Groups allow Advanced Users to book a group of people or Objects that typically work together by just booking the Group.
When booking a Group, all Objects belonging to the Group will be also added individually and can be later removed individually from the Booking.
Groups are also useful for setting package prices on a package of Objects e.g. a Camera Set.
Limitations:
- Groups cannot be added to Rate Cards.
- Groups cannot be added to Budgets.
- Groups cannot be added to Invoices as ad-hoc Objects from Invoice Editor window.
- In the Financial Reports, the Group will appear listed as an Object.
- When booking Groups in the Web Access tiers, the Group Members are not booked.
In the example above, the Group "ENG Blue" consists of the Object Classes: Camera-Op/ DoP, Monitor 17" LCD, Sony FS7 and Tripod, selected in the Involved Object Classes area. In such a way that when booking the Group the available Objects from the Involved Object Classes will be automatically booked at one go.
If there are specific Objects that always go together, the Group is to be created by selecting those specific Objects under the Involved area, instead of using the Involved Object Classes area.
To create a Group, click on the Add New (green plus) icon. A window will appear, allowing to define the following details:
- Name: Define the name of the Group.
- Inherit Rate From Object Class: Check this box if the price will be taken from the primary Object Class this group belongs to.
- Buy/ Sell Rate: Only editable if Fixed Price is ticked. The cost of the Group to the company (Buy) and the cost of the Group to the client/customer (Sell). Also select whether this rate is applied per Day or per Hour.
- Tax: Tick the checkbox if the default Tax defined in the Financial Tab of the Server Setup applies to this Group.
- Fixed Price: Select if the Group should have a Fixed Price. If ticked then the Buy/ Sell Rate fields will be editable for setting the price. If not ticked, the Buy/ Sell Rates fields will be greyed out and the prices will be taken from each individual object In the Financial Report, items included in a Fixed Price group will have a 0 Rate in all Time Report modes (Booked, Used, To Invoice, Invoiced) when reporting on these Objects as the Group Object carries the Rates. Only the List Price (Sell) can be displayed and is referring to the database Sell Rate of the Group member.
- Ref: Enter a reference ID for the Group, for accounts or Financial Reports purposes.
- Note: Any additional information about the Group.
- Confirm Note: Define an optional Confirmation Note which will appear as a popup when the Group is booked.
- Icon: Click here to choose an icon for this Group
- Inventory Number: A number used for inventory or asset management purposes.
- Causes Conflict: By default, this option is ticked. When a Group is set up to contain only Involved Object Classes and no specific Objects, this option should be set to No, to enable the possibility to book this Group multiple times without causing conflicts.
When in a later stage, Objects are allocated to each Object Class, the conflict window will notify when an Object is double booked. If a Group is set up to contain at least one specific Object, this option should be set to Yes. - Involved: Shows all Objects included in the Group.
- Involved Object Classes: Shows all Object Classes belonging to the Group. To remove an Object or Class from the Group, select the Object from the Involved list, right mouse click and select: Remove From Group.
Alternatively it's possible to consult the Object's information by choosing > Info: X - Advanced: Define Activities (including Rates By Quantity) for the Group e.g. 'On Set' and 'In house' as described in previous chapter regarding Advanced Object preferences.
* Also the Groups can be added to Object Classes. - Custom Fields: Custom Fields allow to add more fields of information to a Object and in this case to a Group. The Custom Fields icon, found in the lower left corner of the window, only appears if Custom Fields Templates have been previously defined.
These templates can only be created from the Object Manager. Click on the icon to select a Custom Field Template to apply to the Group being created. - OK: Press OK to submit the defined Group information.
- Cancel: Press this button to cancel any changes made after opening/ creating the Group.