Earnings Adjustment Tags Are Not Considered For Earnings Analysis

br4in

WorkingHours version: 2.8.14
OS + version: macOS 12.4/iOS 15.5

There may be a bug in the way that Earnings Adjustment Tags affect the earnings of a task, or I am misunderstanding how to use the tags and tasks.

I am a freelance audio technician, and in my line of work I may be involved in various roles on different productions. One day I might be just a hand helping get equipment into a building for a production of, let's say, The Lion King. On a different day I might be the Head Audio for the production of Phantom of the Opera. On yet another day I might be the Head Audio on a production of My Fair Lady.

Since the different roles have variable pay rates (as not all companies pay the same amount as other companies), my thought was to make the show I'm working on into a "Task" (Task: The Lion King, Phantom, My Fair Lady, etc.), and then when I work on that show, in whatever capacity, I would tag the Work Event with the appropriate role, and each role would itself be a variable Earnings Adjustment tag so that I could specify what I'm earning on that show in that role.

However, I have noticed that the information about earnings that's specified in the tag is not considered when calculating the earnings for that Work Event.

As you can see in the image below, I have created an event, wherein I worked for 8 hours, yet the entry states that I only earned $30. If my understanding is correct, I should be seeing a total of $30 x 8 hours = $240.

Furthermore, when creating an invoice from these data, it is odd that the task has the appropriate hours attributed, but the tag is listed only as "1".

Though in this example it may seem like the obvious answer is to set the hourly rate of the "Jersey Boys Strike" task to $30/hour, there are situations where this would not make sense to do. Sometimes I have two different roles on a production, as seen in the screenshot below.

If this is all just a misunderstanding on my part, and there might be a better way to manage this system, I am open to ideas! If I can get this working, your apps will be my first choice for managing my time and getting paid for it so thank you for your work and I look forward to learning more!

-Brian

timo

Hey Brian. With "work event" you mean "work unit", right?
The "Hand" tag looks like you used the "equals" operator in the tag creation screen. The earnings adjustment tags always apply on the whole work unit, not on the hourly rate of the task of the work unit. If you want to calculate "$30 x 8" I would recommend to specify that hourly rate in the task. Or is that supposed to be payment on top of what is specified in the task? Then you can use a variable earnings adjustment tag and enter the exact amount every time you add the tag or you can create a duplicate of the work unit for the extra payment.
You can also give a task a hourly rate that works for most cases but when you want to "eliminate" it, you can use a "= 0" earnings adjustment tag.

To give any comments on the invoice issue I would need more info on the export options you have specified or even a database file, I have troubles understanding everything based on screenshots

br4in

Hi Timo. Thanks for such a quick response!

I just went back to check, and I know for certain that I created the "Hand" tag with a "variable" operator, not an "equals".

And to clarify, I have not set any hourly rates in the tasks because I've tried treating the tasks like projects. In this case, the "project" is "¡Americano! - Show". Since there are some days where I'm the A1, and other days where I'm the A2, each of which have different hourly rates, I thought that I would be able to calculate my earnings from "¡Americano! - Show" tasks by tagging them with my role for that work unit.

Also to clarify, I was not using the "earnings adjustment tags" to indicate payment on top of what is specified. I thought that I would be able to use the tag to set the earnings for that specific work unit even if the task was the same from unit to unit. The only differences would be the tag used ("A1" or "A2"), and the time/date of course.

As for clarifying the invoice issue, I am happy to provide a database file! Since my original post, I did try setting up my tasks differently, with the tasks having hourly rates, and I believe I'm better understanding the correct way to use WorkingHours. However, I made a backup of my database, and recreated the environment in which I was having confusing results. If you would like to take a look at it, please let me know the best way to send you the file; unfortunately your forum is not allowing me to upload the database file.

One last thing, I just want to express 1) how delightful it is to use your software. Everything is so smooth and well-considered! And 2) I do appreciate how well and quickly you provide support! Independent app development is a hard enough job, yet you still manage to make quality software and respond to users here and that's worth applauding so thank you Timo!

-Brian

timo

br4in I just went back to check, and I know for certain that I created the "Hand" tag with a "variable" operator, not an "equals".

Ok, but a "variable" tag acts like a "equals" tag, just that you need to enter the amount every time you use it. I would suggest then entering 240$.
I think what you are looking for is an "adjust hourly rate" tag, which doesn't exist in the app at the moment.
If you are always getting paid for a "project", but the rate just differs, you could use a hourly rate of $1 on that task and then use a "earnings adjustment tag" with a multiply operator, e.g. "* 30" for an hourly rate of $30. Or doesn't that work either?

The invoice rows are grouped and exported differently based on what you chose in the export settings. If you believe there's a bug in the invoice creation process, you can send me the database + export setting screenshot + expected & actual results in a mail to hello@timopartl.com.

And thank you so much for your praise! 🙂 It's much appreciated

br4in

timo Ok, but a "variable" tag acts like a "equals" tag

Ok gotcha, that makes more sense now.

timo I think what you are looking for is an "adjust hourly rate" tag

Yes this absolutely yes! I would love a tag with that functionality, that supports any over the operators, plus a “variable” option. This would then allow me to separate the hourly rate from a task and let the tags handle all the rate allocation.

I think too such a tag would be more widely useful to some freelancers because some people might have negotiated different rates for the same task depending on where they’re working. While the task might be “Editing” at many companies, for a New York Times article they might get paid $35/hour, while at a smaller, local paper it’s still “Editing” but the rate is instead $20/hour.

This was just an example I thought from the top of my head but I’m sure you understand the case I’m making.

timo If you are always getting paid for a "project", but the rate just differs, you could use a hourly rate of $1 on that task and then use a "earnings adjustment tag" with a multiply operator, e.g. "* 30" for an hourly rate of $30. Or doesn't that work either?

Unfortunately this wouldn’t work because then I would have a bunch of different tags for the same job with different rates depending on the employer.

As for the database/invoice stuff, I’ll have to do some more work to get that info to you if you’re interested. Just know it’ll take some more time.

Thanks again, Timo!

-Brian

timo

br4in Yes this absolutely yes! I would love a tag with that functionality, that supports any over the operators, plus a “variable” option. This would then allow me to separate the hourly rate from a task and let the tags handle all the rate allocation.

Maybe you can create a feature request for just that and we can see if other users are looking for something similar. If that's the case, then I can check if this can be added to the app in a future update. Thanks!