Rate Sheets are the critical component of the Job Cost and Billing Setup.
It is here where users will establish how Tools, Equipment, Materials and Consumables are charged.
Rate Sheets can be shared across multiple jobs and users can create multiple rate sheets for projects with varying job cost and billing rates.
There are two types of rate sheets in Align EAM:
Tools & Equipment
Materials & Consumables
Each rate sheet contains two dropdown options:
One for job cost to establish charges that capture costs of items allocated to projects
One for billing to establish charges that capture revenue of items allocated to projects
While it is not required to setup both job cost and billing rates, it is important for users to understand the distinction between Job Costs and Billing -
Job Costs → Cost Incurred
The collective expense incurred by an organization for the use and service of tools and the consumption of commodities (materials and consumables) transferred to assignments
Billing → Revenue Earned
The value earned by an organization for the use, or sale of its tools and equipment transferred to assignments and the value earned for the consumption of commodities (materials and consumables) transferred to assignments
When using both Job Cost rates and Billing rates in tandem, the difference between the revenue and cost (found by subtracting the cost from the revenue) can be measured to track:
Profit - when revenue exceeds cost
Loss - when costs exceeds revenue
Organizations may want to track only their costs (Job Cost) or their revenue (Billing) while other organizations may want to track both cost and revenue to fine tune their estimating process, measure ROI, etc.
Rate Sheet Interface - Header Information & Rate Sheet Options
Rate sheet headers and options include the following:
Save - Saving a rate sheet in progress
Save & Close - Saving a rate sheet and closing the rate sheet screen
Add Related Charge - create an additional charge row associated with the appropriate model record listed (Unique Tool Model records only)
Delete Related Charge - remove a related charge row
Export Data -export rate sheet to a .csv file
Publish to Excel - export rate sheet to an Excel file to create and modify rates in Excel
Import from Excel - import exported rate sheet in Excel to apply rates created or modified in Excel
Rate Sheet Number - user defined identification number of rate sheet.
Description - user defined title/description of rate sheet
Set Rate Sheet Rules - rules that define hours in a day, week, and month as well as migration points for daily, weekly, monthly rates per hour (Tool & Equipment rate sheet only)
Base Recalculation Method - radio button to either recalculate percents in rate sheets when the base rate is changed or recalculate charge when the base rate is changed
Job Cost - radio button to create, update, edit and review Job Cost rates
Billing - radio button to create, update, edit and review Billing rates