Advanced Auto Fee Stacking Guide

At its core, Auto Fee Stacking simplifies the process of applying After Hours and Weekend fees based on event specifics; each fee is applied if enabled and if the event aligns with the defined criteria.

This advanced guide explains the underlying logic behind Auto Fee Stacking and when these fees and pay rates might change. Whether updating an event's status, service type, date, or time, every change sets off a series of rules dictating fee recalculation.

Applying Auto Fee Stacking settings

• For a new event, each auto fee will be applied if it is enabled on the service and the event date/time qualifies for that auto fee (the event is on a weekend or begins outside the service’s work hours, respectively).
• If auto fee stacking is not enabled, and the event is both on a weekend and after hours, only the preferred auto fee will be applied automatically.
• Auto fees for clients and staff have separate settings and are processed independently of each other.
• If a service is set not to add auto fees on holidays, then for an event that is on a holiday, the holiday acts as the preferred fee (whether or not a holiday fee is actually being charged that day), so both the weekend and after hours fee will act as the non-preferred fee. The explanations below do not address holidays, but the logic for preferred and non-preferred fees works the same way, just with the holiday fee acting as the preferred fee.

Making changes to an event

Certain event changes will cause auto fees to be added, removed, or recalculated.

• When changing an event from Cancelled to Scheduled or Completed, both weekend and after hours auto fees will be recalculated based on the settings of the service, regardless of the previous value of the auto fees on the event.
• When changing an event to Cancelled, the auto fee rates listed in the service definition will not be used. The cancellation rate (e.g. charge 20%, no charge, etc.) will simply be applied to the event’s current service rate and extra fee rates.
• When changing the service associated with the event, both auto fees will be recalculated based on the settings of the new service, regardless of the previous value of the auto fees on the event.
• When changing the date or time of the event, one or both auto fees might be recalculated based on the rules listed below.
• If auto fee stacking is not enabled, when the preferred auto fee is automatically added, removed, or recalculated, the non-preferred auto fee might be removed or added based on the rules listed below.

Auto Fee Stacking rules

• When changing the date or time of the event, the system considers whether the weekend and after hours statuses are changing. For example, the event might have previously been on a weekend and is being moved to a weekday, or vice versa, or the event is moving but the weekend status is not changing. 
  • In the below bullet points, a weekend or after hours status being “activated” means the event was outside of the qualifying time period (e.g. a weekday) and is moving into a qualified period (e.g. a weekend).
  • Being “deactivated” means the event was in a qualifying time period and is moving outside the qualifying time period.
• These rules always apply:
  • When a weekend or after hours status is activated, the service’s default fee for that auto fee is added, as long as the event’s existing amount for that auto fee is $0. If it is not $0, it is considered already set, and is not changed, even if it differs from the default fee.
  • When a weekend or after hours status is deactivated, that auto fee on the event is changed to $0.
  • When the event is moved but the weekend or after hours status does not change, that auto fee on the event is not updated.
• If auto fee stacking is not enabled, these additional rules apply:
  • When a weekend or after hours status is activated for the non-preferred auto fee, the service’s default fee only gets added if the preferred auto fee is not currently active AND the preferred auto fee is currently $0. This means:
    • If the event date/time qualifies for the preferred auto fee, even if the preferred auto fee is set to $0, the non-preferred auto fee will not be automatically added
    • If the preferred auto fee is set to $0, even if the event date/time does not currently qualify for the preferred auto fee, the non-preferred auto fee will not be automatically added
  • When the preferred fee is automatically added, the non-preferred fee is automatically set to $0.
  • When the preferred fee is automatically removed, the non-preferred fee is automatically added if the event date/time qualifies for the non-preferred fee.

Rules Applied to Specific Scenarios

The following scenarios assume the weekend fee is preferred, but it would work a similar way if the after hours fee is preferred (just switch “weekend” and “after hours” in these bullet points).

• When an event is moved from a weekend to a weekday, any weekend fee will be removed. If the event is after hours, the after hours fee will then be added, since the preferred weekend fee is now going away (even if the weekend rate being charged on this event was $0). If the after hours fee is already non-zero, it will not update it (since the admin likely manually edited it).
• When an event is moved from after hours to NOT after hours, any after hours fee will be removed. The weekend fee will not be changed, since as the preferred fee, it is not affected by the non-preferred after hours fee.
• When an event is moved from a weekday to a weekend and the existing weekend fee on the event is $0, the weekend fee will be added. If an after hours fee is set, the after hours fee will be removed since the weekend fee is preferred, even if the new weekend rate being added is $0 according to the service definition. However, if the existing weekend fee on the event is non-zero, no changes will be made: it will leave the weekend fee unchanged, and any after hours fee will not be removed, since the preferred weekend fee was not just added.
• When an event is moved from NOT after hours to after hours, the after hours fee will be added. However, if the event is on a weekend (fee could be $0 or non-zero), or if the event is on a weekday but the weekend fee is above $0, it will not add the after hours fee since the weekend fee is preferred. If the after hours fee is already non-zero, it will not update it or remove it, even if the event is on a weekend or has a weekend fee set.

Less common situations

• When scheduling a repeating event at an after hours time and the weekend fee is preferred in the service definition, the after hours fee (either the default amount from the service definition or the amount entered by the user for the repeating event) will be applied to all of the event instances except those that fall on a weekend, and neither fee will be applied to event instances that fall on holidays if the service is set to not add after hours fees on holidays.
• When recalculating percent-based auto fees when a frequency discount is going into effect, each auto fee will be recalculated as a percentage of the discounted service cost, except if that auto fee is currently set to $0 on the event, in which case it will remain at $0 regardless of what the new service cost is.
• The "Flat Rate Staff on $0 Services" setting when generating pay stubs always determines whether a staff member gets paid an after hours or weekends rate for an event. If a client is not paying one or both auto fees, based on the service’s auto fee stacking settings or because the event’s auto fees were manually edited, the staff member will also not be paid those rates unless "Flat Rate Staff on $0 Services" is checked when generating the pay stub. This can come up if a service is set to stack auto fees for staff but not for clients, or if the preferred fee for clients is different than the preferred fee for staff. For example, if the after hours fee is preferred for clients and the weekend fee is preferred for staff, an event that is on the weekend and after hours will result in the staff member being paid a $0 weekend rate (because the client is not paying a weekend fee) and a $0 after hours rate (because the weekend fee is preferred for staff).

Example Functionality

This list includes most of the places in Time To Pet where Auto Fee Stacking settings take effect.

Set Auto Fee Stacking Settings

When editing a service, go to the Auto Fees tab and look at the bottom section. You can choose whether to stack auto fees, which automatically applies both weekend and after hours fees at the same time if applicable, or choose one or the other that is preferred, which will apply only that one if both fees would otherwise apply to an event. You can also choose whether to apply weekend and after hours fees at all on holidays. You can set all of these settings separately for client fees and staff rates.

Create or Edit Events

From Scheduler > Calendar, create a new event or edit an existing event. The displayed weekend and after hours extra fees are updated in real time as you make changes (without saving the event). As you change the start date/time and end date/time, the extra fees are updated based on the changes currently being made. As you change the service, the extra fees are recalculated from scratch. If you change the status from Cancelled to Scheduled, the extra fees are recalculated from scratch. All calculations will follow auto fee stacking settings. These changes will not take effect until you click the Save Changes button. The saved amounts for extra fees are whatever dollar amounts are showing when you click Save Changes, so you can manually edit fees during or after any automatic changes. If you change the event to Cancelled, the extra fees will not update in real time, since those changes are calculated in the following step after the cancellation fee action is chosen (and are calculated based on the current extra fees that are set on the event, regardless of auto fee stacking settings).

Create a Repeating Event

From Scheduler > Calendar, create a new event with the "Repeats?" checkbox checked, or edit an existing non-repeating event and check that checkbox. The after hours auto rate for each new event will be set to the value the admin submits, except for when the event falls on a weekend or holiday (if the auto fee stacking settings are set to prefer weekends or to not automatically add fees on holidays). The weekend fee will be set automatically for each event according to auto fee stacking settings.

Schedule Events with the Trip Tool

From Scheduler > Calendar, click Schedule Client > [select client] > [select invoice or new invoice] > Trip Tool, and schedule events using the tool. Extra fees will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Reschedule Events by Dragging

From Scheduler > Calendar, drag an event to a new time or to a different staff member’s column. Any updated extra fees based on the new date and time will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Reschedule Events from the Daily Summary

From Scheduler > Daily Summary, edit the time for an event and click save. Any updated extra fees based on the new date and time will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Frequency Discounts

Schedule two of the same service on the same day where the service has a frequency discount for 2 or more on the same day. If the service has a percent based weekend or after hours auto fee, those fees will be recalculated based on the discounted service cost, but only if the auto fee is not currently set to $0. For example, if you add one after hours event that gets a percent based after hours rate, then manually set the after hours rate to $0, then add a second event, the frequency discounts will be applied to the service costs on both events, but the after hours rate will not be refreshed based on the new service cost, so as not to revert the manual adjustment to $0 that was made. Another example: if an event is on a weekend and after hours, and the auto fee stacking settings for the service are set to “Prefer Weekend Fee”, the after hours rate would be set to $0 automatically from the start, so when a frequency discounts is applied it will leave the after hours rate at $0 rather than recalculating it as a percentage of the service cost.

Change Event Status from Bulk Update

From Scheduler > Calendar, click Bulk Update, select events, and then change their status from Cancelled to Scheduled. The extra fees will be recalculated from scratch and will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Run the “Refresh Rates” action in Bulk Update

From Scheduler > Calendar, click Bulk Update, select events, and then complete the "Refresh Rates" action. The extra fees on these events will be recalculated from scratch and will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Approve Templates

Create a template, then approve using the Bulk Approve button or by clicking Edit This Template > History > Cancel Auto Approval > Approve. The auto fees on the created events will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Approve Pending Requests

In the client portal, request new services. In the dashboard, approve the events from Scheduler > Pending Requests (either individually or by clicking Bulk Actions > Approve All within a request). The weekend and after hours fees on the created events will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Process Change Requests

In the client portal, request a change to an event. In the dashboard, go to Scheduler > Change Requests, click the Process button for a request. For each event in the change request, the last row of the table is "Change Notes", which shows the predicted changes to extra fees based on the new dates and times. These extra fee changes follow auto fee stacking settings and update as you choose different dates and times from the dropdowns on the “Scheduled” row. When you click Finalize Changes, those changes to extra fees will be applied.

Pay Stub Reports

Go to Staff > Pay Center > Pay Report tab and click Generate. The projected amounts will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Estimate Pay

Go to Staff > My Pay > Estimate, choose a date with an event that has extra fees, and click Update. The weekend and after hours rates listed will follow auto fee stacking settings.

Generate Pay Stubs

This can be done in a few different ways. For all of them, the weekend and after hours rates will follow auto fee stacking settings.

• Go to Staff > Pay Center, click Generate Pay Stubs, choose dates, and then click Continue to Review.
• Go to Staff > My Pay > Pay Stubs, click Generate Pay Stubs, choose dates, and then click Continue to Review.
• Open a staff member, go to the Pay Stubs tab, click Generate Pay Stub, choose dates, and then click Continue to Review.