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In many circumstances, logging contractors pay their subcontractors on a pay schedule that basically matches the pay schedule by which they are paid by the mill(s) to which they deliver. This approach tends to match up the cash flow from the mill to the sub contractor. For example if a mill pays every two weeks, then if you set your pay periods to pay every two weeks, you will match up the loads for which you get paid with the loads upon which you have to pay your subs.
This works fine in the basic setup in The Logger's Edge. A difficulty arises, however, if you deliver to multiple mills whose pay cycles are offset. For example, let's suppose you deliver to Weyerhaeuser and West Fraser where Weyerhaeuser pays on the 15th and the end of the month, but West Fraser pays every 2nd Friday. In May, for example, this might mean that West Fraser Pays on the 20th (for loads from April 30th to May 13th) and 31st (for loads from May 14th to May 27th), but Weyerhaeuser pays on the 25th (for loads from the 1st to the 15th) and the 10th (for loads from the 16th to the 31st). In this case, it is not possible in The Logger's Edge to set up one vendor pay schedule that matches the pay cycles of both Weyerhaeuser and West Fraser at the same time.
There is now a function in The Logger's Edge that allows you pay subcontractors based on the pay period of your customers.
Set 'Enable Pay on Customer Schedule' Flag
In the Basic Setup Window, the flag that enables 'Pay on Customer Schedule' needs to be turned on. In addition, if the user has both vendor and employee pay periods enabled, they can indicate whether the customer pay periods apply to vendor only, or both vendors and employees.
This action can only be performed by someone logged in as an administrator.
Enable Pay Period Type Code on Pay Periods Table
Enable Pay Period Type Code on Customers Table
Pay Period Types
With the 'Pay on Customer Schedule' flag turned on, there is a menu item 'Pay Period Types' that is turned on.
This brings up a window that allows you to define the codes for each of your distinct pay schedules:
In this window, you can enter a period type code for each of your distinct pay schedule cycles. For example, you could have a schedule for Weyerhaeuser, West Fraser and one for other mills.
If you have multiple
mills, you do NOT need to set one up for each mill. You only need
to set up distinct type for each distinct pay cycle schedules. For
example, you might have 8 mills, but only 3 distinct cyles -- in this case you
only need to set up three pay period types.
Set up Pay Periods for each Pay Period Type
For each pay period type you have set up, you need to specify the date ranges for each pay period. We recommend using the 'Vendors' type for your 'base' pay schedule and adding those schedules that are exceptions. See Below.
In the grid above, there are two additional pay cycles - one for West Fraser and one for Weyerhaeuser. Notice that their date ranges are offset and overlap one another. You can have overlapping pay schedules in The Logger's Edge as long as they are of a different pay period type. For example, there is a West Fraser period from 1/15/05 to 1/28/05, yet Weyerhaeuser has a schedule starting 1/17/05 and going to 1/30/05.
Specify Pay Period Types for Each Customer
For each customer, you need to select a pay period type. See below. Note that West Fraser has been assigned the 'WEST FR' (West Fraser) type. Note also that several other mills have been assigned the same WEST FR pay period type - this means that they pay on the same periodicity as West Fraser. This illustrates that you only need as may period types as distinct pay schedule cycles.
If you have a base
pay cycle, you can set that one up under the 'VENDORS' type and assign it to
those customer that are on the base schedule. You only need to set up
alternative schedule(s) for customers that you want to treat as exceptions to
the base cycle.
Pay is Processed in Two Rounds
Round 1:
The flag that enables 'Pay on Customer Schedule' activates a menu item on the Calculators Menu: Loads - Full (and Loads - Incremental).
The Loads Full (and Load Incremental) are used to process load pay on a customer schedule basis. You still use the Vendors - Full to process all other vendor pay (hourly, production, and all pay for vendors on regular base pay schedule).
I repeat. the pay by customer schedule only covers LOAD pay; all other pay is handled on the normal 'Vendor' pay cycle.
If you want
miscellaneous expenses to be "attached to" a vendor statement that follows a
customer schedule, you must associate that miscellaneous entry with a REVENUE
CONTRACT belonging to the appropriate customer. If you leave the revenue
contract blank on the miscellaneous entry, the expense will appear on the
corresponding vendor statement that encompasses the date on your miscellaneous
entry.
Note: If the "Vendors Only" flag is checked in the Basic Setup
item above, the "Loads Full" Calculator will only calculate vendor
(subcontractor) load-based pay for customer pay periods. (Employee load-based pay will still be
calculated in the "Employees - Full" calculator.)
Clicking on 'Loads - Full', you will get a list of pay periods that includes the the pay periods that have been set up for customers:
In this list, there are pay periods for 'WEST FR' and 'WEYER'.
When you select a pay period, The Logger's Edge will only process loads for that customer (or customers).
How does The Logger's Edge know what loads to process?
Suppose we select the 'Dec 18 04 WF' pay period as shown above.
We know the date range is 12/18/2004 to 12/31/2004. We know the pay period type is 'WEST FR'. which applies to West Fraser, but also McBride and Murphy (shown in the customer screen above). The Logger's Edge goes to the list of revenue contracts whose customers have the associated Pay Period Type - in this example that would be the list of revenue contracts where West Fraser, McBride and Murphy are identified as the the customer.
Revenue contracts specify the block (or blocks) and the destination (or destinations) to which the revenue contract applies.
For example, in our Weyerhaeuser harvesting revenue contract, we have Weyerhaeuser as the customer:
Blocks 01-32-2012 and 05-12-1027 as the blocks:
and Valemount as the destination:
Thus, The Logger's Edge selects the loads from block 01-32-2012 and 05-12-1027 that are delivered to Valemount over the date range 12/18/2004 to 12/31/2004.
The Logger's Edge makes this type of selection for each revenue contract whose customer has the pay period type associated with the specific pay period selected.
Now, let's suppose we run the pay calculator for the Jan 1 period for West Fraser. This will calculate pay for all the West Fraser loads over the 1/1/2004 to 1/14/2004 period. The Weyerhaeuser Jan 3 schedule is 1/3/2004 to 1/16/2004. When we run the calculator for this period, we process the Weyerhaeuser loads for 1/3/2004 to 1/16/2004.
If we now go look at our vendor statements, we will have a set of statements for the Jan 1 period for West Fraser and a set for the Jan 3 period for Weyerhaeuser.
What this means is that if you have a contractor (say a trucking contractor) that hauls to both destinations, there will be two vendor statements for that contractor: one that covers the 1/1/2004 to 1/14/2004 period for West Fraser loads and one that covers the 1/3/2004 to 1/16/2004 for Weyerhaeuser loads.
Note: If a vendor
also has payments for hourly or production work, the
vendor will have a third vendor statement that covers those activities on the
regular 'Vendors' pay period.
Vendor Schedule
For customers that are on the generic 'VENDOR' schedule type, pay will be processed as always under Calculators | Vendors - Full. For those customers on your base pay cycle, all pay (loads and hourly, production slips, miscellaneous related to customers on the base pay cycle), will be processed under the Vendors - Full calculator.
Only those customers that are offset from the base schedule require the 'Loads - Full' calculator to be used in order to create their specific statements for the exception schedules.
Invoices (Revenue) is calculated as previously, with the exception that the list of periods includes all Vendor and Customer pay periods.
All revenue - for loads, hourly, production and miscellaneous - is processed for the selected period and related customers.
If you have multiple
OVERLAPPING customer periods, you will need to run each period's calculator to
ensure that ALL loads have had their revenue calculated.
You can select multiple
pay periods at a time, allowing you to process multiple periods at once.
If you are using the
Logger's Edge special Vendor Benefits features, please see the document
on Vendor Benefits for some important remarks about the interaction of customer
pay periods and vendor benefits.
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