Rate Types

Rate types are used to calculate the labor rates that are inserted into the Manage Project Labor History screen and the Manage Open Billing Detail screen. 

The Load Labor Rates screen calculates the billing rates based on the rate type selected for the project and PLC. The rate types available are as follows:

  • Actual Rate (A): This rate is calculated by dividing the total labor cost by the hours incurred. The Post Labor Distribution process posts the labor cost and hours directly from the timesheet line for the project/account/organization/GLC/PLC to the Open Billing Detail screen and the Manage Project Labor History screen. The labor cost on the timesheet can be affected by auto-adjustment, or several labor processes including the Manage Wage Determination Rates screen, the Apply Weighted Average Rates to Timesheets screen, and the Allocate Compensated Overtime Across Timesheet Lines screen. As a result, the rate that is calculated and inserted into the Manage Project Labor History and Manage Open Billing Detail screens may not be equal to an employee's standard hourly rate. If you want the employee's standard hourly rate on the Manage Employee Salary Information screen, select the Standard rate method. This rate type is usually used for multiplier billing and revenue formulas.
  • Billing Rate (B): This is the rate that is entered into the billing rates screens. There is no further calculation to the rate entered. This is the rate type that is generally used by Time & Materials billing and revenue formulas. These rates are generally defined by the contract for the project.
  • Ceiling Rates (C): This is the lower of the Actual Rate or a Ceiling Rate entered in billing rate screen. Costpoint first calculates the actual rate and then compares it to the rate entered in the billing rate screen and uses the lower of the two. The billing rate screen used to obtain the ceiling rate depends on the sequence on the Manage Rate Sequence Orders screen. This rate type is usually used for multiplier billing and revenue formulas.
  • Standard (S): This is the standard hourly rate for the employee. This rate is derived from the employees record on the Manage Employee Salary Information screen. The Load Labor Rates screenidentifies the employee for each transaction and selects the rate in the Effective Rate field in the Rates group box on the Manage Employee Salary Informationscreen. See the screen documentation for this field to obtain more information on how the Effective Ratefield is calculated. This rate type is only for employees and should not be used when entering vendor or subcontractor labor. This rate type is usually used for multiplier billing and revenue formulas.
  • Transactional (T): This rate is used by projects that bill using foreign currencies. To use this rate type, enter the labor rate that you want to use in the currency in which you want to bill. If you use the T rate type, no conversion is used for those labor rates. The rate entered in the billing rates screens is used on the bills. If you bill in foreign currencies and you do not use Trates, exchange rates are applied to the labor rates during the Load Labor Rates process.