Table of Contents

1. How to Use This Tutorial

2. Starting Up

3. Basic Setup

4. Setting Up a Block

5. Setting Up a Revenue Contract

6. Creating Payment Contracts

7. Entering Time Slips and Production Slips

8. Processing Employee Payroll

9. Creating Load Slips

10. Processing Revenue

11. Processing Vendor Pay

12. Miscellaneous Expenses

13. Business Reports

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How to Use This Tutorial

1. How to Use This Tutorial

Purpose of This Tutorial

This tutorial will help you understand the fundamentals of The Logger's Edge and become familiar with the screen layouts and grids. It is expected that you will complete this tutorial before receiving training on The Logger's Edge from your support representative. By completing the tutorial first, we can use your training time to focus on user-specific issues, such as configuring payment scenarios and understanding reports, rather than learning the interface.

By working through the tutorial, you will gain a basic understanding of the work flow involved in using the system.  The examples that you work through may not necessarily match those that you face in your business, but should provide a good overall appreciation for The Logger's Edge functionality.  In order to make the best use of your training time, we recommend that you work through the tutorial in its entirety when you first receive the software.  Once you have a baseline familiarity with the software, you can then work through each menu item available through the interface and use the training information available in the Support section of our web site to learn more details about the system.  This approach will allow us to use your one-on-one training time to set up your key business scenarios, rather than teaching you how to navigate through the software. 

Completing This Tutorial

This tutorial will take approximately 4-6 hours to complete.


Starting Up

2. Starting Up

The first time you run The Logger's Edge you will be prompted to create a working database.  This database stores all of your employees, equipment, time slips, loads, etc. - all of the data that you use in your business. 

 

You must specify a new name for you company’s database and select the directory in which to store it.  The directory defaults to the Database directory created when you install The Logger's Edge.  Do not click on the HarvestBoss0_BC.mdb file.

When you specify the name of your database (i.e. Canada Tutorial) do not use the database name HarvestBoss0_BC.mdb.  This database is a template or kernel database that is used as the starting point for all new databases.

Enter the database name 'Canada Tutorial' and click 'Save'.  The Logger's Edge will create your new database and start up the program.

 

The status bar at the bottom of the main window identifies the database you are currently connected to.

This tutorial will walk you through the steps for setting up a stump to dump logging company.  It is intended to teach you the basic functionality of the system and give you a feel for the basic data flow through the system. 

The company has: The following is an outline of how you are going to pay workers throughout this tutorial:
Activity Pay Basis
Felling Hourly (Employee)
Loading Load-by-load (Employee or Subcontractor)
Skidding Day rate (Employee)
Delimbing Hourly plus trees (Employee)
Trucking Tonne basis (Employee or Subcontractor)

Basic Setup

3. Basic Setup

The first tasks that the tutorial covers are how to configure all of the basic setup items required before you can create Blocks, Revenue Contracts and Payment Contracts.  The procedures that will be covered in this section are:

To better understand the types of information you will be setting up in this section of the tutorial see the following time slip.  Navigate to Data Entry | Time Slips | Employees | Enter Slips and click on 'Add'.

The time slip includes several fields: Employee, Equipment, Truck, Revenue Contract, Block, Activity, Date and Date for Pay, which are entered through drop-down lists.  The purpose of preset lists is to ensure that only valid entries can be selected for these fields.

In the next few sections, you will set up the data required for entering a time slip.

Click 'Cancel' to close the Time Detail window.  Click 'OK' to close the Time Detail grid.

Setting Up a Pay Period, Accounting Period and Account Codes

Pay periods are used throughout The Logger's Edge for running payment calculators and creating statements.  Pay periods are date ranges you configure to match the payment cycles of your workers.

To setup a new pay period, you must first configure an Accounting Period.  An accounting period must be as large as or larger than your pay period.  Accounting periods are used for reporting and are generally configured as a log year or as quarters.

Accounting Periods

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Accounting Periods.

The Logger's Edge comes with three preset accounting periods for 2005, 2006 and 2007.  If you want to change the start or end dates for the periods, you can simply edit them in the grid.  Otherwise, you can move on to the next step.  If you want to add a new one, you can simply click the 'Add' button and enter a new row in the grid above.

In The Logger's Edge, setup items are generally assigned a 'Code' and a 'Description'.  The 'Code' for an item is its short form, such as an abbreviation or mnemonic.  The 'Description' is a longer form of the same item.  You should be able to identify the item by either its code or its description, so establish your naming convention accordingly.

Click on 'Save' to save the item.  Saved items appear in the tree view on the left side.  Click 'OK' to close the window.  When you have finished entering the data into the grid, you do not have to hit both 'Save' and 'OK'.  When you click 'OK', the system automatically saves your entry, but it will also close the grid.  Saving manually allows you to save an item and leave the grid open while you move to another window in the system.  Clicking on 'Add' will also save your current item before adding a new row.

Click 'OK' to close the Accounting Periods grid.

Pay Periods

Navigate to Setup | Accounting | Pay Periods.

Click on 'Add' to enter an empty row.  Fill in the row with the following information:

Code May06
Description May 2006
Start Date 5/1/2006
End Date 5/31/2006
Accounting Period 2006

The Accounting Period was defined in the previous section.  Choose the Accounting Period from the tree view on the left by double clinking on it.

Click 'OK' to close the Pay Periods grid.

Account Codes

Account Codes are used in The Logger's Edge to group together miscellaneous payments and deductions.  You are able to enter in positive or negative amounts for contractors and employees under Data Entry | Expenses.

To configure an account code, navigate to Setup | Accounting | Account Codes.  Click 'Add'.

Enter in four account codes using the following information:

A/C Code This field auto fills based on the parts entered. This field auto fills based on the parts entered. This field auto fills based on the parts entered. This field auto fills based on the parts entered.
Description Part-Production Equipment Fuel Head Gasket Service
Part 1 100 200 200 200
Part 2 1001 1001 1002 1003

In this tutorial, The Logger's Edge has been configured to use two parts (Part 1 and Part 2) for the accounting codes.  When entering account codes, you only need to enter the part 1 and 2 for the code and The Logger's Edge will automatically generate the A/C Code.  You can override this and enter the A/C Code directly as well.  During your system configuration, you decide the number of parts you want to use to define your account codes.  The Logger's Edge has the ability to use zero parts or up to nine parts for the account codes.

Once you have entered the account codes, click 'OK' to close the Account Codes grid.

Setting Up Pay Activities

You must configure pay activities in The Logger's Edge to match the activities for which you receive revenue and the activities for which you pay your employees and subcontractors.

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

Click on 'Add' and enter the following activities.  Use the short cut key, Alt+a, to add the next empty row.

Code Description Pay Type Production Indicator Active? Activity Group Code
FELLING Felling REG PROD No Yes NONE
SKID Skidding REG PROD No Yes NONE
DELIMB Delimbing REG PROD Yes Yes NONE
LOGGING Logging REG PROD No Yes NONE

For the DELIMB activity, click on the Production Indicator to add a check.  All of the others should not have a check in the Production Activity column.

Trucking and Loading were already entered by default.  You receive revenue from the mill for trucking and logging, and this is why you entered Logging.

Click 'OK' to close the Pay Activities grid when you are done.

What is the Pay Activity Type?

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

What does Production Indicator mean?

The Logger's Edge uses the 'Production Indicator' flag on the pay activities to calculate an estimated production for a given block, based on the tree count entered on time slips associated with the block.  Each time slip has a pay activity associated with it.  The Logger's Edge looks at the production indicator flag on the pay activity associated with the time slip to determine whether to use the tree count on the time slip to estimate production for the block.  Usually, a pay activity such as “delimbing” is representative of production because each tree will only go through one delimber.  If two pay activities are chosen for Production Indicator, then they must be mutually exclusive.  For example, the Delimbing pay activity and a Processing pay activity could both be tagged as a production indicator because a single tree would either be handled by a delimber or by a processor.  Two activities that will be performed on the same tree, such as cutting and delimbing, should NOT be both selected as production indicators because production based on tree count will then be double-counted.

What is Active?

Many records in The Logger's Edge have an Active? checkbox.  The Active? checkbox is used to manage setup data that is currently in use versus setup data that has been used in the past or will be used in the future.  For example, customer xyz is no longer a customer but was at one point.  Uncheck the Active? box so that the customer no longer appears in drop down lists.  The customer can be reactivated again in the future and no historical data is lost.

When you see a 'Show Active Only' check box, uncheck the box to see all records whether they are active or not.

Setting Up Vendors (Contractors)

Before setting up too many items in The Logger's Edge, it is best to configure the vendors or subcontracting companies that will be working for you.

To setup a vendor, navigate to Setup | Vendors.

Click 'Add' to enter the following four vendors:

Code WHITE LARRY LOAD ESSO SIMPSON
Description White Knight Trucking Larry's Loaders Imperial Oil Simpson Industrial Repairs
Contact Mike White Larry Lane None Jim Simpson
Active? Yes Yes Yes Yes
Address #306, Highway 22 876 3rd Street PO Box 3324 44 Main Street
City Green Pond Blue Pond Mountain View Yellow Lake
Province BC BC BC BC
Postal Code V6V 5V6 V7V 7V4 V0J 1X0 V1V 7X4
Phone (250) 555-1234 (250) 555-4321 (250) 555-4567 (250) 555-4400
Fax (250) 555-1235 (250) 555-4322 (250) 555-7890 (250) 555-7899
E-mail mike@whiteknighttrucking.com loaders@larrysloaders.com None None
Tax ID R12345678 R87654321 R12349875 R23234545
Statement Type Code Standard Vendor Standard Vendor Standard Vendor Standard Vendor

It is important to enter the Tax ID (if applicable) and the Address of the vendor as this information appears on the vendor statements.

Click 'OK' to close the Vendors grid.

Setting Up Equipment and Trucks

The next task is to set up your equipment and your subcontractors' equipment (feller bunchers, skidders, delimbers, etc.)

Equipment Types

In order to set up your equipment units you must first set up the types of equipment.  Navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Types.  Equipment Types are used in the Block Equipment Utilization Report.

Use the 'Add' button to add four types of equipment:

Code Description Active?
FELLER Feller Buncher Yes
LOADER Loader Yes
SKIDDER Skidder Yes
DELIMBER Delimber Yes

 Click 'OK' to close the Equipment Type grid.

Equipment Units

After setting up your equipment types, you can set up your actual equipment units.  Navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Unit Numbers.

This selection opens the Equipment data entry grid.  Use the 'Add' button to add five equipment units:

Code Description Equip Type Owner Active?
MY FELLER 05 My Feller Buncher 05 FELLER MYCO Yes
MY LOADER 09 My Loader 09 LOADER MYCO Yes
MY SKIDDER 10 My Skidder 10 SKIDDER MYCO Yes
MY DELIMBER 15 My Delimber 15 DELIMBER MYCO Yes
LL 99 Larry Loader 99 LOADER LARRY LOAD Yes

When entering Equipment Type and Owner you can simply click the item in the split window on the left.  Do not add anything to the Serial # and permit fields, we will not use this information in the tutorial.  Click 'OK' to close the Equipment grid.

Equipment Activities

This task involves matching Equipment Units to Pay Activities.  By assigning activities to pieces of equipment, the system will auto-fill the activity entry box in the time ticket when an equipment unit is selected.  It is required to assign activities to pieces of equipment if you are going to track pieces of equipment on the load slip.

An individual piece of equipment usually only has one activity, but in some cases, may have several activities.  For example, a Cat Bulldozer might be used for a road building activity or a piling activity or a Loader might be used for piling or loading.

To associate work activities to equipment units, navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Equipment | Unit Activities.

Using 'Add', enter the following items in the grid:

Code Eligible Activity Is Default? Active?
MY FELLER 05 FELLING Yes Yes
MY LOADER 09 LOAD Yes Yes
MY SKIDDER 10 SKID Yes Yes
MY DELIMBER 15 DELIMB Yes Yes
LL 99 LOAD Yes Yes

When entering the Code and Eligible Activity, you can simply click the item in the split window on the left.  Click 'OK' to close the Equipment Activities grid.

Truck Configurations

Setting up trucks is similar to configuring equipment.  First, setup truck configurations.  Navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Trucks | Truck Configurations.

In certain regions, truck configurations are important because payment can vary by configuration.  The system requires at least one configuration to be set up so if you do not track truck configuration you can set one up labeled 'NA' for Not Applicable.

Using 'Add', enter the following items in the grid:

Code Description Active? Is Self Loading
BTRAIN B Train Yes No
SUPERB Super B Yes No

Click 'OK' to close the Truck Configurations grid.

To save time, click Alt+s at the same time to save a record.  Click Alt+a to add a record.  Many buttons in The Logger's Edge have hot keys and are indicated by an underline under the corresponding letter.

Setting Up Log Trucks

To set up the log trucks navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Trucks | Unit Numbers.

Using 'Add', enter the following items in the grid:

Code 101 503
Owner MYCO WHITE
Configuration BTRAIN SUPERB
Description My Truck #101 White Truck #503

Scroll to the right and notice the other optional columns that can be used to track additional detail about the truck such as, its license or permit number.

If your company owns log truck(s), you would specify ‘MYCO’ for the owner indicating your company is the owner.

Click 'OK' to close the Trucks grid.

Setting Up Routes

Routes are used to distinguish pay for each load ticket if truck pay differs based on route.  For example, you might setup ‘Off Highway’ and ‘On Highway’ routes to identify loads that were delivered over highway or off-highway roads.

If you do not track routes in your business, The Logger's Edge can be configured to drop this item from your setup lists.

Setup Routes by navigating to Setup | Routes.

Use 'Add' to create two routes with the following information:

Code Description
Y On Highway
N Off Highway

This feature can be used to track road and bridge amortization for company constructed roads and bridges.

Click 'OK' to close the Routes grid.

Setting Up Equipment and Truck Costing

The Logger's Edge has an equipment costing module that calculates how much you are spending running your equipment by hour.  The Logger's Edge can use Standard Hourly Costing and Fully Founded Hourly costing for equipment.

Truck costing is done on a weight basis (e.g. Tonnes).  Costing information can only be entered for company owned pieces of equipment.

Equipment Costing

To set up equipment costs, navigate to Setup | Equipment / Trucks | Equipment | Equipment Costing.  Click 'Add' once you are in the grid.

In the entry form, select the piece of equipment (My Delimber 15); enter the effective date (5/1/2006), the Std Cost per hour ($120.00), the fully founded rate ($150.00), and the expected number of annual hours (2500). Click 'OK'.

The 'Standard Cost' is the cost you assign to each hour of operation for that piece of equipment.  The hours of operation are based on hours entered on the time slips for employees.  These costs include all operating expenses, such as maintenance, fluids, depreciation and interest.  The standard cost specifically excludes operator pay and employee load costs.

The 'Fully Founded Rate' is a second measure of standard cost that represents an estimate of the all-inclusive costs of operating a unit of equipment.  These costs include all operating expenses, such as maintenance, fluids, depreciation and interest, and operator pay and employee load costs.  This cost is comparable to the market rate that you would have to pay in order to rent the same piece of equipment (operator included) from a third party.  Certain reports can be generated using fully founded rates rather than employee standard costs and actual equipment costs.

Enter costing information for each piece of equipment as outlined below:

Code Effective Date Std Cost/Hour Fully Founded Rate/Hour Annual Hours
My Delimber 15 5/1/2006 $120.00 $150.00 2500
My Feller 05 5/1/2006 $150.00 $180.00 2500
My Loader 09 5/1/2006 $110.00 $150.00 2500
My Skidder 10 5/1/2006 $90.00 $120.00 2500

The Logger's Edge includes an optional equipment cost spreadsheet you can use to estimate the Standard Cost of a piece of equipment.  Select a row in the grid and click the ‘Calc Cost’ button.

You can use this calculator to calculate your standard cost to get a more accurate number.  To use this calculator, you fill in the numbers on the left side of the window along with the maintenance and operating expenses on the right side.

The effective date for the hourly cost is entered in the top left of the above window.  This rate will be applied to hours on and after the effective date.

Click 'OK' to close the Equipment Cost Worksheet window.

Click 'OK' to close the Equipment Cost grid.

Setting Up Truck Costing

Follow the same directions above to configure truck costing.  Navigate to Setup | Equipment/Trucks | Trucks | Truck Costing and click 'Add'.

Enter truck-costing information as follows:

Code Effective Date Std Cost/Hour Full Cost/Unit Annual Production Unit of Measure
101 5/2/2006 $2.00 $2.25 50,000 TONNE_HR

Click 'OK' to save the record.

Click 'OK' to close the Truck Cost grid.

Setting Up Workers (Employees and Subcontracted Workers)

Setting Up Workers

Next you need to set up your company employees and any subcontractors you are going to track on the load slip.  Navigate to Setup | Workers | Worker Setup.

Click 'Add' to enter your employees and type directly in the grid.

Select an employer for each worker.  In general, the employer will be ‘MYCO', meaning your company but if you want to identify and track other workers, for example contract workers, you set them up in the same grid, and identify their employer as another vendor.

As you scroll to the right, there are several other optional fields, such as the employee’s address, phone number, e-mail, date of hire, etc.  You can use these columns to maintain employee information at your discretion.  On the far right of the grid is the 'Active?' checkbox that can be used to deactivate an employee once he or she has left your company.

Enter in workers using the following information:

Code First Name Last Name Full Name Employer
FF Felicity Feller Feller, Felicity MYCO
SS Sam Skidder Skidder, Sam MYCO
LL Lowell Loader Loader, Lowell MYCO
DD Doug Delimber Delimber, Doug MYCO
TT Tom Trucker Trucker, Tom MYCO
WT Whitney Trucker Trucker, Whitney WHITE
LT Laurence Loader Loader, Laurence LARRY LOAD

Note that the Full Name is auto-filled with a combination of the First name and Last Name.

Click 'OK' to close the Workers grid once you have finished entering in the workers.

Setting Up Employee Pay Rates

The next step is to enter the Employee Pay Rates.  Navigate to Setup | Workers | Worker Base Rates.

Click 'Add' to enter the rates for each employee.  Typing directly in the grid enter the employee’s code, the pay rate effective date (i.e. 5/1/2006), the employee’s base pay rate, the employee loaded rate, and the Rate Type (i.e. HR = Hourly).

The effective date determines when a pay rate takes effect.  For example, Doug Delimber's $20.00 per hour pay rate takes effect on May 1, 2006.  If Doug receives a raise as of May 1st, 2006 to $22.00 per hour, you need to 'Add' a new rate for him with the new rate and new effective date (5/1/2006).  All time entered on or after May 1st, 2006 would be paid at the new rate and time entries prior to May 1st, 2006 would be paid at the old rate.

A loaded rate is a payroll rate that has been adjusted to include a share of your company’s overhead costs.  Overhead costs could include any administrative, maintenance, taxes or other costs that are not directly attributable to production.  The 'Loaded Rate' is used for several costing reports that have the option of using loaded rates for time costing rather than straight payroll rates.

There are several pre-configured Rate Types that allow you to pay on different bases, for example by day rate or tree count.

Typing directly in the grid enter the employee rates as indicated below:

Employee Code Effective Date Rate Loaded Rate Charge Out Rate Rate Type
DD 5/1/2006 0.25 0.25 0.00 TREES
DD 5/1/2006 20.00 20.00 0.00 HR
FF 5/1/2006 25.00 25.00 0.00 HR
SS 5/1/2006 350.00 350.00 0.00 DAY

In this scenario, DD will be paid an hourly rate plus a tree count rate.

You will create payment contracts to pay the subcontracted workers and also to pay the loader and truck driver employees.

Click 'OK' to exit the Worker Base Rates grid.

Equipment and Truck Assignments

This next setup item is another data entry convenience.  It matches a default Equipment or Truck Unit with a worker.

In order to set up worker equipment assignments, navigate to Setup | Workers | Worker Assignments | Equipment.

Click 'Add' to assign a default piece of equipment for each employee.  Typing directly in the grid enter the employee’s code, the equipment code, and effective date.

Matching an employee to a default equipment unit is done to speed up data entry.  If an employee operates another equipment unit, you must override the default unit to the actual unit by selecting the actual unit from the drop down list on the time slip.

Enter the following equipment assignments before moving to the next section:

Employee Code Equipment Code Effective Date Default? Active?
LT LL 99 5/1/2006 Yes Yes
DD My Delimber 15 5/1/2006 Yes Yes
FF My Feller 05 5/1/2006 Yes Yes
LL My Loader 09 5/1/2006 Yes Yes
SS My Skidder 10 5/1/2006 Yes Yes

Click 'OK' to exit the Equipment Assignments grid.

To configure the truck assignments, navigate to Setup | Workers | Worker Assignments | Trucks.

Click 'Add' to assign a default truck for each employee. 

Enter two truck assignments as follows:

Employee Code Truck Effective Date Default? Active?
TT 101 5/1/2006 Yes Yes
WT 503 5/1/2006 Yes Yes

Click 'OK' to close the Truck Assignments grid.

You should now have workers, equipment and trucks configured.

Setting Up a Customer

To setup a customer (company from whom you are receiving revenue) navigate to Setup | Customers.

Enter in a new customer with the following information:

Code Description
BLUE Blue Mill

Click 'OK' to close the Customers grid.

When setting up the Customers and Vendors in your own database, it is recommended to fill the address fields as they show up on the invoices and statements.  For the purposes of this tutorial, we will not enter the optional fields.

Setting Up a Destination

A destination is a mill (or other location) to which your company delivers wood.  Destinations are distinct from customers because a customer (like a Blue Mill) may have several mills.  Destinations are very important in The Logger's Edge and are used with revenue contracts.

To enter a new destination, navigate to Setup | Destinations.

Add a new destination using the following information:

Code Company
BLUE MILL 1 Blue Mill Destination 1

Click 'OK' to close the Destinations grid.


Block Setup

4. Setting Up a Block

Before you can set up a cut block, you will need to set up necessary user defined data.  For this tutorial, you will need to set up a Customer (or owner of the timber rights), an Area, a Compartment, and at least one Species, Sort and Process.

The Area, Compartment, Species, Sort and Process are user defined data fields that are configured in the system.  During your initial system configuration, these fields can be renamed, reordered, and fields may be added or removed depending on your needs.

Setting Up an Area

The Area is the largest of the geographic definition.  In different regions, an Area might be otherwise referred to as a Working Circle, Zone or Forest, etc. 

During your system configuration you can specify the terminology you would like to use or you can have this field disabled entirely.

To enter a new Area, navigate to Setup | Area.

Click 'Add' to enter an area:

Code Area
AREA 01 Work Area 01

Click 'OK' to exit the Area grid.

Setting Up a Timbermark

To set up a new Timbermark, navigate to Setup | Timbermark.

The Timbermark data item is the second part of the geographic definition of a block.

Click 'Add' to set up a Timbermark with the following information:

Code Timbermark
CLEAR Clearwater

Click 'OK' to exit the Timbermark grid.

Setting Up Species and Stratum

You are now ready to set up the types of wood that will be harvested on your cut block. 

In this tutorial, you will describe your wood based on the following two attributes:

Species Stratum
Lodgepole Pine Sawlogs
Spruce Peelers
Aspen  

In general, different mills use different attributes and terms to describe the wood that they purchase.  In recognition of the wide diversity in industry practice, The Logger's Edge allows you to tailor your terminology to fit your business.  When you configure your system, you can expand or reduce the number of categories or change the category names. 

Setting Up Species

Set up three species using the information provided below.  Navigate to Setup | Species.

Click 'Add' to enter the following:

Code

Species
LP Lodgepole Pine
SP Spruce
ASP Aspen

Once you have set up the species, click 'OK' to close the Species grid.

Setting Up Stratum

Set up two stratum using the information provided below.  Navigate to Setup | Stratum.  

Use 'Add' to enter the following:

Code Stratum
SAW Sawlogs
PEEL Peelers

Click 'OK' to close the Stratum grid.

Setting Up a Block

You are now ready to enter a cut block.  It may seem like you have had to enter a lot of data just to set up one block.  The good news is that the set up of the most basic lists such as customers, destinations, species, etc. is a one time set up.

On the Main Menu, navigate to Setup | Blocks | Setup and click on the 'Add' button.  This will bring up the Block Wizard.

Step 1

The process of adding a cut block is managed through a wizard that takes you through the block setup step-by-step.

From the New Block screen, click on 'Next'.

Step 2

The wizard prompts you to select the company (customer) that controls the timber rights to the block.

Select 'Blue Mill' and click 'Next'.

Step 3

Select the Area in which the block is located.

Select 'Work Area 01' and click 'Next'.

Step 4

The wizard prompts you to select the Timbermark in which the block is located. 

Select 'Clearwater' and click 'Next'.

Step 5

This is where you chose the revenue source or sources for this block.  As you have not yet configured a Revenue Contract for Blue Mill, click 'Next' without selecting anything in this window.

Step 6

Select the unit of measure in which loads are delivered. 

Generally, this measure will be in the units that the mill’s weigh scale measures weight.  This measure is commonly kilograms but sometimes, mills only transmit data in tonnes or tons (or even cords) and so you would select one of those measures instead.

Select 'Kilograms' and click 'Next'.

Step 7

Select the unit of measure used to track production off the block. 

Generally, this measure will be in the units that the mill uses to measure volume.  This measure is commonly cubic metres, but could be board feet or cords as well.  Sometimes, mills do not use a volume measure, but just use tonnes. 

For this block, select 'Cubic Metres' and click 'Next'.

Step 8

This step is the most complicated because it involves specifying how the conversion between weight and volume will be performed.

The Conversion Rate Checkbox indicates that the conversion is expressed as weight to volume - in this example Kilograms to Cubic Metres (measures selected in Steps 5 and 6).  Click the 'Use Block-Specific Conversions' radio button and click 'Next'.

Step 9

You now want to select the Attributes on which to base Conversions.

Select 'Stratum' then press 'Next'.

Step 10

Enter two conversion ratios, one for the Stratum Peel and one for the Stratum Saw.

To add a conversion ratio, click on the 'Add' button.  A row is added to the grid and drop down lists are activated for each log attribute.  Enter the following information:

Stratum Conv Rate Effective Date
Peel 0.001564 5/1/2006
Saw 0.001123 5/1/2006

You can copy-and-paste from an existing row to a row you have just added.  Highlight the entire row you want to copy and use Ctrl+c to copy and then Ctrl+v to paste the new row.

If you do not enter anything for a specific item, The Logger's Edge will ignore that item when calculating the conversion rate.  In this example you did not select any species or destination, so the conversions that you have just entered will apply across all species and destinations.

Once you have entered your two conversion rates, click 'Next'.

Step 11

In this step, you specify which activities you want to pay on a load-by-load basis.  Users have adopted a variety of business practices around tracking and paying equipment (and/or operators) based on load slip information.

You are paying a loader on a load-by-load basis.  There is both an employee loader and a loader who owns his loader.  You are also paying an employee truck driver and a subcontracted truck driver.

For Trucking and Loading, check the boxes as indicated in the diagram then press 'Next'.

Step 12

We are not concerned with Applicable Pay Contracts right now, so click 'Next'.

Step 13

The wizard will ask you to enter On/Off highway distances by destination.  For the purposes of this tutorial, you can leave these empty.  Click 'Next'.

Step 14

In this example, name your block using the combined codes of the Area (01) and Compartment (CLEAR) and the user-assigned block number (1001).  Enter the start date of the block to be 5/1/2006. 

The 'Volume/Tree' number is used with tree-count data from time slips to estimate the volume produced by a worker/equipment combination.

Enter in the information as shown.

Click 'Next' to bring up the final screen.

Step 15

Click 'Finish' to save your new block.

 

Now that you have created one block, setting up a second block requires less data entry.  Click the 'Copy' button and click on 'Next' though all of the screens until Step 14, the block naming screen.

Again, the block is named using the combined codes of the Area (01) and Compartment (CLEAR) and the user-assigned block number, 1002 in this example.

Click on 'Next' and then 'Finish'.  You now have two blocks set up.

 

Click 'OK' to close the Block grid.


Block Setup

5. Setting Up a Revenue Contract

After setting up your blocks, the next step is to set up a revenue contract to cover those blocks.  Revenue contracts are agreements you have with a given Mill on how you will be paid for the wood you deliver to the Mill.

In general, we recommend that users set up one revenue contract per customer to track production revenue (and costs) corresponding to all harvesting done for that customer.  Users may also want to set up separate revenue contracts for road-building contracts that they might wish to track profitability upon separately from the general harvesting contract.  Many users also set up “internal” revenue contracts (which do not actually have explicit revenue associated with them) to track maintenance time, or vacation time.

For this tutorial, we will set up a revenue contract for harvesting operations performed for Blue Mill. 

To set up a Revenue Contract, select Contracts | Revenue Contracts | Contract Setup.

Click on the 'Add' button at the bottom of the grid and a wizard (similar to the block wizard) is used to set up a revenue contract.

Using the Revenue Contract Wizard

Step 1

Click 'Next'.

Step 2

Choose the Type of Contract.

Customer Self Invoices (Revenue Based on Load Slips): Payment is based on loads slips and the customer (Mill) generates the invoices.  This is generally the type used in the logging contractor business.
Calculate Revenue Based on Load Slips: Payment is also based on loads slips and you invoice the customer.
Fixed Fee Contract: Payment is not paid based on loads, but is fixed based on the performance of an activity.  For example, you might be paid a lump sum to build a culvert or bridge.
Calculate Revenue Based on Hours/Production and Materials: Use this contract type if you are charging out your workers or equipment on an hourly basis.  For example, charging out employees and equipment for road building, transportation or fire fighting.  You may choose to charge out only the employee hours, only the equipment hours or both.  Equipment and employees both have charge out rates that are configurable.

Choose 'Customer Self Invoices' and click 'Next'.

Step 3

Identify the customer associated with the contract.  The customer is the entity that makes payment to you. 

Select 'Blue Mill' as your customer and click 'Next'.

Step 4

Identify which blocks are covered by the contract.  You can select one, several or all blocks to be paid by this contract.

Select both of the Clearwater blocks and click 'Next'.

Step 5

You must select at least one destination from this window.  The load slips are matched to the correct revenue contract by using a combination of the block and destination.

Choose the 'BLUE MILL 1' destination and click 'Next'.

Step 6

Enter the date range for the contract.  In this example, enter 1/1/2006 to 12/31/2006 - covering the year.  In this scenario, the Mill is going to pay you GST so click on the GST check box. 

Click 'Next'.

Step 7

This step involves setting the rates that the Mill will pay you for log deliveries. 

Use the following information to enter in three rates.  Click 'Add' to enter a new rate:

Block Activity Rate Basis Effective Date
  LOGGING $25.00 M3 1/1/2006
01-Clear-1001 TRUCKING $12.00 TONNE 1/1/2006
01-Clear-1002 TRUCKING $15.00 TONNE 1/1/2006

In this example Blue Mill is paying you $25.00/M3 for harvesting for all blocks and $12.00/Tonne for trucking from block 01-Clear-1001 and $15/Tonne for deliveries from block 01-Clear-1002.  (Bock 1002 is further from the Mill).

Click on 'Full Screen' to expand the rates grid: 

Click 'OK' to close the full screen:

Click 'Next'.

Step 8

Because in Step 2 we selected 'Customer Self Invoices (Revenue Based on Load Slips)', Step 8 is unnecessary and therefore will be skipped automatically.

Step 9

Give the Revenue Contract a Code and Description:

Code Description
RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill (Area 01, Clearwater)

Note:  The 'Hours Qualify for Overtime' is checked.  This will allow hourly time against this contract to qualify for overtime.

Click 'Next'.

On the summary page, click 'Finish' to save the Revenue Contract.

Click 'OK' to exit the Revenue Contracts grid.


Block Setup

6. Creating Payment Contracts

You will need several payment contracts to cover each of the pay scenarios we have in this tutorial.  First, we need a payment contract to pay Larry’s Loaders and our employee (LL) a per load rate for loading.  Next, payment contracts must be configured for the truck drivers (employees and subcontractors) who are being paid by the tonne.

Note:  When the tutorial refers to subcontractors this also means vendors.

Using the Payment Contract Wizard

To configure a payment contract for White Knight Trucking, follow the steps outlined below.  You will be entering the driver on the load slip as this makes it easier for White Knight Trucking to pay their own employees if they know who drove for each load.

To set up a pay contract, select Contracts | Payment Contracts | Contract Setup.  To enter a contract, click 'Add' to run the Payment Contract Setup Wizard.

Step 1

Click 'Next'.

Step 2

Select the contractor whom you will pay on this contract.  Select 'White Knight Trucking'.

The Contractor list includes the additional entry ‘OWNER’ which represents the truck owner.  The ‘OWNER' contractor allows you to pay the owner of the truck on the load ticket.  For example, if you had five truck contractors all being paid the same rate you could select ‘OWNER’ and the truck owner for the truck on the load ticket would be paid.  Thus, if your pay rates are common across trucking contractors, you need only set up one contract for all five truck contractors instead of five separate contracts, one for each contractor.

Click 'Next'.

Step 3

Select the block(s) covered by the pay contract.

Select both ’01-Clear-1001’ and ’01-Clear-1002’.

Click 'Next'.

Step 4

Specify the type of payment contract you are creating.

The options are:

Calculate Pay as a Percentage of Load Revenue This option allows you to set a contract that pays a contractor a percentage of what you receive from the mill.  For example, you could pay a contractor at a rate of 90 percent of the revenue you receive from the mill.
Calculate Pay based on Load Attributes This option allows you to specify rates based on weight (e.g. Tonnes, Kg, Tons) or volume (e.g. M3, MBF, Cord).
Calculate Pay as Percent of Load Value This option allows you to pay a vendor, such as a landowner, a percentage of the profit earned (or profit lost) on each load ticket.

For this tutorial select option 2:  'Calculate Pay Based on Load Attributes'.

Click 'Next'.

Step 5

Enter in the dates that the payment contract will be valid and whether or not to pay GST. 

Click 'Next'.

Step 6

This is where you specify the rates for your contract.  To enter rates click 'Add' and a row is inserted in the grid.  Here, the rates for trucking differ by Truck Type.  You may use any of the pull down menus to create the different pay rates.  Enter two rows, one for the Truck Type of BTrain and one for the Truck Type of SuperB.  Use the following information:

Activity Truck Type Rate Basis Effective Date
TRUCKING BTRAIN $10.00 TONNE 1/1/2006
TRUCKING SUPERB $10.50 TONNE 1/1/2006

As with the Revenue Contract Rates wizard, you may also use the Full Screen here to view more at once.

After you have entered your two rates, click 'Next'.

Step 7

Enter a Code and Description for your pay contract.

Code Description
White Knight Trucking - Clearwater White Knight Trucking - Clearwater, Area 01

Click 'Next'.

On the summary page, click 'Finish' to save the Revenue Contract.

If you set up more blocks, you can add the new blocks to this pay contract by editing the contract.  (Click on 'Edit'.)  Click 'Next' in the wizard until you reach Step 3 and then highlight the extra blocks to add them into this contract.

To set up LL and TT you will need to select the Worker/Operator radio button found in Step 2.

You need to configure three more payment contracts.  Use the information below to create them:

Contractor/Employee Larry’s Loaders LL (Lowell Loader) TT (Tom Trucker)

Charge to Block

Clearwater Blocks

Clearwater Blocks

Clearwater Blocks

Payment Rate

Calculate Pay based on Load Attributes

Calculate Pay based on Load Attributes

Calculate Pay based on Load Attributes

Start and End date

1/1/2006 - 12/31/2006, Apply GST

1/1/2006 - 12/31/2006, no tax

1/1/2006 - 12/31/2006, no tax
Rates Activity LOAD LOAD TRUCKING
Rate $80 $30 $6
Basis LOAD LOAD TONNE
Effective Date 1/1/2006 1/1/2006 1/1/2006
Code Larry's Loaders - Per Load Rate, Clearwater LL - Per Load Rate TT- Per Tonne Rate
Description Larry's Loaders - Per Load Rate, (Clearwater Blocks, Area 01) LL - Per Load Rate (Clearwater Blocks, Area 01) TT - Per Tonne Rate (Clearwater Blocks, Area 01)

For the three payment contracts specified above, you are entering rates that do not depend on Truck Type or any other attribute.  When LL is selected on the Load Slip as having done the loading, he will be paid $30/Load regardless of the truck type, block, destination, route, sort or species.

Now that we have payment contracts and hourly rates for our employees, you are ready to enter time slips, production slips and load slips!

Click 'OK' to close the Payment Contracts grid.


Entering Time Slips

7. Entering Time Slips and Production Slips

Now that you have entered the required data, you are ready to enter time slips for your employees.

Both felling and delimbing are activities we have said are going to be paid hourly.  Employees Doug Delimber and Felicity Feller have hourly rates configured.  Doug also receives a rate per tree on top of his hourly rate.

Entering Time Slips

Navigate to Data Entry | Time Slips | Employees | Enter Slips from the Main Menu or use the icon:

Use the 'Time Summary' Tab at the top of the grid to switch to a grid that provides a brief summary of the time entries in the Time Detail grid:

Navigate back to the 'Time Detail' page.  Enter a time slip by clicking on the 'Add' button at the bottom of the grid.  The entry screen opens with the cursor in the top left field (Slip Number).  The most efficient way to enter information into the time slip is to type in a field (i.e. Employee) and then use the tab key to move ahead to the next field (Equipment).

The time slip entry fields are:

Slip Number An optional entry that can be used to record serialized time slips.
Date The date in the time slip defaults to the 'Date From' off the main time slip grid.  Once you enter a date, the Date for Pay box will auto-fill.
Employee When you select an Employee, the Equipment and Activity fields are auto-filled based on the defaults you previously set up.  In this case, when you select FF, the Equipment will be auto-filled with My Feller 05 and the Activity FELLING is auto-filled.
Equipment After the Equipment is entered, the Activity is auto-filled based on the default you previously set up.  In this example, when the Equipment DL245 is entered, the Activity DELIMBING is auto-filled.
Truck The Truck will be set to NONE if an Equipment is selected.  Likewise, Equipment is set to NONE when a Truck is selected. 
Activity The Activity performed by the employee.
Hours Enter the hours worked.
Block The block against which the employee’s time is charged.
Revenue Contract Select the revenue contract against which the employee’s time is charged.  The revenue contract is auto-filled if you select a block first. 
Description An optional entry for adding a description of the work performed.  An example would be where the activity is maintenance and the description might be 'Flushed radiator' or 'Fixed broken track'.
Date for Pay This is a required field that auto fills with the Date.  Use this field to pay employees if you receive time slips late and want to pay them for their work in a subsequent pay period.
Order This field is used when you enter multiple time slips for one day for an employee.  The order entry determines the order (in time) that the work was performed so that if daily overtime is paid, The Logger's Edge knows which time and activity should be paid at the overtime rate.  The order field is particularly important if you pay differentials based on the activity performed.

Caribou can configure the ordering of the fields in this window.  If a different order would speed up data entry for your particular business, we can tailor this window for you.  

When entering the following time slips below, you may use the 'Save/Add' button.  The 'Save/Add' feature saves the current time slip to the database and leaves the entry form active.  The entries for Hours and Tree Count will be cleared, but the other entries will remain the same.  The 'Save/Add' feature is incredibly powerful in that you can add slips very quickly while entering a minimal amount of data.

Listed below are data for six time slips, enter these now:

Slip Number FF05042006-1 FF05052006-1 FF05052006-2 DD05062006-1 DD05062006-2 DD05072006-1
Date 5/4/2006 5/5/2006 5/5/2006 5/6/2006 5/6/2006 5/7/2006
Employee FF FF FF DD DD DD
Equipment My Feller 05 My Feller 05 My Feller 05 My Delimber 15 My Delimber 15 My Delimber 15
Truck NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE NONE
Activity FELLING FELLING DOWN DELIMB MAINT DELIMB
Hours 6 8 1 7.5 0.5 6
Block 01-Clear-1001 01-Clear-1002 01-Clear-1002 01-Clear-1001 01-Clear-1001 01-Clear-1001
Rev Contract RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill RV-Blue Mill
Date for Pay 5/4/2006 5/5/2006 5/5/2006 5/6/2006 5/6/2006 5/7/2006
Order 0 0 1 0 1 0

Click 'OK' to exit the Time Detail grid.


Processing Employee Pay

8. Processing Employee Payroll

To process pay on your employee time and production slips select Calculators | Employees - Full.

The Incremental calculators are for you to use mid pay period to update payroll for a certain date range or employee.  It is critical that you do not rely on the Incremental calculator for a full pay run.  The Full calculator must be run before distributing employee statements.

Next you are prompted to select the pay period you want to process:

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period from the list.  This period covers the date range for the time slips you entered in the last section.  Click 'OK'.

The Logger's Edge will now calculate all employee pay for the pay period.

When the processing is finished, you should receive a screen that says 'Processing Complete' with no errors or warnings.

Click 'OK'.

If you receive errors regarding employee pay rates, you must fix them before you can proceed by setting up valid pay rates for the employees you are processing and rerunning the employee pay calculator.  The errors/warning window will appear each time you process pay until you make corrections to fix your data.

To view the pay processing results, there are employee pay statements and a set of time reports.

To display the employee pay statements and time reports, select Reports | Employee Statements | By Pay Period.  Select the 'May2006' Pay Period and click 'OK' to view.

The grid format is for your own review: 

Click on 'View Statements' to see a formatted report.  A list of employees who have statements in the current period is displayed:

Select 'Doug'.  Click 'OK'.

Review the statement.

At this time scroll through the pages so that you get comfortable with the format of the statements.  You can print your statements from this window using the print icon or you can print all of your statements at one time using the 'Print' button on the previous 'Select Employee Statements' window.

The Export Report button (at the top), allows you to save the report in different formats, such as Excel, CSV, or Acrobat PDF.

The top left header that has the employee’s name will be filled in with his or her address if you have entered that data for the individual employee (see Setup | Workers | Worker Setup).

Click 'OK' to close the Statements window and click 'OK' again to close the Employee Pay Statements grid.


Creating Loadslips

9. Creating Load Slips

To create a load slip or to view existing load slips, navigate to Data Entry | Load Slips | Load Data and you will get the following filter window:

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period.  This will auto fill the Start and End dates.  You are not required to choose a pay period and can select any start and end to view loads.

To enter a load, click on the 'Add' button.

This first tab, 'Contract Detail', is where you enter the attributes of the load such as Species and Sort.

The 'Load Activities' tab is auto-filled with the activities you selected to pay for on the block.  In this case, both Clearwater blocks are set to pay for the activity 'LOAD'.  This is where you enter who did the work associated with each load slip.  You can track information here for reporting only or to pay workers.

Click on the 'Contract Detail' tab and then 'Add' to enter the following data into 3 new loads (leave all of the other fields blank or at default):

Block 01-Clear-1001 01-Clear-1001 01-Clear-1002
Species ASP LP SP
Stratum PEEL SAW SAW
Destination BLUE MILL 1 BLUE MILL 1 BLUE MILL 1
Truck No 101 101 503
Driver TT TT WT
Truck Type BTRAIN BTRAIN SUPERB
Route N Y N
Ticket T001 T002 T003
Load No 1234 1235 1236
Date In 5/9/2006 11:30 AM 5/9/2006 4:35 PM 5/10/2006 3:00 AM
Date Out 5/9/2006 12:05 PM 5/9/2006 5:00 PM 5/10/2006 3:35 AM
Date for Pay 5/9/2006 5/9/2006 5/10/2006
Gross Weight 50000 51000 53500
Tare Weight 22000 22000 25000

Enter the following information on the 'Load Activities' tab.

Ticket T001 T002 T003
Pay Activity LOAD LOAD LOAD
Worker LT LT LL
Equipment LL 99 LL 99 My Loader 09
Load Percent 100.0 100.0 100.0

The 'Load Activities' tab is used to indicate who did what activity for that particular load slip.  In our scenario, we are tracking who did the trucking and who did the loading on each load slip.  The trucking information is on the first tab and all of the other activities, including Loading, are entered on the third 'Load Activities' tab.

Although you did not set up a payment contract for the truck driver WT, you did setup a payment contract for White Knight Trucking.  WT works for White Knight Trucking.

After you have entered the three tickets, the Load Slips grid should look like the following:

Click 'OK' to close the Load Slips grid.


Processing Revenue

10. Processing Revenue

Processing revenue (invoices) calculates the payments from the Mill you should expect to receive based on the loads you have delivered and the rates you have entered for your revenue contracts.

To process invoices select Calculators | Invoices - Full.

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period and click 'OK'.

The Logger's Edge will now process your invoices.  This process will match up loads with revenue contracts and apply the rates that the mills pay you.  Since most mills self invoice their logging contractors, you will most likely not send out the physical invoices that The Logger's Edge creates.  It is important to run the invoice calculator so that certain reports, such as the Block P&L Summary Report or any of the revenue contract reports will have revenues calculated for deliveries from blocks.

You will receive the following message if the invoice processing is successful:

If there are errors, you will be notified with an Errors screen and you will need to correct the errors before proceeding.

To view your results navigate to Reports | Invoices | View: By Pay Period. 

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period and click 'OK'.

Click on the 'View Statements' button:

Select 'Blue Mill', ensure that the 'Include Loads?' box is checked, and click 'OK'.

Click 'OK' to exit the Statements window and click 'OK' again to exit the Customer Invoices grid.


Processing Vendor Pay

11. Processing Vendor Pay

Processing vendor pay calculates the payments to your contractors based on your payment contracts and contractor employee rates.

Run Vendor Pay

Select Calculators | Vendors - Full. This will process pay for your vendors (subcontractors).  You are prompted to select the Pay Period:

Select the ‘May2006’ Pay Period and click 'OK'.  The Logger's Edge will process your vendor pay.  Assuming you have followed the tutorial directions, you should receive the following message:

If there are pay errors, you will be notified with a Pay Errors screen and you will have to fix the errors before you can proceed.

Review Vendor Statements under Reports | Vendor Statements | By Pay Period.  You are prompted to select the Pay Period:

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period and click 'OK'.

The vendor statement is designed to accompany your check for pay to your subcontractors.

Take a minute to review the Vendor Statements.  You may configure the statements to include the columns and groupings that you would like by using the File | Configure Statements and Invoices utility.

Click 'OK' to exit the Vendor Statements grid.

Rerun Employee Pay

Lowell Loader and Tom Trucker are both to be paid based on Load Slip information.  Please rerun the Employee pay calculator to create statements for both of these employees.  Navigate to Calculators | Employee-Full.

Verifying Pay

To check your pay results, you can run several reports.

First, select Reports | Business Reports and then select the Load Reports | Loads Paid, Only Unpaid report .

Second, select Reports | Business Reports and then select Load Reports | Loads Paid, All Loads report

Third, select Reports | Business Reports and then select the Load Reports | Loads, Multi-Pay report to confirm that no loads have been paid for the same activity twice.


Miscellaneous Expenses

12. Miscellaneous Expenses

Equipment Expenses

In this section, you will see how expenses (out-of-pocket) can be charged against your company-owned equipment/truck units.

These out-of-pocket expenses, in conjunction with your company payroll for maintenance and repair time spent by your employees, should be used to develop your 'Standard Operating Cost' for each equipment unit.  As you build a history of equipment costing information in your system, you can use this information to update the equipment standard hourly costs for each piece of equipment you set up in the system earlier.

This section of the tutorial shows how to track equipment repair, maintenance, and other operating expenses such as fuel charges.

Set Up Vendors

When we set up Vendors earlier in the tutorial, we included Esso and Simpson Repairs in our list.  When you record miscellaneous expenses, you need to have the vendor who billed you set up in this list.  Let's review the vendor list by navigating to Setup | Vendors.  You should see Esso and Simpson in your list already:

Click 'OK' to close the Vendors grid.

Enter Expenses

Once you have got your vendors set up, you can enter equipment expenses.  Navigate to Data Entry | Expenses | Contractor Miscellaneous | Enter Expenses.

Select the 'May2006' pay period, and enter the following four expense items for your equipment.  (If there is a column in your data entry grid such as 'Revenue Contract' or 'Activity Code', which is not in the table below, just leave it set to NONE.).  Click 'Add' to enter the following expenses:

Date Vendor Equipment Truck Block Expense Code Description Invoice? Invoice Number Amount
5/15/2006 ESSO MY SKIDDER 10 NONE INTERNAL COST 200-1001 Fuel Yes 21232 346.00
5/15/2006 ESSO MY LOADER 09 NONE INTERNAL COST 200-1001 Fuel Yes 21232 243.00
5/16/2006 SIMPSON MY SKIDDER 10 NONE INTERNAL COST 200-1002 Head Gasket Yes 7211 450.00
5/20/2006 SIMPSON MY SKIDDER 10 NONE INTERNAL COST 200-1003 Service Yes 7212 1325.00

Note that the system calculates GST automatically, based on the entry you made in the 'Amount' column.  If you need to edit the auto-calculated GST amount for any reason, you can do so directly in the grid.  When you tab off that cell, the 'Total' column (not shown in the table above) will adjust accordingly.

Click 'OK' to leave the Miscellaneous Expenses grid when you have finished your entries.

If you receive an invoice that covers multiple pieces of equipment, you can split the invoice into multiple rows and assign each piece of equipment its own identifiable cost.  See the two entries from ESSO above, which have the same invoice number.

You can also have the Contractor Expense grid customized to include fuel quantities (i.e. litres or gallons) and have reporting done on costs per litre.

Review Vendor Statements under Reports | Vendor Statements | By Pay Period.  You are prompted to select the Pay Period:

Select the 'May2006' Pay Period and click 'OK'.

The Vendor Statements are designed to accompany your checks for pay to each vendor.

The Vendor Statements grid above shows the detailed payments to Imperial Oil.  In order to scroll through each vendor's statement, click on the dropdown list box in the top left.

You can also generate formatted vendor statements.  Click on the 'View Statements' button, just as you did for the other vendors and choose one of the vendors to view.

Click 'OK' to exit the Vendor Statements grid.

Miscellaneous Employee Reimbursable Expenses

There may be times when you need to pay your employees for miscellaneous items, such as bonuses, the use of an employee’s vehicle, or reimbursable expenses.

To enter the Miscellaneous Expense navigate to Data Entry | Expenses | Employee Miscellaneous.

 

Click 'Add'.  Typing directly in the grid enter the following:

Date 5/8/2006
Employee DD
Equipment My Delimber 15
Expense Code 100-1001
Description Auto filled with the Account Code description.
Amount $58.00

Click 'OK'.

The Description field may be edited to include the description of your choice.  The Description field is auto-filled with the Expense Code description for convenience but is editable.

Equipment, Truck, Block and Revenue Contract are all columns that can be used to categorize expenses.  You can run a report on expenses, by piece of equipment or truck, by block, or by category of expense. You can now view the entry by navigating to Reports | Employee Statements | View: By Pay Period and select Doug's statement.  The new miscellaneous item will appear at the bottom of the statement grid for Doug Delimber.  Click 'View Statements', select 'Doug Delimber' and click 'OK' to generate the statement.

Click 'OK' to close the Statements window and click 'OK' again to close the Statements grid.

Click 'OK' to close the Miscellaneous Expenses grid.


Business Reports - Loads

13. Business Reports

To view all reports and statements in The Logger's Edge, navigate to Reports | Business Reports.  The Logger's Edge Reporter, a separate application, will open.

Several features of The Logger's Edge grid report are:

· You can print the report using the print button

· You can export the grid to Excel using the Excel button

·You can export the data to a “tab-delimited” text file with the tab button

·You can cut-and-paste a set of data from the window to another MS Windows application, such as Excel or Word.

You should review the following reports to see how the time slips, production slips, load slips and revenue you have entered into The Logger's Edge so far appears on reports.

All reports use the Date Hauled (Date Out) on load slips or the Date on time slips and do not take into consideration the date for pay.

Block P&L Report

Once you have processed employee pay, vendor pay, and invoices, you can assess the profitability of your block operations.

Open The Logger's Edge Reporter (Reports | Business Reports) and then select Block Reports - Economics | Summary P&L.

Run the report for the 'May2006' Pay Period and select all of the blocks.

The Block P&L is separated into five distinct sections:

The total cost is the sum of hourly employee pay, equipment costs and contractor payments.  The block profit is revenue less total costs.

The bottom set of rows on the report (shown below) summarizes the block status.

The actual production (delivered volume) is based on load slips and the estimated production is based on tree counts multiplied by the volume/tree factor.

In a block under harvest, the actual (delivered) volume should exceed the estimated volume due to the inventory of logs harvested, but not yet delivered.  These logs may be on a landing or remote deck.

The last two rows compare the actual vol/tree based on the actual volume delivered and actual tree counts, with the estimated vol/tree.  When a block is finished the two ratios should be fairly close, assuming your estimated vol/tree ratios were reasonably accurate.  If they differ, you can replace the estimated value with the actual value on the block and recalculate your production values based on your tree counts so that they are based on the true actual result.

Click the small 'x' to close the report.

Business Reports - Time and Expense

Let's now take a look at some of the management reports for time and expenses. 

You can add reports that you use most frequently to the 'Favorites' folder on the left side of the window.  Simply click on a report name that you find under any of the other folders, and drag the report upward (as you continue to hold your mouse button down) out of the original folder.  Drop it into the 'Favorites' folder.

Several reports are shown below that provide examples of the reports available.

Time, By Employee, By Week

Once you are in The Logger's Edge Reporter, select Time Reports | By Employee, By Week.

Run the report for the 'May2006' pay period.

This report provides a breakdown of your payroll expenses, by employee, by week.  The report is very handy in verifying that all of your employee time slips have been entered and pay calculated appropriately.

Click the small 'x' to close the Report.

Equipment, Daily Utilization

In The Logger's Edge Reporter select Equipment Reports | Daily Utilization.

Select all pieces of equipment for the period 'May2006' and Sort By 'Equipment Unit'.  Click 'OK'.

The report shows the production, maintenance and down hours for each piece of equipment.  The utilization statistics are based on your time slip entries and show that for the week.  The available hours are the sum of all non-maintenance hours worked in that day and include any down time.  The hours appearing in the 'Other Non Chargeable' column are the hours we coded with an Activity of 'DOWN' when entering the time sheets.  You can use this report to track how well your equipment is utilized and how much time you spend keeping it in running shape.

The summary view of this report is a nice overall view of each piece of equipment's utilization statistics over an entire season. 

Click the small 'x' to close the report.

Equipment Operating Costs

In The Logger's Edge Reporter, select Equipment Reports | Operating Costs.

Select all pieces of equipment for the period 'May2006' and Sort By 'Equipment''.  Also check 'Fully Loaded Employee Cost'.  Click 'OK'.

The report shows all of your operating expenses, by equipment type.  In the report, you should see your miscellaneous expense entries and the cost of your maintenance time.  Based on your filter selection, the payroll cost of your employees is based on their loaded pay rate, which includes both their direct pay and their employer-paid benefits.  This report, when run over the life of a piece of equipment, can show you all of your operating expenses associated with its ownership.  Note that the report also shows the operating cost per hour, based on available hours and based on production hours.

Click the small 'x' to close the report.

Block Profit, by Activity Report

In The Logger's Edge Reporter, select Block Reports - Economics | Block, Profit by Activity.

Run the report for 'May2006' and select both Clearwater blocks.  Click 'OK'.

The total cost is the sum of  employee pay, equipment costs and contractor payments.  The block profit is revenue less total costs.  The revenue for the block is based on the revenue calculated by the software when you ran the Invoices calculator.  Because we broke the revenue rate into various phases, we are able to see the profitability on a phase-by-phase basis in the top portion of the report.

The bottom set of rows on the report summarizes the block profitability.  It also presents key statistics such as load count, total tonnage, and actual cubic meters harvested to date, compared to the cruise.

Click the small 'x' to close the report.

Block Equipment Summary Report

In The Logger's Edge Reporter, select Block Reports - Economics | Block Hourly Equipment Summary

Run the report for the 'May2006' pay period and select both Clearwater blocks.  Click 'OK'.

This report is really useful for seeing the hours for a given block by Pay Activity Group (i.e., Phase), broken down by equipment.  The report also shows the overall cubic meters harvested from the block, and divides the cubic meters by the number of hours worked to give a picture of the average productivity per hour for that phase in that block.  Finally,  it gives an overall cost per cubic meter based on the full-founded rate set up for each piece of equipment.

Click the small 'x' to close the report.

Block Hourly Cost Report

In The Logger's Edge Reporter, select Block Reports - Economics | Block Hourly Cost.

Run the report for the 'May2006' pay period and select both Clearwater blocks.  Click 'OK'.

Click the small 'x' to close the report.


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