New Holidays whilst these can be added at any time, due to their effect on Budgets and the requirements for Timesheet headers to be created after adding new holidays, APS strongly advises to add any holidays as soon as the new Debtors year is created.
However, if you have set up public holidays as internal matters, then you are more than likely not using the holiday function in Advance.
To add a new holiday, follow the steps below:
From within the Periods screen, select the HOLS button (see below).
From the File Menu, select New Holiday.
When the Add Holiday screen opens either type in the date of the holiday or use the drop down arrow to access the built in calendar;
Tab in to the Holiday Name and add an appropriate description;
For Std Hours, enter the number of hours that will be worked on that day;
Click on the OK to accept the new Holiday.
Below is a screenshot from Practice Management 9.0036 for adding holidays:
For Practice Management from versions 9.1.2 onwards, there is now the availability of Regions. This allows the practice to set up their holidays based on the Fee Earners region/state. For more information on Regions, please read the Release Notes for Practice Management 9.1.2.
Below is a screenshot from Practice Management 9.1.2 showing the Region selection field:
When finished entering the Public Holidays for the new financial year close out of that screen by selecting on the X.
Click on the Yes button to save any changes.
When holidays are set up through Timesheet Administration, the field for hours that you complete on a holiday are the hours ‘to be worked on this holiday’. Therefore, the following must be considered in relation to productivity:
Holidays set up with 7.5 standard hours assume that employees still have a week equal to 37.5 hours to be worked and the productivity will reflect 37.5 standard hours.
Holidays set up with 0 standard hours will generate a week with standard hours of 30 and hence the productivity will be calculated on a 30 hour week as opposed to 37.5 hours.
When deciding on the number of hours to add for the holiday, the best example is adding the Christmas Day holiday, add in the number of hours you want your staff to work on that day. If it is zero hours then add zero. If it is half a day and you normally work 7.5 hours days, then add 3.25.
If you are using employee budgets from the Budget console, the standard hours are calculated the same as described above.
Note: You MUST enter any public holidays prior to creating that week’s timesheet headers. The holiday will not be displayed if that week’s headers are already created. You may need to delete and recreate the header.
If you have created budgets for your staff and add your holidays afterwards, you may need to add ‘Less Adjustment’ to adjust the Std Hrs or ‘Reset’ the budgets and recreate from the start.
Note: Using the Less Adjustment field in Budgets to adjust the Std Hrs, this changes only adjusting the figure in the Budget Console. It will not adjust the Standard Hours in Timesheet nor in PracticeIQ. PracticeIQ picks up the Standard Hours from Timesheet Header.