The Record costs (and payments) screen

The Record costs function is accessible from the Actions screen by all levels of Full users (but not Service Point users). This function always opens in a separate sub window which conveniently means that you can record time immediately it is incurred, even if you are still working in another screen like Answer or Third party.

The purpose of the Record costs screen is to allow entry of all costs incurred in relation to the question e.g. photocopy costs, or Dun&Bradstreet report costs. Your system administrator can remove this screen from your system for all users by disabling the Cost types code table, or for individual users by removing it from their Signon Functions list.

The Record costs screen allows the date and time that the cost was incurred, to be selected so that this information can be entered post dated when appropriate. Supervisors and above can also select the staff member incurring the cost (lower levels can be allowed to do this by using the staff signon functions, if appropriate).  System administrators can control the ability to enter time for the previous month using parameter 2.25. Costs can even be entered in relation to a question that is already closed (as bills often take some time to arrive), if your organisation allows this (Systems administrators can change this using parameter 2.24).

If the “Stay on this screen” tick box is ticked, this screen will redisplay after Submit is clicked.  Use “Stay on this screen” when you need to enter cost data for multiple staff or times.  When the screen redisplays it will still be showing the last staff member and date/time for which you entered costs, which makes for efficient entry of further costs incurred by that staff member.

Only supervisors and administrators can enter negative values (to make adjustments in relation to incorrectly entered cost values, or to record payments).

It also allows the type of cost to be selected from values set by your System Administrator in the “Cost types” code table.

If a default value is defined for an expense type in the code table, it will be automatically inserted into the appropriate field (but it can be changed). Costs can be entered as n (whole currency units) and n.nn – they will automatically reformat to n.nn format when you move to another field in order to clearly show the amount entered. As this screen is specifically designed for entering costs, it does not allow entries with zero costs to be saved.

If more than one currency is enabled in your system, you will be able to select the currency for the entry you are adding from a drop own list of the enabled currency codes. The screen will default to the default currency set in the signon on the signed on user, but the user can choose any other enabled currency when appropriate to the cost.  No matter what currency you are using, decimal parts of an amount of money are indicated by “.”
– using the number pad on your keyboard will make entering costs easy – only numerals and the point (.) character can be entered in the “Cost incurred” field.

Importantly, a Journal history summary of all costs already recorded in relation to this question is provided at the bottom of this screen, a handy reference point to ensure that you are not duplicating an entry. This is the same information that is presented in the Journal tab of the Summary screen. A total of all the entries in this summary appears at the top right of the summary table. If more than one currency is enabled and all costs in relation to this question are in one currency, the relevant currency code will display in front of the costs. If costs have been recorded in more than one currency, they cannot be totaled and so the costs figure will be represented as “-.-“.

Some organisations just allow users to see the costs that they have entered themselves in this screen, and not time and/or costs entered by anyone else. System administrators do this by denying the View time (self) and/or View costs (self) functions to that user.

This screen also allows cost centres and payments to be recorded (see sections below about how to use these additional features).

Optional extra functionality for recording the Cost centre to which a cost applies

The Cost centre field in the Request table of the Data dictionary allows all of the Cost centres relevant to a request, to be recorded, comma separated, when this field is included in a Request form.  It would normally contain the default (or usual) Cost center/s for this work for this client.  Cost center information can be entered into this field (comma separated if there is more than one) as a request form is completed by a client or staff member, it might be provided by a Dynamic lookup, or it might be pre-configured into a form (as a hidden field).  It can also be added to an existing question using the Change screen if this field is enabled, or added manually at the time of entering the cost. for example, here are some cost centres set up as defaults.

Where a request includes information in this Cost centre field, the Record costs screen will provide a drop down list of those recorded Cost centres so the relevant Cost centre can be easily picked.  The Record costs screen will also allow ad hoc Cost center details to be added as a cost is recorded, so the values entered in this Cost center field do not restrict other Cost centres from being used, and cost centres can be recorded even if none were recorded in the questions Cost centre field.  If you are going to use manually entered cost centres, they need to be well known, or easy to enter (short), so that staff get them right every time!

Technically, the Request table Cost centre field that can be recorded in the question is not the same as the Cost centre field in the Record Costs screen, but they are related and need to be set up separately!

A Cost centre column can appear in the Record costs screen and Record costs function in the Answer screen closing division, so that the Cost centre to which a cost applies can be recorded.  The Cost centre column can be set to Disabled, Optional or Mandatory, as appropriate, in Data dictionary>System>Journal (Disabled removes that column from the Records function, and Mandatory means that a Cost centre MUST be entered).

The applicable Cost centre can be selected from a drop down list if Cost centre details have been recorded for that question in the question’s Cost Centre field.  Or, whether Cost center details have been recorded for the question or not, a Cost center can always be typed directly into this field.  Only one Cost centre can be entered here.

The Cost center data recorded here is recorded in the Journal entry at the bottom of the Record costs screen, in the Journal tab for the relevant question, and will appear in the Journal entry reporting under System>Statistics>Journal entry reporting.

Here is an example of use of the Cost centre field in this screen where two Cost centers have been recorded in the Cost center field for that question (and so can be easily selected, or another cost center manually typed in if necessary).

Optional extra functionality for reporting payments

Optionally you can include processes for recording payments in relation to the costs you record in your RefTracker system.  The payments themselves, and balancing any cash received, must be handled through your normal payment processes.

Here’s how to use the RefTracker payments functionality:
There is a “Payment type” code table that you can use to record the different types of payments that you accept.  Default values are Cash, Credit card, and Account.  Amend the Payment type code table if you want to be able to record more payment types.  Set the Payment type code table to Optional to enable this payments functionality (at System>Code tables menu).  Set it to Disabled if you do not want to use this new payment functionality.

If the Payment code table is enabled, payment functionality appears in the Record costs screen, and that screen gets renamed to “Records costs and payments”.

Also the total cost summary will show the total of Costs, total of Payments and the Balance payable.  These figures also show in the Details tab of the Summary screen.

The Category column allows you to choose between entering a cost and a payment. If you select Payment, the system automatically suggests the outstanding balance as the payment amount, but you can adjust it to any amount.  This payment line appears in red to indicate that it is a payment that will be deducted from the outstanding balance.

Transaction type should be used to select the type of payment (cash, credit card, account, etc. as is provided by your Payment type code table). If only one value is enabled in your Payment code table, it will default into this field.

Cost centre is greyed out for payments as it is not relevant. 

You can also record a textual comment about this payment in the Details box – use it to record the receipt number when that is relevant!

If you need to Undo a payment you can do that in the History table at the bottom of this screen.

Usage hint: Users of these payment functions will find it helpful to tick the “Stay on this page” box, if they have lots of cost and payment data to enter for this request.
Also, don’t forget that you can change the size of this subwindow to fit what displays in your version of this screen.  RefTracker will remember your preferred size of this window.

Special attributes for System administrators

Supervisors and Administrators can make adjustments to the Costs (and payments) recorded by entering negative values (they will appear in the Journal tab in red).

Administrators can also [Undo] incorrect Cost entries using the [Undo] links to the right of each Journal entry.  When the [Undo] function is used it is recorded in the History screen so that there is a record of who deleted that record and when.

Here’s an example showing the [Undo] link in the Record costs screen.

Other places Costs/payments can be recorded

Some systems may want to remind their staff to enter costs and payments as they work on requests. Although this Record costs (and payments) screen can be used at anytime because it opens in a separate window, it is also possible to embed the costs/payments table into the New, Answer and Third party screens, so that staff are reminded to record their costs and payments each time they use these screens.  See Request forms – edit options  for instructions as to how to include the costs/payment table in the New, Answer and Third party screens for any Request form where it is relevant to do so.