Calculation templates: capture your own rulebook once

No two businesses calculate the same way: one adds a kitchen hand per started 40 guests, another per 25; if the enquiry form says bar, two bartenders go on top. Today these rules travel from event to event — and end up in a spreadsheet that only one employee in the business really understands. A calculation template records that arithmetic once, so the same kind of event is always calculated the same way.

What a calculation template is for

Many figures of an event follow a fixed rule: kitchen staff by guest count, service staff by guests and duration, equipment by guest tier, an extra hand for self-pickup. Today that demand is entered per event from memory — or in a spreadsheet next to the software.

The template takes that over. What is always calculated the same way lives in the template once; what an event does differently is entered on the event. Every line also carries its reason („2 service supervisors: per started 100 catering guests, 110 catering guests"). Anyone questioning a number can see straight away where it comes from.

Until a template exists for an event type, nothing changes for anyone: without a template the demand stays exactly as it is entered today.

Where the template is created

1. Open Settings → Calculation. All templates of the workspace live there.
2. Create a New template. The template gets a name and, optionally, an event type from Settings → Workflows.
3. In the editor the rules, the counting method and the test calculation are built.

There is at most one active template per event type, so it is always clear which template applies when an event has that type. Templates without an event type are general templates — they can be run through the test calculation without being tied to a specific type.

The counting method

The counting method defines which number of people is used. The classic example: “catering guests = adults × 1 + children × 0.5”. Groups that do not appear in the counting method either count as a guest or not at all — that is decided in the counting method. This turns 50 adults and 8 children into 54 catering guests, wherever the counting method is used as a basis.

If an event has no guest groups, the counting method does not apply: the template then either calculates with the total guest count or skips the affected rules.

The building blocks of a rule

Every rule is an if–then and consists of four parts: conditions → basis → formula → target.

• Conditions. All must apply, at least one, or none may apply. The axes are guest count, duration, distance, season (period), weekdays, public holidays, event type, time of day, answer to a form question, event tag, customer tag, count in a guest group, tag of the event type, booked product or category, booked revenue, and the result of another rule.
• Basis. What is calculated with: all guests, a guest group, a counting method, the duration in hours, the distance in kilometres, an answer as a number, booked revenue, or the result of another rule.
• Formula. “Per started N …” with rounding (round up, round down, round half up, don’t round), optionally with minimum, maximum and “from”. Alternatively tiers (“up to X → Y”, the last tier stays open upwards) or a fixed value.
• Target. A product, a staff role or a schedule template. Several rules on the same target add up; a schedule is still created only once.

A staff role has a name, a lead time and a follow-up time. It also decides whether several people in that role are planned “at the same time” or “one after another”. The hours per employee come from duration plus lead time plus follow-up time.

Three examples with numbers

Service supervisor by guest count. Condition: none. Basis: all guests. Formula: one unit per started 100 guests, rounding up. Target: staff role “service supervisor”. At 110 guests that is 2 service supervisors — the started 100 count in full.

Children count half. The counting method is “catering guests = adults × 1 + children × 0.5”. An event with 50 adults and 8 children gives 54 catering guests. Rules that use the counting method as their basis calculate with 54 instead of 58.

Equipment tiers. Condition: booked category “equipment”. Basis: all guests. Formula: tiers — up to 40 guests one unit, up to 80 guests two, up to 120 guests three; above that the top tier stays open.

The test calculation

The test calculation is the fastest way to check a template without touching an event. Inputs are typed in freely — guest count, duration, distance, answer to a form question — and the template calculates immediately.

The result appears per target, with its reason: “2 service supervisors: per started 100 catering guests, 110 catering guests”. Rules that do not apply are listed with the reason — for example “skipped: only applies to the event type Wedding reception”. That shows while building whether a condition is too narrow or a tier is set up wrongly, before the first event calculates with it.

Per-guest items

With per-guest items the number of people already sits in its own column on the line item. There only the formula per started N applies — it sets the quantity per guest, not the total quantity. If a counting method is used that differs from the guest count, the line item shows the number of people from the counting method: at 100 guests and 85 catering guests, the people column shows 85.

Applying it to an event

As soon as a template exists for the event type, the event calculates with it. The Calculation card sits in the event under Bookings.

Assignment. If there is an active template for the event type, it is assigned automatically; the card then shows “Template: Service Hochzeit”. If it says “No template assigned”, an employee can pick a template — or things stay as entered before.

Live. If guests, guest groups, times, rooms, tags or answers change, the quantities of the calculation line items follow by themselves. Every line item created this way carries the note “from calculation” and its reason — the same one the test calculation names.

Frozen. Once a document of this event has left the draft — a quote, an invoice, an order confirmation was sent or issued — the calculation no longer changes anything by itself. The card shows what it would produce at that moment, but nothing is written until someone deliberately starts it. That way an event already promised cannot quietly calculate differently because guests changed late. Make live again is possible only once no document is sent any more — for example after a cancellation.

Detached. Anyone who wants to work without the calculation detaches it. The line items stay, but no longer follow the event.

Recalculating deliberately. Apply now recalculates and rewrites, also while frozen — sent documents stay untouched. Apply from scratch (with a confirmation) does the same and additionally brings back line items that were changed or deleted by an employee.

Out of date. If a change arrives through a route that does not trigger the calculation, the card shows “Out of date — something on the event has changed since the last application”, together with the Apply again button.

Changed manually. Anyone who changes quantity, number of people or price of a calculation line item, or deletes the line item, sees on it “Changed manually — no longer follows the calculation”. The line item stays as it was entered; only Apply from scratch brings it back.

Prices. Prices come from the product and its price rules as always. The calculation sets the price once when applying — with the price rules valid at that moment — and the quote takes it from there.

Per-guest items. The same applies as in the test calculation: if a counting method is used, the line item shows the number of people from the counting method. At 100 guests and 85 catering guests, the people column shows 85.

Employees as open shifts

When a rule targets a staff role, it no longer stays a calculation: on applying, the calculation creates the employees needed as open shifts in the event’s schedule.

How many. The number comes from the role’s rules and is rounded up per started unit. If a rule reads “1 service supervisor per started 100 catering guests”, 110 catering guests give 2 service supervisors as an open shift in the schedule. Several rules on the same role add up.

When. The shift runs from the event start minus the role’s lead time to the event end plus its follow-up time. A role with 60 minutes lead and 30 minutes follow-up gives an event from 18:00 to 23:00 a shift from 17:00 to 23:30.

One after another. If a role is set to “one after another”, the calculation splits the window into reliefs. At “per started 4 hours” and a 9-hour window, that is 3 shifts running one after the other.

Several days. If an event has full daily times on several days, each day gets its own shift.

Nobody is asked. The shifts are open: no shift requests and no messages go out to employees. They are filled as usual — an employee is entered, or the request is started deliberately.

Automations count too. If a rule sets the guest count or a tag on the event, the calculation catches up just as it does when you save by hand.

It adapts while the shift is open. If the guest count changes, the number of people needed on open shifts follows. Once an employee is entered for a shift or the shift was changed by an employee, the calculation leaves it alone — the shift stays as the business set it up.

Frozen and detached. The same applies as for the line items: after a document has been sent, the calculation no longer writes shifts by itself; Apply now deliberately works even then. Detached, the shifts stay but no longer follow the event.

Schedule from the calculation

A rule can also target a schedule template — a template from Settings → Run-of-Show templates. If the rule applies, the calculation creates the schedule on the event: the template’s schedule entries, based on the event’s start and end. This happens once.

Only when the schedule is free. It is created only as long as the event has no schedule of its own. If someone has already created a schedule, the calculation leaves it alone.

Created once, then left alone. A created schedule is never overwritten, moved or deleted afterwards — not when guests change, not when times move, and not when the rule no longer applies. An event whose schedule already exists therefore never changes it quietly.

Deleted stays deleted. Anyone who deletes the created schedule does not get it back by itself. Apply from scratch creates it again, as long as no other schedule exists.

Another template chosen. If the rule is switched to a different schedule template, the schedule already created stays. The new one is created only once no other schedule is there.

A date is needed. The template’s times hang on the event’s start and end. Without a date with times, no schedule is created.

Booked revenue

Booked revenue is another figure that can be calculated with — as a basis and as a condition.

As a basis. “1 service staff per started €2,000 of booked revenue” gives three service staff at €5,400.

As a condition. “From €5,000 of booked revenue, the welcome sparkling wine is included” — below that, the rule does not apply.

What is counted. The sum of the line items in the event’s Bookings tab is counted, net as shown there; parts of a package do not count twice. The line items the calculation creates itself are left out — so the calculation never calculates with its own results.

It recalculates. If a line item in the Bookings tab changes — quantity, price, a new one or a deleted one — the calculation recalculates. As with guests and times, this applies until the quote has been sent; after that, everything stays until someone chooses Apply now.

To try it out. In the test calculation a booked revenue can be typed in to run a template with revenue rules through, without touching an event.

Plan and outlook

Calculation templates are available from Growth; the Production module bundle includes the feature.

As of this version: templates can be created, checked and run through the test calculation; on an event the assigned template calculates the booking line items along. Employees per staff role appear as open shifts in the event’s schedule. A rule can also create the schedule from a schedule template, and booked revenue serves as a basis and as a condition.

Further reading

• How a single quantity rule on a product works: Quantity from guest count.
• How guests are split into groups: Guest groups.