How do I record labour in the workshop?

Summary

This article explains how to add or allocate labour to a workshop job using the Real Time Labour Recording option.

More Information

Setting Up

Settings

Go to " Reports & Settings Maintenance Options System Administrator Platinum Settings" and search 'chargeable'.

There are two ways you can choose to record labour.
- At "Add Chargeable Labour Items?", choosing "Y" will mean that a new labour item is created every time a technician clocks off a job. The time the technician has spent working on the job will be stamped on both the chargeable and the actual time on the new labour item.
- Choosing "N" will mean that when a technician clocks off a job, the time he has spent working will be allocated against a Descriptive labour line. In this option, you are able to clock a technician onto a particular labour item. The advantage of using the system in this way is it keeps the chargeable and actual time separate allowing you to see the performance of the workshop.

At "Automated day end time" you may enter a time at which all technicians will be automatically logged off the jobs they are working on. You may enter a time of '00:00' to disable this feature.

At "Minimum charge period" Set the minimum number of minutes to charge for e.g. if you set it to '15' then time spent on the job will be rounded up to the nearest fifteen minutes when the charge to the customer is calculated. The actual time spent on the job is not rounded up. This option only applies when "Add Chargeable Labour Items?" is "Y".

At "Status for jobs in progress" you may enter a status code to set the job to when a technician is working on the job and the job's current status is the default one.

Creating Activity Types

You will have a default set of activity types set up for you but you may want to add some that are specific to your organisation. To do this:

Go to " Workshop Maintenance Options Labour Activity Maintenance Add or Edit Activity Types".
Click [List] to see your existing codes.
Click [Add].
At "Activity Type", type a suitable three character code for this activity type.
At "Description", type a suitable description for the activity type.
At "Colours", if required, choose text and background colours for the activity type.
On the [Settings] tab, at "Category", enter 'PRI' to mark the activity type as a printable item.
Press [Done] or <Esc> and then [Accept] to save the activity type.

Printing Barcode Labels

To use the Real Time Labour Recording with a barcode scanners you will need to print out a label for each technician and for each activity type.

Go to " Workshop Maintenance Options Labour Activity Maintenance Add or Edit Activity Types".
- Now from the "Filter on" field, or from the list, you can use <F4> to pop up the " Activity Type Barcodes" option.
- At "Print record", select the print record you want to print the labels to.
- "Page length" would usually be around '295' i.e. your page length in mm.
- At "Code to print" you can select an activity from the drop down, or leave this blank to print barcodes for all your activities.
- "Column start positions" can usually be left at their default values of '6', '105', '0' and '0'.
- Press [Print] or <F2> to print out the activity barcodes.
Go to " Workshop Maintenance Options Labour Activity Maintenance Print Labour Code Barcodes"
- Enter the technician's Labour Code.
- Press [Start] or <F2> to print out the labour barcode.
- Repeat this for each technician.

Recording Labour in Real Time

If you have set the "Add Chargeable Labour Items? " setting to 'No' you will need to ADD a Descriptive labour line to the jobcard prior to technicians starting to scan their code, activity and job.

Go to " Workshop Real Time Labour Recording".

In this option, information is recorded in real time. Time will be recorded for one activity per technician until a new activity is started or until the technician logs off.

To Clock onto a Job

Scan the Technician's barcode label or type their labour code and tap <Enter>.
Scan the barcode printed for the labour item or the barcode for the jobcard or type the job number and tap <Enter>.

To Clock onto a Downtime Activity

Scan the Technician's barcode label or type their labour code and tap <Enter>.
Scan the activity barcode or type the three character code for the downtime and tap <Enter>.

To Finish the Current Activity

Scan the Technician's barcode label or type their labour code and tap <Enter>.
Scan the 'Finish' label or type 'FINISH' and tap <Enter>.

To Log a Technician Off

Scan the Technician's barcode label or type their labour code and tap <Enter>.
Scan the 'LogOff' label or type 'LOGOFF' and tap <Enter>.

To Add a Stock Item to a Job

If a technician is working on a job, he may add a stock item to the invoiced items. To do this:

Scan the Technician's barcode label or type their labour code and tap <Enter>.
Scan the barcode for the stock item or type the stock code and tap <Enter>.

Setting the Auto Log off Time

It is possible to set an order day end time in the real time labour logging system. For more details click here.