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Business transactions

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Important

Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation has evolved into Dynamics 365 Project Operations. For more information, see Project Service Automation Transition.

Applies to Project Service app version 3.x

In Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation, business transaction is an abstract concept that isn't represented by any entity. However, some common fields and processes on entities are designed to use the concept of business transactions. The following entities use this abstraction:

  • Quote line details
  • Contract line details
  • Estimate lines
  • Journal lines
  • Actuals

Of these entities, Quote line details, Contract line details, and Estimate lines are mapped to the estimation phase in the project lifecycle. The Journal lines and Actuals entities are mapped to the execution phase in the project lifecycle.

PSA treats records in these five entities as business transactions. The only distinction is that records in entities that are mapped to the estimation phase are considered financial forecasts, whereas the records in entities that are mapped to the execution phase are considered financial facts that have already occurred.

For more information, see Estimates and Actuals.

Concepts that are unique to business transactions

The following concepts are unique to the concept of business transactions:

  • Transaction type
  • Transaction class
  • Transaction origin
  • Transaction connection

Transaction type

Transaction type represents the timing and context of the financial impact on a project. It's represented by an option set that has the following supported values in PSA:

  • Cost
  • Project contract
  • Unbilled sales
  • Billed sales
  • Inter organizational sales
  • Resourcing unit cost

Transaction class

Transaction class represents the different types of costs that are incurred on projects. It's represented by an option set that has the following supported values in PSA:

  • Time
  • Expense
  • Material
  • Fee
  • Milestone
  • Tax

The Milestone value is typically used by the business logic for fixed-price billing in PSA.

Transaction origin

Transaction origin is an entity that stores the origin of each business transaction. As project execution gets underway, each business transaction will give rise to another business transaction which in turn will create another and so on. Transaction origin entity was designed to store data about each transaction’s origin to help reporting and traceability.

Transaction connection

Transaction connection is an entity that stores the relation between two similar business transactions such as cost and related sales actuals or transaction reversals triggered by billing activities such invoice confirmation or invoice corrections.

Together, Transaction origin and Transaction connection help you keep track of relationships between business transactions and actions that resulted in the creation of a specific business transaction.

Example: How Transaction origin works with Transaction connection

The following example shows the typical processing of time entries in a PSA project lifecycle.

Processing time entires in a Project Service life cycle.

  1. Submission of a time entry causes the creation of two journal lines: one for cost and one for unbilled sales.
  2. Eventual approval of the time entry causes the creation of two actuals: one for cost and one for unbilled sales.
  3. When the user creates a project invoice, the invoice line transaction is created by using data from the unbilled sales actual.
  4. When the invoice is confirmed, two new actuals are created: an unbilled sales reversal and a billed sales actual.

Each of these events triggers the creation of records in the Transaction origin and Transaction connection entities to help build a trace of relationships between these records that are created across time entry, journal line, actuals, and invoice line details.

The following table shows the records in the Transaction origin entity for the preceding workflow.

Event Origin Origin type Transaction Transaction type
Time Entry Submission Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Journal Line Record GUID (cost) Journal Line
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Journal Line Record GUID (sales) Journal Line
Time Approval Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Unbilled Sales Record GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Unbilled Sales Record GUID Actual
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Cost Actual Record GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Cost Actual Record GUID Actual
Invoice Creation Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Invoice Line Transaction GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Invoice Line Transaction GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Invoice Confirmation Invoice Line GUID Invoice Line Billed Sales Record GUID Actual
Invoice GUID Invoice Billed Sales Record GUID Actual
Invoice Line Detail GUID Invoice Line Detail Billed Sales Record GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Billed Sales Record GUID Actual
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Billed Sales Record GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Unbilled Sales Reversal GUID Actual
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Unbilled Sales Reversal GUID Actual
Draft Invoice Correction Old ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Old IL GUID Invoice Line Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Old Invoice GUID Invoice Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction
Confirmed invoice correction Old ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction Reversed Billed Sales Actual GUID Actual
Old IL GUID Invoice Line Reversed Billed Sales Actual GUID Actual
Old Invoice GUID Invoice Reversed Billed Sales Actual GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry Reversed Billed Sales Actual GUID Actual
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line Reversed Billed Sales Actual GUID Actual
Old ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Old IL GUID Invoice Line New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Old Invoice GUID Invoice New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Time entry Record GUID Time Entry New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Journal Line Record GUID Journal Line New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Correction ILD GUID Invoice Line Transaction New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Correction IL GUID Invoice Line New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual
Correction Invoice GUID Invoice New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Actual

The following table shows the records in the Transaction connection entity for the preceding workflow.

Event Transaction 1 Transaction 1 role Transaction 1 type Transaction 2 Transaction 2 role Transaction 2 type
Time Entry Submission Journal Line (Sales) GUID Unbilled Sales msdyn_journalline Journal Line (cost) GUID Cost msdyn_journalline
Time Approval Unbilled Actual (Sales) GUID Unbilled Sales msdyn_actual Cost Actual(cost) GUID Cost msdyn_actual
Invoice Creation Invoice Line Detail GUID Billed Sales msdyn_invoicelinetransaction Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Unbilled Sales msdyn_actual
Invoice Confirmation Reversing Actual GUID Reversing msdyn_actual Original unbilled sales GUID Original msdyn_actual
Billed Sales GUID Billed Sales msdyn_actual Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Unbilled Sales msdyn_actual
Draft Invoice Correction Invoice Line Transaction GUID Replacing msdyn_invoicelinetransaction Billed Sales GUID Original msdyn_actual
Confirm Invoice Correction Billed Sales Reversal GUID Reversing msdyn_actual Billed Sales GUID Original msdyn_actual
New Unbilled Sales Actual GUID Replacing msdyn_actual Billed Sales GUID Original msdyn_actual