Project and WBS field guide

The Project master turns a commercial or operational promise into a controlled cost, revenue, schedule, and responsibility structure. Use Demo Meridian EPC and project HOSP-2026 while practising. A project is not a single account: its WBS, dimensions, commitments, actuals, billing, and forecast must reconcile.

Project header fields

Open Projects → Projects → New.

Field	Example	Purpose and impact
Project code	HOSP-2026	Immutable reporting key
Name	Hospital expansion	User explanation
Company	Demo Retail Group LLC	Legal scope
Client	Al Noor Hospital	Contract and receivable
Project manager	Aisha Khan	Owner and approvals
Contract number	C-2026-0041	Commercial evidence
Currency	AED	Budget and billing
Start/end	2026-01-01 to 2027-12-31	Schedule boundary
Billing method	Milestone/progress	Invoice rule
Budget version	v1 approved	Baseline control
Retention	10%	Receivable schedule
Status	Draft/active/closed	Lifecycle gate

Other fields include branch, department, tax, payment term, contract value, manager, client contact, funding source, confidentiality, attachments, and external ID. A project cannot become active without approved scope, company, currency, manager, and budget policy.

WBS fields

WBS nodes include code, parent, description, cost code, revenue code, manager, start/end, budget, billing rule, tax dimension, fund, and status. Example: 3. Structure budget AED 28,000,000 under project HOSP-2026.

WBS should be hierarchical enough to explain margin and progress, but not so granular that users post inconsistently. Closing a parent requires child balances and commitments to be resolved. WBS codes are not renamed after postings; create an alias or new node with effective date.

Budget and forecast versions

Budget fields include version, approval date, approver, currency, period, WBS, account, cost centre, quantity, rate, amount, and control type. Version 1 is the approved baseline; versions 2+ record approved change orders or scope changes.

Forecast fields include actual cost, committed cost, estimate to complete, estimate at completion, expected revenue, margin, confidence, owner, and date. With actual AED 11,200,000 and estimate to complete AED 18,900,000 against AED 28,000,000 budget, forecast cost is AED 30,100,000 and adverse variance AED 2,100,000.

Commitments and procurement

Commitment lines link purchase request, PO, supplier, WBS, item/service, quantity, rate, currency, required date, and approval. Reports show approved budget, prior commitment, current PO, received, invoiced, actual, and remaining.

Partial receipt releases commitment proportionately. Cancellation releases balance with reason. A supplier invoice without a valid project/WBS either routes to exception or uses an approved overhead rule.

Time, labour, and expenses

Timesheet fields include employee, date, project, WBS, activity, hours, billable flag, rate, currency, supervisor, and approval. Expense fields include employee, merchant, date, category, amount, tax, receipt, project, WBS, client-billable flag, and advance.

Approved labour and expense postings debit project actual cost and credit payroll, payable, or employee liability. Unapproved entries remain pending. A project recharge may use a client rate different from internal cost while retaining both values.

Materials, plant, and subcontractors

Material issues link item, warehouse, batch/serial, quantity, UoM, WBS, work package, and operator. Plant usage links asset, meter, hours, rate, fuel, WBS, and supervisor. Subcontractor agreements store scope, currency, rates, retention, advance, bond, tax, and claim terms.

Inventory issue credits stock and debits project/WBS cost. A return reverses the issue. Subcontractor invoices match approved progress, PO, receipt, and retention calculation.

Progress and milestone billing

Progress fields include period, WBS, planned quantity, installed quantity, unit, rate, cumulative value, current value, evidence, engineer, client certificate, and approval. Milestone fields include milestone code, due date, completion evidence, certificate, invoice amount, retention, and advance recovery.

For current gross AED 1,700,000, retention 10% is AED 170,000 and advance recovery AED 85,000; net before tax is AED 1,445,000. Retention is tracked as a separate receivable, not a discount. Invoice lines remain linked to approved quantities.

Variations and claims

Variation fields include instruction, scope, requester, date, cost estimate, revenue estimate, schedule impact, drawings, approval, contract clause, and status. An unapproved variation may forecast cost but cannot bill or change contract value.

Claim fields include event, notice date, clause, impacted activity, days, cost, revenue, evidence, correspondence, owner, and resolution. Settlements and credits reference the original claim and preserve history.

Currency, tax, and accounting

Store project currency, supplier/customer currency, rate source/date, tax jurisdiction, retention, withholding, and dimensions. Settlement at another rate posts FX separately from project margin. Tax and retention lines carry WBS and source document.

Project revenue and cost reconcile to GL by company, branch, WBS, account, currency, and period. Capitalisable project costs transfer to fixed assets only after approved commissioning; expense and abandoned work remain separately classified.

Close and lifecycle

Statuses are draft, approved, active, on hold, completed, financially closed, and archived. Close gates include final progress certificate, invoices, retention, subcontractors, commitments, inventory, plant, timesheets, tax, bank, WBS-to-GL, warranties, and asset handover.

A closed project is read-only except for controlled credit or adjustment. Archiving stores contract, drawings, certificates, approvals, and retention policy.

API and audit mapping

API create includes project ID/external ID, company, client, currency, dates, manager, WBS, budget, and idempotency key. Child objects reference immutable project and WBS IDs.

{"externalId":"HOSP-2026","companyId":"company_uae","clientId":"cus_alnoor","currency":"AED",
 "startDate":"2026-01-01","endDate":"2027-12-31","wbs":[{"code":"3","name":"Structure","budget":"28000000.00"}]}

Audit includes budget version, WBS change, approval, progress evidence, variation, forecast, billing, closure, actor, request ID, and correlation ID.

Practice checklist

Create a project, six WBS nodes, approved budget, USD PO, material issue, labour, expense, progress certificate, retention, variation, forecast, and close. Explain every field, precision, owner, permission, status, commitment, journal, tax, FX, API ID, and audit event. Then attempt to bill unapproved progress and close with an open commitment; prove both controls reject the action.

Related: Demo Construction EPC, Projects workflow, Purchase Order field guide, Journal Entry field guide, and API cookbook.