# Production (Job Costing)

This section explains how users can setup and utilize the Production Job Costing module for tracking time and expenses related to an advertising project (or other project).

This module is a result of progressive services which publishers provide their customers in addition to placing Ads in publications. For example, publishers are selling Microsites, Native Advertising, Social Media Engagements, Video Production, Video Channels, Lead Generation Services and Events. This module allows publishers to bill clients based on time and materials as opposed to the more traditional billing based on ad size or number of impressions/clicks/days/etc.

## Production Job Costing General Features

The module allows users to perform several functions:

* Define a job for the user’s customer
* Quickly build / send one or more Pricing Estimates to the customer
* Record approval of an Estimate to start a Job
* Link with 3rd Party project management tools, such as Basecamp
* Allows cost tracking against the job
* Track and possibly bill for Employee Time Spent / Logged
* Miscellaneous Expenses
* Costs from outside Vendors
* Billing:
  * Marking up the publisher’s cost, for example, cost + 20%
  * Hourly rates for time entered
  * Customer can be billed whenever costs are received
* Inventory Job Costing can be used to track a product’s expenses and costs but not for the purposes of billing a customer. It sets the product’s unit cost (COGS) where user can assign specific costs to be amortized over a time-period which you specify.
