While TimeControl’s rate architecture is extensive, there are some clients who do not need to use it. There may be numerous reasons for a client to decide on a no-rates approach. Perhaps rates are already managed elsewhere such as in a payroll system. ‘If we just got the accurately categorized hours,’ they say, we could easily do the rates calculations here in payroll where the rates exist already. Perhaps the client doesn’t need a ‘down-to-the-dollar’ standard. It might be enough for them to use hours and an averaged rate calculation directly in a project system. Perhaps tying to multiple rates is a phase of using TimeControl that is planned for the future.
TimeControl’s flexibility isn’t restricted to how to handle complex timesheet elements. It can also be used to make some features simpler or to eliminate the feature altogether. ‘But wait,’ you might say. ‘Aren’t rates a required element of TimeControl?’ Yes they are. But the need to display them can easily be configured away.
Here’s how to create a no-rates approach:
First, create only a single global rate. Let’s call the rate code “S” for Standard” and let’s give it a value of $1.00. That can come in handy later. Now every hour will equate to $1.00 dollar worth of time. Since this single rate is a global type, it will be visible to all employees.
Next, make the ‘S’ rate the default for all employees. If you haven’t entered any employees yet, then putting the ‘S’ default rate into the Default Employee Table Template will have that ‘S’ standard rate automatically appear for everyone. Make sure that the ‘S’ rate is applied to all employees. Now the ‘S’ standard rate will be inserted into every single timesheet line including those created by AutoFill or TimeRequest. And that rate will be inserted whether the field is shown or not!
Finally, in User Profiles, hide both the Rate Code and Rate Description fields for all timesheet entry users.
That’s it. You now have configured TimeControl so that users will not see the rate code but it will be created and for all users and all timesheet lines, the value of each hour will be 1 dollar. Rates are hidden but they are being used properly.
This means that all standard reports that might have used rate cost values will now show just the hour values because of using one dollar per hour for the rate. You can relabel those reports to use for other purposes.
Remember that the rates functionality hasn’t gone away, it’s just been masked and, moreover, while we’ve just described how to create a no-rates system for everyone, you could elect to have this for only some employees while other TimeControl users would use rates in a more traditional fashion. All that would be needed is to ensure the User Profiles for the no-rates approach and for other employees are different.
To read more about TimeControl’s different rate scenarios and how to create your own rate structure, read the White Paper “Creating your Rate Structure” on the TimeControl White Papers Resource page at: TimeControl.com/resources/whitepapers.
We’re very excited to announce the availability of a new multi-part video training course on the use of the TimeControl Report Designer. Created by the HMS Technical Staff, the course comes in 12 bite-sized 3-5 minute sections and covers how to create your first TimeControl Report from scratch and how clean up the formatting so it’s ready for production.
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