Building Discount Tables

To build Discount Tables go to Grain > Commodity Tables > Discount Tables > Add New Discount Table

1. Enter Discount Code

2. Enter Commodity Code and/or Location, State/County, Variety Class, UOM depending on how you set your Discount Code.

3. Determine the table code. This code can be up to 3 characters. It can be alpha, numeric or combination of both.

4. Establish the Effective Date of the table. This date determines what tickets and contracts can use this table. Tickets with a shipment date earlier than this date, and contracts with a contract date earlier than this date will not have access to this table. Only shipment & contract dates on this date & forward will use this table. The Effective Date can be back dated if needed. It also can be a date in the future, if you know your rates are changing on a specific date in the future, you can enter the table ahead of time to be ready for the rate change.

5. Determine the Rate Method, there are 4 choices, Flat Fee, Maximum Allowed, Rate for Each Grade, or Freight Expense Amount.

6. Determine if you want the effective date entered in step 4 to be based on the Shipment Date of tickets or the Contract Date.

7. Tables can be set to only be used when certain conditions apply. The question Use This Table Only When: allows you to setup a table to only be used if another grade factor is equal to, greater than or less than a certain factor. An example might be, give Protein premium only if TW is over 60 #. Then the Protein scales you build in this table would only apply if the TW is over 60#.

8. Last thing on this page is a table description. I always recommend trying to put a description that gives the user some sort of idea what the discount scale is. So if a user is picking discount tables from a drop down box they have an idea if it’s going to discount the way they intended.

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1. Decide if you need to enter each grade at a time or if you can enter ranges of grades. A range of grades will be much faster than enter 1 factor at a time.

2. If you selected Multiple Grades, determine what the beginning factor is. Keep in mind, your table does not have to include just factors that are discounted or giving a premium. It should also include the factors that are at a zero rate. Example: Corn Moisture shrink starts at 15.6. Enter as low as you think you will get moisture, or you can even start at .1 up to 15.5 with a zero rate. This ensures that when applying tickets with low moisture, you don’t get a popup message of Discount Table Not Found.

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1. Click Ok & select Multiple Grades again to build the next increment needed. Note that the screen retains the last entries you made. Just enter over them for your new selections.

2. Start with the next increment from where you ended the last time. This example 15.6 is where we will start discounting.

3. For the Rate field, enter the rate amount for the grade factor entered under Beginning Grade. This example is 1.5% shrink.

4. Next you determine at what point in the grade factor range does the increments change? Does the factor increments change every .1 of a point, every .5 point, or every 1.0, etc.? This example the grade increment changes every ½ % or .5 points.

5. Next determine what is the rate increment change, at each grade factor increments? In this example the rate increment starts out increasing an additional 1.5% each .5 point, but it doesn’t stay consistent all the way to the end of the table. So we have to break this up into 2 attempts at building the table. So for the Rate Increment we enter 1.5. The 2 boxes of Increments are stating, for every .5% of moisture increase the shrink an additional 1.5%.

   1. Next you enter the Ending grade factor where the grade increment & rate increments are still the same increments. In this example, after 18.5 the rate increment changes to 2.0% each .5 points, so we have to end this run at 18.5.

   2. Determine the Rate Type method. A listing is provided on the screen so you can select the appropriate choice for the type of discount/premium. This example is shrink, so select #1=Percent of Gross Bu.

   3. Finally select whether it’s a Discount or Premium.

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1. Click Ok & select #2 Multiple Grades again & repeat steps A – G as many times as needed for each grade increment change or rate increment change. Always starting with the next factor from where you left off on the prior screen. We’ll start at 18.6 as the Beginning grade. But for the rate you have to incorporate the rate you had already built up to, plus whatever the rate increase is changing to. So prior, we build up to 18.5 moisture for a 9% shrink, and now our shrink factor is changing 2% every .5 points, so we need to add the 9% + the 2% increase to enter 11% for the rate of discount for a 18.6 grade factor.

2. The Grade factor increment does not change in this case, it’s still .5, but the Rate increment does change as now we want to increase the shrink by 2% for every .5 points of moisture. So we enter 2.0 as the Rate increment.

3. Lastly enter the Grade factor that you want to end the table. Either the ending factor where the Grade & Rate increments are the same or the highest Grade level you would accept for that grade factor. This example I’m ending at 20.0, but most likely you would want your table to go much higher.

4. The Rate Type & the Discount/Premium fields will be filled in from the prior screen. Your screen should look something like this before you hit OK.

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After clicking OK the submenu comes up again. At this point you can either select to Save/Exit or you can take the opportunity to Display All Grades to see the whole table come together to ensure there are no missing factors or rates.

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1. After clicking Ok & you get the submenu, make sure you select #4 Save/Exit to save the new table. And it brings you back to allow entering additional tables, either for this same Discount Code or you can enter a different Discount Code & start another new table.

2. There is a great feature within Discount tables if you have created a table, but need to replicate that table for another Commodity, Location, State/County, Variety Class, or UOM. We have the ability to Default, a new table or edit an existing table, from an already existing table. This saves so much time when having to do numerous tables at a time.

3. Start by Adding a New Discount table (same steps apply if you use View/Edit an Existing Table).

4. Enter the Discount Code.

   1. Enter Commodity Code and/or Location, State/County, Variety Class, UOM depending on how you set your Discount Code.

   2. Enter the Discount Table Code & Effective Date.

   3. Change your table description.

   4. Click the Default button at the bottom of the screen.

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This brings up a list of all the tables for that Discount Code. Highlight the table that has the same discount rates that you want to create, and hit Select. This will bring in all of the same Grade Factors & Rates. You can Edit if you need to change any rate or add more. Or you can Display All Grades to view that it brought all the factors & rates in you intended. Or you can Save/Exit & the new table is built.

Editing Discount Tables

I do not usually recommend editing Discount Tables unless it is to correct something you just accidentally added wrong in the table, & you know the table hasn’t been used yet. Editing a table that has been used distorts your history. It doesn’t change anything on a ticket that has been settled, but when you look at an old settlement & try to compare to the table, they will no longer match.

When your discount rates change, I recommend entering a new table with the same table code but with a new effective date. This method allows you to see what the table looked like before the change & then any new tickets entered from the effective date forward will use the newer table. This also saves time in having to update the default tables, if you use the same table code.

If you do need to edit a table, the process is very similar to entering new. You again have the choice of Add/Edit One Grade or you can do ranges with Multiple Grades using the same methodology as step 11 above.

Updating Default Discount Tables

After you have all of the Discount Tables built for all the factors assigned to the Commodity Codes, you will want to update the Default Discount Tables. This ensures that the correct tables are used when you write a new contract or apply tickets. Here are the steps needed.

1. Grain > Commodity Tables > Discount Tables > #5 Default Discount Tables

2. Enter the Commodity & Location needed.

3. Next you will see a grid of all the Application Types possible. This includes system default types like Open Storage, Delayed Price (referred to often as little dp), Grain Bank, Warehouse Receipt, Hold, Transfers & Client Loadouts. It also includes an In & Out Application Type for each of the Contract Types you have in your dataset.

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You can highlight & select any application type individually, or if you hit Select All, it will cycle you through each Application Type, 1 at a time, allowing you to update & save each type.

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1. As you enter through each Application Type, you do not have to use the same Discount Table Code for each type. This gives you the flexibility to have different tables, with different rates, for different Application Types. A common example is sometimes Moisture discounts will be tougher on grain applied to Open Storage than grain applied to a Priced Contract. And you may have different tables from Inbound tickets vs Outbound tickets.

2. As you complete a page for an Application Type & click OK to save, system will ask Do You Want These Changes To Affect All Locations? By answering Yes the tables you added will update the defaults for all locations that have the same Commodity Code setup. Note*** If you answer Yes to all Locations & your Discount Tables are setup by Location & you’ve not actually entered a Discount Table with the Table Code for a Location, the system will not know what to do. You will still get a popup message when applying tickets of Discount Table Not Found. The system will allow you to enter a Discount Table Code even if that table doesn’t exist. So be aware of what the valid tables are for each location when updating these default tables.

Examples of Discount Scales we will build:

Discount Schedules – What are they & how are they used?

Discount Schedules are a quick way to assign a set of discount tables for multiple discount codes to a contract or to ticket applications, when the discount tables needed are different than the default tables used regularly. Best example of when to use Discount Schedules is for sale contracts, where you are selling to multiple different customers. Discount Schedules allows you to have all the buyers discount tables built for each factor, then you can link them to a Discount Schedule to quickly pick the schedule when writing a contract, instead of having to pick a table for every factor.

Steps to getting started.

1. Grain > Commodity Tables > Discount Table > Add New Discount Table. Set up Discount Tables for each factor needed according to your buyer’s terms. It is helpful to include the buyer’s name in the Discount Table description to easily identify the purpose of this table.

2. Discount Schedules are not location specific. If you want to use a schedule for multiple locations you must ensure that the discount codes attached to a commodity are the same & in the same order. Then a schedule is available for all locations.

Adding a new Discount Schedule

Go to GRN > Commodity Tables > Discount Tables > Select # 6 Discount Schedule Codes

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Select the Commodity & click OK.

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If you’ve never setup any Discount Schedules before you will get the following screen.

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Click Yes & this opens up the following screen.

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Now you are ready to assign a Discount Schedule Code & the description of what this schedule is intended to be uses for.

The schedule code is up to 8 characters. You can use any code to help you identify this schedule when doing a look up for schedules. I recommend entering an abbreviation of the customer you intend to use this schedule for. For instance, the customer name is Grain Terminal X, so you might use GRTERMX. Then you can put the full name in the description for more clarity.

Now you are ready to select the Discount Tables that you built previously that have the discount scales for sales customer Grain Terminal X. Enter any factors that apply, keeping in mind that if there’s a factor used on a ticket & you don’t have a Discount Table built for that factor you will get a popup message of “No Discount Table Found” when you are applying tickets.

You can enter the Discount Table code for each factor, or you can search to ensure there is a valid table for each factor. Once you have selected all necessary Discount Tables click OK to Save.

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Now you can see the Discount Schedule has been built. You can select it if you find you need to correct something. Or you can hit the Insert button at the bottom if you need to enter another Discount Schedule. You will notice this is also how you can Delete, if you enter a Discount Schedule completely wrong, (maybe entered on the wrong commodity). You can also Print from this screen if you would like to see a listing of all schedules. If you are done, you can hit Back if you want to enter another schedule for a different commodity. Or you can hit the picture of the house in the lower left hand side of the screen. This will take you back to the main menu without having to continue hitting back.

Using Discount Schedules

Now this Discount Schedule can be used when writing a contract, or when applying tickets from hold. Here are some examples of times to use.

Attaching Discount Schedule to Contract. GRN > Contracts > Contract Maintenance > Add New Contract. Once you get to the pricing page you have the ability to insert a Discount Schedule. If default discounts exist for this contract type, you can override them with a schedule also. By selecting a Discount Schedule you save time by not having to select every factor & decide what table to use for that factor. Your contract may look like this when you get to the pricing page:

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Select the Schedule & you will see the tables all change for all the factors in that Schedule.

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Continue entering the contract & Save. Now when applying any tickets to this contract it will look at the Discount Tables as assigned by the Discount Schedule.

Selecting Discount Schedule when applying tickets. GRN > Shipments > Apply Tickets From Hold > Can be used with Applying 1 Ticket at a Time or with Grouping All Tickets Together. After you have selected where you want to apply tickets to this screen comes up.

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If this customer was to get different discounts than what the default tables are, at this point you can select the Discount Schedule button & choose which Discount Schedule to use for these tickets.

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If you have multiple Schedules built you could select the one needed for the correct discounts & all of the needed factors will change to the correct tables. And you can see that a Schedule has been selected.

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Adding Storage/DP Tables

Go to GRN > Commodity Tables > Storage/DP Tables > Add/Edit Storage/DP Tables. Enter SC or DP depending on which type of table your need. Enter your Location Code. Enter Commodity Code. Determine what table you want to use. Click the magnifying glass to see what tables are already in use.

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You will get the below message, click Yes.

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Enter in a Table Description. I recommend using a description that gives users an idea of what the rates are, so they know which table to select when using lookup features.

Determine if the charges are to be calculated on the Gross Bushels or the Net Bushels.

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The remaining fields are dependent on what your Storage or DP program is. There are numerous ways companies use to calculate charges with various free days or allowance days. I will try to explain how each of the fields work.

1. Flat Rate/BU – This is if there is only 1 rate, charged 1 time only, no further charges will be charged. If this is used you will make the Time Period Type be a 0 for no additional Time Period Rates.

2. Time Period Type – Option 1 & 2 will cause an additional screen to appear. There you have the ability to use #1 which will vary the rates by a specific date. Or #2 will vary the rates by a specific number of days.

3. You can also use a combination of both (A) Flat Rate & (B) Time Period Type Option 1 or 2. The use of both will give you the ability to have a flat rate, plus add additional amounts either on a specific date or after a specified number of days.

4. Free Days – This is to be used when a customer has x number of days with no charges. This is designed to be used with only Time Period Type #1, Rates Changing By Date. If using Time Period Type #2, the number of free days should be listed on the next page of the table setup.

5. Allowance Days – This is to be used when a customer has x number of days to decide if he wants to leave in Storage or DP or price it within those # of days. If priced during the Allowance days he is not charged. But if he doesn’t price until after his Allowance days are used up, he will be charged from the day of unload. Similar to Free Days, Allowance days are designed to be used with Time Period Type #1, Rates Changing by Date. If using Time Period Type #2, the number of allowance days should be listed on the next page of the table setup.

6. Minimum Rate/Bu – This is used to ensure that if any of the above method calculations do not reach a certain dollar amount, you can have a Minimum set. The system will then charge either the calculated amount or the minimum amount, whichever is greater.

The following example is for 10 Allowance days, then .04 cents per month, prorated daily for any grain delivered after October 1, 2018. Then if grain is still in DP after August 1, 2019 the rate goes to .05 cents per month, prorated daily.

1st screen would look like this.

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Click Ok, next screen comes up.

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You must replace the S with a 1 to edit the 1^st line of the table. Type 1 & hit OK.

Enter the date you want to start your DP program.

If you are charging a daily rate take your monthly rate times 12 months & then divide by 365 days for a year. .04 x 12 / 365 = .0013150. When entering the rate you will use a whole number, so move the decimal to the right 2 places to enter .13150 as the rate per day.

Select the Rate Type from the listing to the right.

Select Y or N to Apply to Existing? Explanation is also to the right. If this table only applies to new grain delivered after 10/1/18 it doesn’t matter how you answer, as long as you don’t update any old existing delivery sheets with this table.

Click Ok. Option fills in a S to Save, but if you need to add additional instructions replace the S with a 2 to get a 2^nd line to open.

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This is where I tell it what to do after August 1, 2019. Add the date & the new rate, determine if Rate Type stays the same, & this time you will want Y for Apply to Existing.

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Now you are ready to Save the table. Leave the S & click OK.

If using Time Period Type #1 Rates Changing By Date you need to continue entering a row for each time rates change on a specific date. If rates stay at .05 per month after Aug 2019 no edit needed, but if you have new rates for additional lines can be added each time they change. Just select the next available line number in the option field to access.

Updating Default Storage/DP Tables

To ensure that DP contracts & new Delivery Sheets created get the correct Storage or DP table attached to them you will want to set this table as your Default.

Go to GRN > Commodity Tables > Discount Tables > #5 Default Discount Tables enter the Commodity & Location Code. You will see a grid of all the application types.

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For DP, determine if you use little dp, where you apply to dp type, or if you use big DP, where you apply to a DP Contract. Highlight the appropriate application & hit Enter or Select at the bottom of the screen.

You will find the Storage and/or DP table field on the bottom right hand side of the page. You can select the magnifying glass to ensure selecting the correct table needed as the default.

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Highlight the correct table & hit Select. Then select Ok on the next page to Save your selection. It will ask “Do you Want These Changes To Affect All Locations?”, if your tables should be unique by Location you will want to select No.