Overview
Fee schedules are like business rate cards where you get to define unique fee structures with special bill rates and cost rates by employee, activity item, expense item or group. It is quite common for a professional services firm to have anywhere between five to ten active fee schedules. Businesses usually create a new fee schedule once every year and use that for new projects. It is commonly used for hourly-based, rather than lump sum billing. Fee schedules are often developed by the principals or partners of a company. When a new project is created, it is usually the billing person or project manager who picks the appropriate fee schedule and assigns it to the project. Click to watch this video on managing fee schedules.
One of the key benefits of using a fee schedule is to define bill rates as a multiplier of the employee's cost rate. This is important for companies doing business with state and federal agencies. As an example, the Department of Transportation in the USA actively signs Cost Plus contract type where the bill rate is based on an agreed multiplier that is typically updated on an annual basis.
A fee schedule can be assigned to one or many projects. When time or expenses are recorded against a project, BQE CORE searches for a fee schedule assigned to it with a matching combination of employee-activity or expense. If a match is found, its rate is applied to the entry; if no matching combination is found and the project rule 'Use bill rates & cost rates from Activity...' is set, then the activity rate is used. If this rule is not set, then the default bill rate of an employee is used.
If you update an existing fee schedule, the time and expense entries that were previously recorded using it are not updated. This gives you the freedom to change your rates from a particular date onward. If you link a fee schedule to a project for which time and expenses have already been logged, the old entries are not affected. Even though the fee schedule rates are not applied retrospectively, you can update the rates for the past time and expense entries via the Update Rates feature. That references the assigned fee schedule only.
CORE also allows you to specify classification for each special rate entered in the fee schedule. You can have several titles or labor categories for employees and might want to set different rates for different titles. For example, the same employee can be a Research Analyst for one project and a Junior Consultant for another. This classification is then associated with time and expense entries. CORE retrieves the bill rates by job classification as set up in the fee schedule when entering time and cost rates when entering expenses. However, you can override them in the respective screens. The new rates are retrieved in this order:
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Employee + Activity/Expense + Classification match
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Employee + Classification match
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Classification match
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No change
There are two parts of a fee schedule in CORE:
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Service fee schedule (for time entries)
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Expense fee schedule (for expense entries)
How To
Create New Fee Schedules from Scratch
Create Fee Schedules from Existing Schedules
Create Fee Schedules from Budgets
Assign Fee Schedules to Projects
Field Descriptions
| Field Name | Field Description |
| Fee Schedules > Detail > Services > Edit Service Line > | |
| Resource | It could be an employee, an outside consultant, or a contract employee. You can select individuals or groups. |
| Classification | You can select or enter a job classification for a resource. It allows you to set up rates by a different title other than the default one. This gets reflected in the time entries, invoices and reports of a project. Example: Allen Marcello is the Senior Engineer as per the Employees screen; however, you can classify him as the General Manager for a specific project. |
| Cost: Minimum Hours | Minimum billable time logged by an employee. It is brought forward automatically in a time entry screen as billable hours and actual hours when a value other than zero exists. In addition, they can be used to assign special day-rates. Example: If you bill $800 per day for a certain activity and the bill rate is $100, you will assign 8 as the minimum hours for an entry. |
| Cost Rate | Special cost rate set up in the fee schedule. It is brought forward from the Employees screen but can be changed here or kept blank. Since the per-hour cost rate (Pay Rate x Overhead Multiplier specified in Employees) is typically determined by the employee and does not vary based on project or activity, this field is usually left blank. |
| Pay Rate Multiplier |
Calculates the special bill rate based on the employee's default pay rate. This multiplier is available only when an Employee ID is selected. For a typical Cost Plus contract, the special bill rate is a multiple of the fully loaded labor cost, which is represented by the Cost Rate of the employee. Example: If you want the fee schedule bill rate to be three times the pay rate of an employee, then enter 3 as the pay rate multiplier. Bill Rate = Pay Rate x Pay Rate Multiplier |
| Overtime Multiplier | A number that you multiply with the bill rate to arrive at the overtime bill rate when a time entry qualifies as overtime. Unlike other multipliers, it can be used with groups. Example: If you want to bill overtime at 3 times the bill rate, enter 3 in this field. If the bill rate is $100 per hour, the OT bill rate of the time entry will be 3 x $100 = $300. |
| Budget: Bill Rate | Special bill rate set up in the fee schedule. It is calculated automatically if either the Pay Rate Multiplier or Bill Rate Multiplier is filled in. If you do not want the bill rate to be based on employee rate information, leave the multiplier fields blank and enter this bill rate manually here. |
| Bill Rate Multiplier |
This is the Bill Rate Multiplier. When defining a special bill rate, you can set it as a multiple of the employee's default bill rate. This multiplier is available only when an Employee ID is selected. So if you enter a value here, Bill Rate = Employee Bill Rate x Bill Rate Multiplier Example: If an employee's default bill rate is $100 and you enter 1.5 as the multiplier, the special bill rate in the schedule will be $150 ($100 x 1.5). |
| Tax 1/2/3 | Up to three taxes can be assigned per service line item. They are summed and used to calculate the bill amount for the time entry. Example: If activity GEN:TECH has a Tax 1 value of 5% and Tax 2 is 10%, when a time entry is made for GEN:TECH, 15% is added to the service amount billed. |
| Fee Schedules > Detail > Expenses > Edit Expense Line > | |
| Resource | It could be an employee, an outside consultant, or a contract employee. You can select individuals or groups. Assigning rates to a group rather than individual employees is a great time saver when you want to assign the same rate to multiple employees. |
| Classification | You can select or enter a job classification for a resource. It allows you to set up rates by a different title other than the default one. This gets reflected in the expense entries, invoices and reports of a project. Example: Allen Marcello is the Senior Engineer as per the Employees screen; however, you can classify him as the General Manager for a specific project. |
| Markup | Percentage increase or decrease in the cost rate. If you leave it blank, CORE uses the markup set in Expense Items. Do not enter the percentage as a decimal. Example: To increase the cost rate by 10.5%, enter 10.5, not 0.105. |
| Cost: Cost Rate | Special cost rate set up in the fee schedule. It is brought forward from the Expense Items screen but can be changed here. If you set this rate as $0, CORE ignores it and instead fetches the default employee rate for the expense entry. |
| Amount | The per unit cost amount of the expense. It can be calculated as: [Cost Rate x (1 + MU %)] x (1 + Tax 1 + Tax 2 + Tax 3) |
| Budget: Tax 1/2/3 | Up to three taxes can be assigned per expense line item. They are summed and used to calculate the bill amount for the expense entry. Example: If expense GEN:PC has a Tax 1 value of 5% and Tax 2 is 10%, when an expense entry is made for GEN:PC, 15% is added to the expense amount billed. |
| Fee Schedules > Details > Manage Priority > | |
| Priority | The priority number is assigned automatically to each line item as it is created but can be changed using the Manage Priority option. It determines the order in which CORE fetches the rate if more than one match is found. |
Create New Fee Schedules from Scratch
You can create new fee schedules from scratch, from an existing fee schedule or from a budget.
To create a fee schedule from scratch, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Click Create New and select From Scratch.
- On the Create Schedule screen, enter the required information:
- Fee Schedule ID
- Description
- Status
- Click Save & Done or Save & Add Another.
- In the detail view, go to the Services tab.
- Click Add and enter the required information in the top row of the grid. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Resource: employee, outside consultant or contract employee
- Activity
- Bill Rate: It is calculated automatically if either the Pay Rate Multiplier or Bill Rate Multiplier is filled in.
- Cost Rate: It is brought forward from the Employees screen, but can be changed here or kept blank.
- Click Done.
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Similarly, go to the Expenses tab (it is referred to as Costs in the legal industry). Click Add and enter the required information in the grid. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Resource: employee, outside consultant, or contract employee
- Expense: It is referred to as Cost in the legal industry.
- Cost Rate: It is brought forward from the Expense Items screen, but can be changed here.
- Markup %: Percentage increase or decrease in the cost rate
- Click Done.
Create Fee Schedules from Existing Schedules
To create a fee schedule from an existing fee schedule, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Click Create New and select From Existing Fee Schedule.
- On the Create from Existing Fee Schedule dialog, select a schedule from which you want to create a new one.
- Click Continue.
- On the Create Fee Schedule screen, enter the required information:
- Fee Schedule ID
- Description
- Click Save & Done or Save & Add Another.
- In the detail view, review its services and expenses. Enter details or make changes, as needed.
Create Fee Schedules from Budgets
To create a fee schedule from a budget, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Click Create New and select From Budget.
- On the Create from Existing Budget dialog, select from the Budget Template or the Existing Project from which you want to create a new fee schedule.
- Click Continue.
- On the Create Fee Schedule screen, enter the required information:
- Fee Schedule ID
- Description
- Click Save & Done or Save & Add Another.
- In the detail view, review its services and expenses. Enter details or make changes, as needed.
Edit Fee Schedules
You can view, enter and edit fee schedule details in the detail view.
To edit a fee schedule, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Select the fee schedules on the grid and click Actions > Delete to delete them.
- To edit a fee schedule, click
on a row to select View Details.
- In the detail view, enter details or make changes, as needed.
- Click Save.
Note: You can batch update service and expense line items in the detail view by clicking Actions > Batch Update on the Services or Expenses tab. Then, on the Batch Update dialog, select the relevant fields and then enter new values for them and click Update.
Manage Priority for Rates
A fee schedule is made up of multiple line items that get searched in a priority order. Priority is a number assigned automatically to each fee schedule line item as they are created. It determines which rate CORE fetches from the fee schedule in case of multiple matches. You can change the order of priority per line.
To manage the priority of rates, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Select a fee schedule on the grid list and click
- In the detail view, go to the Services or Expenses tab.
- Click More > Manage Priority. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- On the Manage Priority dialog, set your order of priority for the listed items by dragging
on the left. You can also use the up and down arrow buttons on the top-right to do so.
- Click Save.
Add Documents
To add a document to a fee schedule, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, select a fee schedule on the grid and click
- In the detail view, go to the Documents tab and click Add.
- On the Add Documents dialog, select the relevant tab, depending on the type of attachment.
- Computer: To attach files stored on your computer, enter its Description and drag your file or click to browse to that location.
- Hyperlink: To attach an external link, enter its Description and then insert the hyperlink.
- Dropbox: To link files stored in your Dropbox account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
- Google Drive: To link files stored in your Google Drive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
- OneDrive: To link files stored in your Microsoft OneDrive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
- Box: To link files stored in your Box account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
- Resource Library: To link company resources, select the resource from the library. This option is available only with CORE CRM.
- Click Add.
CORE pre-fills some of the information about the attached documents in the grid. You can send the documents to your clients, employees or other contacts for getting their digital or electronic signatures (eSignature via DocuSign) using the eSign option from the row-action menu. CORE automatically adds the signed documents to the Documents folder of the entity (record) as separate attachments. It displays the status of the document, whether it has been delivered via DocuSign, viewed by the recipients, declined or completed by the recipients, etc. This column does not show up if you are not connected via the DocuSign integration. You can also check the detailed video on managing documents in CORE.
Assign Fee Schedules to Projects
To assign a fee schedule to a project, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, select a fee schedule on the grid and click
- In the detail view, click Actions > Assign Project.
- On the Assign Project dialog, select the projects to which you want to apply this fee schedule. The 'main' parent projects are displayed as bold and gray. Projects that are already assigned are also grayed out to avoid any assignments by mistake.
- Click Assign.
- Then click Save.
Show/Hide Columns in Grid
You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.
To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
- Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Status.
- Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Description.
- Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).
Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).
You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.
Export Fee Schedules
In CORE, you can export fee schedules to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.
To export fee schedules to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
- A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.
You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.
View Reports
To view a report, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, click More > View Reports.
- Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
- Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.
You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.
Apply Filters
To view selective data on the grid, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- In the list view, click
on the right.
- On the Filters panel, select a filter from the drop-down and specify individual records or range.
- Click Add Filters to specify more filters.
- When you have finished, click Apply Filter. You can see selective data now.
- In the list view, you can remove the individual filters by clicking
on each. To disable applied filters temporarily or remove all filters, click
next to the Filters icon and select Disable Filters or Clear All, respectively.
You can also check the detailed video on applying filters in CORE.
Mark Screen as Favorite
You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.
To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Fee Schedules screen from the side menu > Projects > Templates & Tools. (Alternatively, you can open it from the side menu > Settings > Projects.
- Click
on the top-right.
- You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.
You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.