Purpose
TRUE offers two primary workflows for managing work: Jobs and Contracts. This guide helps you determine which workflow best fits your business needs. Contact your account manager if you have questions about which workflow to use.
Quick Decision Guide
Use Jobs If:
- The work is straightforward
- It's a one-time or short-term project
- It's a service or technician call
- It's an over-the-counter purchase
- You only need basic job costing
- A single estimate is sufficient
Use Contracts If:
- The work requires a bid
- You need a contract or schedule of values
- You'll be submitting pay requests
- The project involves long-term scheduling
- You need to track prevailing wages
- You require in-depth job costing
- You need change order management
- You require AIA-style billing
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Jobs | Contracts |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| AIA-Style Billing | — | ✓ |
| Pay Requests | — | ✓ |
| Retainage | — | ✓ |
| Basic Job Costing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced Job Costing Options | — | ✓ |
| Prevailing Wages | — | ✓ |
| Change Orders | — | ✓ |
| Schedule of Values | — | ✓ |
| Submittals, Transmittals, RFIs | — | ✓ |
| Multiple Quotes/Estimates | ✓ | ✓ |
Billing Methods
Fixed-Price Invoice (Jobs & Contracts)
- Terms are set with itemized scope of work or lump sum.
- Billing options include installments, percentage completed, down payments, or due upon completion.
- Available in both Jobs and Contracts workflows.
AIA-Style Billing (Contracts Only)
- Set up with a schedule of values.
- Submit applications for payment.
- Track schedule of values, retainage, pay applications, and stored material costs.
- Required for commercial construction and government contracts.
Job Costing Options
Basic Job Costing (Jobs & Contracts)
- Optional feature available in both workflows.
- Automatically generated using recommended workflows.
- Can be manually created in the Job Costing tab.
Advanced Job Costing (Contracts Only)
Choose from four options during contract setup:
- Do Not Track - No job costing for this contract.
- Overall Contract - Track costs at the contract level.
- Itemized Contract - Track costs by line item.
- Custom Budget with Cost Codes - Detailed tracking with cost code breakdown.
Project Management Features (Contracts Only)
The Contracts workflow includes additional project management tools:
Change Orders - Track contract modifications
RFIs - Requests for Information
Submittals - Material and product approvals
Transmittals - Document transmissions
Project Phases - Multi-phase scheduling
Prevailing Wages - Wage rate tracking
Estimating Differences
| Jobs | Contracts |
|---|---|
| Single estimate per project | Multiple estimates per bid |
| Changes can be made and forms regenerated | Choose which estimates to display on proposal packet |
| Suitable for simple projects | Generate budget from selected estimates |
Still Unsure?
Start with Jobs.
You can always upgrade a Job to a Contract if the project scope expands. The Jobs workflow is designed for simpler projects, while Contracts handles complex commercial-level work with detailed data and workflows.
Related Articles
- Jobs Module - Complete guide to the Jobs workflow
- Contracts Module - Complete guide to the Contracts workflow
- Quotes Module - Creating estimates for Jobs
- Bids Module - Creating estimates for Contracts