Classifications are basic structures used to categorize employees. An employee's classification tells his job title or gives an idea of the duties he performs. This article covers the different tabs, and operations in the classification menu.
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This is also one of several menus that can be pre-filtered, to limit what data is loaded when exploring classifications. For example, if you only want to load active classification for a given company you'd do the following:
Click the filter icon at Labor > Classifications…
Click the "Add" dropdown and select the "Company" filter, then load the satisfying records. The "Only active records" checkbox is flagged by default to only load active records. Uncheck it if you'd like to load inactive records as well.
Let's explore the other features of the classification menu, below.
Adding Classifications
To add a classification, click Labor > Classifications.
Click append (+) to add a new row, then enter the details for each record. You can also use the buttons to the right of the append button to modify or delete the selected record(s).
After adding a new row, you can fill the details for each record in the grid or in the tabs below the grid. You will observe that some columns in the grid are grayed out, as they're read-only and cannot be modified in the grid, as the data feeds from different menus in the software. In this example, the rates are populated from the "Charge Rates" tab. Also note the "Merge" button which we will explore later.
After adding and editing records, click on “Save” to accept changes as the data is not automatically saved after records are added, modified or deleted.
Data Grid
Among other things, the grid allows applying the same change to multiple records, simultaneously. After selecting the desired records, make the change in one of the selected cells then press tab and that change will take effect for all selected rows in that column.
You will be prompted to confirm changes that affect more than five (5) records at a time.
Some columns in the grid may not be visible, but can be retrieved from the column chooser, which basically houses the hidden columns. To retrieve a hidden column, right-click a column header and select "Column Chooser" from the context menu.
This will open the "Customization" form with the list of available columns for that screen.
From there, drag and place the desired column from the form, to the grid. The two arrows facing each other indicate where the column header will be placed in the grid. In this example, the company column is being placed between the class and the group columns.
See the data grids article for more in-depth details on data grids.
Conversely, the tabs below the grid only allow modifying one record at a time. If multiple records are selected in the grid then the data in the tabs will be grayed out, thus, unmodifiable. Let's now explore the tabs below the grid.
Overview Tab
The “Overview” tab has four (4) sections and contains supplementary details for each classification. The "Main" section handles grouping classifications. It includes the class field which distinctly denotes each classification, and also lets you assign the select classification to a company, class group and class type.
The "Status" section deals with imports and union assignments. The designator field is for SAP classification imports. It is generally utilized in the classification import preset, when the user chooses to "Match classifications by: class designator". The sent date field is used alongside SAP to track when the classification was last imported into SAP. The union code is an abbreviation for the classification used in union agreements, while the union type is used for tracking which classifications belong to a union or are merit (non-union). This is also where you flag the classification as active or inactive.
The "Auto ST/OT/DT Calculation" section governs auto calculations for labor imports using calculation logics set in the hours calculation rule and the holiday schedules that automatically assign hours worked to ST/OT/DT, etc., for each employee. These rules can be assigned at the company level (recommended) and the classification level. The calculation rules assigned at the company level affects all employees for that company, while the ones applied at the classification level only affect employees with said class.
The "Notes" section serves as a medium to add notes to the selected classification.
The three rates tabs (“Charge Rates,” “Project Specific Rates” and “Pay Rates”) handle hourly rates (ST, OT, DT, etc.) and unit-based rates (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) for each classification.
Charge Rates
The charge rate is generally the agreed rates between the client and the contractor for labor hours worked or jobs completed. The CT2 Rate column has checkboxes that are only flagged when a database is migrated from CT2 to CT3 and the rates from CT2 are imported into CT3. Otherwise the checkboxes are left unchecked and should be ignored. You can add a start date and end date for each row, to define when new rates come in effect. Please note however, that labor entries that fall outside the set date range(s) will have zero (0) rates. For example, a labor timesheet for 11/30/2017 to 12/05/2017 will have zero rates since the earliest start date is 01/01/2018. To fix this issue you could either remove the start date so that the rates apply to all dates up to 02/09/2020, or add a new row that includes the 2017 dates.
You can also set shift differentials in the "Shift Adders" box, which is basically extra compensation for employees who work a less desirable shift. Let's move on to unit-based rates.
In addition to the above, you can click the add unit type button to add a new unit to the list of available units. This feature adds versatility and flexibility to the unit-based rates. In this example a 'bi-weekly' rate was added. You will observe that the remove unit type button is only activated after a new unit-based rate is added. Use this button to discard unit rates that are no longer needed.
Project Specific Rates
Project Specific Rates are generally agreed rates for specific projects and have similar principles for dates, like the charge rates. Once the project and purchase order are specified, the associated daily entries will use the assigned rates. You can set the rate for any combination of PO and Project (i.e., both filled, PO filled, or just project filled). When only the project is filled, any WO that is assigned to that project is matched and used. When both PO and project are filled, if a PO has several work orders and one (or several) of the work orders is tied to a different project, then anything that does NOT match BOTH criteria (PO and project) will use the charge rate for the classification. Therefore, if you want the rate to apply to all work done on that PO, remove the Project so that only the PO is filled. This example includes all three PO/Project combination scenarios.
Pay Rates
Pay Rates are for internal uses and basically govern the amount paid to employees that are assigned to the selected classification.
Conversion Codes
The “Conversion Codes” tab lets you assign conversion codes for each classification that can be used on daily entry timesheet imports and reports.
Merging Classifications
Classifications can be amalgamated to combine multiple classes (and their daily entries, etc.) into one class. To merge 2 (or more) classifications, select the one you wish to merge from (get rid of), then click on "Merge" in the "Operations" section (to the right of the grid).
This will open the “Merge Into” form for you to filter for and select the classification you wish to merge into, then click OK to move to the next step.
In the "Select Properties" form, select the checkboxes for the properties you wish to keep, then click OK. You can select a checkbox from either the "Keep" or "Replace" column for each row. The properties that will be kept are highlighted in yellow.
Confirm that you wish to merge.
Afterwards, the software will combine the records for both classifications and complete the merge.
Importing Classifications
Classifications can also be imported into CT3. This is the preferred method when adding classifications in bulk or just adding several classifications simultaneously.
To import Classifications click Tools > Import > Classifications.
You can add a new preset if none is established for that company or edit an already established preset. You can also remove, duplicate, import or export presets if necessary.
The “Data Source” box lets you locate the directory path for your import file by clicking on the ellipsis. You can also choose which sheet number to import from and set the number of rows to skip to accommodate headers, etc. Upon saving the import preset, it displays the assigned file type in the title and allows update preset location to a file or folder for future imports.
The “Options” box affects how current and future imports affect each other and determines how classifications and rates are matched.
The “Fields” box handles the underlying details of the import. Here you add the desired fields to import and assign the position to correlate with the column in your spreadsheet. Click the “Add field” dropdown to add a field and the remove button (red button to the right) to get rid of a field. You can also set a different font case for select fields.
NOTE: This is where you import classification groups and classification types.
Once the preset is prepared, click “OK” to save. From there click “Import” to import the data then review and confirm the import.
