vWork offers an optional invoicing feature known as FAF (Fuel Adjustment Factor). FAF is a percentage-based surcharge that is added to transportation line items in an invoice. The FAF feature in vWork makes it simple and easy for you to manage changes in fuel prices and reflect these variations in transportation line items in your customers’ invoices. 

In the article, Enable FAF and configure the FAF settings, we explained how to set the FAF surcharge to automatically apply to time and distance line items for completed jobs. 

vWork has two alternative methods to automatically add time and distance traveled line items to an invoice. The method used depends on the optional features added to your vWork account. 

These methods are:

• Apply standard charge-out rates for time and distance (the standard vWork feature), or
• Apply variable, per-user charge-out rates for time and distance (an optional vWork feature).

The charge-out rate method applied in your Finance settings changes how FAF is applied to automated line items added to invoices for time and distance. This is especially relevant if you have the optional Equipment feature enabled in your vWork account. 

In this article

In this article, we look at the charge-out rate method applied in your vWork account and how this method influences the way you see FAF applied to automated time and distance line items in your job invoices.

Topics include:

• Standard charge-out rates and FAF (default)
• Variable, per-user, charge-out rates and FAF
• Related articles

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Standard charge-out rates and FAF (default)

The standard charge-out rate for charging for time and distance is the default method that is available to all vWork accounts (unless the optional variable per-user rate feature is added to the account). 

You can read more about these settings in the articles:

• Automatically add worker hours, at a standard rate, to my invoices. 
• Automatically add mileage, at a standard rate, to my invoices

An Administrator can choose to enable the automatic calculation of hours for a worker, or distance traveled by a worker. Once either or both of these are enabled in the Finance settings they are automatically added as line items to an invoice after the final step in a job is completed.

How the default standard rate works

When enabled in the Finance settings:

• A standard rate is applied to all workers for the hours they spend completing a job and the distance they travel (if both settings are enabled). This excludes the time that jobs are paused.
  
  
• The standard rate applies universally to every job template with invoicing enabled on the ‘Invoicing’ tab. If required, line items can be manually removed after they are generated.
  
  
• The standard rate only applies to workers - it excludes the optional Equipment feature. There is no ability, with this default rate, to automatically calculate and apply invoice line items for Equipment time and distance.

How FAF is applied for the default standard rate

When FAF is enabled for worker hours and distance in the FAF Finance settings then:

• FAF is calculated and applied to the automated Worker line items for hours worked and distance traveled once a job is completed. This is applied to every job where invoicing is enabled on the template.
  
  
• FAF is not applied to Equipment hours used or Equipment distance traveled. 

Variable, per-user, charge-out rates and FAF

vWork has an optional feature that enables charge-out rates to be set for each individual Worker in their user profile and for each item of equipment in the Equipment’s details. When this option is added the Finance settings update; there is no longer an option to configure hours and distance as standard rates in the Finance settings; however you can still choose to have automatically generated line items updated when job invoices are changed after a job is completed.

How variable, per-user, charge-out rates are applied

• Charge-out rates can be automatically calculated and applied as line-items to jobs for Worker and Equipment hours and distance when this is enabled in a template.
  
  
• The customized user charge-out rates are saved in each user’s profile, and each Equipment’s details.
  
  This is an example of where they are applied to a user in their user profile.
  
  
  
  
• Customized rates saved in each user’s profile, or in each Equipment’s details, are used to calculate the hours and distance line items that are automatically added to a job for the main worker assigned and all equipment assigned to a job.
  
  
• Automatic line items are only added to jobs where they are enabled in a job template in the invoicing tab.
  
  

How FAF is applied for the variable charge-out rates

When FAF is enabled for worker hours and distance in the FAF Finance settings then:

• FAF is calculated and applied to the automated Worker line items for hours worked and distance traveled once a job is completed. This is applied to every job where worker hours and worker distance is enabled in the job template.
  
  
• FAF is calculated and applied to the automated Equipment line items for hours used and distance traveled once a job is completed. This is applied to every job where Equipment hours and Equipment distance is enabled in the job template.

Related articles

• To learn more about what FAF is in vWork and how your business can benefit from it please read the article, What is the Fuel Adjustment Factor (FAF)?
  
  
• To learn how to enable FAF and set the FAF rate percentage to apply to automatically generated time and distance line items for completed jobs please read the article, Enable FAF and configure FAF settings.
  
• To learn how to create customer-specific FAF rates and apply these to selected customers please read the article, Set customer-specific FAF rates for selected customers.
  
  
• To learn how to change the customer-specific rate assigned to a group of selected customers, restore the default rate for a customer, or delete a customer-specific rate, please see the article Change customer-specific FAF rates.
  
  
• To learn how to update a Pricebook so that selected line items automatically apply FAF when added to an invoice please read the article, Enable FAF for line items in a pricebook.
  
  
• To learn how to add FAF to line items in a job or job template and see how we calculate and apply FAF to an invoice please read the article, Apply FAF to invoice line items.
  
  
• To learn how FAF shows and can be edited for line-items in the vWork mobile app, please read the article, Edit invoices with FAF line-items using the vWork mobile app.