Creating a Rating Table

Rating tables differ from the rates which are for Job Types or contacts as they work by combining 2 elements - the x and y axes or rows and columns - rather than just one element, e.g. £ per hour.

To create a new Rating Table, go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Financial, followed by Schedule of rates.

You can Add or search by Group.

By selecting to Add a new table, a pop-up menu titled New Rating Table will appear.

Populated with the appropriate information, taking note that all fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory and must be completed:

1. Name - the name you wish to attribute to this table.
2. Group - the group which this rating table belongs within
3. Currency - the currency you will be working in eg GBP, Euros, etc.
4. Invoice description - this field can hold several auto-populated keyword fields eg Job type, Order number but also can be combined with free text, as required.
5. Nominal code -you can attribute a number code to this table here if you wish to do so, however, this field is not compulsory.
6. Department code - you can attribute a department code to this table here if you wish to do so, allowing for easier traceability and internal recharges, however, this field is not compulsory.
7. VAT - choose the level of VAT attributable to this rating table.
8. Row type - you are provided with a list of categories that you may select from and this then populates the x-axis label of your table.
9. Column type - you are provided with a list of categories that you may select from and this then populates the y-axis label of your table.
10. Multiply price by - an optional field that can enable more complex calculations to be automatically calculated, including the option to multiply by both the x and y axes.
11. Use predefined invoicing items - an optional field which by drawing in predefined items can enable more complex equations to be automatically calculated.  This field is a fantastic time-saver which also reduces the possibility of input error.  Additionally, it allows you to set up customer-specific pricing as predefined invoice items (discounts or mark-ups) and this pricing will be used.

As noted above, the name which you attribute to (1) Row Type will appear as the x-axis  label and that which is selected for (2) Column Type will appear as the y-axis label:

Additional rows and columns can be added to your table by clicking on the '+' symbol or removed by selecting the '-' symbol (this only appears when there are more than 3 tabs on each axis). If you select a Worksheet answer for a Column or Row type, additional fields (1) and (2) will appear:

Available answer options on 'Answer units' are:

• Number, Boolean (yes/no), Text, Day/Time, Time:

You can customise the VAT attribution for each Rating Table, allowing you to either apply a VAT % for the line item or, if you have VAT codes set up, apply these:

You can use the Comparison method field, allowing you to select either <= (is less than or equal to) or = (equal to), useful, for example, for returning multiple line items when more than one list based option can be selected

 If you wish to create a new Rating Table that is quite similar to an existing one, follow these steps:

1. Go to Account Settings
2. Select Settings.
3. From the side menu, select Financial,
4. Select Schedule of rates.
5. Select the relevant Rating Table.
6. Select Duplicate.

The duplicate table will appear in the list with the word 'copy' after the title, so can easily be identified, renamed and reused. So for our Boiler Service Job, a Rating Table might look like this:

The X-Axis - There are 2 tabs on the example, '60' and '90'.  You will notice that each of the tabs is attached to 2 rate boxes, one for lower than that amount and one for above it.  For example, the '60' tab has links to both line 1 (in this case, 0-59 minutes) and line 2 (in this case, 60-89 minutes).

The Y-Axis - There are also 2 tabs on this example, '10' and '20' and they work in precisely the same way.  If a distance is between 0-9 miles it would use column A and if it was between 10-19 it would use column B. So, if a job is scheduled of this Job Type and takes between 0-59 minutes and is a distance of between 0-9 miles away, the charges will come from 1A.  If it took 65 minutes and was 21 miles away, the charges would.

Triggering a Rating Table

Rating tables are called into use via a dedicated WorkSheet branch type.

To set a Rating Table trigger, go to Account Settings, and select Settings. From the side menu, select Schedule, followed by WorkSheets.

Select Add to create a new WorkSheet.

You should now name your new WorkSheet,and complete it by deciding at which stage you wish the questions contained in it to be answered e.g. "before starting the job", "at any time", etc, before saving.

Having created your WorkSheet, you can now edit it by selecting it, and customise it by creating new questions. To do this, go to Select file → Edit→Tasks/inspection/parts...→ Add

1. Ensure that questions are configured in a way that provides suitable responses/values for use in a Ratings Table, e.g Number of tonnes collected?
2. Ensure t.hat the response (Type) works with the question and is suitable for use in rating tables.
3. The box in the Mandatory field should be ticked.
4. Once your WorkSheet question has been completed as desired, select + Add conditional branching.

*Conditional branching is the process by which you can build a decision tree based on the possible answers to a question, ie your required actions will change depending on your response to a question.  In the example below, if the answer to the question 'Have you carried out a vehicle check?' is 'Yes', then you can sign your Worksheet.  If you answer 'no' it will take you to a vehicle check.

Your completed question will look something like this:

There is nothing that advises the system that you want to use it in partnership with a rating table.  To do that, you need to add conditional branching as a trigger. Select the + Add conditional branching icon, and a new line of fields will appear below the original form.

In most instances, it is advised to select other answers in the first field. Ensure that you have selected Apply rating and then select the appropriate Worksheet.  From the popup, choose the question from the Worksheet that you want to use. 

These are the triggers that tell the system that you wish to use the answers to this question in your Rating Table:

Once a rating table has been successfully added to a question as a trigger, it is signposted by the appearance of a blue ‘$’ sign next to a worksheet question in a list.

Please note that rate tables will be applied in addition to any other pricing elements, such as; Job Type Financials, Cost Questions, Predefined Invoice Items and Stock.

Sample Rating Tables

A Rating Table for Different Levels of Seniority

Imagine a scenario where the rates for a Job Type - here we will use 'Machine Run Inspection' are created on the basis of a Junior Engineer carrying out the work. 

For more complex issues, however, a higher level of expertise is required and you want to add additional charges because of their higher rate of pay.

Step 1 - Create a Rating Table

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Financial, followed by Schedule of rates, and then Add.

1. Add a name
2. Add a currency
3. For row type, select 'Worksheet answer'. Two new fields will appear. For 'Row description' we'll use 'Engineer category' and for 'Answers unit', we'll use 'Text'. A new 'Comparison method' field will now have appeared.  Choose '=' because we want the text to be this exact answer.
4. For column type, select 'Job actual duration (minutes) because we want to charge for the engineer according to the costs.

Your completed Rating Table should look something like this:

The Junior row has been added as zero because the Job Type Rate already covers this level of expertise.

Step 2 - Create a Worksheet

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Schedule, followed by Worksheets, and then Add.

Your Worksheet should look something like this:

Now re-open the Worksheet and add a question

1. In this case, we want to ask what level of engineer completed the job
2. The answer will be from a list of possible answers based on the levels we use in our company, so we will select List and we will then be asked to enter the possible answers.
3. Make the response mandatory as we want the rating table to be triggered.
4. Finally, we need to add conditional branching in order to tell the system that we want the rating table to be applied.
5. 
   
   1. Choose other answers as we want the rating table to apply regardless of the answer.
   2. Select Apply rating as we want the rating table to be used.
   3. Choose the rating table that you want to use

Your Worksheet should look something like this:

Step 3 - Job Type

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Schedule, followed by Job Types, and then Add-Edit. 

Select the WorkSheet that you just created as the Default worksheet for the relevant Job Type (more than one worksheet can be selected).

It should look something like this:

Step 4 - Schedule a Job

Now you can see the rating table in action by scheduling a job of the Job Type it is applied to:

The Worksheet we just created will have automatically been added, meaning so has our rating table. 

Once the job has been completed, a Job result tab will appear on the far left.  If you open it, you will see that there are 2 sub-tabs, click on Worksheets. You will see the engineer's response to the question we set:

If you now move over to the Financial tab, you will see the charges which have been levied based on our rating table:

 If the level of the engineer had been Junior, then it would have looked like this:

A Rating Table for the Collection of Waste

In this scenario, the Rating Table calculates the tonnage of waste material collected.  For full step-by-step details, please see the first example, above.

Step 1 - Create a Rating Table

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Financial, followed by Schedule of rates, and then Add.

Step 2 – Create a Worksheet

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Schedule, followed by Worksheets, and then Add.

Your Worksheet should look something like this:

Step 3 – Job Type

Go to Account Settings and select Settings. From the side menu, select Schedule, followed by Job Types, and then Add-Edit. 

Select the WorkSheet that you just created as the Default worksheet for the relevant Job Type (more than one worksheet can be selected).

Step 4 – Schedule a Job

Now you can see the rating table in action by scheduling a job of the relevant Job Type it has been applied to.

The Worksheet we just created will have automatically been added, meaning so has our rating table.  Once the job has been completed, a Job result tab will appear on the far left.

If you open it, you will see that there are 2 sub-tabs, select Worksheets. You will see the resource’s response to the question.

If you now move over to the Financial tab, you will see the charges which have been levied based on our rating table.

In the rating table, we asked for the number of tonnes collected (25 mtu from the job's worksheet) to be multiplied by the cost per mtu (£30).

Video

Rates & Ratings Tables: Recording of a Live Tutorial