1. Groups
Creating Groups in the Object Manager
Groups are created in the Object Manager. They will allow you to book all of the objects, or object classes linked to a group, in one single drag and drop.
To create a new Group you can either:
- Open the Object Manager and click on the drop down in the top left corner of the main panel and select "Second Window" and "Groups".
- Right click in the right hand panel and select "New Group".
- Or select Groups from the drop down menu next to "Type" and click on the green plus icon. As per in the example below:
In the window that appears, name your group and select whether or not it has a fixed rate. If no fixed rate is set, Farmers WIFE will automatically use the rates of the involved objects.
Select the objects that you want to include in the group. 
Once the group has been created it can be retrieved from your Toolbox by filtering to "Groups".
When the Group has been added to the timeline it will appear as one object. However, all of the objects included in the group will automatically be booked, regardless of if they are visible in the timeline or not.
Scheduling Groups
You can choose in between two options:
- Hourline - Load from Groups: All the members of that Group will be loaded.
- Drag and drop Groups from the Toolbox to the Hourline View:
The Group will be displayed as one whole Object. The Objects inside of it will also be booked as you can see the you open a booking. As in the example below:
When you add a Group to a Booking, it also books the "children" of the Groups (in other words, the Objects that are part of the Group). That means you have both a Group Object and a number of other Objects with varying Categories.
When you open the Project and activate the View Filters (you need to open the "lock') you will see that you have a check-box called "Groups" and next to it there is a little drop-down menu allowing you to "Include Children" (which by default is on).
So from the View Filters you will be able to get three different results:
- You can hide the children and see only the Groups (By unticking Include Children)
- Exclude the Group Object from the Project View
This can be useful if you want to use groups to schedule a group of items together but then only charge for the involved objects and have not price on the group object and also not show the group object to not fill up reports/ invoices.
- You can hide the Groups and the Children.
2. Accessories
Adding Accessories to Objects
When adding Accessories to Object there is a Server Setting that is important to consider:
N.B. If you are on a cloud hosted server, you will not be able to adjust this setting. Please ask farmerswife Support for assistance with checking this setting on your server.
- Ignore Accessory Rates: If this setting is set to YES, when we book an Object with Accessories, the Rates of the Accessories will be ignored and only the Object Rate will be considerate. But when booking this Accessories on their own they will keep their rate.
To add Accessories to an object you have to go to the Object Manager, double click in the desire Object to open it and access the Advanced setting on the bottom. As per in the example below:
Scheduling Objects with Accessories
When scheduling and Object with Accessories we will schedule the Object and the Accessories will automatically be added to the booking, even though we won't be able to see them in the timeline:
Limitation: If scheduling Objects with Accessories in the Web Client, iOS or Mobile Web, the Object's Accessories are not booked
UPDATE: since 7.1 Object Accessories are added when booking an Object with Accessories in the Web Client, iOS or Mobile Web. This applies to Object Accessories and their Accessories. But not always to Class Accessories.
Examples:
Booking an Object with Accessory, that has an Accessory, the Accessory (2nd level) is booked if not a Class Accessory
> Object is booked (GoPro)
> Object Accessory (Baseplate) is is booked
> Object Class Accessory is booked but NOT allocated (Battery Pack)
Booking an Object with a Class Accessory, that has an Accessory, the Accessory (2nd level) is booked.
> Object is booked (GoPro)
> Object Accessory from Class (Baseplate) is allocated (Baseplate)
> Object Accessory is booked (Battery Pack A)
3. Groups vs Accessories
- EMT: If the Object that we want to dispatch is member of an Object Class and we replace it when doing a Checking out, the Accessories will remain on the check out even if they are not accessories of the new main Object and therefor to needed.
- Groups can't be added to a Budget.
- Web Client:
- When using the Web Client we are able to see all the booked Groups or Objects that have Accessories
- Booking a Group or Object with Accessories from the Web Client or iOS or Mobile Web Client, the Children/Accessories won't be booked.
4. Rates
There are different options on how we can rate our Groups:
- Group with Dynamic Rate: We call Dynamic rates Groups to the ones that use as their rate the total sum of all the objects involved. The setting Fixed Price is set to NO. On the Bookings and Virtual Bookings it only adds the Rates on the Involved Objects.
- Fixed Rate Groups: By ticking this Box and setting up a price for the Group, the rate will always be that one.
- Group Rate Inherit from Object Class: If we tick this box and the Group is part of and object Class with a rate set on it, it will take the Fixed Rate.
- With Activity: If we have a group with a default activity and we book this activity the rate will be the sum of the group (if Fixed Price = YES or the objects inside of it if Fixed price = NO) and the activity.
- Ignore Accessory Rates > Setting in Server Setup > Financial Tab. So only main object rate is applied and Accessory Rates ignored (0).