Projects in Business Central are built on a three-level hierarchy of jobs, tasks, and planning lines with job ledger entries. Once you understand this structure, you can follow up on projects, track their phases, and compare what you expected to spend with what you have actually realized.
The top level is the job itself, which you can think of as the project. The second level breaks the job down into job tasks, the individual pieces of work you need to perform. The third level holds the planning lines, showing the expected figures, and the job ledger entries, showing the realized figures.
You find the jobs in the project manager role center. Open a job to see its job tasks in the middle of the page, and navigate to the job planning lines and job ledger entries to work at the detailed level.
The three-level job hierarchy in Business Central
People often find it hard to grasp how jobs are structured in Business Central. In daily consulting work, this is one of the most common points of confusion. But it is actually quite simple once you lay it out as a model, and getting the overview makes a real difference when you work in the system.
If you understand this structure, you are a long way toward managing your projects well. The hierarchy is divided into three levels.
- Level one: the job. This is the project itself.
- Level two: the job tasks. The job is divided into the different tasks you need to perform.
- Level three: planning lines and job ledger entries. Here you see the expected figures in the planning lines and the realized figures in the job ledger entries.
This structure gives you a powerful tool to follow up on projects, see their different phases, and compare what you expected with what you have actually realized so far.
Finding the job structure in the system
To see the structure on real data, start in the project manager role center, where the list of jobs is easily accessible. The list of jobs is your top level, level one.
Open one of the jobs, and in the middle of the page you find the job tasks. That is the second level.
To work on the third level, navigate to the job planning lines. You can also view the job ledger entries, where you can see, for example, that a resource has spent some time working on the project.
Q&A
What are the three levels of the job hierarchy in Business Central?
Level one is the job, which is the project itself. Level two is the job tasks, the individual pieces of work to perform. Level three is the planning lines, which show the expected figures, and the job ledger entries, which show the realized figures.
Where do I find the list of jobs in Business Central?
You find the list of jobs in the project manager role center, where it is easily accessible.
How do I see the job tasks for a specific job?
Open the job from the list of jobs. The job tasks appear in the middle of the job page.
How do I view planning lines and ledger entries for a job?
Navigate to the job planning lines to see the expected figures on the third level. You can also view the job ledger entries to see the realized work, such as the time a resource has spent on the project.
Why does the job hierarchy matter?
The structure lets you follow up on projects, see their different phases, and compare what you expected to spend with what you have actually realized so far.