Rates Tab of Project Planning

Use the Rates tab to enter or review labor cost, billing, and unit rate information, as well as expense and consultant billing multipliers for the current plan.

Contents

Field	Description
Budget Type	Cost rates represent your firm's cost to produce a service. Billing rates represent the amount the client will pay for the service your firm provides. Select a budget type from the drop-down list: Cost — Vision includes cost rates on the plan. You must specify a corresponding cost rate method and cost rate table, below. Billing — Vision includes billing rates on the plan. You must specify a corresponding billing rate method and billing rate table, below. When you select this option, the Labor Multiplier Type on the General tab is automatically set to "User Entered (Billing)" and cannot be changed. Cost and Billing — Vision includes both cost and billing rates on the plan. Specify the corresponding rate methods and tables for both types, below. The budget type selected in this field impacts the grids that display on the Summary tab.
Generic Method	Select Labor Category or Labor Code as the generic resource for the plan. Generic resources are defined in the labor category billing rate tables or the labor code billing rate tables specified in Billing.
Labor Cost Rates	The option to include labor cost rate methods and tables is available here only if the proper configuration settings are in place and if the Budget Type is set to Cost or Cost and Billing.
Rate Method	Select one of the following options from the drop-down list: From Labor Rate Table From Employee Provisional Rate Table From Labor Category Table (generic labor category) From Labor Code Table If you select a rate method other than Employee Provisional Rate Table, you must also specify a Rate Table. Your security role for Labor Cost Rates/Amounts must be Full Access for you to select From Employee Provisional Rate Table. You can establish a default labor category for an employee in the Employee Info Center. You can then use billing rate tables to override this default category on a project-by-project basis. If there is an override specified for an employee, Planning uses that override category to look up the rate for the employee.
Rate Table	The rate table provides the default cost rate for WBS elements on the planning grids. If the Rate Method option is set to From Employee Labor Table, From Labor Category Table, or From Labor Code Table, then use the Rate table lookup to select the appropriate rate table for your plan's cost rates from pre-defined tables such as "Government Category" or "Category Standards." Only rate tables marked as available for planning in the Billing application are included in the lookup list.
Generic Table	Select a generic resource category from the drop-down list: None Category Standards Government Category Category Cost Standards
Refresh Labor Rates	Click this button to refresh the labor cost amounts and use the referenced method, multiplier, and rate table on the Rates tab. This refresh also calculates any previous rate overrides in the Labor Tab with the referenced rate table.
Labor Billing Rates	The option to include labor billing rates methods and tables is available here only if the proper configuration settings are in place.
Rate Method	Select one of the following options from the drop-down list: From Employee Provisional Rate (in Employee Info Center) From Labor Rate Table From Labor Category Table From Labor Code Table When you select a rate method other than Employee Provisional Rate Table, you also need to specify a Rate Table. If you select the From Labor Category Table rate method and there is an override category for the employee, the override category will be used to look up the billing rate for the employee. Your ability to see billing rate values is determined by whether or not your firm permits reporting at billing rates. This capability is controlled by the Report at Billing Rates setting in Configuration. If this setting is turned off, you will not be able to see any billing rates.
Rate Table	The rate table provides the default billing rate for WBS elements on the planning grids. If the Rate Method option is set to From Employee Provisional Rate Table, From Labor Category Table, or From Labor Code Table, then use the Rate Table lookup for this field to select the appropriate rate table for your plan's billing rates from pre-defined tables such as "Government Labor" or "Standard Labor." Only rate tables marked as available for planning in the Billing application are included in this lookup list.
Generic Table	Select a generic resource category from the drop-down list: None Category Standards Government Category Category Cost Standards
Billing Multiplier	Enter the multiplier for the labor billing calculation. Labor Billing Amount = Planned Hrs * Billing Rate * Billing Multiplier
Refresh Billing Rates	Click this button to refresh the labor billing amounts and use the referenced method, multiplier, and rate table on the Rates tab. This refresh also calculates any previous rate overrides in the Labor Tab with the reference rate table.
Unit Rates	The option to include unit tables is available when Project Planning is configured as follows: The Enable Unit Planning option is selected on the General tab of Planning Configuration. Security configuration settings are established on the Planning tab of Role Security.
Billing Multiplier	Enter the multiplier for the unit billing calculation. Unit Billing Amount = Planned Qty * Billing Rate * Billing Multiplier
Refresh Unit Rates	Click this button to refresh the rates on the Rates tab.
Calculate Expense Billing Amounts	Select this option to calculate amounts for billing expenses. When selected, you may also enter a multiplier and select the rate method and rate table. If you do not select this option, the remainder of this group box is disabled and you must manually enter billing expenses. This enables you to spread billing amounts separately from cost amounts. If you use the Multicurrency feature and selected the Report amounts in billing currency rather than project currency option in Accounting System Settings Configuration, then Vision disables the Calculate Expense Billing Amounts option. In this case, you enter the amount because there is no exchange point for Vision to perform currency exchanges. This option is available when Project Planning is configured as follows: The Enable Expense Planning option is selected on the General tab of Planning Configuration. Security configuration settings are established on the Planning tab of Role Security.
Multiplier	Enter a numeric multiplier for the Expense Billing Amounts. This multiplier is only applied to Reimbursable Expense or Consultant line items. Billing amounts for Direct Expense or Consultant line items are always set to zero.
Rate Method	Select one of the following options: Multiplier Only — Select this option to disable the Rate Table field. From Expense Account Table — Vision uses this value when it cannot find a matching entry from the specified rate table. From Expense Category Table — Vision uses this value when it cannot find a matching entry from the specified rate table.
Rate Table	The rate table provides the default billing rate for WBS elements on the planning grids. If the Rate Method option is set to From Expense Account Table or From Expense Category Table, then use the Rate Table lookup list to select the appropriate rate table for your plan's billing rates from pre-defined tables. Only rate tables marked as available for planning in the Billing application are included in this lookup list.
Refresh Expense Multipliers	Click this button to refresh the labor billing and cost amounts to use the referenced method, multiplier, and rate table on the Rates tab for Expenses.
Calculate Consultant Billing Amounts	Select this option to calculate amounts for consultant billing. When selected, you may also enter a multiplier and select the rate method and rate table. If you do not select this option, the remainder of this group box is disabled and you must manually enter billing expenses for consultants. This enables you to spread consultant billing amounts separately from cost amounts. If you use the Multicompany feature, and the Billing Currency Code and Cost Currency Code on the General tab differ, Vision automatically selects the Calculate Consultant Billing Amount option. This option is available when Project Planning is configured as follows: The Enable Consultant Planning option is selected on the General tab of Planning Configuration. Security configuration settings are established on the Planning tab of Role Security.
Multiplier	Enter a numeric multiplier for the Consultant Billing Amounts. This multiplier is only applied to reimbursable expense or consultant line items. Billing amounts for direct expense or consultant line items are always set to zero.
Rate Method	Select one of the following options: Multiplier Only — Select this option to disable the Rate Table field. From Expense Account Table — Vision uses this value when it cannot find a matching entry from the specified rate table. From Expense Category Table — Vision uses this value when it cannot find a matching entry from the specified rate table.
Rate Table	The rate table provides the default billing rate for WBS elements on the planning grids. If the Rate Method option is set to From Expense Account Table or From Expense Category Table, then use the Rate table lookup for this field to select the appropriate rate table for your plan's consultant billing rates from pre-defined tables. Only rate tables marked as available for planning in the Billing application are included in this lookup list.
Refresh Consultant Multipliers	Click this button to refresh the labor billing and cost amounts to use the referenced method, multiplier, and rate table on the Rates tab for Consultants.