1. How Genius Project manages Resource rates

When creating a resource, their rates are populated with the standard rates for the company and location they belong to. It is however, possible to change the resource’s rates by deselecting "Import the rates" on the [Rates] tab of their profile document.

It is possible to change the rates allocated to a resource for all projects in a [Projects] module. Rates can be changed directly in the "Resource" record of a [Projects] module, after the "Resource" and "Company" documents have been published to it. To do so the "Import the rates" option must be disabled.

The imported rates of the Resource are fetched from the Rates setup documents according to the following algorithm (level).

• Look for Project rates document

• Look for Resource rates document 

• Look for Company rates document

Find a definition of the algorithm then check the following.

• Look for a 'Rates' document matching the 'Company' - 'Location' - [Selected criterion] fields.

• If not found, look for a document matching the 'Company' and [Selected criterion] fields, defined for all locations ('Company' - 'All' - [Selected criterion]).

• If not found, look for a document matching only the field [Selected criterion], defined for all companies and locations ('All' - 'All' - [Selected criterion]).

• If not found, look for a document matching the 'Company' and 'Location' fields, defined for all [Selected criterion] ('Company' - 'Location' - 'All').

• If not found. look for a document matching only the field 'Company', defined for all locations and [Selected criterion] ('Company' - 'All' - 'All').

• If not found, then apply the default rates ('All' - 'All' - 'All').

2. Hierarchy of Rates

The system determines what rate applies according to three keys, in the following order:

1. Level

2. Period

3. 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.

1. Select 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.

2. Select the period

Once the level is defined, the system checks what period applies.

A rate per period record has this structure: "From date," "Cost rate," "Billing at rate". The "To" date is defined by the "From date" of the next record.

• 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.

3. Select the Activity type

This step applies if the "multi rate management" option is enabled.

Note: 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.

3. Multi-rate management

Multi-rate management allows companies to assign different rates to their resources depending on the type of work or activity they are performing in a project.

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.

Multi-rate management is an optional feature, which can be enabled in the "General" setup document of the [Resources] module.

Geniusproject supports up to 11 different rates for companies and resources.

Each resource will have a "default" rate and then up to ten other potential rates that will vary depending on the activity type of the tasks they are working on. When calculating a resource’s cost for work on a particular task, the system will automatically use the rate associated to the activity type defined in the task. If the activity type has not been defined, or if there is no specific rate assigned to the activity, the system will automatically use the default rate.

Note:  The activity types are defined in the "General" setup document of the [Resources] module, as well as the "Keywords lists" setup document of each of the [Projects] modules.

4. Project rates

It is possible to change the rates allocated to a resource at the individual project level. By selecting "Rate" from the [Create] menu in the "Project Description" form, a new "Rates" definition record can be defined, unique to the active project.

Note:  As long there is no Project rate document the current rates from the Resources are used.

Note: In previous version, some actions did automatically create project rates (project created from template, resource renamed), without want or need. Now the project rates are only created with the actions "Import the rates" and "Update the resources rates".

The "Project Description" form must be in edit mode.

An empty Rate document opens. Choose a single Resource, where a new Project rate should be defined.

Project Rates can either be seen in the Project description [Links] - "Incoming Links" and in the view for:

1. Import rates into Project

To import existing global Resource rates choose "Import the rates" from Action menu.

For every Resource from the Project a rate document will be created. The rates are imported from global rate management.

The Project rates are listed in Tab [Links], Section "Incoming links":

2. Update Project rates

To update existing rates choose Update the resource rates from Action menu.

Update the resources rates from global rate management.

3. Project Task rate

You can also change a resource’s rates at the task level by clicking on the icon on the [Resources] tab of the "Task" form.