Load Labor Rates Process

The Load Labor Rates process tells Costpoint how to select the correct labor rate to compute revenue and billing on hours-based billing and revenue formulas.

This process uses the PLC entered in the transaction entry screen, the source project, the effective date of the transaction, and the rate type to select the labor rate that is inserted on the Manage Open Billing Detail screen and the Manage Project Labor History screen. After the correct labor rate is inserted into these tables, you can compute revenue and calculate bills.

The project number entered in the transaction entry screen is used to find the correct record from the Manage Rate Sequence Orders screen. The Load Labor Rates process identifies the source project associated with the transaction project number using the first row (or sequence) in the table. Using the rate table code on the first row on the Manage Rate Sequence Orders screen for the transaction project, Costpoint identifies the screen from which to select a labor rate for the transaction PLC. It then compares the effective date range for the transaction PLC to the effective date on the Manage Project Labor History and Manage Open Billing Detail screens. If the effective date on the Manage Project Labor History and/or Manage Open Billing Detail screens falls within the date range for the transaction PLC, Costpoint uses the rate type to calculate the labor rate. The labor rate is inserted into the Billing Rate field on the Manage Project Labor History screen and the Billing Rate field on the Manage Open Billing Detail screens. The Compute Revenue screen and Calculate Standard Bills screen use this information to calculate revenue and billings. If the T&M Rate Sequence Search for PLC Source Project on the Configure Project Settings screen is set to All Rows, the process previously described continues searching the record from the Manage Rate Sequence Orders screen until the transaction PLC is located.  

Timesheet Defaults

The second area involved in determining PLC setup is the maintenance that you want to undertake in order to get a correct PLC to default on a timesheet. You have a variety of choices:

• No Timesheet Default: You must use the Manage Project Labor Categories (PLC) screen to establish the company-wide list of PLCs that are valid for all projects. Then you must manually enter the appropriate PLCs on the timesheet screen. As long as the Labor Category you enter on the timesheet exists in the company-wide set of PLCs, it is valid for the project charged.

  The fact that you did not use the Link Project Labor Categories to Projects screen (to assign each of the applicable PLCs to specific projects) precludes you from using separate labor rates for a Labor Category within a project. If you must have separate project PLC rates for a given Labor Category for each project, but do not want to worry about a default on timesheets, you must set up using the following screens:

  • Manage Project Labor Categories (PLC)
  • Link Project Labor Categories to Projects
  • Link Project Labor Category Rates to Projects
• Timesheet Default menu in Costpoint Labor: In this case, you have multiple areas within Costpoint Labor that you can use to provide a default PLC. These include the following:
  • Set up a default project labor category on the Manage Employee Proj-Acct-Group Timesheet Defaults screen either by project number, by labor group, or by employee.
  • Set up a default project labor category for each general labor category on the Manage General Labor Categories screen.

    To set up this level of default, use the following screens:

    • Manage Project Labor Categories (PLC)
    • Manage Employee Proj-Acct-Group Timesheet Defaults (Optional)
    • Manage General Labor Categories (Optional)
• Timesheet Default Based on Mapping of Project Labor Category to General Labor Category for a Specific Project: In this case, you set up a default by mapping each PLC for a specific project to a company-wide classification, or GLC. This provides a correct default in MOST cases, but often requires that the default PLC for certain employees be manually overwritten on the timesheet.

  To set up this level of default, use the following screens:

  • Manage Project Labor Categories (PLC)
  • Link Project Labor Categories to Projects
  • Link GLC to Project PLC subtask of the Link Project Labor Categories to Projects screen
  Note: You can map multiple GLCs to a single PLC; however, you cannot map one GLC to more than one PLC.
• Timesheet Default Based on Employee ID for a Specific Project: This is the most detailed way to ensure that the PLC default is correct. It is also the level of default that requires the most maintenance, but this method also requires fewer manual PLC modifications on the timesheet. In this case, assign a PLC to each employee who can work on a given project. For example: Joe Smith and Ed Jones both have a company classification (GLC) of Engineer. Both work on project "1234;" however, Joe charges as an Engineer and Ed charges as a Senior Engineer. Here, you simply assign the appropriate category to each employee in order to provide the correct Project Labor Category default.

  To set up the default at this level, use the following screens:

  • Project Labor Categories (PLC)
  • Link Project Labor Categories to Projects
  • Manage Employee Work Force or Manage Vendor Work Force
  • Assign PLC to Employee Work Force subtask of the Manage Employee Work Force screen or the Assign PLC to Vendor Work Force subtask of the Manage Vendor Work Force screen

Using the Assign PLC to Employee Work Force or Assign PLC to Vendor Work Force subtasks, you can make more than one PLC valid for an individual for a specific project; however, you must specify the "normal default" category for the timesheet. The category marked as the default displays on the timesheet, but can be overwritten by any of the other categories listed on the Assign PLC to Employee Work Force or Assign PLC to Vendor Work Force subtasks.

When a project number is entered on a timesheet line, Costpoint searches the following screens in order for a default PLC:

• The Projects > Maintain > Labor Categories menu
• Manage Employee Project Timesheet Defaults
• Link GLC to Project PLC subtask of the Link Project Labor Categories to Projects screen
• Manage Employee Proj-Acct-Group Timesheet Defaults
• Manage General Labor Categories
• Manage Labor-Group Proj-Acct-Group Timesheet Defaults

If no PLC is found, Costpoint offers no default and allows entry of a valid category from the Manage Project Labor Categories (PLC) screen. Additionally, if a default is found, but it is not the desired PLC, you can generally override the default with a valid category. The only exception is when you have selected the Project Work Force Required check box and either the PLC or the employee is not found on the Assign PLC to Employee Work Force subtask of the Manage Employee Work Force screen.

As you can see, you can achieve a great deal of variation with the PLCs and their associated Billing Rates. To test your choice of setup for a timesheet default, enter the setup for one employee or GLC, and then enter a "test" timesheet. If the correct PLC is defaulted, your setup is correct. Remember, DO NOT SAVE the test timesheet.

Testing your setup for billing rates requires considerably more effort. If you need to test your billing rate setup, please contact your System Consultant.