Code formats mandate how codes are sectioned, entered and appear. You will be deciding how many sections are in each code, how many characters in each section, the separators used and the justification for each section.

1. Understanding Code
Formats in Vista
Prior to implementing Vista V6 you must decide how various codes will be set up. These are
irreversible decisions1. It is recommended that you include and consider representatives from
each of your divisions, departments and disciplines. The code formats that you choose will be
the format for all the companies within the database. You may choose to use them differently
for each entity but the sectioning will be the same.
What is Code Formatting:
Code formats mandate how codes are sectioned, entered and appear. You will be deciding
how many sections are in each code, how many characters in each section, the separators
used and the justification for each section.
The way these codes are set up will be a driving factor for how reports look and what data
can be used to report on. They are very important decisions that should not be taken lightly.
What codes must be decided on:
General Ledger Account Phases
Job – Project – Contract (Will all use the same coding)
Material Category Equipment
Equipment Category Equipment Cost Code
The anatomy of the code:
Sections: Each section of a code will be used for a different purpose. For example, a phase
code may have three different sections:
Main Activity / Base Location C.O.
Separators: The separator code is between parts of the multi-part code and it can be any
character. The “.” (period) and “-“ (hyphen) are the most commonly used.
A separator is not required. An example of not using a separator might be a phase code with
division and activity in what appears to be one section similar to a CIS code.
Division Activity Sub Activity C.O.
1 Code Formats can be changed by Viewpoint for a fee. Note: If there is data entered in the system
then it is likely a conversion will be needed in addition to the code reformat.

2. Justification: The justification will affect how each code is keyed and how it will appear in the
system and sort on reports. The choices are right or left justified.
6R 3R 2L
Using the above format, if you were to key in 5 digits in the first section, 2 digits in the second
section and 1 in the third section, it would look like this: _12345 . _12 . 1_ . The Code Format
Worksheet give you the ability to key in data to see how it would appear based on the code
you format you enter.
About each code:
General Ledger Account (maximum length = 20):
The general ledger account formatting will affect how the data can be pulled into your
financial and general ledger reporting. For example, if you need to generate an
income statement by division, then division must be indicated in a section. It is
important that the sections be in the right sequence. The base account will always be
the first in the sequence. The profit center will always be the last segment(s) in the
section.
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Base Code Division District
Department Discipline State
Job – Project – Contract (maximum length = 10):
The Job, Project and Contract will all have the same format. For more information about
what each of these mean refer to the document “Project Contract Relationship in
Vista”.
When moving to Vista V6 many customers will refrain from using a section to track things
like year or department. Instead they rely on the input fields in the software combined
with strong reporting to take care of any needs they may have previously accomplished
with their legacy coding.
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Project / Job Sub Project / Job Area/Location

3. Phase (maximum length = 20):
The phase (also known as cost code) typically requires the most internal collaboration
meetings because it will affect many things going forward including: comprehensive
reporting, ability to associate with a billing item, billing based on this relationship, ability
to track change orders in more detail
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Primary/Main Activity Division of Work
Location Billing Item
Change Order Sub Activity
Back Charges
Phase Validation:
It is important to note that the Phase Master (library of standard phases) can
have validation setting applied to it. What this means is that when a user enters
a phase code in the system it will look to this setting to determine how many of
the first characters have to be in the phase master to accept the entry. This will
ensure that phases that are not in the phase master are not added to a project.
For example, let’s assume our code structure is 6.3.2 as follows:
Activity Sub Activity C.O.
6 would validate activity only
9 would validate activity and sub-activity
For example, assume the phase 931526 exists in the phase master and the
validation is set to six.
If you type 93152 in a phase field the entry will not be accepted and an
error message will display because 6 digits are required and must be
included in the phase master.
If you type 931526.153 they system will accept it since the first 6 digits is a
phase in the phase master.
If you type 931525 and it is not in the phase master the entry will not be
accepted and an error message will appear.

4. Phases: Rigid Use or Flexible sections?
There are two schools of thought as it relates to whether or not the phase sections are rigid,
meaning they must be used as indicated, or flexible based on the project needs. This is not a
software rule it is a company rule.
If the segment use is kept flexible it allows each project to use them based on the requirements
for each job. For example, you may have a large job that requires tracking based on location
whereas another job each activity is broken down by the billing item detail.
In this case, allowing the codes to be used based on the jobs needs will not corrupt data that
can be reported on. Most times even when they are consistently utilized, the information is
meaningless. By this I mean, if you are using the section for location your locations on each of
your jobs are likely to vary enough that pulling a report based on location is meaningless.
Leaving sections flexible:
PROS CONS
Each project will be able to report on the
sections based on its specific needs
Site staff that works on multiple jobs will
have to code based on each projects
section methodology.
Do not need to type through an empty
section
Material Category (maximum length = 10):
The Material Category is used to categorize the material item list. Non-stock general
ledger accounts are assigned at the category level. If Material Sales or Inventory is in
use, categories can also be used to set default price discount levels and revenue/cost
posting general ledger accounts
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Major category Size
Type (equipment parts, major materials, supplies, safety)

5. Equipment Category (maximum length = 10):
The Equipment Category is used to categorize equipment. The main consideration for
the Equipment Category is to assign default revenue rates at the category level. Rate
maintenance is easier to manage when rates can be set at the category level rather
than at each piece.
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Equipment type Size
Fuel type used
Equipment Cost Code (maximum length = 10):
The Equipment Cost Code is used to categorize the division of work done on equipment.
It is similar in concept the job phase codes. General ledger posting can be directed at
the cost code level if further subdivision is desired than at the cost type level.
Common uses for the sections are as follows:
Repair type – transmission, brake, tires, etc
Repair magnitude – Preventive maintenance, rebuild or replacement