System and method for calculating fees associated with services

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for calculating a fee to charge a customer for performing a service. Features of the invention include a database for storing electronic information in connection with the service. An employee module is preferably provided to receive from a user information representing at least one person providing labor and used for providing the service. Further, an equipment module is provided to receive from the user information representing equipment used for providing the service. An inventory module is provided to receive from the user information representing inventory used for providing the service. A soft cost factor module is further provided to receive from the user and to store in the database a value representing overhead labor costs associated with the service. Furthermore, a service module is provided to receive from the user information regarding the service. The user selects respective employee, equipment and inventory information from the database in order to define labor, equipment and inventory used for the service. The service module further calculates a fee to charge the customer for the service as a function of the defined labor, equipment, inventory, soft cost factor and an overhead factor.

1 . A system for calculating a fee to charge a customer for performing a service, the system comprising:
 a database for storing electronic information in connection with the service;   an employee module operable to receive from a user and to store in the database electronic employee information representing at least one person providing labor for the service;   an equipment module operable to receive from the user and to store in the database electronic equipment information representing equipment used for the service;   an inventory module operable to receive from the user and to store in the database electronic inventory information representing inventory used for the service;   a soft cost factor module operable to receive from the user and to store in the database a soft cost factor, wherein the soft cost factor is a value representing overhead labor costs associated with the service;   a labor rate module operable to receive from a user a labor percentage value, and further operable to calculate a labor rate, wherein the labor rate equals a product of the employee's salary-per-minute and the soft cost factor divided by the labor percentage value; and   a service module operable to receive from the user and to store in the database electronic service information representing the service, wherein the user selects respective electronic employee information, respective electronic equipment information, and respective electronic inventory information from the database in order to define labor, equipment and inventory used for the service, and further wherein the service module further calculates the fee for the service as a function of the defined labor, equipment, inventory and the labor rate.   
   
   
       2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an overhead module operable to receive from the user an overhead percentage representing a percentage to increase the fee, wherein the service module further calculates the fee as a function of the overhead percentage. 
   
   
       3 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a sub-service module operable to receive from the user and to store in the database electronic sub-service information representing an additional service to be used for providing the service. 
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the employee module is further operable to receive and store in the database at least one of electronic wage information representing labor wage, electronic tax information representing labor taxes, electronic benefit information representing labor benefits and electronic insurance information representing insurance provided for labor. 
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the employee module is further operable to calculate a cost of labor and to calculate a labor rate for a respective person contributing labor. 
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the equipment module is further operable to receive and store in the database at least one of electronic purchase price information representing a price of equipment, a profit percentage for equipment, a profit percentage for supplies, a profit percentage for maintenance, electronic life span information representing an estimated life span of equipment, electronic maintenance information representing maintenance items and respective maintenance item costs for the equipment and electronic operations information representing operating items and respective operating item costs for the equipment. 
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein equipment module is further operable to calculate at least one of a cost of operation per use amount and a replacement cost per use amount. 
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the inventory module is further operable to receive and store in the database at least one of a purchase price of inventory, a unit type of inventory, a number of units of inventory and a preferred markup for the inventory. 
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the inventory module is further operable to calculate a total cost of the inventory based upon the purchase price, number of units and markup. 
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the service module is further operable to receive from the user electronic employee information representing a plurality of persons providing labor, electronic equipment information representing a plurality of equipment items, electronic inventory information representing a plurality of inventory items or electronic sub-service information representing a plurality of sub-services. 
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the user can save or delete any of the values entered into the database. 
   
   
       12 . A method for calculating a fee to charge a customer for performing a service, the method comprising:
 storing in a database electronic information in connection with the service;   receiving from a user and storing in the database electronic employee information representing at least one person providing labor for the service;   receiving from the user and storing in the database electronic equipment information representing equipment used for providing the service;   receiving from the user and storing in the database electronic inventory information representing inventory used for providing the service;   receiving from the user and storing in the database a soft cost factor representing overhead labor costs associated with the service;   receiving from the user a labor percentage value, and calculating a labor rate, wherein the labor rate equals a product of the employee's salary-per-minute and the soft cost factor divided by the labor percentage value;   receiving from the user and storing in the database electronic service information representing the service, wherein the user selects respective electronic employee information, electronic equipment information, and electronic inventory information from the database in order to define labor, equipment and inventory used for the service; and   calculating the fee for the service as a function of the defined labor, equipment, inventory and labor rate.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 receiving from the user an overhead percentage representing a percentage to increase the fee; and   calculating the fee as a function of the overhead percentage.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the service is a veterinary service. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving from the user and storing in the database electronic sub-service information representing an additional service to be used for providing the service. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving from the user and storing in the database at least one of electronic wage information representing labor wage, electronic tax information representing labor taxes, electronic benefit information representing labor benefits and electronic insurance information representing insurance provided for labor. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising calculating automatically a cost of labor and calculating automatically a labor percent for a respective person contributing labor. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving and storing in the database at least one of electronic purchase price information representing the price of equipment, a profit percentage for equipment, a profit percentage for supplies, a profit percentage for maintenance, electronic life span information representing an estimated life span of equipment, electronic maintenance information representing maintenance items and respective maintenance item costs for the equipment and electronic operations information representing operating items and respective operating item costs for the equipment. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising calculating automatically at least one of an equipment cost of operation per use amount and an equipment replacement cost per use amount. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving and storing in the database at least one of a purchase price of inventory, a unit type of inventory, a number of units of inventory and a preferred markup for the inventory. 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising calculating automatically a total cost of the inventory based upon the purchase price, number of units and markup. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising receiving from the user electronic employee information representing a plurality of persons providing labor, electronic equipment information representing a plurality of equipment items, electronic inventory information representing a plurality of inventory items or electronic sub-service information representing a plurality of sub-services. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising enabling the user to save or delete any of the values entered into the database. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising defining at least one of an employee category, an equipment category and an inventory category for employees, equipment and inventory, respectively, for the service. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising defining at least one of an employee subcategory, equipment subcategory and inventory subcategory, wherein the employee subcategory, equipment subcategory and inventory subcategory are defined within the employee category, the equipment category and the inventory category, respectively, for the service. 
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising assigning the soft cost factor to at least one of the employee subcategory, employee category, and an individual employee. 
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising defining a plurality of equipment items as components of a singled piece of equipment. 
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising associating a plurality of inventory items with a respective service. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising defining a return on investment value that represents a percentage or a dollar amount used to increase a purchase price for equipment or inventory.