Rule Sets for Overtime and Premium Pay
How rule sets turn scheduled time into states such as Overtime or Holiday pay, which kinds of rule exist, and how rule sets attach to resource types and single needs.
A rule set is a named bundle of rules that decides which state a resource is in at any point in its schedule. States such as Regular, Overtime and Double time are what the rate card prices, so rule sets are how overtime and premium pay get applied without anyone doing the math by hand.
How Rule Sets Work
A resource is scheduled in blocks of time, and each block has a block type. While it sits in a block, it is in the block type's default state, and the rate card prices that state. A rule watches the schedule and, when its condition is met, moves the time it covers into a different state. The rate card then prices that time at the new state's rate.
A rule set holds any number of rules. Rules evaluate independently, so states from different rules can apply at once, for example a meal penalty and overtime. Within a single rule, a later threshold replaces an earlier one, so double time replaces overtime. A rule can be switched off with its Active setting without deleting it.
Kinds of Rule
Every rule has a Condition type.
| Condition type | What it watches | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Block duration | Time accumulated in the rule's tracked block type | After 10 hours of Work blocks, the resource is in Overtime. After 12, Double time. |
| Time since clearance | Time elapsed since the last clearance | Less than 10 hours between shifts triggers a turnaround state. |
| Time of day window | A window of the clock, on the days the rule selects | 22:00 to 06:00 is Night premium. |
Block duration and Time since clearance rules use thresholds. Each threshold is Greater than or Less than an amount in Hours, Minutes or Days, with the state to enter when it is crossed. When event schedules are priced, a threshold in Days counts 24 hours of tracked time per day.
A Time of day window rule has no threshold. Any scheduled time inside the window, on a matching day, takes the rule's Resulting state. For holidays and weekends, see Holiday and Weekend Premium Rules.
Reset conditions say what starts a rule's count over, such as a gap in the schedule or a block of a given type, and can set a different threshold after the reset.
A rule with a Calendar period reset condition, such as a weekly-hours rule, is skipped when event schedules are priced. Use a Schedule gap or Block type reset for rules that need to apply on events.
Create a Rule Set
Open rule sets
For the organization, open Resource Templates in Settings and go to Rule Sets. For one event, open the event's settings, choose Resources, and go to Rule Sets.
Add the set
Add rules
Choose Add rule. Name it, pick the condition type and fill in its fields: a Tracked block type for Block duration, or a window and Resulting state for Time of day window.
Add thresholds
Make sure the states and block types a rule uses exist first. They are managed under States and Block Types in the same place. See States, Block Types and Categories.
Attach Rule Sets
A rule set does nothing until it is attached. A resource type with no rule sets never moves into rule-driven states.
Default rule sets on a type. Set Default rule sets in the type's details. Every need for that type follows them. One set can be the default for many types, so a single "Standard Labor Rules" set can serve Rigger, Lead and A2 without copies.
Override on one need. In an event, a single need's Rule sets card can override the rule sets it inherits from its type. When the need has its own sets, they replace the type's defaults for that need. With none of its own, it inherits the type's.
An organization rule set cannot be deleted while a resource type uses it as a default. Pulling a type into an event copies its rule sets with it.
Roles that need different rates or different rules should be separate resource types, each with its own rate card. See Rate Cards.