Rate scripts
Introduction
Temp Rate Scripts provide the mechanism for converting shifts into timesheet lines when the timesheet is completed. The script must be attached to the Rate Scheme which is being applied.
The Commands are listed below, followed by Examples.
Rate Script Commands
| comment or rem | the remainder of the line is a comment and is ignored - when using comment you must preserve the current indent level |
| foreach shift | Start the script with this each time |
| foreach dayslice | must be nested within foreach shift. |
| foreach timeslice paybandname | must be nested within foreach dayslice. In a rate scheme a pay band may have a start and end time - e.g. an Unsocial pay band may specify 1800 to 0600 as the Unsocial period which attracts a higher rate. Foreach timeslice uses the named pay band to further divide a dayslice into timeslices - those which do and do not fall within the specified time range. Use If intimeslice to determine whether the current slice is in the time range. Break treatment: Any break period is deducted from the longest slice; if slices are of equal length, then the break is deducted from the slice with the highest charge. |
| foreach timeslicedefault paybandname | as Foreach timeslice except that if no time range is specified for the named band, If intimeslice operates as true for the whole amount instead of false for the whole amount. |
| foreach timeslice hh:mm hh:mm | alternatively the start and end times may be specified literally in the script (2.18.11) |
| if intimeslice | used with a Foreach timeslice loop, see above. True if the slice is between the start and end time for the band. |
| if firsttimeslice if secondtimeslice if thirdtimeslice | Used with a Foreach timeslice loop - identifies the slices in actual time order within the dayslice. |
| if prevdaysliceend paybandname | executes if this is the second day slice of a shift and the time range for the payband spans midnight (or only the From time is specified). |
| if shift x | a shift may be of a specified type e.g. N for a night shift, and this allows the entire shift to be treated in a certain way regardless of the times or days. |
| if day dayname | day name may be Monday to Sunday or Holiday which looks up the Temp Holidays table. Can also use Weekday, Weekend and WeekendOrHoliday. |
| if previousday dayname | as above but looks at the previous day. |
| if nextday dayname | as above but looks at the next day. |
| if day 12 | this will apply the rate on the 12th day of every month. Can be applied to any day number of the month. |
| if day 31/12 | this would apply on every New Years Eve. |
| if day 99 | applies on the last day of every month. |
| if day 08/05/2025 | applies on this specific date only. |
| if firstdayslice | this is the first dayslice of a shift. |
| if seconddayslice | this is the second dayslice of a shift. |
| if onedayshift | the current shift is all on one day. |
| if twodayshift | the current shift spans midnight. |
| if cancelled | the current shift was cancelled (but still flagged as payable or billable). |
| if bandinscheme paybandname | the named pay band exists in the current Rate Scheme. |
| not | any of the If conditions can be prefaced with NOT e.g. if not day Saturday. |
| else | if an 'else' block immediately follows an 'if' block at the same level, it will be precessed with the 'if'condition evaluates to false. |
| add paybandname | the current Foreach block amount (shift, dayslice or timeslice) is added to the current payband running totals. There is inbuilt protection against posting the same amount twice which simplifies the logic i.e. in the example above, hours in a shift of type N could not find their way into anything other than the Night payband. |
| addmin & addmax | With addable hours of x: Addmax 8 MyRate would: if x<8 Add x else Add 8, similarly for addmin - Addmin 3.5 MyRate : If x>0 and x<3.5 Add 3.5 else Add x |
| post paybandname | as with Add but posts the amounts immediately as a timesheet line (i.e. not added to the summary totals). |
| post | posts and zeroes the accumulated summary totals for the pay bands. Note: if this is indented inside a foreach shift block you will get totals for the shift. |
| ignore | swallows the remaining totals in the current Foreach block (i.e. prevents them from being processed by subsequent adds or posts.) |
| and | placed on the line after an add command (add, addupto, addmin, addmax, addlumpsum, thresholdadd) at the same indent level, returns the remaining totals to their values before that add, so that a subsequent add can re-use the same hours on a different pay band, e.g. for commission or bonus |
| thresholdshift paybandname1|paybandname2 | if the current summary total hours for payband 2 are greater than or equal to those for payband 1 then shift the payband 1 totals into the payband 2 totals. Sometimes known as the 50% rule. Note that the separator between the pay bands is a vertical bar |. |
| thresholdsplit thresholdhours payband1name|payband2name | e.g. thresholdsplit 37.5 Basic|Overtime would treat any Basic total hours above the threshold figure of 37.5 as Overtime hours (i.e. shift them into the Overtime totals). Note that the separator between the pay bands is a vertical bar |. |
| thresholdadd thresholdhours payband1name|payband2name | e.g thresholdadd 8 Basic|Overtime would add the first 8 hours of the current Foreach block as Basic with the remainder as Overtime. Note that the separator between the pay bands is a vertical bar |. You can also omit the first pay band to leave the portion below the threshold in the pot for further processing. E.g. for multi-level thresholds or a lump sum for the basic. If the threshold is greater than 24 it treats it as an aggregate threshold for the whole timesheet. |
| addlumpsum x paybandname | like add but exactly x hours are added, regardless of the actual hours specified in the shift (provided that they are greater than zero). Any break is ignored. Need to use and on the next line, also does not work if paybands have expenses ticked. |
| addupto time paybandname | an alternative method of time-slicing. E.g. addupto 06:00 Early. Must be used inside a foreach dayslice but NOT inside a foreach timeslice. May have a series of adduptos with increasing times to slice up the day. Each one reduces the residual amounts in the block to prevent double posting. As with timeslice, breaks are deducted from the largest slice. |
| showrate paybandname | the payband is added to the timesheet but with zero hours, as a place-holder for edits at completion time. |
Indenting
Nesting the Commands
We start off with
foreach shift -foreach dayslice --foreach timeslice --foreach timeslicedefault (same as foreach timeslice)Within each band we add the required details for days and times. You don’t need to use all, but it needs to be in that order.
The number of leading spaces indenting each command is used to determine which commands are affected by foreach and if commands. E.g. if the leading space is removed from the final post command in the second example above, it will be outside the foreach shift loop, and the effect will be to post summary pay band totals for the timesheet as a whole (i.e. not more than one timesheet line per pay band).
Full stops, greater than signs or hyphens can be used instead of spaces when indenting commands, to improve readability. The example is to make clear what can be used
foreach shift >if shift N >>add Night .foreach dayslice ..if day Sunday ...add Weekend --if day Saturday ---add Weekend add Basic post
Example scripts
A simple script where all time is added to the Basic payband until a threshold of 37 hours is reached, after which all hours are added to the Overtime payband.
foreach shift -add Basic thresholdsplit 37.0 Basic|Overtime post
A slightly more complex script that will step through the shifts attached to the timesheet. If a shift is of shift type N it will be posted to the Night pay band. If not it will be divided into days (i.e. two slices if it spans midnight, one if not), and the parts on Saturday or Sunday will be go to the Weekend pay band. Anything left will be go to the Basic pay band.
The totals in each band will be posted as timesheet lines for for every shift (i.e. one or more lines per shift) because the post command is indented.
foreach shift -if shift N --add Night -foreach dayslice --if day Sunday ---add Weekend --if day Saturday ---add Weekend --add Basic -post
In a rate scheme a payband line can have times entered to be used the script to allocate the time to that rate. e.g. Standard to be applied for the time between 06:00 and 21:00, anything else that is not a bank holiday to be at Night rate.
foreach shift
if shift SI
Addlumpsum 1 Sleep In
and
foreach dayslice
if day Holiday
add Bank Holiday
foreach timeslice Standard
if intimeslice
add Standard
add Night
post
With rates for Basic and Night - specifying the times to be treated as Night in the script rather than in the Rate Scheme setup.
foreach shift -foreach dayslice --foreach timeslice 20:00 06:00 ---if intimeslice ----add Night ---add Basic -post
With Specified Dates and Thresholdsplit.
foreach shift -foreach dayslice --if day 25 ---add Basic Plus --if day 30/05 ---add Basic Plus --if day 99 ---add Basic Plus --if day 01/06/2021 ---add Basic Plus --add Basic thresholdsplit 37.5 Basic|Overtime post
Using addlumpsum, charge and payonly.
foreach shift -addlumpsum 1 Mileage -and -add CHARGEONLY Bonus -and -add PAYONLY Commission -and -if day weekend --add Basic -if day weekday --add Basic post
With typical NHS rates for Sunday and BH, Night and Saturday, Week Day - will add rates for whole days except for week days which are sliced into between 20:00 and 06:00. A line for the payband Expenses will be added, without rates.
foreach shift -foreach dayslice --if day Holiday ---Add Sunday and BH --if day Sunday ---Add Sunday and BH --if day Saturday ---Add Night and Saturday --foreach timeslice 20:00 06:00 ---if intimeslice ----Add Night and Saturday ---Add Week Day -Post ShowRate Expenses
Where work is booked in shifts but paid in days Shift Types can be used to add a specific amount for a payband.
Foreach shift If shift SD Addlumpsum 1 Day and If shift E Addlumpsum 0.65 Day and If shift LA Addlumpsum 0.5 Day and Post
For a client with 4 distinct shift types where different days have different rules for a range of overtime rates.
- For shift LM Holidays and Sundays are always paid Rate x2.0.
- Saturday uses thresholdsplit to say over 4 hours is Rate x2.0, over 2 hours is Rate x1.66 ,otherwise Rate x1.33. (add the payband then split that payband into the latest section, working back.)
- Friday uses thresholdsplit to say over 9 hours is Rate x2.0, over 7 hours is Rate x1.66, over 5 hours is Rate x1.33, otherwise Week Rate
If none of the above apply the splits are over 12.5 hours is Rate x2.0, over 10.5 hours is Rate x1.66, over 8.5 hours is Rate x1.33, otherwise Week Rate
foreach shift -if shift LM --foreach dayslice ---if day Holiday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Sunday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Saturday ----add Rate x1.33 ----thresholdsplit 4.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 2.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x1.66 ---if day Friday ----add Week Rate ----thresholdsplit 9.0 Week Rate|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 7.0 Week Rate|Rate x1.66 ----thresholdsplit 5.0 Week Rate|Rate x1.33 ---add Week Rate ---thresholdsplit 12.5 Week Rate|Rate x2.0 ---thresholdsplit 10.5 Week Rate|Rate x1.66 ---thresholdsplit 8.5 Week Rate|Rate x1.33 -if shift EM --foreach dayslice ---if day Holiday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Sunday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Saturday ----add Rate x1.33 ----thresholdsplit 4.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 2.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x1.66 ---add Week Early Rate ---thresholdsplit 12.5 Week Early Rate|Rate x2.0 ---thresholdsplit 10.5 Week Early Rate|Rate x1.66 ---thresholdsplit 8.5 Week Early Rate|Rate x1.33 -if shift LA --foreach dayslice ---if day Holiday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Sunday ----add Rate x2.0 ---if day Saturday ----add Rate x1.33 ----thresholdsplit 4.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 2.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x1.66 ---if day Friday ----add Week Late Rate ----thresholdsplit 4.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 2.0 Rate x1.33|Rate x1.66 ---add Week Late Rate ----thresholdsplit 13.75 Week Late Rate|Rate x2.0 ----thresholdsplit 11.75 Week Late Rate|Rate x1.66 ----thresholdsplit 9.75 Week Late Rate|Rate x1.33 -post
Scott McMullen