Concept: Calculation Engine Formulas

Calculation engine formulas enable you to determine how key billable amounts are calculated. With calculation engine formulas, you can:

Choose the order by which billable amounts are calculated to support needs like rounding in different locations, placing premium rates on the pay rate, and PAYE (pay as you earn) calculations.

Choose to calculate billable amounts differently for different types of work, like regular time and overtime.

Define a formula as a formula group or as a nested formula.

Target and manage different sets of calculations for different jobs and work orders, giving flexibility to support multiple needs in a single tenant.

Access the Calculation Engine from

Company Settings

Accounting

Calculation Engine

Things to Consider

When creating calculation engine formulas:

All calculations follow order of operations (PEMDAS/BEDMAS).

The formula builder supports numbers, operators (+, -, *, /), and parentheses.

You must start a decimal value that's less than 1 with a 0 in the 1's place. Example: 0.25.

You can't use parentheses-based multiplication. You must include an operator next to the parenthesis. Example: Use 2 * (4 + 3), not 2(4 + 3).

Formula components with

Operator

in the name use the operator from the source. The operator components must be surrounded by numbers or formula components representing numbers. Example: If you've already configured differentials or premiums in Shifts, you could enter (Shift Differential Operator)(Shift Differential)
.

If you require rounding at different points in the calculation, you need to create a formula for each rounded part, then place that formula into another formula. Example: You may want to round your bill rate without overtime to the nearest whole number, but not round your bill rate with overtime. You would set a rounding rule for your base bill rate as Round Half Up
and your overtime formula to Do Not Round
.

You can choose between a Simple or Conditional formula. A Conditional formula enables you to define the equation that the system should use based on meeting certain values or conditions. This enables you to override the value when certain conditions are met.

Clicking the

Validate

button confirms that the entered formula can be calculated. However, it doesn't confirm the accuracy of the formula.

Once a formula is saved and validated, you can utilize the

Simulate

button in the

Actions

menu to simulate the formula and see how it would calculate totals.

Pay rate and markup are not used in bill rate-based calculations.

For pay rate-based calculations, markup is a decimal value, and can be used to calculate the markup amount. Pay rate based programs must have at least 1 pay rate rate card configured.

For complex equations, consider creating your equations on paper or in a spreadsheet before recreating it in VNDLY.

If your program is using flat rate work types and multiplier work types, you may want to create conditional formulas to calculate these differently.

Use the

Calculation Breakdown

page (accessible by clicking on the hyperlink attached to each individual invoice line item) to get a complete picture of the billable amount.

New or Duplicate Formulas

To build your calculations using the Calculation Engine, you can:

Create new, blank formulas.

Modify or duplicate existing formulas.

For each method, consider:

	New Formula	Duplicate Formula
Pros	With new formulas, you can: Include only elements you want to add, ensuring you only include the values your program uses in calculations. Nest new formulas in other formulas. Write all conditions, ensuring the logic is tailored specifically to your needs.	With duplicate formulas, you can: Duplicate all system or custom formulas and select bill rate system formulas from the Actions menu. Ensure main system configurations are covered by formulas. Meet common use cases without having to know how to configure the conditions. Replace just the pieces of the calculation that your program needs to customize.
Cons	If you create a new formula, it's possible to miss the formulas or logic needed for the less frequent calculations, like flat rates.	Duplicate formulas: May include values that your program doesn't use. May require additional clean up or review to ensure the formulas represent your desired calculations.

Calculation Engine and Timesheets

Consider these impacts to timesheets, based on the adjustments you make to formulas using the Calculation Engine:

Midweek Rate Changes	When you modify a bill rate in the middle of a timesheet week, VNDLY creates separate line items for the original rate and the new rate, enabling you to quickly reconcile the rate change.
Timesheet Adjustments	When you modify the time on a timesheet that was previously invoiced, VNDLY creates negative line items for the previous amounts and creates new invoice line items for the adjusted time, enabling you to quickly reconcile the changes to confirm the correct amount is billed.
Calendar-based Premiums as One Line	Calendar premiums for time entered on a holiday display as a consolidated invoice line item for the time worked on that day, enabling you to understand the calculation rate and increasing accuracy in the hour totals at the bottom of the table.
Always Split Fees in Invoicing	If you use the Always Split and Standalone Fees invoice strategies, fees created this way show the bill rate for those fees separated from the bill rate for the time. See Concept: Invoicing Strategy for Fees.
Flat Rates with Max Amount	VNDLY creates individual invoice line items each time a flat rate with a maximum amount earns the maximum amount in a single timesheet week. The split enables your program to confirm the maximums were successfully compensated.