Setting up Projects

Carolyn Ell

We are transitioning to NXT and are thinking about using Projects to track some of our program areas. Do you have any suggestions for how you have used Projects for your organization or resources for setting up and managing projects? Also, we are currently using transaction codes for this tracking and are unsure of the advantages/disadvantages to using Projects instead. Thank you!

Angela Tuttle

Below is the numbering system we use for our Projects:


XX-XXXXX
XX-xxxxx these first two numbers represent the Department

• 01-xxxxx - Dance
• 02-xxxxx - Design and Production

xx-Xxxxx first digit after the dash is the department again

• xx-1xxxxx - Dance

xx-xXxxx second digit after the dash is what the project is used for

• xx-x0xxx - Scholarship
• xx-x1xxx - Guest Artist
• xx-x2xxx - Discretionary

So Dance Scholarship Projects would be 01-10001, 01-10002, 01-10002 etc

Angela Tuttle

I recommend when setting up projects to require projects on CREDITS and DEBITS. Use a generic default project as little as possible.

Mary Teo

We use project codes to track our programs. But project codes are required for all income/expense accounts, so we have them for admin too. Our format is 2-digit letter, then 4 digit number. The letters represent either a department (for admin, mktg, etc.) or location (KC= King County, SN= Snohomish). We also have restrictions set where a project code is specific to a department. The advantage of using a project code vs. a transaction code is that you can run project financial statements - to get a better idea of how the project/program is doing.

Paul Wu

Will be following this as well.


I don't think we have properly setup our projects as indicated below that revenues and expenses should have a project code. We only have projects for some expense codes.


On a data input side, I would recommend keeping it to just numbers. Just easier to enter as well as for scanning into the system. Il <- is that a capital I or lower case l?


I do want to use project codes to track costs across departments as well as fiscal years. Because funders do not have the same reporting year as our fiscal year.

Lisa Olscamp

We use projects as an additional level of detail. Our accounts are structured by fund-account code-cost center-project, with an optional transaction code for grant IDs. The project is used to other allocate the cost to the department as a whole, or specific employee type.

Carolyn Ell

Great idea, thanks!

Carolyn Ell

Good to know! Running financial statements on projects would be very helpful!