CostData0 pages
Data sheet - Innate Cost module
This document describes the capabilities that Innate provides for managing costs and billable work. It should
be read in conjunction with the Innate Resource Manager and/or Innate Timesheets data sheets.
Costing requirements generally fall into the following categories:
1. Project costing, where the need is to manage cost rates so that hours booked through timesheets
can be converted into costs.
2. Billable work, where the types of contract can be:
a. Time & materials, also known as cost plus. Here, Innate’s Cost module manages both cost
and billable rates, where billable rates can be project specific and role based rates may be
important.
b. Fixed price contracts. Cost rates can be important, but billable amounts are computed by
stage payments, or some revenue recognition process. We can accommodate each client’s
revenue recognition rules.
1
Using cost and billable rates
Cost and billable rates can be applied in a number of ways.
By Resource, where each resource has its own rate(s)
By Grade, where resources are classified by a grade and the grade dictates the cost rate. Billable
rates by grade can also be specified, where the client pays the same rate for all hours spent by each
resource.
By Role. This is where rates depend on the type of work being done – the role – not the person
doing it. The role can be specified for each task or for each assignment. For example, John Smith
could work as an Engineer on one task, billed at the rate for the role “Engineer” and he could work
as a Tester on another task, billed at the rate for the role “Tester”. This is often referred to as Activity
Based Costing.
It is possible to mix these cost types within any rateset, where the business rules require it - although it is
easier to restrict each rateset to handling rates solely by resource, grade or role. A common example is
where the company wide cost rateset has permanent staff costed by grade, but contractors each have their
individual cost rate.
Details of rate changes and the date they apply can easily be maintained.
1.1
How the data is organised.
A typical set up process involves:
Innate Resource Management Software - Cost module
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