Thursday, February 01, 2007

Changing hourly rates in TimePro

The New Year often brings with it an increase in hourly rates for work undertaken. If you need to change the rates for Staff in TimePro, read on...

Charge and cost rates are defined in Staff Project Records in TimePro. There are two primary ways in which you can change the charge rates for Staff in TimePro:

  1. Set a new rate which retroactively applies to all time records (historical and future records): This is achieved by editing nominated Staff Project Records and changing the charge or cost rates in the appropriate fields. Doing this changes the charge or cost rates for all time records associated with the Staff Project Records which have been edited this way.

  2. Set a new rate for all future time records: This sets a new rate for all future time records associated with the Staff Project Record, whilst retaining the old rate for historical time records. You do this in the Staff Project listing by clicking on the 'set new rate' button located next to the Charge or Cost rate you would like to change. The new rate applies from the time it is set via this method. The 'set new rate' button resembles three dots [...] set in a button.

Retrospectively changing rates

At times, you may need to retrospectively change rates so that the new rate comes into effect on a nominated date in the recent past. For example, you may need to change the charge rate for a Staff Project record effective the 2nd January 2007.

  • To do this, you would use the second method above (set a new rate for all future time records) to create a new rate record for the Staff Project record. You would then need to review the Staff member's timesheets for the periods since the date of the rate change to locate times against projects in which the new rate applies.
  • Edit these timesheets and you will see that the projects against which these times have been recorded will now be marked with [DISABLED]. This refers to the fact that the Staff-Project record for that Project item is now disabled, having been replaced with a new Staff Project Record with the new charge rate for the Staff member working on that Project.
  • Simply select the active project from the Projects drow down menu (you will note that both the active and [DISABLED] Project are selectable), and click the 'Save' button once you have updated the record.
  • Do this for all instances of the Staff member's time records against that Project in their timesheet until the current period's timesheet.

Example:

  • On the 1st January 2007, John Brown's rate on the Adaptec Helpdesk Services project increases from $85/hr to $100/hr. John has already recorded a week's worth of time records against this Project in TimePro. The current date is January 9, 2007.
  • As TimePro Administrator, you access the Staff Projects listing and using the second method above, you set the future charge rate of the Staff Project Record for John Brown - Adaptec Helpdesk Services to $100/hr. The new rate comes into effect the moment you submit the change.
  • You now need to retrospectively update John's timesheets from the 1st of January to reflect this change. You view John's timesheet for the week of 1/1/07 and note that he has 5 time records against Adaptec Helpdesk Services, one per day.
  • You edit each day's time record, noting that the project listing for 'Adaptec Helpdesk Services' is now listed as [DISABLED]. You click on the Project listing drop down and select 'Adaptec Helpdesk Services' from the items there. You then save that timesheet.
  • You repeat this for each entry that John has recorded against 'Adaptec Helpdesk Services' for the week, effectively updating John's time recorded from the old rate to the new rate.
  • When you have finished, you submit John's timesheet so that the times for that week will be billed on the new rate.