The posting type indicates the type of hours being posted: presence hours, direct hours, indirect hours, or absence hours.

The setting of this field determines which fields are to be filled in when registering hours. For example, when registering direct hours, an offer or order, a production order, and an operation line must be specified. For indirect hours, these fields are not relevant, but a cost center can be filled in instead.

The value of this field also controls the options available when filling in the Post to field. For example, hour codes of the 'Presence hours' posting type are not posted, which is why for an hour code of the 'Presence hours' type, only the 'No posting' value can be entered in the Post to field.

This field indicates the type of hours to be posted, for example 'Setup labor costs' or 'Machine cycle costs'. If you register the different activities for every operation separately, the actual costing process does not only show the number of hours posted to a particular operation, but also the number of hours related to 'Setup labor time' and 'Machine cycle time', for instance.

If this field is set to No posting, the hours for this hour code will be registered, but no labor, machine or overhead costs will be posted.

Labor costs are usually posted based on the actual costing rate of the employee who performed the operation. This actual costing rate is set in the function group of the employee in question.

If, for this hour code, you want to use a labor rate that is independent of the person who has performed the work, select the Alternative labor rate check box. You can then specify the rate to be used for this hour code in the Labor rate field. When posting these hours, the actual costing rate of the employee will then be ignored, and the alternative labor rate specified for the hour code is used instead.

Note: This check box can be selected only if a labor rate applies, which means that the Post to field must refer to labor costs, whether or not in combination with machine costs.

The machine rate is usually looked up using a search path that runs through the Machines, Capacity groups, and Departments files.

If, for this hour code, you want to use a machine rate that is not linked to a machine, capacity group, or department, select the Alternative machine rate check box. You can then specify the rate to be used for this hour code in the Machine rate field. When posting these hours, the machine rate search path will be ignored, and the alternative rate specified for the hour code is used instead.

Note: This check box can be selected only if a machine rate applies, which means that the Post to field must refer to machine costs, whether or not in combination with labor costs.