Project-Specific Charge Out Rates for User Groups and Users

Overview

As a project manager, you may need the ability to set project-specific charge out rates for users based on their roles in a particular project. This feature ensures that you can accurately bill labour costs to your clients, reflecting the actual roles that users fulfill in each project, even if their general user group classification differs.

This override function allows you to charge an agreed rate for all staff in a User Group on a specified project, or an agreed charge out the rate for one person in a different role than usual. For example, John is a builder, and typically billed at the User Group rate for carpenters. On Project X, he is acting as a project manager, so you want to use the appropriate charge out rate. This functionality applies the project manager charge-out rate specifically to this one designated project.

To read about setting up the cost rates for time sheets, please refer to Time Sheet Cost Rates.

Setting the Override Charge Out Rates

You can set up rates for a User Group or for a selected Users for a specific Project / Head Contract. If you are interested to understand the mechanics, click here, otherwise read on to learn how to set up charge out rates.

How to set up the Charge Out Rates

From the Payment Claims > Head Contracts menu, select the Head Contract you want to work on and click through to the Details tab.
Scroll down and click Charge Out Rate on the left hand side of the screen.
You can also access this dialog from Projects, then in the Details tab > Project Summary section on the right hand side, click Charge Out Rate.

Now we have two steps:

- A. Set up the User Group Rates in for this Head Contract/Project. this is the standard charge out rate
- B. Assign a User to that User Group for this Project, so the rate for that user group will be used for this person in this Project.

A. Setup the User Group Rates in for this Head Contract/Project.

In the Charge Out Rate dialog of the Project / Head Contract, ensure that you are on the User Group Rates tab, and click Create New Rate.

charge out rate-1

In the Edit Charge Out Rate screen:

Select the Time sheet user Group you want to add a Charge out rate for this Project, e.g. Carpenter. This rate will be specific to this Project and will not affect the rate for other projects. In our example, we have a User Group of Carpenter.
Enter the Agreed rate to be charged, and click Save and close. In this example, we've used a rate of $45.00.

charge out rate-2

B. Assign a User to that User Group for this Project

Back on the Charge Out Rate screen, click into the User Group Override tab.
Click Create new override.

charge out rate-3

In the Edit user group override screen:

Select the User you want to assign this specific rate to, for this Project, e.g. Mary Quant.
Select the Override user group for this user for this project. Note that you can see the usual Default user group that this user belongs to. Now this rate of $45.00 will be applied for the hours for this user in this Project.
Click Save and close.

charge out rate-4

Now this charge out rate will be used for any hours that this person works on this Project.

Key Points

Project-Specific Charge-Out Rates: This functionality allows you to assign different charge-out rates to users for each project, based on the specific roles they perform.
Accurate Billing: By setting project-specific rates, you can ensure that labour costs are billed accurately to clients, reflecting the true nature of the work performed by each user.
User Group Flexibility: Users can be assigned to a specific user group for a particular project without altering their existing User Group classification. This flexibility ensures that their charge-out rate is project-specific, while their standard user group remains unchanged.
Charge-Out Rate vs. Cost: It's important to note that this feature only affects the charge-out rate for billing purposes. The user's cost remains unaffected and will still be based on their standard user group classification.

Benefits

Enhanced Accuracy in Billing: Clients are billed according to the actual roles that users fulfill in each project, leading to more accurate and fair billing practices.
Flexibility in User Roles: Users can have different roles and charge-out rates in different projects without the need for altering their overall user group settings.
Streamlined Project Management: Project managers can easily manage and assign roles and rates, ensuring that each project's financials are handled precisely.

This functionality is designed to provide project managers with the tools they need to manage labour costs effectively and transparently, ensuring client satisfaction and accurate financial reporting.

Want to know how this works?

Both the cost rate and the charge out rate are fixed (or "snapped") on each time sheet at specific points. This ensures that the project-specific rates for these users do not flow over to past projects, or to other future projects.

The Charge out rate is fixed when it is first associated to a Claim, i.e. when the Supporting documents are generated for the Head Contract Supporting.
In a Fixed price contract, the Charge out rate is fixed when the claim is marked as prepared.
Where Time sheet entries are edited and a claim association is manually added, and there was not already a Charge-out rate, the Charge out rate is fixed.
For Spent costs, the charge out rate is fixed when the Time sheet is marked as processed.
If a claim is deleted, the Charge out rate will be removed.

These updates are visible on the Process tab of a Time sheet entry and each time they are fixed/snapped the rate is recorded on the audit log for the time sheet entry.

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Last updated: 2 July 2024