Maintained for compatibility with older versions. Has been replaced with Company/Customer rates
Hierarchy of Rates in a Project Modules/Databases
The system determines what rate applies according to three keys, in the following order:
- Level
- Period
- Activity type
The algorithm below works for both resource costs and billing rates. It defines what rate the system uses when computing a labor cost.
Selecting the Rates "level"
Levels are Project rates, Customer Rates or Resource Rates.
When the system looks for what rate applies, e.g. when computing the planned cost of an assignment, the system follows these steps:
- Are there rates specific to the project? If yes, use these rates.
- If not, are there rates specific to the customer (assuming there's a customer selected in the project and the proper "use customer rates" options are selected)? If yes, use these rates.
- If not, select the resource rate of the project database.
Note: A resource rate is defined in the Resources module and available in all Project modules where the resource is published. However, the rate in a project module/database can be "desynchronized" from the resource module, then specific to a project module.
Selecting the Period
Once the level is defined, the system checks what period applies.
Planned cost / billing amount: The system uses the "planned start date" to define what rate per period applies; e.g., if an assignment is scheduled from 1/1/13 to 2/28/13, the system searches for a rate per period using 1/1/13 as a key.
Actual cost / billing amount: The system uses the actual date to define what rate per period applies; e.g. if a resource records the time spent on 1/25/13, the system searches for a rate per period using 1/25/13 as a key.
Selecting the Activity Type
This step applies if the multi rate management option is enabled.
The system checks what rate is defined for the activity type. If no rate is defined for the activity type, the system considers the rate is set to 0, even though a default rate could exist.
GeniusProject supports multi-rate and multi-level rate management for the different companies(customers), projects, periods and individuals listed in the [Resources] module. GeniusProject offers the flexibility to assign default rates to companies and resources while allowing specific rate changes at the project or task level.
In this document, “Rate” includes two elements, the internal cost of the resource, and the resource’s billable cost.
The “Standard rates” document lets you capture default rates and rates by activity type, provided that “Multi-rate management” has been enabled in the “General” setup document.
Updating Rates
If a company’s list of standard (default) rates has been modified, you can update them in all the companies by using the “Actions \ Update resources rates” action located in the “Standard rates” setup view.
When creating a new resource, they will inherit the standard rates from the company and location they belong to.
If the company’s rates have been modified, the changes can be applied to all company resources by navigating to the [General] tab of the [Resources] module setup and selecting “Update the resources rates” from the [Actions] menu.
Note: The updates will only be applied as long as the option to “Import the rates” has been enabled in the “Resource” forms.
Resources can be published to or updated in the different [Projects] module(s), by navigating to the Resources tab ->Resource list” view in the contextual navigation menu and selecting either of the Publish option from the Destinations dropdown menu.
The resources” rates are updated at the same time if the “Import the rates” option is enabled in the “Resource” documents in the Projects module(s), or if the resource was not previously published in the Projects module(s).