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The Staff file contains
the company’s employees.
Staff records are used by time cards
and time sheets. Anyone whose time is tracked is added as a
staff member. The staff window contains information about each
staff member, including name, address, department, billing
rates, and a personal photograph. You can add hundreds of names
to the staff file. Staff reports can be printed anytime to
make employee and department lists.
Each staff member can have his or her own set of standard and special
billing rates. Every user has his or her own standard cost and billing
rates, which are copied automatically to their time sheets. In addition,
special billing rates can be made for any combination of staff member,
client, and task. Also, a special overtime billing rate can be entered
for charging rush charges. These rates are applied to time sheets and
time cards automatically. Users may or may not see these rates, depending
on their access privileges.
There’s no special method for
calculating a cost rate -- it’s completely customizable.
You can choose to use an average cost per hour, which equalizes
your time accounting. Or you can make the cost rate equal
to the staffer’s actual hourly salary or wage, plus
benefits. Don’t include overhead (or an overhead factor)
in your cost rates, since they keep the job reports from
showing an accurate gross profit (labor costs are typically
treated as overhead, based on your payroll expense entries).
Staff members can be limited to seeing jobs for only certain clients
by setting the client’s staff access privileges. If a staff member
doesn’t have access to the client’s jobs, they can’t see
its job tasks.
 Staff
members can be quickly found anywhere in Clients & Profits
X using the Staff
lookup list: To open the lookup list, choose Lookup > Staff.
How Clients & Profits X manages cost and billing rates
The billing rate and the cost rate are not inherently related; in both
cases you can enter any rate you want for any staff member. The cost
rate, however, is important since it’s used for job costing. The
cost rate calculates the dollar cost of your staff time on job summaries.
The cost rate doesn’t affect billings -- only the job’s labor
cost.
Here’s how they work: Someone’s cost and billing rates are
copied to the time sheet when time is added. The cost rate is based on
the staffer’s salary, so it is generally unchanged. The billing
rate, however, can change for many reasons: you’ve negotiated a
rate with a client, etc. If the staff member has special billing rates,
they will replace the standard billing rate. If the job task itself has
a preferred billing rate, it is used instead. Or, the billing rate can
be changed while the time sheet is being added (if the user has access
to rates and costs).
Staff members and time tracking
Time keeping has always been a contentious issue within ad agencies and
design studios. Clients & Profits X doesn’t try to solve the
political or cultural problems with time keeping; instead, it simply
tries to make it easier, faster, and more accurate.
The argument for time keeping is substantial: Clients are demanding more
accountability (they want to know where and why you’re spending
your time) and today’s lower profit margins don’t support unproductive
work. So the only way to know if everyone is working productively is
to somehow track where they spend their time.
By tracking time for each staff member, you’ll get productivity
reports that compare billable versus unbillable time, time by client,
time by task, and more. With practice, these reports can help you see
where people are working most effectively.
There are different strategies for tracking time (see Time Sheets for
more information), but the effort pays off in a greater awareness of
your business. Generally, you should track all time, including unbillable
time, meetings, administrative time, and sick/vacation/personal time.
(Using an unbillable administrative job ticket works well for tracking
unbillable time).
Pasting a staff member's photo
Staff photos appear in a user's Information Center window when they log
into Clients & Profits X. Graphics pasted into the Photo area of
the Edit Staff window should either be saved as BMP files (if using Windows)
or PICT files (if using a Mac).
Graphics should be 280 pixels wide and 240 pixels high at 72 dpi. The
staff photo field size is very specific, so graphics that are pasted
at sizes larger or smaller than this field size will automatically be
scaled to fit the photo field.
1 Choose Setup > Staff
The Staff window opens, showing the last added staff member.
2 Use the previous and next buttons
to locate the staff member you wish to add a photo for, then click the edit button.
The Edit Staff window opens, prompting you to edit details for this staff
member.
3 Click the Photo icon  located
on the top right side of the window.
The staff member's photo tray will appear to the right of the screen.
4 Click inside of the photo field, then choose Edit > Paste
From File.
5 You will be prompted to find the graphic you wish
to paste. Once you have located the graphic, click Open and the graphic
will appear in the photo field.
If the graphic looks scaled or out of proportion, check the graphic's
size to be sure that it's as close to the field's size specifications
as possible and re-size the graphic as needed. Choose Edit > Clear
to delete the graphic, and paste the graphic again.
6 When you are finished, click Save. Repeat
these steps for remaining staff members.
Pasting a staff member's PO approval signature
PO approval signatures appear on printed Purchase Orders approved by
staff members. Graphics pasted into the PO approval signature area of
the Edit Staff window should either be saved as BMP files (if using Windows)
or PICT files (if using a Mac). They can be scanned, then sized to fit
the PO approval signature field size.
Graphics should be 855 pixels wide by 155 pixels high. This works out
to a graphic that is roughly 3 inches wide by 1/2 inch high at 300 DPI.
The PO signature field size is somewhat specific, so graphics that are
pasted at sizes larger or smaller than this field size will automatically
be scaled to fit the photo field.
1 Choose Setup > Staff
The Staff window opens, showing the last added staff member.
2 Use the previous and next buttons
to locate the staff member you wish to add a photo for, then click the edit button.
The Edit Staff window opens, prompting you to edit details for this staff
member.
3 Click inside of the Signature for PO Approvals field.
4 Choose Edit > Paste From File.
5 You will be prompted to find the graphic you wish
to paste. Once you have located the graphic, click Open and the graphic
will appear in the photo field.
If the graphic looks scaled or out of proportion, check the graphic's
size to be sure that it's as close to the field's size specifications
as possible and re-size the graphic as needed. Choose Edit > Clear
to delete the graphic, and paste the graphic again.
6 When you are finished, click Save. Repeat these steps
for remaining staff members.
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