Work types
Security and navigation
SECURITY Security level with Admin permission to configure Finance, Accounting, & Invoicing. Refer to Admin security settings.
NAVIGATION
> Admin > Features & Settings > Finance, Accounting & Invoicing > Billing Codes
BEFORE YOU BEGIN Before you begin setting up your Work Types, review Introduction to billing for labor.
About work types
Work types track and categorize time your resources spend working on tickets or projects. They are generally assigned at the ticket or task level, but resources with the required security level permissions can also modify them on individual time entries. Refer to Service Desk security settings.
Work types play a key role in calculating the charges for labor:
- They can make time entries billable or non-billable, and determine if non-billable time entries are displayed on invoices
- Work types can modify the billing rate and the number of hours to be billed on a time entry
- Work types let you define a minimum and/or maximum number of hours to bill per time entry
They also play an important role in the billing process and reporting:
- They associate time entries with tax categories that determine the tax rate on quotes and invoices. Refer to Configuring your tax table.
- They can be associated with general ledger accounts and external numbers that are passed through the billing system and exported to external accounting applications
- Work types allow you to display, sort, filter, and group labor activity on reports. They provide management with answers to questions such as: "How much time does our Development Department spend on creating new software, versus fixing bugs in existing code?" or "Is onsite support more or less profitable than remote support?"
NOTE Best Practice: We recommend that you make work types required for all ticket categories. The work type contains a Billable flag that determines whether the labor entry will be deducted from a block hour contract.
How to...
Create or edit work types
To open the page, use the path(s) in the Security and navigation section above. Populate or edit the following fields:
| Field/Option | Description |
|---|---|
| General Information | |
| Name (required) | Enter a unique name. NOTE Best Practice: If your company uses both billable and non-billable work types of the same name, add (billable) and (non-billable) to the name to make it easier to identify the codes in the system. |
| Active | When this check box is selected, the work type is active and available to assign to tickets, tasks, and time entries. |
| Department | Optionally, select a department to associate the work type with. Department selection has no impact on tickets. Refer to Departments. |
| Billing/Accounting | |
| External Number |
Enter a reference number or the general ledger account that is used in your accounting software. This will ensure that the billing item references the correct general ledger account when it is exported to an external accounting software. Some integrations use the External Number, and others use the General Ledger Account field for integration with Autotask. |
| General Ledger Account | Select the corresponding general ledger account that is used in your accounting software. This will ensure that the item associated with this billing code references the correct general ledger account when it is exported to an external accounting software. Refer to General ledger accounts. |
| Tax Category | Select the correct tax category from the drop-down list. Refer to Tax categories. |
| Excluded from New Contracts | If you do not want resources to use this work type when entering time against any contracts created in the future, select this check box to exclude this work type from all new contracts created after this option is enabled. The excluded work type will appear on the contract Exclusions page after the contract is created. This option does not impact existing contracts and can be overridden for individual new contracts as needed. Clear the check box to make this work type available to all new contracts. NOTE To exclude this work type from all current, active contracts, use Exclude Work Type from all current active contracts (menu option on Work Types table). |
| After-Hours Work Type | If you want a different work type to be applied when work is done outside of your regular business hours, you can assign an After-Hours Work Type here. For a detailed discussion of after hours work types, refer to Splitting time entries using After Hours work types. |
| Billing Rate and Hours Modifiers |
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NOTE Note for Multi-currency users: All amounts must be configured in your internal currency. For information on how to set work type modifiers in other currencies, refer to Managing your price list. |
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| Use Role Rate | Select this option if you want to bill the customer at the standard role rate on the time entry or, if a contract is associated with the time entry, the contract rate for the assigned role. |
| Use Role Rate adjusted by (+/-) | Select this option if you want to adjust the hourly role rate billed to the customer by plus or minus a currency amount. Specify the amount in the currency field, using a "-" sign to deduct the amount from the hourly rate. NOTE The adjusted hourly rate will never calculate as less than $0. If the work type specifies a rate adjustment of -$30.00 and that work type is assigned to a time entry associated with a role rate of $25, the adjusted time will be $0, not -$5. |
| Use Role Rate multiplied by | Select this option if you want to multiply the role rate of labor entries associated with this work type by a specific number, referred to as the multiplier. Specify the multiplier in the text field. For example, if you want to bill your customers twice the normal role rate for emergency after hours calls, set up an Emergency work type and use this billing method with 2 as the multiplier. All labor entries associated with the Emergency work type will be billed at twice the normal role rate. NOTE Work type multipliers and block hour multipliers compound. For example, a block hour multiplier of 2 (2 X role rate) and a work type with a multiplier of 3 (3 X role rate) will result in an overall multiplier = 6 (6 X the role rate). |
| Use Custom Rate | Select this option if you want to set a custom billing rate for labor items associated with the work type. Enter the custom hourly rate into the currency field. Custom rates will override both role rates and contract rates. |
| Use Flat Rate (per time entry) | Select this option if you want to set a flat rate to be billed for labor items associated with the work type, regardless of the amount of time specified on the time entry. Enter the flat rate in the currency field. For example, you may bill your customers a set amount to install and configure a desktop workstation, regardless of how long it takes or who does the work. You can set up a work type using this billing method, and all time entries associated with this work type will bill the amount specified. NOTE Because the flat rate billing amount is a fee that is not based on the number of hours worked, the Hours to Bill amount is always 1. NOTE A work type with a flat rate billing method cannot be used with labor performed for a block hour contract. You will be unable to save the time entry. NOTE When you select the flat rate billing method, the minimum/maximum hours to bill option is not available. |
| Never Bill Less than _ Hours | Specify a minimum amount of time that you will bill for time entries associated with this work type. For example, if you set a half hour minimum billable time for traveling to the customer's site, enter .5 into the field. If this work type is applied to a travel time entry that is less than one half hour, the customer will be billed for a full half hour. NOTE If this Work Type has an After-Hours Work Type, or is used as an After-Hours Work Type, think through carefully how this setting will be applied. If a time entry extends past regular business hours and is split, the "Never Bill More/Less than" settings will be applied separately to the individual time entries created after the split, depending on which work type is on each time entry. |
| Never Bill More than _ Hours | Specify a maximum amount of time that you will bill for time entries associated with this work type. For example, if you do not want to bill customers more than four hours for a desktop installation, enter 4 into this field. If this work type is applied to a time entry for desktop installation, and the total time for the entry is 5.25 hours, the customer will be billed for 4 hours. NOTE If this Work Type has an After-Hours Work Type, or is used as an After-Hours Work Type, think through carefully how this setting will be applied. If a time entry extends past regular business hours and is split, the "Never Bill More/Less than" settings will be applied separately to the individual time entries created after the split, depending on which work type is on each time entry. |
| Non-Billable - Do not show on invoice | Select this option if you do not generally want to bill your customer for time entries associated with this work type. For example, if you do not usually bill for phone support, you can set up a Phone Support work type and select non-billable. If for some reason you want to bill your customer for labor with this work type assigned, the non-billable setting can be changed on the time entry. NOTE Non-billable labor will not be deducted from a block, or billed as overage. NOTE Users with the required security level permissions can override the non-billable setting on a time entry. |
| Non-billable - Show on invoice as "No charge" | When this option is selected, the non-billable labor appears on the customer invoice with the amount showing "No charge". NOTE Non-billable labor will not be deducted from a block, or billed as overage. NOTE Users with the required security level permissions can override the non-billable setting on a time entry. |
| Billable | When this option is selected, the time entry is billable and counts towards the Weekly Billable Hours Goal. |
Menu options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
|
Edit, Edit [Entity Name] |
Puts the selected row into Edit mode or opens the Edit <Option> dialog. The fields that can be edited are usually the ones you populate when you create a new list item. Make your changes and click Save, or Cancel. NOTE On some pages, you may not be able to edit System options. |
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Exclude Work Type from all Current Active Contracts |
This option will exclude the selected work type from all currently active contracts. The work type will no longer be available for resources to use when entering time against any contract that is current and active when the option is selected. The exclusion will not impact existing time entries. Refer to Exclude Work Type from all current active contracts (menu option on Work Types table). |
|
Delete, Delete [Entity Name] |
The ability to delete an option is severely restricted. List options cannot be deleted if:
IMPORTANT To preserve data integrity, Autotask prevents deletion of entities that have dependent entities or are referenced elsewhere! If you are unable to delete an entity, you should inactivate it to make it unavailable for use. |
View the Price List
This button, located on the Billing Codes page above the tabs, is only available for users with Admin > Finance, Accounting and Invoicing permissions. Users can click the button to open the Price List page, where they can create, view, and set prices for all types of billing items. For customers that have Multi-currency enabled, this is also the page where they set prices for billing items in other currencies.
The Labor tab of the Price List window includes a menu of current work types. Select a work type from the menu to view how that work type will impact the current hourly rate set for different labor roles. Refer to Managing your price list.
Exclude Work Type from all current active contracts (menu option on Work Types table)
At some point you may have an active work type that you no longer want resources to use when entering time on any currently active contract. The menu option Exclude Work Type from All Current Active Contracts, when selected, will exclude the selected work type from all currently active contracts. That is, the work type will no longer be available for resources to use when entering time against any contract that is current and active when the option is selected.
NOTE The exclusion will not impact existing time entries.
- Locate the work type you want to exclude from all currently active contracts.
- Select Exclude Work Type from All Current Active Contracts.
- Read the confirmation messages.
IMPORTANT Once you click OK, the exclusion can only be reversed for each contract individually.
- If you want to proceed, click OK to confirm.
NOTE This feature has no impact on new contracts created after the time that the option is selected. To exclude a work type from all new contracts, edit the work type and select the check box "Excluded from New Contracts". See "Create or edit work types", above.
