In the Operational Resources section of the master data libraries, employee, equipment and material resources are organized and stored for use in the InEight cloud platform. These are not to be confused with Estimating Resources, which also may be used in your project. To clarify, note the following definitions of estimating resources and operational resources:
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Term |
Definition |
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Estimating Resources |
The generic resources used to estimate work for the project. For example:
These are typically imported from InEight Estimate, but additional generic resources can be added in InEight Control as needed for additional work (e.g., change orders). Estimating resources are not accessed from the Settings Master Data Libraries menu. They are accessed at the project level in one of two ways:
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Operational Resources |
The specific employee, equipment, and material used to build the work on the project and tracked in Plan and Progress. For example:
As discussed in Lesson 3, if you have the proper role, you can add operational resources to specific projects. Note: currently, you can only add employee and equipment operational resources to the project (not materials). |
The following diagram illustrates the difference between estimating and operational resources:
For both employee and equipment resources, there are three tiers.
Below is an example of an employee and equipment resource:
As mentioned above, employee operational resources are organized into a hierarchy of three levels: trade, craft, and employee. The following table provides definitions for each.
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Employee Operational Resources Hierarchy |
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Term |
Definition |
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Master Data Trade |
Top layer of the Employee Operational Resource entity, traditionally utilized as a method to organize Crafts into operational or functional areas within a company’s structure. An example of a Trade could be “Electricians”. |
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Master Data Craft |
Assigned to a Master Data Trade, traditionally utilized to define a level or category of employees with metadata Details including ID, Description, Union, and Vendor as well as Cost metadata including Currency, Unit of Measure (UoM), and Pay Rates (Standard, Overtime, and Double time). An example of a Craft could be “Apprentice Electrician”. |
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Master Data Employee |
Assigned to a Master Data Craft, traditionally defines the actual named employee with all required metadata including the employee’s ID, name, global start/end dates, Job title, etc. Additionally, includes the individual employee’s pay rates, which are initially inherited from the Master Data Craft to which the employee is assigned. |
Employee operational resource records include details such as Vendor and Union which can be inherited from the craft level and can be valuable for tracking payroll when collecting hours from the field.
Employee records also include a cost section, where Standard time (ST), Overtime (OT), and Double time (DT) rates can be recorded for tracking operational costs. These rates can be inherited from the craft level, or you can override the craft rates, allowing you to have different employee rates from project to project. The following section provides more in-depth detail on employee rate inheritance.
The following steps walk you through viewing an Employee record in the Master Data Libraries. For the following steps you will be working with the employee Donald Poole who is a Laborer General Foreman.
From the Main menu, select Master Data Libraries > Operational resources. The Resources page opens, which defaults to Employees.
In the Trade ID column, click on LA.
In the Craft ID column, click on the LAJM folder to open.
Click on the name Donald Poole.
The row highlights blue
Right click and select Show info.
A slide-out panel with the information opens.
To explain how employee rates are inherited, it is necessary to define additional terms.
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Additional Rate Inheritance-Related Terms |
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Term |
Definition |
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Rate Codes |
Accessible at the Project level, these exist as a 1:1 ratio to the Master Data Crafts and are traditionally used when a Project Employee will be assigned a role/craft on a specific project which differs from their normal Master Data Craft assignment. For example, if a contracted rate has been negotiated which differs from the employees standard Master Data Craft rate only for the given project. |
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Project Employee |
Accessible at the Project level, a Project Employee is a Master Data Employee which has been assigned as a resource for a specific project. In addition to specified Project start/end dates, the employee will initially inherit the pay rates from the assigned Master Data Craft. |
There are five available options for rate inheritance, depending on your business process and use cases. For this section, as you review each use case, you can reference the following diagram which displays how rates flow and are inherited between levels within the master data library and projects.
This model can be used when the project employee pay rate agreement for a project follows the employee’s standard company rate. The employee record will automatically inherit the craft rate, with the Override craft rates option unchecked by default.
The advantage of this model is that any changes to the values of the master data employee records will automatically inherit down to the project employee.
From a top to bottom standpoint, the project employee’s rates would be inherited first from the associated master data employee rates for that employee, which are themselves inherited from the associated master data craft.
The rate data flow is master data craft > master data employee > project employee. (Project employee will inherit the rate of master data craft).
This model can be used when the normal standard rates for an employee initially differ or change from those of the associated master data craft. In the example below, Override craft rates is now checked and the Standard time (ST) rate has been changed to $23/hour.
Like the “full inheritance” model, any changes to the master data employee will automatically inherit down to the project employee.
Since the master data employee record has be overridden, any changes to the associated master data craft will not inherit to the master data employee, and therefore the rates for the project employee will be held.
The rate data flow is master data employee > project employee. (Project employee will have the override rate of master data employee).
This model can be used when the normal standard rates for a project employee differ from the employee’s normal master data employee rates for the specific project or the employee will be performing craft duties outside their standard normal associated master data craft.
The advantage is that a rate code can be selected for the specific project employee and will only influence the pay rates for the employee on the specific project.
You can view the rate codes assigned by selecting Operational rate codes either from the level one or level two menus or from the left side bar on the Project home landing page.
This opens the Operational rate codes register, where you can view the rate codes assigned. Note that they are assigned at a craft level, which your project employees will generate their rates from.
Since rate code has been assigned, going forward the project employee’s rate will inherit from Rate code even if there has been a change to the employee’s associated master data employee rate. Additionally, changes to the master data craft associated to the rate code will automatically inherit to the project employee.
There are several use cases for this functionality from local project union rates to an employee performing work for the duration of the project outside their main craft.
The rate data flow is master data craft > rate code > project employee. (Project employee will have rate of rate code, which is inherited from 1:1 association of master data craft).
This model can be used when the normal standard rates for a project employee differ from the employee’s normal master data employee rates for the specific project or the employee will be performing craft duties outside their standard normal associated master data craft and the rates for the specific rate code itself differ from the standard associated master data craft.
You override rate code amounts by selecting Override rate on the Operational rate code page.
Since the rate code has been overridden, any changes to the associated master data craft rates will not inherit to the rate code and therefore not inherit to the project employee.
The primary use case for this model is in the instance where there may be several employees on the same project performing the same type of work for the duration of the project outside their main crafts and the rate for that craft differs from the standard master data craft rate for the specific project.
The rate data flow is rate code > project employee. (Project employee will have the override rate of project craft).
This model can be used when all other standard rates for a specific project employee differ from the specific agreed upon project rate. You can override rates at the project employee level by navigating to the Assigned operational resources page from the Project home page.
From the Project home page on the Assigned employees tile, click Manage employees.
On the resulting Assigned operational resources page, check the Override rates check box for the project employee you want to edit.
Click in the ST rate field of the project employee.
Change the rate.
Since the project employee rate has been overridden, any changes to any associated master data craft, master data employee, or rate code will not inherit to the project employee.
The primary use case for this terminal level override model is a specific project contract agreement pay rate for the specific project employee which may be a onetime only rate.
The rate data flow is only at project employee. (Project employee will have the override rate entered at project employee).
One of the integral pieces of the override logic is that when an override is in place, changes which occur “above” the override are not inherited. Therefore, for example, if you override a rate at the project employee level, a rate change “above” at the master data craft or master data employee level will NOT affect the already overridden project employee rate.
Equipment operational resource records include details such as manufacturer, serial number, and ownership. Under the Status section, you can provide an availability status and location for the equipment, and when it was last inspected.
Under the Cost section, you can include a unit cost and assign it to a cost center for tracking purposes. The cost center can be inherited from the Craft level.
Materials like vendors come from import and there is no place in UI to add, edit or delete material resources. Materials do not operate on a tier, but information is accessible through filters. The variety of filters offered will help you navigate and find the material information you will need on the project. It is important for you to be familiar with the manufacturer and type of material you are searching for.
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