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Fee Matrices

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Overview

A fee matrix allows you to add specific fees to financial elements based on different criteria. For example, you might have an overall "Service Charge" fee that always calculates and adds 5% of the total to any Quote you create, or you might create a "Credit Card Processing" fee that only applies a 3% fee to the Quotes when a credit card payment term is used.

Using a fee matrix involves three main steps:

  1. Adding and editing the matrix.
  2. Applying a fee matrix to an element (like a Quote or Invoice).
  3. Displaying the fee amount on an element (adding a row to the total block of the element to show what the fee is).
Use caution when adding a fee matrix to an element, as it will retroactively add the fee to any past element (Quote, Invoice, etc.) to which you open and make any changes.

Adding a New Fee Matrix

  1. In the Main Menu, go to Financials and select Fee Matrices.
  2. Click the Add New Fee Matrix button in the bottom left.
  3. Enter the new fee matrix information.
    • Name: The name of the fee matrix.
    • Code: The code that Flex will use to reference the fee matrix.
    • Calculation Mode: Whether the fee matrix will be calculated before or after any discounts. We recommend using either "Pre Discount" or "Post Discount" for simplicity.
    • Basis: The result of the fee matrix: a price (charge the client) or a cost (internal cost to you). Respective means it will be based on the setting of the custom row when you apply the fee matrix to an element.
    • Default Percentage: You can either set a default percentage that will calculate all the time or set specific percentages based on a resource type, location, payment terms, etc.
    • Damage Waiver: Visual reference for whether or not this is a damage waiver type fee matrix. This does not affect calculations.
    • Click ADD.

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When choosing a Basis, keep in mind that the "Adjusted Total" options mean the fee matrix will be based on total price minus any other custom rows using the same fee matrix.

After you click ADD, the popup will remain open and additional options will become active, including Line Item Types, Resource Types, and Payment Terms. In each of these tabs, you can enter specific fee percentage amounts for different things. For example, if you want the fee matrix to calculate only 5% on Rental items, you can select the Resource Types tab, click the plus icon to add a new line, choose Rental in the resource type selector field, enter 5% in the percentage field, and click OK.

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You can also choose location settings, so the fee only calculates when you are building a job with a certain location selected.

For reference, here are the options on each tab:

Line Item Types - You can choose Resource Line (which applies to any line item with a resource type, like Rental or Retail) or Miscellaneous Line (which applies to any "Misc" line item). Each option can have a fee percentage associated with it, as well as a location filter if applicable.

Resource Types - You can select specific resource types for which you want to apply a fee. If you choose specific resource types on this tab, you won't want to apply a fee to Resource Lines (on the previous tab), or you will get a double fee. Each resource type chosen can have a fee percentage associated with it, as well as a location filter if applicable.

Payment Terms - You can select any payment term for which you want to apply a fee. For example, if you want to charge a 3% fee for when a Visa card is used, you can choose Visa (or any other credit card type) from the list, and enter 3% in the percentage field. You can add as many payment term fees as you want.

The fee matrix will not calculate on any element until you enable it for the element. See how in the Applying a Fee Matrix to an Element section.

Editing a Fee Matrix

  1. In the Main Menu, go to Financials and select Fee Matrices.
  2. Double-click the fee matrix that you want to edit.
  3. Edit the fee matrix information.
  4. Click OK.

For additional instructions on how to edit specific fee percentages found in each tab (Line Item Types, Resource Types, and Payment Terms), see the Adding a New Fee Matrix section above.

Applying a Fee Matrix to an Element

With a fee matrix created, you have to decide which element(s) will use the fee matrix (Quote, Invoice, etc.). The fee matrix won't calculate until you add it to the element settings.

  1. On the Projects menu, click Element Definitions
  2. Double-click the element to which you want to add the fee matrix.
  3. Click the Custom Rows tab.
  4. Click the Add New Custom Row icon.
  5. Enter the new custom row information.
    • Code: The identifier for the row and what will be used in the total block when selecting the custom row. This basically acts as the name field.
    • Description: A brief description of the custom row.
    • Calculation Method: How the custom row is calculated. TheAs Enteredoption is used for manually entering the price or cost. When selecting theFee Matrixoption, choose what Fee Matrix will be used. When selecting theAs Subtotal Multiple, enter the number that the row will be multiplied by.
    • Result Type: Whether the custom row results in a price (charged to the client) or cost (internal cost to you).
    • Resource Type: Optional resource type selector. This is useful for QuickBooks purposes and will determine what resource type is exported for the row.
    • Tax Treatment: How the custom row is taxed, or not taxed.
    • Transient Calculation: If Yes, the custom row will be used for display purposes only and will not calculate into any totals. This is useful for resource type totaling.
    • Is Waivable: If Yes, a user can click into the custom row field and make manual changes.
    • Must Be Negative: If Yes, the custom row will be a negative price/cost.
  6. Click OK.
Any fee percentages as set in the fee matrix will now calculate on the element and will show in the total. You will not, however, see a breakdown of the fee anywhere. You can learn how to add a total block row showing the fee amount in the Adding a Fee Matrix Amount to the Total Block section.

Adding a Fee Matrix Amount to the Total Block

After following the instructions on applying a fee matrix to an element in the previous section, you can now add the fee matrix amount to the total block of the element.

  1. On the Projects menu, click Element Definitions
  2. Double-click the element name for which you want to add a fee matrix amount to the total block.
  3. Click the Views tab.
  4. Double-click the view on which you want the fee matrix to appear.
  5. Select the Total Block Rows tab.
  6. Click the Add Total Block Row icon.
    • Enter the Caption, choose the Field Type (which should be "Custom Row"), and Custom Row code (the code that you set up in the Custom Rows tab as described in the last section).
  7. Click OK.

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