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Pay: Employees, by Tree Volume

Employees can be paid according to the volume of trees they harvest.  There are two tree count fields (optional) that can be enabled on your employee time slips.  For example you might want to track the count of conifer trees separately from deciduous trees.  Either one or both of these fields can be enabled by an administrator so that you can enter your tree count data.  The volume (e.g. M3, Cords, MBF, etc.) of the trees of the trees harvested by an employee equals the tree count on the employee time slips multiplied by the volume-per-tree value that has been assigned to the block when it was set up.

Case I.  You only pay on tree volume (no hourly pay).  

You would set up the employee as you normally would.  When entering pay rates, you would only enter a rate with a rate type of 'TREE_VOL'.  This is the rate that will be applied to your tree volume (one or both tree volumes added together) to determine pay.  On the time slip you can enter 0.0 for the hours performed.

Notes:

1.    If you enter two pay rates, one for TREE_VOL and one for HR, for the employee, both rates will be applied.  The employee's pay will be the sum of the tree volume pay and the hourly pay.

2.    If you enter 0.0 for the hours on the time slip, equipment hours will also be set to 0.0.  Your equipment cost and utilization data will de distorted because the equipment hours will be inaccurate.  Equipment costing only uses hourly time entries -- it does not use the tree count fields.

Case II.  You pay on tree volume and by the hour (e.g. an employee gets $15.00 an hour plus $1.00/M3 ).  

You would set up the employee as you normally would.  When entering pay rates, you would enter a rate with a rate type of 'TREE_VOL'.  This is the rate that will be applied to your tree volume (one or both volumes added together) to determine pay.  You would also enter a rate with a rate type of 'HR'.  When processing pay, both rates will be applied.  On the time slip you can enter the number of hours of work performed and the number of trees.

Steps:

1. Set up the Employee. Select Setup | Workers | Worker Setup from the Main Menu.

2. Set up Base Rate.  Select Setup | Workers | Worker Setup from the Main Menu.  Select the Tab 'Employee Base Rates'.  You will need to enter a rate with a rate type of 'TREE'

3. Set up Activity Rate (Optional).  Select Setup | Workers | Employee Activity Rates from the Main Menu.  You can set up a rate differential (relative to an employee's base rate) if you want to pay a premium (or a lower rate) for certain selected activities.  You can set up pay differentials for pay by tree count -- you must remember to enter the rate differential with a rate type of 'TREE_VOL' or it will not apply.

4. Setup the Equipment Unit that the Employee is Operating. Select Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Unit Numbers

5. Set up the Standard Cost for the Equipment.  Select Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Costing.  This allows you to set up your equipment costing for your own machines.

6. Enter Time Slip.  Select Data Entry | Time Slips | Employees | Enter Slips.

7. Enter Volume per Tree on Block.  Select Setup | Blocks | Block. The volume per tree on the block is multiplied by the tree counts on an employee's time slip in order to arrive at the employee's tree volume.

8. Run Employee Calculator.  Select Calculators | Employees - Full. 

9. Review Employee Statement.  Select Reports Employee Statements.  Alternatively, Select  Reports | Hourly | Employees.

Troubleshooting Common Errors:

1.    "Error: No Pay Rate for: XX, date: MM/DD/YYYY".  

This error occurs when a valid pay rate is not found for the a time entry for an employee for a certain date.

Things to check when this occurs:

• Is there a base pay rate setup?  Check under Setup | Workers | Worker Setup from the Main Menu.  Select the Tab 'Employee Base Rates'.  Be sure there is a rate set up in the grid for the employee.
• Is there a rate?  Is there a base rate for the employee set up with the rate type 'TREES'?  Check the effective date.  Is the time slip entry date prior to the base rate effective date?  If so, the system cannot identify a rate to apply to the employee.  Is the effective date valid?  
• Check the 'Rate Type.'  The Rate Type must be set to 'HR' in order to pay hourly employees.

2.    "Warning: STD_COST Cost not found for Equipment Code: XXXX, MM/DD/YYYY"

Things to check when this occurs:

• Is there a standard cost rate setup?  Check under Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Costing from the Main Menu.  Be sure there is a standard cost rate set up in the grid for the equipment.
• Is there a standard cost rate?  Check the effective date.  Is the time entry Prior to the effective date?  If so, the system cannot identify a standard cost rate to apply to the equipment.

Note:  If you don't care about equipment costing, you can always set the standard cost rate to $0.00, and thereby eliminate the warning message.

3.    "Warning: FULL_FOUNDED_RATE Cost not found for Equipment Code: XXXX, MM/DD/YYYY"

Things to check when this occurs:

• Is there a standard cost rate setup?  Check under Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Costing from the Main Menu.  Be sure there is a full rate set up in the grid for the equipment.
• Is there a full rate?  Check the effective date.  Is the time entry Prior to the effective date?  If so, the system cannot identify a full rate to apply to the equipment.

Note:  If you don't care about equipment costing, you can always set the full rate to $0.00, and thereby eliminate the warning message.

4.    The tree volume pay is not showing up in the statements.

• Is there a base rate for the employee set up with the rate type 'TREE_VOL''?

5.    The tree volumes are zero.

• Have you entered tree counts on the employee's time slips?
• Have you entered a non-zero volume per tree on the block?

6.    The tree volume pay is working, but hourly pay (unwanted) is showing up.

• Is there also base rate for the employee set up with the rate type 'HR'?.  If there is an 'HR' rate, it will also be applied (in combination with the 'TREE_VOL' rate).  By removing the 'HR' rate the employee will not be paid by the hour.

7.    The wrong rate is applied.

Things to check when this occurs:

• Are there multiple base rates setup?  Check under Setup | Workers | Worker Setup from the Main Menu.  Select the Tab 'Employee Base Rates'.  Be sure that the date of the your time entry is subsequent to the rate you want applied.  If so, is there another rate between the date you think should apply and the date of the time entry?  If so, the system will use that rate.  The system will use the rate that is (1) prior to the time entry, and (2) the most recent of those that are prior to the time entry.
• Do you have a base rate setup under the 'ALL' employee?  The system will use this rate if there is no specific rate setup for the employee.  If you do not want to apply the 'ALL' employee rate, setup a base rate for your specific employee.
• Do you have activity differentials that apply?  Check under Setup | Workers | Employee Activity Rates from the main menu.  Is there a differential for the employee and activity on the time entry?  If you want a differential to apply, check the effective date.  Is there more than one effective date? The system will use the rate that is (1) prior to the time entry, and (2) the most recent of those that are prior to the time entry.  Is the 'Rate Type' tagged as 'TREE_VOL'?  The rate differential will only apply if the Rate Type is tagged as 'TREE_VOL'.
• Do you have an activity rate setup under the 'ALL' employee?  The system will use this rate if there is no specific activity rate setup for the employee.  If you do not want to apply the 'ALL' employee rate, setup an activity rate differential for your specific employee.  Note:  you can always setup a $0.00 rate for a specific employee if you want to exempt that employee form the 'ALL' rate.