 'Refresh' option in the top right under 'Options', these costs will become visible. This, of course, only applies to costs on a service based on post-calculation, as costs can be charged through for this type of service.
3. Manually Add Purchase Invoice
There is a comprehensive article about adding purchase invoices, both manually and via the purchase integration. You can find more information about this here.