We know that is is common for changes to made during a Placements term, particularly if it is a longer contract of 6 months plus.
If a change is being made that affects the terms of the contract, such as the 'Pay' rate or 'Charge', a new Placement needs to be created.
Why does a new Placement need creating?
If the changes are made directly into the original Placement, it will back date the changes made to the beginning of the Placement. To ensure that the change is only made from a set date, an extension must be made to create an additional Placement record.
Update the Actual End Date field
Updating the Actual End Date field
If you try and run an extension without updating the 'Actual End Date' field, it will only let the extension start from the first date after the 'Original End Date'. In the above example, the extension would have to run from 2nd September 2022 onwards.
To get around this, the Placement record must be made aware that the Placement has ended early. As seen in the screen shot, the 'Original End Date' field is locked. This date should not be amended once a Placement has a status of 'Live'.
This is what the 'Actual End Date' field is for. To capture that a Placement has terminated early. This could be due to cancellation or termination or as in this scenario, an amendment in terms. In the case of an amendment, an extension will then be run.
Enter Actual End Date > click Save.
Running an Extension
To run an extension, click the Extension icon on the top tool bar:
A new window will appear. Complete the 'Extend by number of weeks' field or enter the 'Extension End Date':
Click Next.
Click onto View Record.
NOTE: 'View Record' will time out. If this happens and you wish to access the new Placement, click into the Engagement record. See below for more information on how to do this.
In the new Placement, make any amendments. Click Save once completed.
Because this is a new Placement, the status will be 'Pending'. The Placement will need to be validated and go through all the stages that the original Placement went through to get it to a status of 'Awaiting Start' or 'Live'.
NOTE: The original Placement's status reason will automatically update to ‘Completed - Extended’ only when the Extended Placement status is updated beyond 'Pending'. In order for the new behaviour to work, Admins will need to change the "Value - Boolean" field to "No" for the Configuration Item "OVERRIDE_LEGACY_EXTENDED_PLACEMENT_CLOSURE". See the Placement Statuses article for a workflow diagram.
The Placement ID Number
The Placement number has meaning and it's useful to understand what the numbers represent.
NOTE: There is a smart tip below the ID that explains this on the Placement record.
The first six digits are the Placement number. This remains the same on every extension made.
The middle two numbers will be displaying which Placement you're viewing. Each time an extension is made, the number will increase by one.
The last two digits confirm how many amendments have been made where the person making the amendment has chosen to increase the increment number. The below window will appear each time an amendment is made and the 'Save' button is selected:
Click OK to increase the last two digits and to show that an amendment has been made. Click Cancel if the number is to remain the same.
How to access all Extensions
To view all the Placements collectively, click into the Engagement record by clicking onto the job title hyperlink within the Engagement field:
This will take you to the Engagement record.
1. The General section will display the overview data relating to the Placement itself.
2. The Placement section displays Placement, along with the key data such as the 'Placement ID', 'Status Reason', 'Start Date' and both 'Original End Date' and 'Actual End Date'.
Changing the Client
Change the Client on an existing Placement.
Config
ENABLE_CHANGE_CLIENT_ON_PLACEMENT - Dictates whether the change client functionality is enabled or not (Yes/No).
PREVENT_PLACEMENT_EDIT_AT_STATUS - Current placement status must not be in the defined list for the button to be available.
Security
‘Mercury - Can Can Change Client On Placement’ must be assigned to a user directly, not a team or group
Within a Placement, click Change Client from the top ribbon bar.
A side-panel will open. Both fields are mandatory to complete the novation.
1. Select a Client from a drop-down list, or type in the name manually.
2. Selecting a Client will update the list in the Client Contact Search with a hierarchical list of Client Contacts to select from.
3. Once complete, click Confirm.
After a Placement has had a Client change, the following occurs:
The current placement:
Status Reason updated to ‘Cancelled - Changed Client’ and record marked as 'Inactive' and read-only
Will appear in the Inactive Placement view
A notification will appear when the new placement is available, or can be found in the notifications pop-out tab
The new placement:
Status Reason set to 'Pending'.
Will appear in your Active Placements view
The client on the Engagement will be changed to the selected client
‘createdvianovate’ will be set to true for analytical purposes
The following fields will be cleared/nullified:
Approver 1
Approver 2
Approver 3
Primary Authoriser
Secondary Authoriser
Project
Cost Centre
Shortlist
NOTE: The following will also be cleared, including the address fields:
Agreement
Invoice Contact
Paperwork Contact
End Client
End Contact
Client for the Site Address
Client for the Correspondence Address
Client for the Invoice Address