Lesson #119
Setup – Pay Rates function
Pay Rates are the amounts you pay resources for services. These rates are organized into tables, so you can easily pay different resources different amounts for the same services by applying different pay rate tables instead of entering pay amounts manually.
Before using pay rate tables, group them for easier searching. By organizing pay rate tables into groups of similar tables, you can search through a subset of your pay rate tables instead of the whole long list of tables each time you invoice a client. These groups are called Pay Rate Groups. Set up the groups for different categories of resources first, then your pay rate tables.
Set up Pay Rate Groups first
Similar to Billing Rate Groups, it is important to set up Pay Rate Groups prior to creating any pay rate tables, otherwise you will encounter organization issues. Pay Rate Groups categorize resources, such as by experience levels, percentage, or affiliates, and will allow you to create the umbrella structure to categorize your pay rates under. Pay Rate Groups are set up in the Lists function.
For each Pay Rate Group, set up as many pay rate tables as you need.
Add as many pay rates as you need
After setting up Pay Rate Groups, use this function to enter your pay rate tables in the appropriate group. Then, when billing, you only have to scroll through the rate tables in one of these smaller groups, instead of your entire list of rate tables.
You can set up pay rate tables in 2 ways: From scratch or from an existing table. Copying and updating an existing table is a quicker way to create a new table because the existing table’s rates and details are duplicated in the new table for you to update.
Pay Rates contain the earning amounts for all of your service items. Agencies often have multiple pay rates set up to accommodate specific needs. Pay rates can be based on negotiations with resources, networking rates with other agencies, rates based on the difficulty of jobs, etc.
Every pay rate table you create in RB will automatically inherit all service items set up in the Service Item Master. Before setting up your pay rate tables, complete the Service Item Master setup first. The Service Item Master is where all of the service items are stored, along with their default pay rates and other preliminary settings, which are automatically inherited by any new pay rate table, when created from scratch.
For each pay rate table, you must name it and assign it to a Pay Rate Group. You designate a default Pay Rate Group in the Lists function, but you can select a different group here if the new pay rate table should be in a different category.
Give each table a clearly specific name, something you will recognize and know what it pertains to. The name is what you are going to see when you are selecting a rate:
- As your default pay rate for a specific resource.
- During the Turn In/Billing process for a specific invoice.
So the name is important because it will help you and your billing staff decide when to use this pay rate table.
When you set up a new pay rate table, either from scratch or copied from another table, all of the service items will appear in the table. You can customize the pay rate and other pay information for any of the service items. If there are service items that the resource should not get paid for, simply set the pay rate to $0.
In addition to each service item’s pay rate, you can also customize:
- The minimum amount you pay resources for this item.
- Whether you pay your resources for the service item using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%).
- If the pay amount for this service item will have the Expedite (Rush) amount added to it.
Set up rush rates before billing & pay rate tables
If you set up your Rush Type Master before setting up individual billing and pay rate tables, your default rush rates from this master template will automatically fill in when you create an individual rate table. Setting up rush rates as an add-on to billing and pay rates reduces the number of billing and pay rate tables you need to have.
You can override rush defaults in individual rate tables, if needed, such as the Rush Type’s name, whether you pay it using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%), and the amount. The amount will be in addition to the base pay rate of the transcript. You can also include any relevant notes or comments in a pay rate table.
Managing pay rate tables
You can update any information in a pay rate table at any time, except its Pay Rate Group. You can delete any pay rate table that hasn’t been used. If you can’t delete a table that you no longer use, you can de-activate it so it does not appear in lists. And you can update rates in multiple pay rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.
To find a pay rate table to copy, update, delete, or de-activate, you can search your entire set of pay rate tables, or narrow your search to a specific Pay Rate Group and/or pay rate table name. You can also choose to search all tables or only active tables. RB lists the results by Pay Rate Group, and includes each table’s name and its Active status.
You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. You can also export the service item and rush type lists in each pay rate table.
Using pay rates
You can include default pay rates and options in your billing rate tables, then set up pay rate tables for all of your other pay rate situations, such as for resources who earn higher amounts for the same jobs. The pay rates in your billing rate tables will be automatically applied to invoices unless you also designate a pay rate table for an invoice, which will then supersede your default pay rate settings.
If a resource is always paid at the same pay rate for all the jobs they take, select that pay rate table in their individual entity listing. Setting the default pay rate for a resource will make it so that RB will generate that resource’s pay for every job using the same rate. The default pay rate can be overridden at the time of billing.
When finalizing invoices, you apply pay rates after you apply billing rates. If you have default pay rates included in your billing rates, you might not have to apply the separate pay rate tables if the pay rates in your billing rates are accurate for the job being billed.
When generating invoices for multiple parties on a single job, you can apply pay rates individually or in batches to the invoices.
If you apply the wrong pay rate on an invoice, you can correct the resource’s pay using the Override Resource Pay function if you haven’t paid the resource yet.
If you made a mistake setting up pay rate tables or there is a change in pay rates, you can update rates and/or options in multiple pay rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.
TL;DR: Easily pay different resources different amounts for the same services by assigning them to different pay rate tables. Apply the appropriate pay rate tables to invoices. You can override specific pay rates in any invoice.
RB concepts in this lesson
Billing Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing your billing rates. Instead of one long list of billing rates, Billing Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.
Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >
Pay Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing the rates you pay resources, such as by experience levels, percentage paid on services, or affiliates. Instead of one long list of pay rates, Pay Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.
Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters or a conference room.
