4Creating and Assigning Rate Lists
Creating and Assigning Rate Lists
This chapter begins with an overview of rate lists, and then describes the most common ways of creating a new rate list. It also instructs you on assigning rate lists to users. This chapter covers the following topics:
About Rate Lists
A rate list is a set of standard rates for resources that bill by the hour. For example, if you run a temporary employment agency, then you might charge your customers different standard hourly rates for employees who do word processing, who do data entry, who do secretarial work, and who answer the phone at a call center. These hourly rates for these different types of resources would be included on your rate list.
After you have set up rate lists administratively, they are used by service orders and time sheets to calculate the cost of resources.
If you assign a product price in a rate list, then it can appear in catalogs. Rate lists control the visibility of products, just as price lists do.
This chapter covers the general process of creating rate lists. More detailed processes for using rate lists with specific features of Siebel applications are covered in other books. Common uses of rate lists include:
Project Management for Professional Services. Rate lists let you manage projects that use professional services to determine the billing rates for professional services for that project. For more information, see Siebel Project and Resource Management Administration Guide.
Field Service. Rate lists determine the rates that customers pay for the time of field service representatives. For more information, see Siebel Field Service Guide.
Pricing Screen. After the pricing administrator sets up rate lists using the Administration - Pricing screen, employees can view rate lists using the Pricing screen.
This chapter looks at three common ways of creating a rate list:
Create a new rate list
Copy and modify an existing rate list
Copy and transform an existing rate list
After you create a rate list, you must assign it to users to make it control the rates they pay. For example, if you run a temporary help agency, then you may charge different rates to customers who need help for short-term projects and long-term projects, or you may charge different rates to larger and smaller customers. You would create and assign different rate lists to these customers to make their rates visible to them.
Process of Creating Rate Lists
A rate list consists of one rate list record and multiple rate list line item records. The rate list record contains general information about the rate list as a whole. The line item records contain rates for specific resources.
To create a new rate list, you go through the following process:
Creating Resources as Products
This task is a step in Process of Creating Rate Lists.
Before you create any rate list, you must create the resources that the rates apply to as products in the Product Administration screen. For example, if you run a temporary help agency, then you might create products named word processing operator, data entry clerk, secretary, and so on.
You must:
Create the products.
Associate each product with its product lines.
For more information about creating products, see Siebel Product Administration Guide.
Creating a Rate List Record
This task is a step in Process of Creating Rate Lists.
The Rate List record includes general information about the rate list as a whole, such as its name, description, and effective time period.
To create a rate list record
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Rate Lists view.
In the Rate Lists list, add a new record and complete the necessary fields, as described in the following table.
Field Comments Name
Enter a unique, meaningful name for this rate list.
Description
Enter a description of the rate list for your own use.
Cost List
Select the cost list you want to associate with this rate list.
Currency
Select the currency for this rate list.
Effective From
Enter the date and time when this rate list will become effective. By default, the application assigns the current system date and time when you first create the Rate List record.
Effective To
Enter the date and time when this rate list will become ineffective. After this time, Siebel applications will not use this rate list. If no value is entered here, then the rate list remains in effect indefinitely.
Updated By
By default, the application assigns the user name used to log in to the current session in which this Rate List record is created.
Last Updated
By default, the application assigns the current system date and time when you most recently saved this Rate List record.
Organization
Select all the organization that may have rates controlled by this rate list. For more information, see Assigning a Rate List to a User.
Creating Rate List Line Items
This task is a step in Process of Creating Rate Lists.
A rate list line item contains rate data for a specific resource. It includes the resource name and information about the rates charged for that resource.
If you have multiple rate lists, then the same resource can have a line item in each rate list. For example, your United States rate list might have a line item for the rate charged for a resource in the United States. The Canadian rate list may have the rate charged for the resource in Canada, and so on.
Alternatively, you can add a resource to multiple rate lists using the Administration - Product screen, then Rate List view.
To create a rate list line item
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Rate Lists view.
In the Rate List, select the rate list for which you want to add a line item.
Click the Rate List Line Items view tab.
In the Rate List Line Items list, click New.
The Add Position Types dialog box appears.
Use the Add Position Types dialog box to add the type of resource to the rate list.
Complete the fields of the Rate List Item record, as described in the following table.
Field Comments Resource
This field displays the type of resource that you selected from the Add Position Types dialog box. A rate list line item uses this product name as its unique ID.
Rate Per Hour
Enter the standard hourly rate you charge for this resource.
Overtime Rate Per Hour
Enter the hourly overtime rate you charge for this resource.
Extended Overtime Rate Per Hour
Enter the hourly extended overtime rate you charge for this employee, if applicable.
Material Mark-Up
Enter the percentage of markup charged for materials used by this resource.
Expense Mark-Up
Enter the percentage mark-up charged for expenses incurred by this resource.
Description
Enter a description of this resource for your own use.
Copying and Modifying a Rate List
After creating a rate list, you can copy and modify it to create a new rate list for different types of customers or markets. For example, you might use a rate list named United States Rate List as the starting basis for creating new rate lists for different countries.
First, copy the rate list. This retains the original rate list and creates a new rate list with the same data. Then, modify the data in the copy as necessary.
To modify the data in more elaborate ways, use the transform feature described in Copying and Transforming a Rate List, instead of modifying the data manually. For example, you can use the transform feature to convert all the currencies in a rate list to a different currency.
To copy and modify a rate list
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Rate Lists view.
In the Rate Lists list, select the rate list you want to copy.
In the Rate Lists list, click the menu button, and then click Copy Record.
A new Rate List record appears, with all of the data from the original rate list, except for the original rate list name.
Modify the information in the fields of the rate list record and the rate list line items.
Either edit the fields directly or click the menu button, and then click Change Records, using the Change Records dialog box to modify the record.
Note: Do not edit the Currency field directly. To modify this field, use the Transform function, described in the Copying and Transforming a Rate List.
Copying and Transforming a Rate List
The Transform function allows you to transform a copy of an existing rate list by making sweeping changes to rates. It lets you change every rate without modifying each individual line item separately. Using the Transform options, you can:
Change all list prices by the percentage you specify. For example, you can increase all list prices to 130 percent of their previous value.
Convert all list prices to a different currency. You specify the currency and the conversion date, and the prices are converted automatically.
Apply a pricing procedure to a rate list, changing some or all rates depending on the design of the procedure. To do this, you must create the pricing procedure and the workflow that calls it before you do the following procedure. For more information, see Siebel Order Management Infrastructure Guide.
To transform a rate list
Select the rate list you want to transform.
From the Rate Lists list menu, select Transform.
The Transform Rate List form appears.
Enter information in the Transform Rate List form, as described in the following table, and then click Transform.
Field Comments Transformed Rate List Name
Enter the name of the rate list to be transformed.
Destination Rate List
Enter the name of the rate list resulting from the transformation.
Currency Code
Select the currency you want to use for prices in the transformed rate list. The default value is the currency of the copied rate list. If you are not changing currencies, then keep the default.
Exchange Date
Enter the date for the currency exchange rate. The Siebel application will use the exchange rate on that day to convert currency. You must enter the date if you are converting currencies.
Markup or Discount %
Enter a percentage to be applied to the list price for each product in the rate list. For example, to increase all list prices by 30 percent, you would enter 130. To decrease all list prices by 20 percent, you would enter 80. The default value is 100 percent. If you do not want to change prices, then keep this default.
Pricing Procedure
If you are using a pricing procedure to transform the prices, then select the workflow that calls the pricing procedure.
Assigning a Rate List to a User
The rate list that an employee sees depends on that employee’s organization. The employee cannot see a rate list unless it was assigned to the user’s organization in the Organization field of the rate list record.
One rate list can be assigned to many organizations. Each organization can have multiple rate lists.
You can configure your application using Web Tools to make multiple rate lists available to one organization. For more information about Web Tools, see Using Siebel Tools.
To assign a rate list to a user
Navigate to the Administration - Pricing screen, then Rate Lists view.
In the Rate Lists list, select the rate list you want to assign to the user.
In the rate list’s Organization field, click the select icon.
The Organizations dialog box appears.
If the user’s organization is not already listed in this dialog box, then click New, add it, and then click OK.