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II.    Setup Menu

A.    Setup: Company Information

The company information allows you to enter descriptive information about your company.  You can enter both a formal name of your company and a code for use as a reference in selection lists.  The address is used in the header of your employee/vendor statements.  The Tax Number (when not blank) is also used in the statement header.  Those companies that must pay GST usually use the Tax Number as their GST number so that their vendor statements include the company's GST number.  The Phone/Fax/Email fields are optional and used for informational purposes only.

In The Logger's Edge your company will appear as a vendor (internal) and as a customer (internal).  When you update the company information entry form, The Logger's Edge will update both the vendor and customer entries.

B.   Setup: Configurable Load Attributes

The Logger's Edge provides the ability to create 13 (don't ask why 13) data items that you can configure and setup as selection lists.  Three of the configurable fields are reserved as attributes for blocks/tracts/etc.; the other ten (10) fields are eligible for inclusion on load tickets.  In the example below, two of the fields (Area, Timbermark) are setup to be used as attributes of the block. The others (species, stratum) are used as attributes of the load tickets.

The names of the items are configurable and can be set to whatever you want.  Changing the names requires a system administrator to log into the system configuration window.  Thus, the attributes that you see in your own Logger's Edge system may differ in number and names from those shown below.

As noted above, two items (Species, Stratum) have been setup as load attributes.  The other eight items have not been used in this example, although they are easy to turn on or off as you require.  Again, you can name these attributes (such as sort, grade, process, logger, logging system, zone, etc) to match your business terminology.

When you click on one of the configurable menu items, such as species, The Logger's Edge standard data entry grid shows columns for the Code, Name (filled in with the name of the attribute), and a checkbox for 'active?'.  You use this grid to enter the valid selections used for load slips.  In the example below, there are 14 different species that have been listed.  If you or another user attempt to add another species on the load slip, you will be notified that the species does not exist and that it must be first set up here before it can be used in other parts of the system.  These lists enforce standard terminology and entry validation for the attributes of your load slips.

One useful feature of The Logger's Edge database is that if you change the code for an attribute in this screen, the change will be automatically propagated to all other tables in the system.  For example, if you changed 'D FIR' to 'DOUG FIR', all load slips with species 'D FIR' would be changed to 'DOUG FIR' automatically.

C.    Setup: Workers

1.    Setup: Workers | Worker Setup

This menu item is used to setup both your employees and subcontractor workers.

Tab 1:  Workers

Select Setup | Workers | Worker Setup from the Main Menu.  In the grid, you enter the worker's information, such as their name, address, etc.  The worker's code can either be an employee number or short acronym (e.g. the worker's initials), for data entry purposes. The Code should be easily recognizable to users responsible for data entry. 

This list is used to set up both employees, as well as contract workers.  In order to set up a worker as an employee, you must specify the employer as your own company.  In the example below, 'WP' stands for White Pine Logging -- a hypothetical logging company using The Logger's Edge.  The system thus recognizes DL as an employee of the company.

In order to add an employee, click on the 'Add' button.

Tab 2:    Employee/Worker Base Rates

Select the Tab 'Worker Base Rates'.  In the grid, you enter the worker's base pay rate in the Rate column.  This is the general rate that applies to the worker's time.  You set the effective date for the rate -- the date at which the worker starts to be paid at the rate.  If a worker gets a raise, you would make another entry with the date at which time the raise would take effect.  For example, in the screen below, there is a rate of $21.93 effective 10/19/2004 and a rate of $25.00 for 1/1/2005.  The Logger's Edge interprets these entries as:  Pay employee CHILLER at a rate of $21.93/Hr for time between 10/19/2004 and 12/31/2004;  for time on or after 1/1/2005, pay him $25.00/Hr.  (For time entries prior to 10/19/2004, the system will generate an error message informing you that no pay rate exists.)  

The Loaded Rate is used in costing reports that rely on the employee's loaded rate, instead of his direct pay rate, to calculate payroll costs.  The loaded rate reflects an employee's benefits, taxes and overhead allocations and is intended to reflect the full cost of employing an worker.  The loaded rate is used to calculate payroll costs in a number of the business reports included in The Logger's Edge.

The Charge Out Rate is used when you need to bill time to customers.  It is the rate you charge your customers for work performed by this worker-- not what you pay your worker.

The Rate Type must be set to 'HR' in order to pay people by the hour.  The system uses the rate tagged as 'HR' to identify the hourly pay rate.  Other rate types are available (for example, by Day), and a worker can have more than one rate set up.  The system uses the "HR" rates to generate payments for time slips, and the other rate types to generate payment for entries made under the Data Entry | Production Activity menu item.

If your rates are based on the activity performed rather than the worker performing the work, talk to a support representative.  We can add another column to this rate grid for the Pay Activity, and you can then set rates for ALL workers for a given activity, rather than setting rates by worker as shown in the example above.

Tab 3:    Equipment Assignments

Select the Tab 'Equipment Assignments'.  In the grid, you enter your workers and the equipment unit to which they have been assigned.  The system uses these assignments as the default values when you fill in a time slip.  For example, if worker DL is assigned to unit DL100, then when you click on DL in the time slip form, The Logger's Edge will auto-select the unit DL100 for his equipment unit.  You are not tied to this selection, but can change it to another piece of equipment -- the assignment merely acts as a default to speed up data entry.  (If you have not yet set up your equipment, you can do so under Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Unit Numbers.

2.    Setup: Workers | Employee Base Rates

This menu item is used to setup the base pay rates that you pay your employees and subcontractor workers.

This grid is used to enter the pay rates that apply to employee/contractor time slips and to employee/contractor production activity (non-hourly) slips.  Production slips (found under Data Entry | Production Activity) might be used for piece work or non-hourly time (e.g. a day, shift or weekly rate). (Tree count rates are applied to the tree counts entered on the time slip itself.  Tree counts need not be entered separately in Production Activity slips.)

The columns are defined as:

• Employee Code:  Code that identifies the worker.
• Effective Date:  The starting date from which a rate takes effect.  The rate will be in effect until there is a subsequent rate entered for the worker, in which case the subsequent rate will be the rate that is used.
• Rate:  The pay rate used for payroll.
• Loaded Rate:  The Loaded Rate is used in costing reports that rely on the employee's loaded rate, instead of his direct pay rate, to calculate payroll costs.  The loaded rate reflects an employee's benefits, taxes and overhead allocations and is intended to reflect the full cost of employing a worker.  The loaded rate is used to calculate payroll costs in a number of the business reports included in The Logger's Edge.
• Charge Out Rate:  The Charge Out Rate is used when you need to bill this worker's time to customers.  It is the rate you charge your customers for this worker's time -- not what you pay your worker.
• Rate Type:  The Rate Type is the basis upon which the rate is based.  For example, hourly pay would have a basis of 'HR'.  Pay based on tree counts would have a rate type of 'TREES';  pay based on tree volume would have a rate type of 'TREE_VOL'.  In the example above, there are also rates based on days (DAY) that can be used for a date rate.  There is also a rate for KM (kilometers) that could be used to pay workers based on kilometers of road.

Special Feature

The rate setup grid is configurable with the assistance of a Caribou support representative.

You make your rates based on:

    1.    Block.  You can indicate a specific block to which the rate applies.  This allows you to vary your base worker rates by block.

    2.    Activity.  You can specify a specific activity or the 'NONE' activity.  This allows you to vary your base worker rates by pay activity.  For example, you might have different rates for production work versus shop time.  You can set up these activity rates for the "ALL" employee if rates are activity-specific rather than worker-specific.

    3.    Block Attribute.  You can specify a specific block attribute or the 'NONE' block attribute.  This allows you to vary your base worker rates by a block attribute.  For example, you might have attribute of 'Area' or 'Timbermark' that is used for rate breaks.  Thus, you could set up rates for all employees that were based on the attribute Area by using the 'ALL' employee and specific area entries.

3.    Setup: Workers | Employee Activity Rates

Do you pay your employees different rates for different activities?  For example, do you pay travel time at a different rate than other time?  If the answer is YES, then you can set up pay differentials by activity.  Go to Setup | Workers | Worker Activity Rates from the Main Menu.  Pick the worker and the activity --  travel, loading, felling, etc.  Enter the effective date.  This is the date that the differential takes effect.  The Pay Rate Differential is the amount of the differential.  The amount can be positive -- meaning a positive differential.  The amount can also be negative.  The checkbox tells the system whether your entry is a percentage entry or not.  If not, it is considered a dollar entry.  The 'Rate Type'  tells the system to apply the differential to the base rate for that specific rate type -- e.g. the hourly rate or the day rate.

Example 1.  You pay a premium of $1.00/hr for bunching/felling.  You would enter 1.00 and leave the 'Percent' checkbox unchecked.  This entry tells the system to pay the guy at his base rate plus $1.00.

Example 2.  You pay travel at one-half a person's base rate.  You would enter -50.00 and check the 'Percent' checkbox.  This entry tells the system to pay the person at his base rate less 50 percent (= 50 percent of his rate).

The columns are defined as:

• Employee Code:  Code that identifies the worker.
• Activity Code:  Code indicating the activity to which the differential applies.
• Is Active:  Indicates whether the rate should be displayed in the grid.  Note:  whether or not the rate applies to a specific time slip depends on the effective date -- the is active flag is ignored in the pay calculators.
• Effective Date:  The starting date from which a rate takes effect.  The rate will be in effect until there is a subsequent rate entered for the worker, in which case the subsequent rate will be the rate that is used.
• Pay Rate Differential:  The pay rate differential.
• Percent?:  If unchecked, the differential is in dollars (e.g. $1.00/Hr).  If checked the differential is in percent (e.g. 5.00 = 5.00%).
• Rate Type:  The pay basis to which the differential applies (e.g. HR, DAY, SHIFT, etc.)

The differential is applied to a worker's base rate, matching on the worker and the rate type.

Special Feature

The activity rate setup grid is configurable so you can add Equipment as a column with the assistance of a Caribou support representative.

If you elect, you can enter a rate for a specific equipment unit or you can specify 'NONE' for the unit.  This allows you to vary your worker rates by equipment unit.  For example you might set up a rate premium for a worker when he operates a certain machine.

Note:  If your entire pay rate structure is based on activity performed rather than the person performing the work, you may prefer to have a Caribou support representative add "Activity" to the worker base rate grid (rather than using this grid to set up activity differentials from the base rates)  That way, you can quickly set up rates that indicate that ALL workers should be paid a particular hourly rate when bunching, another rate for loading, and yet another hourly rate for shop work, etc.

4.    Setup: Workers | Employee Charge Out Rates

This menu item is used to setup charge out rates for your employees that differ from the base charge-out rates set up under the Setup | Worker Base Rates menu item.  A 'Charge Out Rate' is the rate at which you bill your customers for work done by this worker.  For example, if you have an employee who in engaged in road building, you can use the charge out rate to bill his time out to the customer.

Note:  You can charge out employee time and/or equipment time.  Equipment charge out rates are set up under Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Charge Out Rates.

This grid is used to enter the charge out rate differentials that apply to employee time slips and to employee production (non-hourly) slips.  Production slips might be used for charging out piece work or non-hourly time (e.g. a day, shift or weekly rate).  These differentials are applied to an employee's base charge-out rate to arrive at his actual charge out rate when performing the designated activity, or when working in connection with a given (revenue) contract.  For example, if Bob Allison has a base charge out rate of $50.00/Hr and a rate differential of 5% for certain work or a certain contract, his actual charge out rate would be $52.50/Hr (=50.00 x 1.05).

The columns are defined as:

• Employee Code:  Code that identifies the worker.  The 'ALL' employee is allowed as an employee wild card.
• Activity:  The Activity to which the differential applies.
• Effective Date:  The starting date from which a rate takes effect.  The rate will be in effect until there is a subsequent rate entered for the worker, in which case the subsequent rate will be the rate that is used.
• Pay Rate Differential:  The pay rate differential.
• Percent?:  If unchecked, the differential is in dollars (e.g. $1.00/Hr).  If checked the differential is in percent (e.g. 5.00 = 5.00%).
• Basis:  The pay basis to which the differential applies (e.g. HR, DAY, SHIFT, etc.)
• Revenue Contract.  A specific contract to which the rate differential applies.  The 'NONE' wild card is supported -- you can enter 'NONE' for the contract and the differential will apply to all contracts.

The rate differentials can be setup to cover all employees (using the 'ALL' employee) or all revenue contracts (using the 'NONE' contract).  If two possible differentials might apply to a time slip, the more specific rate (i.e. identifying a specific employee and/or specific contract) will trump a rate using the 'ALL' employee or 'NONE' contract.

5.a.    Setup: Workers | Worker Assignments | Equipment

This menu item is used to setup default equipment assignments for your employees.

In the grid, you enter your workers and the equipment unit to which they have been assigned.  The system uses these assignments as the default values when you fill in a time slip.  For example, if worker DL is assigned to unit DL100, then when you click on DL in the time slip form, The Logger's Edge will auto-select the unit DL100 for his equipment unit.  In the time slip window, you are not tied to this selection, but can change it to another piece of equipment -- the assignment merely acts as a default to speed up data entry.

The system also uses these assignments as the default values when you fill in a load slip.  If you track workers and equipment on load slips, The Logger's Edge will use the default assignments to auto-fill the equipment when the worker is selected.

If an employee switches to another equipment unit, you can merely update the entries in the grid to instruct The Logger's Edge to use the new assignment.

5.b.    Setup: Workers | Worker Assignments | Trucks

This menu item is used to setup default equipment truck (driver) assignments for your employees.

In the grid, you enter your workers and the truck units to which they have been assigned.  The system uses these assignments as the default values when you fill in a load slip.  For example, if worker APHILL is assigned to unit M103, then when you click on truck M103 in the load slip form, The Logger's Edge will auto-select APHILL for the truck driver.  In the load slip window, you are not tied to this selection, but can change it to another driver -- the assignment merely acts as a default to speed up data entry.

The driver assignments are also used in the load import functionality of The Logger's Edge.  If your load import does not identify the truck driver, you can instruct The Logger's Edge to use the default truck driver assignments to auto-fill the driver based on the truck number (as long as the truck number is included in the load import).

If an employee switches to another truck, you can merely update the entries in the grid to instruct The Logger's Edge to use the new truck assignment as of a new effective date.

D.    Setup: Equipment

Equipment is divided into two categories of equipment and trucks: company-owned and third-party contractor-owned. Equipment and trucks may be set up to have a vendor (if it is not owned by your company) and a default activity.  In addition, equipment may be assigned to an employee.

Equipment and trucks have costing calculators found under Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment or Trucks| Equipment Costing or Truck Costing. Standard Cost information is relevant only for company-owned equipment.  Costing information is displayed in various block and contract analysis reports.  Equipment charge out rates can also be entered into The Logger's Edge when charging out your equipment to a customer at an hourly rate.

1.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Unit Numbers

Tab 1:  Equipment

The grid allows you to enter a code and full description for each piece of equipment.  You also select one of your pre-defined equipment types (see Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Types).  You also enter the owner of the equipment unit.  If the equipment is owned by your company, select your company;  otherwise, select the third-party owner of the equipment.  If the third-party owner is not on the selection list you will need to enter it first  -- go to Setup | Vendors in order to set up your list of third-party owners and other vendors.

Rental Equipment

If the equipment is third-party equipment and is operated by your employees and you need to pay an hourly rental charge, you should click on the checkbox 'Pay Rental'.  (A support representative can enable this field if it is not visible in your grid.)  You should click on the checkbox 'Pay Rental' in order to pay an hourly rental charge.  The rental charge will be calculated for all Employee Time Slips, Equipment Time Slips and Subcontractor Time Slips where the rental equipment unit is listed as the equipment on the time slip.

Tab 2:  Equipment Activities

The equipment activities tab allows you to assign activities to specific equipment units.  This is an optional feature of The Logger's Edge that allows you to set a default activity to an equipment unit.  The value of assigning activities to equipment units is that when you are entering equipment units on time slips or on loads, the associated activity entry will be pre-selected to the activity assigned to the equipment unit.  Of course you can always change the default entry on the time slip if the equipment is actually performing another activity.

2.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Unit Activities

The equipment activities tab allows you to assign activities to specific equipment units.  This is an optional feature of The Logger's Edge that allows you to set a default activity to an equipment unit.  The value of assigning activities to equipment units is that when you are entering equipment units on time slips or on loads, the associated activity entry will be pre-selected to the activity assigned to the equipment unit.  Of course you can always change the default entry on the time slip if the equipment is actually performing another activity.

If you assign employees to equipment units AND assign activities to the equipment you can accelerate your data entry process quite a bit.  In the time slip window, when you select an employee, The Logger's Edge will auto-fill the equipment;  when the equipment is auto-filled, the activity would then be auto-filled.  Thus, you can get three entries for the price of one when your are making your repetitive time entries.

3.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Costing

The grid shows two rates:

1. Std Cost / Hour.  This cost is the cost of operating your machine, NOT including the cost of the operator.  In reports that rely on this cost measure, the actual cost of the operator is added to the Std Cost to calculate the full cost of operation.
2. Full Rate/Hour:  This is the cost of operating your machine, including an estimate for the cost of the operator.

There are two ways to enter your costs:  (1) direct entry and; (2) the cost build-up method.

Direct Entry of Equipment Cost

Select Add from the window.

This form allows you to directly enter your equipment costs.  If you have another system to calculate your costs, or you use a reference guide such as the "Blue-Book" to estimate your rates, you can just enter them here.

Cost Build-up Method

The cost build-up method provides a standard worksheet that allows you to build up to your equipment hourly costs for each piece of equipment, based on the individual cost components, such as depreciation, fuel, maintenance costs, etc.

First select a machine and then click on the "Calc Cost" button at the bottom of the costing window to bring up the equipment cost worksheet:

This form allows you to build up the cost of your equipment based on your own experience.

The yellow cells in the worksheet are data entry cells where you provide the necessary data.  The white cells contain calculated values.  (The white cells are also locked and are not editable)

The worksheet is split into 5 panels:

A.    Assumptions

1. Annual Operating Hours:  Expected hours for the equipment unit for the year.
2. Utilization percent.  The percentage of available hours during which the unit performs 'production' work
3. Annual Operating Hours:  Calculated as the product of available hours and the utilization percent.  This value is used in the denominator for the calculation of the average cost per hour.  The concept used here is 'cost per production hour' meaning that all costs related to down time are allocated across production hours.
4. Interest Rate on Borrowed Capital:  Interest Rate on Debt.
5. Expected Life (Hours):  Expected life (in hours) for the equipment unit.  (Used to determine the expected life of the equipment in years for use in calculating depreciation.)
6. Salvage Value:  Estimated salvage value for the unit.  You enter the percent; the worksheet applies the percentage to the Purchase Price to determine the salvage dollar amount.
7. Average Investment:  The average investment is the acquisition cost plus the salvage amount divided by two [ (R16 + R11) / 2].  This is the average capital you have tied up in the equipment unit over its useful life.  In the example above, the equipment unit costs $400,000 and has a salvage value of $100,000 (25%), which yields an average investment of $250,000.
8. Purchase Price:  The purchase price of the equipment.  You can also add additional miscellaneous costs to build up to a total acquisition cost.
9. Fuel Consumption (Volume / Hour):  Rate of fuel consumed per hour of operation
10. Fuel Price Per Unit of Volume:  The price per unit of fuel consumed.  (Note: if fuel consumption is in litres, you would enter the litre price; if fuel consumption is in gallons, you would enter the gallon price.)
11. Machine Years:  Machine life equals the lifetime hours divided by annual hours.
12. Operating Wage:  Assumed base wage rate for your operator plus your payroll load cost (your additional company payroll costs).  In the example above, the base wage is set to $25.00/Hour and the payroll load is set at 25% to yield an effective payroll cost of $31.25/Hr.
13. Insurance (Percent of average investment):  This is the cost of insurance for the equipment unit, expressed as a percentage of your average annual investment.

B.    Ownership Cost

1. Depreciation:  The depreciation amount per hour equals the depreciation basis (purchase price - salvage value) divided by the lifetime hours.  This calculation assumes a straight-line depreciation method.  [ R27 = (R16 - R11) / R10 ]
2. Interest on Investment:  This is the annual interest amount divided by annual operating hours.  [R28 = R12 x R9 / R8 ]
3. Insurance:  This is the insurance percentage multiplied by the average investment divided by annual operating hours: [R29 = R12 x R23 / R8 ]

    The total hourly ownership cost equals the sum of depreciation, interest and insurance.  [R31 = R27 + R28 + R29]

C.    Operating Cost

1. Operating Wages:  You build up your total hours as the number of days multiplied by the average hourly work day.  This total should match the total annual estimated hours in row 6.  The total hours is then split between straight time and overtime hours.  The overtime factor is assumed to be time and one-half.  In the example above, the wage rate is $25.00 for straight-time and $37.50 for overtime.  The hourly rates are multiplied by the available (not production) hours to calculate the annual direct payroll cost.  The loading factor is applied to the direct payroll cost to calculate the total loaded payroll cost for the year.  This total is then divided by the production (not available) hours to calculate the operator cost per production hour.  In the above example, the direct payroll cost is $62,500.  The payroll load is $15,625 (25% of $62,500), yielding a total payroll cost of $78,125.  The cost for the operator per hour of productive work is $40.69/Hr ($78,125 / 1920).  This value is subtracted from the full founded to cost to compute the "Dry" or standard cost for the equipment without operator.
2. Fuel Costs per Hour:  This is the product of fuel consumption per hour and fuel price per unit of consumption [R52 = R17 x R18]
3. Oil and Lube, Including Filters per Hour:  You input a percentage of your fuel costs to estimate this value.  In the example, the value of 7% is entered, which, when multiplied by the fuel cost per hour, yields a value of $1.51/Hr.  You can adjust this percentage to match your actual experience.
4. Repairs & Maintenance:  There are three rows provided that allow you to enter your estimated annual repairs and maintenance for the equipment unit.  The total for Repairs & Maintenance (R64 = R60 + R61 + R62) in row 64 is then divided by annual hours to calculate the average hourly repairs and maintenance cost. [R66 = R64 / R8]
5. Operating Supplies:  An annual entry for miscellaneous costs for operating the unit.  The annual amount is divided by the annual operating hours to determine the hourly cost in row 70.

    The total operating costs per hour are the sum of operating wages, fuel, oil & lube, repairs and maintenance, and operating supplies.  [R72 = R49 + R51 + R56 + R66 + R70].

D.    Profit & Risk

 

    The worksheet also includes an allowance for profit and risk.  The allowance equals a user-input percentage applied to the hourly ownership costs in row 31.  In the example above, a 10 percent entry is applied to an average investment of $250,000 for a profit/risk allowance of $13.02/hr.

E.    Summary.

The total hourly operating costs are summarized in the last section of the spreadsheet.  The total hourly costs (Full Founded Rate) are the sum of the ownership costs (row 31), the operating costs (row 72), and profit & risk (row 77). [R85 = R31 + R72 + R77].  In the above example, the total is $144.58/hr.  This is the Full Rate / Hr and is used for those business reports that rely on the 'Full Founded Rate' to measure equipment costs.

The Standard Cost/Hr is also calculated by the worksheet.  This cost is the cost of operating your machine, NOT including the cost of the operator.  Mathematically, it is calculated as the total in row 85 less the operator's cost in row 49.  In the example, the cost is $144.58 less $40.69, or $103.89.  In reports that rely on this cost measure, the actual cost of your operator is added to the Std Cost to calculate the full cost of operating the equipment unit.

4.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Charge Out Rates

This menu item is used to setup charge out rates for your equipment when you are performing work where the customer will pay you on an hourly basis.  A 'Charge Out Rate' is the rate at which you bill your customers for work done by this piece of equipment on their behalf.  For example, if you have equipment, such as a grader or bulldozer, that is engaged in road building, you can use the charge out rate to bill the equipment time out to the customer.  In row 1 of the screenshot below, we see the equipment unit BU101 is charged out at a rate of $141.21 for Bunch/Falling hourly work under revenue contract 'LFP - HOURLY', effective 10/1/2004.

Note:  You can charge out equipment time and/or employee time.  Employee charge out rates are under Setup | Workers | Employee Charge Out Rates.

This grid is used to enter the charge out rates that apply to time slips (employee, equipment & contractor) and to production (non-hourly) slips.  Production slips might be used for charging out piece work or non-hourly time (e.g. a mile, kilometer, day, shift or weekly rate).

Note:  If you have rental equipment set up (Under Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Unit Numbers), you will need to set up their rental rates.  Though not shown in the screen shot above, the rental rate can be added as a column to this grid by a Caribou Support representative.  Thus, if you have rental equipment you would set up both the rental rates and the charge-out rates in the same grid.

The columns are defined as:

• Equipment:  Code that identifies the equipment unit.
• Activity:  The Activity to which the differential applies.  The 'NONE' wild card is supported -- you can enter 'NONE' for the activity and the rate will apply to all activities
• Date:  The starting date from which a rate takes effect.  The rate will be in effect until there is a subsequent rate entered for the equipment, in which case the subsequent rate will be the rate that is used.
• Basis:  The pay basis to which the differential applies (e.g. HR, DAY, SHIFT, etc.)
• Revenue Contract.  A specific contract to which the rate differential applies.  The 'NONE' wild card is supported -- you can enter 'NONE' for the contract and the rate will apply to all contracts.

The rates can be setup to cover all activities (using the 'NONE' for activity) or all revenue contracts (using the 'NONE' contract).  If two possible rates might apply to a time entry, the more specific rate (i.e. identifying a specific activity and/or specific contract) will trump a rate using 'NONE' for activity or 'NONE' for the contract.

5.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Types

Before you set up an equipment unit (machine), will be need to set up its generic type -- i.e. loader, feller buncher, skidder, etc.  Then, when you set up a specific equipment unit,  you will assign one of your pre- defined types to it.  Assigning equipment types to machines is important for reporting in that it allows you to group your data -- e.g. hours or production -- by generic equipment type. There are certain standard reports within the system that make use of equipment types, such as the equipment utilization reports.

Navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Types from the Main Menu.  The grid allows you to enter a code and full description for each type of machine.

E.    Setup: Trucks

1.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Unit Numbers

Trucks, Truck Weights

Select Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Unit Numbers from the Main Menu.  In the grid, you enter your log trucks, including its Code (truck number), Owner, Configuration, Description, as well as other pertinent information such as serial number or permit.  This grid contains trucks both owned by your company and trucks owned by subcontractors.

Both the Code and the Description fields should be unique for each truck.

The configuration column is used to default the configuration on the load slip.  If you have no need to track the truck configuration on the load slip, simple set the Configuration equal to 'NONE' in this grid.

 

Truck Weights Tab

If you track maximum weights for your log trucks, you enter them here.  You can enter both a winter and a summer maximum weight for a truck.  You can also vary your truck weights by route and by truck configuration if appropriate.  In making entries for 'Truck Code', 'Route Code' or 'Configuration' the entry of 'NONE' means irrelevant or ignore.  Thus, if the weight for a truck does not vary by Configuration, you can enter 'NONE'.  You do not need to enter a weight for each configuration.  See 'How To: Manage Overloads' for a detailed discussion of managing overloads.

2.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Costing

There are two basic ways to implement truck costing for your own trucks in The Logger's Edge:  (1) Truck costs can be estimated by an hourly rate applied to time slip entries; or (2) Truck costs can be estimated by a rate applied to the loads that are delivered by the truck.  In the latter case, you can base your rates on weight (e.g. Tonnes, Tons, etc.), volume (e.g. M3, MBF, etc.), distance (miles, kilometers), distance-times-weight (e.g. tonne-kilometers, ton-miles) or tonne-hours (see How To: Truck Cost by Tonne Hr). 

The most prevalent method to cost company-owned trucks is the second method: truck cost by load slip.  This is the default method installed with The Logger's Edge.  If you want to cost your trucks by hour (recorded on time slips), contact a Caribou Representative to reconfigure your system.

Navigate to Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Costing to set up you truck costing rates.

The grid shows two rates:

1. Std Cost / Hour.  This cost is the cost of operating your truck, NOT including the cost of the driver.  In reports that rely on this cost measure, the actual cost of the driver is added to the Std Cost of the truck to calculate the full cost of operation.
2. Full Rate/Hour:  This is the cost of operating your truck, including an estimated cost of the driver.

Under the load-slip method of costing trucks, The Logger's Edge will calculate an imputed truck cost for each load slip.

There are two ways to enter your standard cost rates:  (1) direct entry and; (2) the cost build-up method.

Direct Entry of Truck Cost

Select Add from the window.

This form allows you to directly enter your truck costs.  If you have another system to calculate your costs or you use a reference guide such as the "Blue-Book" to estimate your rates, you can just enter them here.

Cost Build-up Method

The cost build-up method provides a standard worksheet that allows you to build up to your truck costs based on the individual cost components, such as depreciation, fuel, maintenance costs, etc.

First, highlight a truck and then click on the "Calc Cost" button at the bottom of the window to bring up a truck cost worksheet for this truck.

The numbers in the spreadsheet are for illustrative purposes only - the spreadsheet allows you to calculate your truck costs based on your own costs and working environment.  This form allows you to build up the cost of your truck based on your own experience.

The yellow cells in the worksheet are data entry cells where you provide the necessary data.  The white cells contain calculated values.  (The white cells are also locked and are not editable)

The worksheet is split into 5 panels:

A.    Assumptions

Date:  Effective date for the standard cost rate.  The Logger's Edge will use the rate with the most recent effective date that is prior to the date out of the load.

Basis:  The basis determines the load attribute (distance, tonnes, tonne-hrs, etc) to which the standard cost is applied.  In the worksheet above the calculations are based on TONNE_HR, but if you select a different basis (say TONNE), the calculations will be performed on that basis instead.

When truck cost is based on hours,  The Logger's Edge will automatically set to 'HR'  -- you cannot change this setting.  In this case you must set your annual 'cost basis' equal to your annual operating hours because your annual operating hours are identical your annual cost basis.

1. Annual Cost Basis: The number of annual 'units' identified by the cost basis.  For example, if distance is selected as the cost basis, the annual cost basis would be the number of miles or kilometers.
2. Annual Operating Hours:  Expected hours for the truck unit to be utilized for the year.
3. Annual distance traveled:  Annual miles/kilometers.
4. Annual Load Count:  Number of loads the truck is expected to haul in a year.
5. Average weight:  Average load weight hauled by that truck.
6. Interest Rate on Borrowed Capital:  Interest Rate on Debt.
7. Expected Life (Hours):  Expected life (in hours) for the truck unit.  (Used to determine the expected life of the truck in years for use in calculating depreciation.)
8. Salvage Value:  Estimated salvage value for the unit.  You enter the percent; the worksheet applies the percentage to the Purchase Price to determine the salvage dollar amount.
9. Average Investment:  The average investment is the acquisition cost plus the salvage amount divided by two [ (R17 + R12) / 2].  This is the average capital you have tied up in the truck unit over its useful life.  In the example above the truck unit costs $250,000 and has a salvage value of $62,500 (25%), which yields an average investment of $156,250.
10. Purchase Price:  The purchase price of the truck.  You can also add additional miscellaneous costs to build up to a total acquisition cost.
11. Fuel Consumption (Distance/Volume):  Miles (or kilometers) per gallon (or litre).
12. Fuel Price Per Unit of Volume:  The price per unit of fuel consumed.  (Note: if fuel consumption is in litres, you would enter the litre price; if fuel consumption is in gallons, you would enter the gallon price.)
13. Machine Years:  Truck life equals the lifetime hours divided by annual hours.
14. Operating Wage:  Assumed base wage rate for your driver plus your payroll loaded cost (your additional company payroll costs).  In the example above, the base wage is set to $25.00/Hour and the payroll load is set at 35% to yield an effective payroll cost of $33.75/Hr.
15. Insurance (Percent of average investment):  This is the cost of insurance for the truck unit, expressed as a percentage of your average annual investment.

B.    Ownership Cost

1. Depreciation:  The depreciation amount per hour equals the depreciation basis (purchase price - salvage value) divided by machine years.  This calculation assumes a straight-line depreciation method.  [ R28 = (R17 - R12) / R20 ]
2. Interest on Investment:  This is the annual interest amount (product of interest rate and average investment).  [R29 = R10 x R13 ]
3. Insurance:  This is the insurance percentage multiplied by the average investment: [R30 = R24 x R13 ]

    The total ownership cost equals the sum of depreciation, interest and insurance.  [R32 = R28 + R29 + R30]

    Dividing the total ownership cost by the annual operating hours or the cost basis (TONNE-HR in the example), yields the ownership component of the standard cost rate.

C.    Operating Cost

1. Operating Wages:  You build up your total hours as the number of days multiplied by the average hourly work day.  This total should match the total annual estimated hours in row 6.  The total hours is then split between straight time and overtime hours.  The overtime factor is assumed to be time and one-half.  In the example above, the wage rate is $25.00 for straight-time and $37.50 for overtime.  The hourly rates are multiplied by the hours to calculate the estimated annual direct payroll cost.  The loading factor is applied to the direct payroll cost to calculate the total loaded payroll cost for the year.  This total is then divided by the annual hours to calculate the driver cost per hour.  In the above example, the direct payroll cost is $85,000.  The payroll load is $29,750 (35% of $85,000), yielding a total payroll cost of $114,750.  The hourly cost for the driver is $38.25/Hr ($114,750.00 / 3,000); the cost per TONNE-HR is $0.96/Tonne-Hr = ($114,750/120,000).  This value is subtracted from the full founded cost to compute the "Dry" or standard cost for the truck without driver.
2. Fuel Costs:  This is the product of fuel consumption per unit of distance multiplied by the annual distance traveled and the price per unit of volume (per gallon or per litre).  [R53 = (1/R18) * R7 * R19]
3. Oil and Lube, Including Filters:  You input a percentage of your fuel costs to estimate this value.  In the example, the value of 20% is entered, which when multiplied by the fuel cost, yields a value of $21,028.57.  You can adjust this percentage to match you actual experience.
4. Repairs & Maintenance:  There are three rows provided that allow you to enter your estimated annual repairs and maintenance for the truck unit.  The total for Repairs & Maintenance (R65 = R61 + R62 + R63) in row 65 is then divided by annual hours to calculate the average hourly repairs and maintenance cost. [R66 = R65 / R6];  per TONNE-HR is [R66 = R65 / R5]
5. Operating Supplies:  An annual entry for miscellaneous costs for operating the unit.  The annual amount is divided by the annual operating units to determine the cost in row 70.

    The total operating costs are the sum of operating wages, fuel, oil & lube, repairs and maintenance, and operating supplies.  [R72 = R48 + R53 + R57 + R65 + R70].  The operating cost per hour or per unit (TONNE-HR) is summarized in rows 73 and 74.  In the example, the operating cost per TONNE-HR = $300,921.43 / 120,000 = $2.51 / TONNE-HR.

D.    Profit & Risk

    The worksheet also includes an allowance for profit and risk.  The allowance equals a user-input percentage applied to the average investment in row 9.  In the example above a 5 percent entry is applied to an average investment of $156,250  for a profit/risk allowance of $2.60/Hr or $0.07/Tonne-Hr

E.    Summary.

    The total hourly operating costs are summarized in the last section of the spreadsheet.  The total hourly costs (Full Founded Rate) are the sum of the ownership costs (row 34), the operating costs (row 74), and profit & risk (row 79). [R87 = R34 + R74 + R79].  In the above example, the total is $116.07/Hr or 2.90/Tonne-Hr.  This is the Full Rate / Hr and is used for those business reports that rely on the 'Full Founded Rate' to measure truck costs.

    The Standard Cost/Hr is also calculated by the worksheet.  This cost is the cost of operating your truck, NOT including the cost of the driver.  Mathematically, it is calculated as the total in row 87 less the driver's cost in row 50.  In the example, the cost is $116.07 less $38.25, or $77.82/Hr or $1.95/Tonne-Hr.  In reports that rely on this cost measure, the actual cost of your driver is added to the Std Cost to calculate the full cost of operating the truck unit.

Appendix:  Equipment Cost Worksheet - With Formulas

The truck cost worksheet is shown below where the calculated cells have been replaced with their formulas.  You can use this to see exactly how the spreadsheet works in calculating your costs.

3.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Charge Out Rates

This menu item is used to setup charge out rates for your trucks if you bill out your truck on an hourly rate.  A 'Charge Out Rate' is the rate at which you bill your customers for work done on their behalf.  For example, if you have a truck used for low bedding and you want to bill the truck low bedding time out to the customer, you would set up a charge-out rate for that truck.  In row 1 of the screen shot below, truck unit B100 is charged out at a rate of $65.00/Hr for low bed hourly work under the revenue contract 'NONE', effective 1/1/2005.  The 'NONE' entry for the revenue contract means that the same rate applies across all revenue contracts.

Note:  You can charge out truck time and/or employee time.  Employee charge out rates are set up under Setup | Workers | Worker Base Rates.

This grid is used to enter the charge out rates that apply to time slips (employee, truck & contractor) and to production (non-hourly) slips.  Production slips might be used for charging out piece work or non-hourly time (e.g. a mile, kilometer, day, shift or weekly rate).

The columns are defined as:

• Truck:  Code that identifies the truck unit.
• Activity:  The Activity to which the differential applies.  The 'NONE' wild card is supported -- you can enter 'NONE' for the activity and the rate will apply to all activities.
• Date:  The starting date from which a rate takes effect.  The rate will be in effect until there is a subsequent rate entered for the truck, in which case the subsequent rate will be the rate that is used.
• Basis:  The pay basis to which the differential applies (e.g. HR, DAY, SHIFT, etc.)
• Revenue Contract.  A specific contract to which the rate differential applies.  The 'NONE' wild card is supported -- you can enter 'NONE' for the contract and the rate will apply to all contracts.

The rates can be setup to cover all activities (using the 'NONE' for activity) or all revenue contracts (using the 'NONE' contract).  If two possible rates might apply to a time entry, the more specific rate (i.e. identifying a specific activity and/or specific contract) will trump a rate using 'NONE' for activity or 'NONE' for the contract.

4.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Configurations

This menu item is used for entering truck configurations.

Different truck configurations can be assigned to your trucks and used as a way to set truck rates.  That is, you can set up different pay rates for different truck configurations.  Truck configurations are also used in The Logger's Edge to calculate overloads.  You can set up a maximum weight based on truck configurations under Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Weights.

The 'self-loading' flag is used in the fuel rebate report to keep track of the number of loads that were loaded/hauled by self-loading trucks.

5.    Setup: Equipment / Trucks | Trucks | Truck Weights

This menu item is used for entering truck maximum weights in order to calculate overloads

You can enter both a winter and a summer maximum weight for a truck, which will be used according to the season.  (You set up seasons under Setup | Accounting | Define Seasons.)   You can also vary your truck weights by route and by truck configuration.  In making entries for 'Truck Code', 'Route Code' or 'Configuration' the entry of 'NONE' is valid and indicates that the attribute will be ignored.  Thus, if the weight for a truck does not vary by Configuration, you can enter 'NONE'.  Similarly, if all your trucks of a certain configuration type have the same maximum weights, you can enter one row for all the trucks with an entry of 'NONE' for the truck code and then enter the specific configuration (e.g. 7A, HAYRACK, etc.).  That is, you do not need to enter a weight for each individual truck/configuration combination if you use the NONE entry.  See 'How To: Manage Overloads' for a detailed discussion of managing overloads.

Though not shown in the grid, an additional column for 'Effective Date' can be added by a Caribou Support representative.  The effective date can be used if weights are adjusted over time.

F.    Setup: Holidays

This menu item is used for entering your paid holidays (e.g. Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.).  The holidays are then used in the payroll calculator to determine how work that is performed on a holiday is to be paid.  You can set up pay rate differentials (time-and-one-half, double-time, etc.) for holidays under Setup | Pay Activity Types.

Note:  Whether or not a worker qualifies for paid holiday time can be configured in The Logger's Edge.  In the default implementation of The Logger's Edge, all employees qualify for paid holiday time.  There is a configurable check box that can be added to the employee list that can be used to indicate whether a worker qualifies for extra holiday pay or not.  This flag would treat holiday hours as regular hours for those employees who do not qualify for the holiday pay differential.  If you need this additional functionality, please contact a Caribou Support representative.

G.    Setup: Customers

This menu item is used to identify all the third-parties from whom you receive revenue.  Customers can be mills or other companies who will pay your company for work whether it is by the load, by the hour, or by piecework.

Navigate to Setup | Customers from the Main Menu.

Note:  The only required fields are the Code and Description (Full Name) for the customer.  If you want to send out invoices created in The Logger's Edge, however, you should also enter the address of the customer -- this address will be printed as part of the heading for the invoice.

There is one hidden customer in The Logger's Edge that will appear in certain drop down lists.  This is the MYCO customer, which refers to your company.  (If you changed your company's short code under Setup | Company Information, your specific code will be used, rather than MYCO.)

The MYCO customer is used when creating an internal revenue contract, such as one to track general maintenance time, or one to track employee general and administrative time (such as time for staff meetings).

The Data Fields for Customers are:

• Code:  Short identification of the item.  This code appears in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge.
• Company:  A longer identification of the item. Used to clarify the Code.  The description will appear on customer settlements.
• Contact: Enter a contact name for the customer.
• Active?:  Should this item appear in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge?  If checked as active, it will appear.
• Address:  Enter the customer’s address.  This address will appear on customer settlements.
• City:  Enter the customer’s city.
• Province:  Enter the customer’s province or state.
• Postal Code:  Enter the customer’s postal code or zip code.
• Phone:  Enter the customer’s phone number.
• Fax:  Enter the customer’s fax number.
• Email:  Enter the customer’s email address.
• Invoice Type:  The "Invoice Type" is the invoice format that is used for invoices.  In The Logger's Edge you can set up a different invoice format for different customers (See Configure Statements and Invoices | Configure Invoice for more information on invoice types. )

H.    Setup: Vendors

This menu item is used to identify all the outside parties to whom you make payments.

Navigate to Setup | Vendors from the Main Menu.

The grid allows you to enter a code and full description for each vendor.  You should enter all outside parties to whom you make payments through The Logger's Edge.  For example, an equipment owner or owner-operator would be a vendor.  Esso or Shell or Chevron are all vendors.  A land-owner is a vendor.  A trucking subcontractor is a vendor. Anyone from who you buy services, parts, fuel, or rent equipment is considered to be a vendor. 

Note:  The only required fields are the Code and Description (Full Name) for the vendor.  If you want to send out statements from The Logger's Edge, however, you should also enter the address of the vendor -- this address will be printed as part of the heading for the statement.

There are 2 hidden vendors in The Logger's Edge that will appear in certain drop down lists.

The OWNER record is a required record and must not be deleted.  The OWNER record is used when creating payment contracts to indicate, “Pay the owner of the equipment.”  Use of this special vendor saves time on contract setup when all owners are paid the same rate, because it reduces the amount of duplicate setup. You can set up one contract to pay “OWNER” rather than setting up 10 contracts to pay the 10 different equipment owners that will all be paid the same rate.

The MYCO record is also a required record and is related to the Setup | Company Information window.  The MYCO record is your own company (and will have a different acronym than MYCO if you edited the acronym in the Company Information window).  It is primarily used to distinguish your own equipment and trucks from equipment/trucks that are owned by a subcontractor that you are paying hourly.  When you set up a piece of equipment that belongs to you, you choose MYCO as the owner of the equipment.

The Data Fields for Vendors are:

• Code:  Short identification of the item that appears in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge.
• Description:  A longer identification of the item. Used to clarify the Code.  The description will appear on vendor settlements.
• Contact: Enter a contact name for the vendor.
• Active?:  Should this item appear in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge?
• Address:  Enter the vendor’s address.  This address will appear on vendor settlements.
• City:  Enter the vendor’s city.
• Province:  Enter the vendor’s province or state.
• Postal Code:  Enter the vendor’s postal code or zip code.
• Phone:  Enter the vendor’s phone number.
• Fax:  Enter the vendor’s fax number.
• Email:  Enter the vendor’s email address.
• Tax ID:  Enter the Tax ID if applicable.
• Statement Type Code:  The "Statement Type Code" is the vendor statement format that is used for statements.  In The Logger's Edge you can set up a different statement format for different vendors (see Configure Statements and Invoices | Configure Vendor Statement).

  
   

I.    Setup: Destinations

This menu item is used to identify all the destinations to which you deliver loads.  Generally, a destination will be a mill, but could be a sort yard or other log facility.

Navigate to Setup | Destinations from the Main Menu.

The only standard fields are the Code and Description (Full Name) for the destination.  For each load in The Logger's Edge you will identify the destination (receiving mill) of the load -- thus, if you deliver to multiple mills you will have to set up a destination representing each distinct mill.

 

J.    Setup: Routes

This menu item is used to identify all the routes used to deliver loads.  Generally, a route will be a type of road or specific direction followed by a log truck.  Routes are optional in The Logger's Edge and are typically used when vendor payment for a load depends on the route.  For example, rates will sometimes vary depending whether a route is on or off highway.

Navigate to Setup | Routes from the Main Menu.

The only standard fields are the Code and Description (Full Name) for the Route.  Use this grid to set up the specific values that you will use on the load ticket to indicate the Route of the load.

Note:  If route is irrelevant to your business, you can leave this list empty and enter 'NONE' on the load slip.  Alternatively, the entry can be removed altogether from the load slip by a Caribou support representative.

 

K.    Setup: Activity Groups

This item is used to enter activity groups that can be used to aggregate cost data for specific work activities.  Activity groups can be as general or specific as required for your business reporting.  Activity groups are not used for pay, but are solely used in business reports.

As noted under Setup | Pay Activities,  a pay activity can be assigned to higher-level Activity Group.  An Activity Group is a group of similar activities whose cost data are rolled-up for reporting in several The Logger's Edge business reports.

To setup pay activities, navigate to Setup | Activity Groups.

In the screen above, there are two groups -- SKIDDING and FELLING -- that have been set up.  You can then use these groups as a way to aggregate detailed pay activities.  For example, you might combine the specific pay activities 'bunching' and 'hand falling' into the group called Felling.  Alternatively, you might combine skidding, forwarding and yarding all into a group called Skidding.  In your business reports, all costs for skidding, forwarding and yarding would be combined into an overall set of cost numbers for the Skidding group.

L.    Setup: Pay Activities

This item is used to enter the specific work activities by which you want to track your revenue and costs.  They can be as general or specific as required by your business reporting.  In addition, if you pay workers or vendors based on different activities, you will need to set up each distinct activity.

To setup pay activities, navigate to Setup | Pay Activities.

Several Activities are automatically listed by default, but you can add any activities that are specific to your operations.  Three important attributes of a given pay activity are the Pay Type, the Production Indicator, and the Activity Group.

The Pay Type determines the activity class to which an activity belongs.  There are certain reports that group time by production (REG PROD) versus maintenance (EQ_MAINT) versus non-work or down time.  (These types of defined in detail in its specific menu item reference sheet.) 

The Production Indicator is used to identify which activity(ies) are to be used in determining the overall production volume of a block.  For example, if you have a feller and a processor working in a block, and you keep tree counts for both, there would be a duplication of volume if you added their estimated volumes together in determining the production volume on a block.  The production indicator indicates the activity that should be used to determine the volume of the block.  Thus, if your feller reported a tree count of 600 for a volume of 180 M3, and your processor reported a volume of 500 for a volume of 150 M3 for the same block, The Logger's Edge would use the processor's count overall for the block if the Processing activity had its production indicator checked (as in the screen above).

You can also assign activities to Pay Activity Groups.  An Activity Group is a category used to combine similar specific activities in several of The Logger's Edge reports.  For example, you might have the detailed activities of forwarding, skidding and yarding that you want to combine for reporting into a class called 'SKIDDING'.  You can accomplish this, by setting up a group (see below) called 'SKIDDING' and then assign each of the three activities (forwarding, skidding, yarding) to the SKIDDING activity group.  See the example above.  If an activity is left without a group (i.e. group = 'NONE'), it will be considered a group by itself.

M.    Setup: Codes

The Logger's Edge has three optional fields that can be used on your time slips to provide greater detail as to the activity performed by a worker:  (1) Job Code; (2) Work Code 1; and Work Code 2.

M.1.    Setup: Job Codes

Navigate to Setup | Codes | Job Codes from the Main Menu. 

Job Codes are used to provide a finer break down of the activities that your workers perform.  For example, you might split the activity road maintenance into finer classifications of time, such as grading, gravelling, snow plow,  repair culvert, etc.  The entry 'Job Code' is an optional entry on your standard time slip and can be enabled or disabled by a Caribou support representative.  The Job Code is not used for pay -- its primary function is for reporting.  For example, you could generate a user-defined report that provided a tabulation of hours performed by job code by employee.

The most common use for job codes is to further define the types of maintenance performed on a piece of equipment when the pay activity itself is of type = MAINT.  The Equipment Operating Cost report will actually make use of job codes that are entered on time slips where the pay activity is of type MAINT. 

The fields are the Code, Description (Full Name) and Active flag.

M.2.    Setup: Work Code 1

Navigate to Setup | Codes | Work Code 1 from the Main Menu. 

Work Codes are generally used to provide detail on equipment maintenance activities that your workers perform.  Users of The Logger's Edge will often use Work Code 1 as the maintenance verb or action performed.  For example, codes such as remove, repair, reset, lubricate, reseal would be typical entries.  Work Code 2 (See Setup | Codes | Work Code 2) would then serve as the noun or object.  Typical entries might be hose, gasket, leak, hydraulic, guard.  In conjunction with one another, the two codes offer a means of systematically classifying your equipment maintenance activities.  The codes are not used for pay, but are primarily used for reporting.  Two Logger's Edge standard reports -- Equipment Maintenance and Truck Maintenance -- use the two codes to provide a tabulation of the codes by equipment unit.

The entry 'Work Code 1' is an optional entry on your standard time slip and can be enabled or disabled by a Caribou support representative. 

The fields in the Work Code setup window are the Code, Description (Full Name) and Active flag.

M.3.    Setup: Work Code 2

Navigate to Setup | Codes | Work Code 2 from the Main Menu. 

Work Codes are generally used to provide detail on equipment maintenance activities that your workers perform.  Users of The Logger's Edge will often use Work Code 1 (See Setup | Codes | Work Code 1) as the maintenance verb or action performed.  For example, codes such as remove, repair, reset, lubricate, reseal would be typical entries.  Work Code 2 would then serve as the noun or object.  Typical entries might be hose, gasket, leak, hydraulic, guard.  In conjunction with one another, the two codes offer a means of systematically classifying your equipment maintenance activities.  The codes are not used for pay, but are primarily used for reporting.  Two Logger's Edge standard reports -- Equipment Maintenance and Truck Maintenance -- use the two codes to provide a tabulation of codes by equipment unit.

The entry 'Work Code 2' is an optional entry on your standard time slip and can be enabled or disabled by a Caribou support representative. 

The fields in the Work Code window are the Code, Description (Full Name) and Active flag.

N.    Setup: Pay Activity Types

Each pay activity that you set up in The Logger's Edge must be assigned a pay activity type. These activity types are used for classifying time into categories such as “regular production,” “maintenance,” and other non-chargeable time (for example, down time). The following activity “types” are included in The Logger's Edge:

REG_PROD	Production time, such as time spent logging, trucking, delimbing, etc.
EQ_MAINT	Equipment maintenance (which does not affect utilization statistics)
EQ_MAINT_DOWN	Equipment maintenance where the machine is DOWN (and thus not utilized)
NONWORK	Non-work paid time, such as holiday, vacation, or paid sick time
NON-PROD CHARGE	Other non-production chargeable time, such as road-building
OTHER	Other non-chargeable time, such as staff parties and down time
TRAVEL	Travel time

The "Production Time" flag indicates whether this activity type is to be treated as productive time for utilization reporting. 

In general, we recommend that users have this flag checked for the activity type of "REG_PROD" and the activity type of "NON-PROD CHARGE."  That way, any time that you code to a pay activity belonging to one of these two activity types will be included in the numerator of your production utilization percentage.

The "Maintenance Time" column indicates whether the particular activity type is to be counted as maintenance time for purposes of certain reports such as the Equipment and Truck Operating Cost reports.  A non-zero value indicates that the activity type should be treated as maintenance.  The distinction between "EQ_MAINT" and "EQ_MAINT_DOWN" is that the former is to be used for expected (routine) maintenance time that should not count as down time for the piece of equipment, while the latter is to be used for maintenance time that is actually cutting into the machine's available hours.

 The Logger's Edge can be also be configured to indicate whether time incurred in a particular pay activity type is eligible for:

• Overtime
• A night-shift pay differential factor
• A Saturday, Sunday, or Holiday pay differential factor

Talk to your Caribou representative if you need to change these settings.

The following table summarizes the purpose of each of the columns in the window.

Type Code	Short identification of the item that appears in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge.
Description	Enter a longer description. Used to clarify the code.
Production Time	Check this box if the pay activity type is a production activity. This is used to calculate production time on utilization reports.
Maintenance Time	Check this box if the pay activity type is to be used to track equipment maintenance.  This flag is used to determine whether time of this type appears in certain reports such as Reports | Trucks | Operating Costs and Reports | Equipment | Operating Costs.
Apply to Overtime	Should worker time against this pay activity type be counted as eligible for overtime? Worker time is entered against a pay activity and each pay activity is associated with a pay activity type.  That type is either eligible for overtime or not.
Night Shift Factor	Does this pay activity type have a night shift pay differential factor? Night shifts can be specified on the employee time slips. Enter the night shift factor here. (A factor of 1 means that the activity is paid no differently at night than on day shifts.)
Holiday Factor	Does this pay activity type have a holiday pay differential factor? If so, enter the factor here. (A factor of 1 means that this activity is not paid any differently on a holiday as compared to any other day.)
Saturday Factor	Does this pay activity type have a Saturday pay differential factor? If so, enter the factor here. The Logger's Edge looks at the computer calendar to determine which days are Saturdays.
Sunday Factor	Does this pay activity type have a Sunday pay differential factor? If so, enter the factor here. The Logger's Edge looks at the computer calendar to determine which days are Sundays.
Active?	Should this item appear in the navigation tree and drop down menus throughout The Logger's Edge?

When calculating any of the factors configured on the pay activity types, The Logger's Edge will multiply the worker’s pay for the day by the factor indicated. Therefore, if a Saturday Factor of 1.5 is indicated, the worker will receive his normal pay rate and normal overtime rate (if configured) multiplied by 1.5.

O.    Setup: Accounting

O.1.    Setup: Accounting | Pay Periods

You set up pay periods by navigating to Setup | Accounting | Pay Periods.

All employee payroll statements and vendor statements are generated on a pre-defined “pay period” basis.  A pay period is a date range that you set up in the system and assign a reference name.  For example, if you pay your employees and other vendors once a week, you would define the start and end dates for each of these weekly “pay periods.” You also assign a descriptive name, such as “January 03 – Week1.”  When you run the pay calculators or review your statements in  The Logger's Edge, you reference this descriptive name, and The Logger's Edge knows to include all the transactions that took place in that date range.

In the example above, there are two pay periods already set up: one for the first half of March, the second for the second half of March.  If you click on the Accounting Period column, you will see the Accounting periods in the tree view on the left side.

Accounting Periods are setup under Setup | Accounting | Accounting Periods.  In order to enter the accounting period, you can either type it into the grid or select the accounting period from the list on the left by double-clicking on it.  This is a general feature of The Logger's Edge: selection lists are displayed on the left, allowing you to either double-click on a specific entry to select it or just key it in.

Some users have different pay period cycles for contractors versus employees, or for loads-based payment versus hourly payment. Furthermore, some users only issue payments for loads once they have received payment from the mill, and the mills may not follow a commonly defined pay period.  If you need to define multiple types of pay periods, discuss your requirements with a  Caribou support representative, as the system can be configured with more flexibility than the simple case shown here.

O.2.    Setup: Accounting | Weeks

Weeks are setup under Setup | Accounting | Weeks.

The Logger's Edge uses weeks to determine overtime where overtime rules are based on a weekly hour limit.  For example, overtime applies after 44 hours worked in week, The Logger's Edge requires that weeks be defined by there start and end dates.  As companies may (and do) use a different day of the week as the start of the work week, this seemingly trivial exercise can be quite important.

There is a function in The Logger's Edge to set up your weeks automatically.  Navigate to File | System Configuration.

In the populate weeks box, you enter the first day of the week for the first week of the year.  In the example above, January 1, 2006 (a Sunday) is entered.  When you click on populate weeks, The Logger's Edge will auto fill all the weeks in 2006 that start on a Sunday.  If your work week starts on a Monday, you would enter January 2, 2006.  Similarly, if you work week starts on a Saturday, you would enter January 7th, 2006 (not December 31st 2005) because it is the first Saturday in 2006.

O.3.    Setup: Accounting | Account Codes

Select Setup | Accounting | Account Codes from the Main Menu.  In the grid, you set up the accounts you want to maintain in order to classify your expenses.  You can use either numerical codes or short acronyms for your account codes.  The "Parts" can be used to classify accounts by account type (e.g., income, expense, etc.) and can be used to aggregate expenses into higher level categories for reports.  If you utilize a general ledger system, it is recommended that you make your account numbering system symmetric so that you have the ability to match accounts across systems.

These account codes are used when you enter miscellaneous expense (payables), miscellaneous income and employee expense amounts.

If you do not use numeric account codes, you can simply type in a dash (-) for Part 1 and Part 2.

The A/C Code column auto-fills based on the values you type into Part1 and Part2.  For this reason, you should skip the A/C Code cell when making a new entry.  If you don't want to use the auto-naming convention assigned by the system, you can always edit the A/C Code column as the last step before saving your row to make use of your own naming convention.  Some users prefer to use a descriptive name (such as LUNCH) for the A/C Code field, rather than using a numeric value as shown in the example below.

If you want, you eliminate Part 2, and just use a single account number you can do that as well (see below).  Just call a caribou Support representative and we'll get you set up.

O.4.    Setup: Accounting | Seasons

Select Setup | Accounting | Seasons from the Main Menu to set up your seasons.  In the grid, you define the seasons that are applicable for overloads.  In many cases, truck maximum weights will vary depending on whether or not it is winter.  When you set up your truck maximum weights (see Setup | Equipment / trucks | Trucks | Truck Weights), you can set up a maximum for winter and a maximum for summer.  The Logger's Edge will look at the date of a load and determine which season should apply to the load.  If it is winter, the The Logger's Edge will use the winter maximum weight; if not winter, The Logger's Edge will use the summer weight.

In the seasons grid, there is a checkbox that is used to determine if a season is winter or not.  Of course, if it is not winter, it is summer.

If you are not tracking overloads, you do not need to fill out this form.  Also, if you weights don't vary by season, you can leave this grid blank and then just enter the maximum weight for summer in the truck weights grid.

O.5.    Setup: Accounting | Accounting Periods

Accounting periods are setup under Setup | Accounting | Accounting Periods.

Accounting periods are generally thought of as fiscal years or quarters, etc.  In general, an accounting period contains multiple pay periods and can be used in reporting in order to aggregate data for discrete time periods that cover several pay cycles.

The Logger's Edge shows two accounting periods for log years 2004 and 2005 that are included in the The Logger's Edge database when you first install the system.

O.6.    Setup: Accounting Integration

The Logger's Edge supports integration with Intuit's Quickbooks software.  The following four items are used to pull data down from Quickbooks and insert (or update) the associated items in The Logger's Edge.

i.   Setup: Quickbooks - Account Codes

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Integration | Get Account Codes.

This function will bring down account codes from QuickBooks and insert them into The Logger's Edge if they are new, or update them if they already exist.

This feature provides the capability to download account codes from QuickBooks.  This feature adopts the principle of 'one-way' replication:  new account codes are passed down from QuickBooks to The Logger's Edge; edits to existing account codes are passed down;  and deletions of account codes (in QuickBooks) are not passed down.   No account data is passed up from The Logger's Edge to QuickBooks.  Thus, if you add or make changes to account codes, you should make them in QuickBooks and then pass them down to The Logger's Edge.

In QuickBooks, you first create an account.  For example:

You must use account numbers in QuickBooks in order to pass accounts from QuickBooks down to The Logger's Edge.

The account codes that are passed down from QuickBooks to The Logger's Edge are only Active account codes.  If you make an account inactive in QuickBooks, it will be ignored when you bring down the account codes from QuickBooks.  If you want to deactivate an account in The Logger's Edge, you still must use the 'Active?' checkbox.

The matching of account codes between the two applications is based on the account number in QuickBooks and the account code in The Logger's Edge.  The Logger's Edge uses the account number to match account codes in both systems so that if any changes are made to the account in QuickBooks, The Logger's Edge knows which account to update.  The account name in QuickBooks will be used as the description in The Logger's Edge.

When you run the 'Get Account Codes' function, your account list (Setup | Accounting | Account Codes) in The Logger's Edge will be refreshed.  If there are accounts in The Logger's Edge that are NOT in QuickBooks, they will be unaffected by the 'Get Account Codes' function.

If you want to add account codes outside your QuickBooks system you can add them directly into The Logger's Edge without interfering with the accounts download from QuickBooks.

In the default implementation of The Logger's Edge, there is often a column 'Part 2' in the account codes grid.  This column is generally irrelevant (if you are integrating with QuickBooks) and can be removed by a Caribou support representative.  In the QuickBooks download we mirror the A/C Code column and the 'Part 1' column.

ii.    Setup: Quickbooks - Customers

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Integration | Get Customers.

This function will bring down customers from Quickbooks and insert them into The Logger's Edge if they are new and update them if they already exist.

This feature provides the capability to download customers from Quickbooks.  This feature adopts the principle of 'one-way' replication:  new customers are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge; edits to existing customers are passed down;  and deletions of customers (in Quickbooks) are not passed down.   No account data is passed up from The Logger's Edge to Quickbooks.  Thus, if you add or make changes to customers, you should make them in Quickbooks and then pass them down to The Logger's Edge.

In Quickbooks, you first create a customer.  For example:

The checked items above are replicated down to The Logger's Edge.

In the Quickbooks customer window, there is a hierarchical list that shows customers as the outer level and then lists all the 'jobs' for each customer as the inner level.  In the integration between Quickbooks and The Logger's Edge, only customers are passed down.  Jobs are not.

Jobs, however, have a very important analog in the The Logger's Edge:  A job in Quickbooks is equivalent to a Revenue Contract in The Logger's Edge.  Thus, you will have to manually set up each job in Quickbooks for which you have a revenue contract in The Logger's Edge.

The customers that are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge are only Active customers.  If you make a customer inactive in Quickbooks, it will be ignored when you bring down the customers from Quickbooks.  If you want to deactivate a customer in The Logger's Edge, you still must use the 'Active?' checkbox.

The matching of customers between the two applications is based on the customer name in Quickbooks and the customer code in The Logger's Edge.  The Logger's Edge uses the customer name to match customers in both systems so that if any changes are made to the customer in Quickbooks,  The Logger's Edge knows which customer to update.  The company (as opposed to customer) name in Quickbooks will be used as the description in The Logger's Edge.

When you run the 'Get Customers' function, your account list (Setup | Customers) will be refreshed.  If there are accounts in The Logger's Edge that are NOT in Quickbooks, they will be unaffected by the 'Get Customers' function.

If you want to add customers outside your Quickbooks system you can add them directly into The Logger's Edge without interfering with the customer download from Quickbooks.

Often times there are many more customers in Quickbooks than you need for The Logger's Edge, which may add clutter to your customer list.  If this is the case, you may want to manage your customers separately in the two applications.

iii.    Setup: Quickbooks - Vendors

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Integration | Get Vendors.

This function will bring down vendors from Quickbooks and insert them into The Logger's Edge if they are new and update them if they already exist.

This feature provides the capability to download vendors from Quickbooks.  This feature adopts the principle of 'one-way' replication:  new vendors are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge; edits to existing vendors are passed down;  and deletions of vendors (in Quickbooks) are not passed down.   No account data is passed up from The Logger's Edge to Quickbooks.  Thus, if you add or make changes to vendors, you should make them in Quickbooks and then pass them down to The Logger's Edge.

In Quickbooks, you first create a vendor.  For example:

The checked items above are replicated down to The Logger's Edge.

The vendors that are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge are only Active vendors.  If you make a vendor inactive in Quickbooks, it will be ignored when you bring down the vendors from Quickbooks.  If you want to deactivate a vendor in The Logger's Edge, you still must use the 'Active?' checkbox.

The matching of vendors between the two applications is based on the vendor name in Quickbooks and the vendor code in The Logger's Edge.  The Logger's Edge uses the vendor name to match vendors in both systems so that if any changes are made to the vendor in Quickbooks,  The Logger's Edge knows which vendor to update.  The company (as opposed to vendor) name in Quickbooks will be used as the description in The Logger's Edge.

When you run the 'Get Vendors' function, your account list (Setup | Vendors) will be refreshed.  If there are accounts in The Logger's Edge that are NOT in Quickbooks, they will be unaffected by the 'Get Vendors' function.

If you want to add vendors outside your Quickbooks system you can add them directly into The Logger's Edge without interfering with the vendors download from Quickbooks.

Often times there are many more vendors in Quickbooks than you need for The Logger's Edge, which may add clutter to your vendor list.  If this is the case, you may want to manage your vendors separately in the two applications.

iv.    Setup: Quickbooks - Employees

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Integration | Get Employees.

This function will bring down employees from Quickbooks and insert them into The Logger's Edge if they are new and update them if they already exist.

This feature provides the capability to download employees from Quickbooks.  This feature adopts the principle of 'one-way' replication:  new employees are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge; edits to existing employees are passed down;  and deletions of employees (in Quickbooks) are not passed down.   No employee data is passed up from The Logger's Edge to Quickbooks.  Thus, if you add or make changes to employees, you should make them in Quickbooks and then pass them down to The Logger's Edge.

In Quickbooks, you first enter an employee.  For example:

The First Name and Last Name are required for integration with The Logger's Edge.  The items checked above will also be passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge. 

The employees that are passed down from Quickbooks to The Logger's Edge are only Active employees.  If you make an employee inactive in Quickbooks, he or she will be ignored when you bring down the employees from Quickbooks.  If you want to deactivate an employee in The Logger's Edge, you still must use the 'Active?' checkbox.

The matching of employees between the two applications is based on the code of the employee.  The 'Code' for an employee is entered as the 'Account' on the second Tab of the employee screen in Quickbooks.  (Quickbooks does not have a concept of employee code, but a code is required by The Logger's Edge.)  An entry for the code is required and must be unique.  The Logger's Edge uses the code to match employees in both systems so that if any changes are made to the employee in Quickbooks, The Logger's Edge knows which employee to update.

When you run the 'Get Employees' function, your employee list (Setup | Workers | Worker Setup) will be refreshed.  If there are workers in The Logger's Edge that are NOT in Quickbooks, they will be unaffected by the 'Get Employees' function.  Note in the screen below, there are workers that are not employees (they are subcontractor workers) of the MTN_VIEW (our own) company.

If you want to add workers or employees outside your Quickbooks system you can add them directly into The Logger's Edge without interfering with employee download from Quickbooks.