Rate Cards and Capacity
Rate cards answer one question: for this person, doing this kind of work, on this project, on this date — what do we charge and what does it cost us?
Where to find it
Architect Panel → ERP - Projects & Time:
- Rate Cards — the rates and how they are matched
- Resource Capacity — available minutes per period and the utilisation target
What a card matches on
- Resource — a specific person.
- Role — a grade or job title.
- Activity — the kind of work.
- Scope — a specific project or client, for negotiated rates.
Any of these can be left open, which is what lets one card cover a default and another cover an exception.
Priority decides overlaps
Cards will overlap, and that is intended rather than a mistake. A standard rate for a role, a different rate for one client, and a personal rate for one senior consultant can all apply to the same entry.
Priority resolves it: the highest-priority matching card wins. Set priorities so specific beats general — the client-specific card above the role default, the individual above the client — and leave gaps in the numbering so a new tier can be inserted without renumbering everything.
Dates
Cards carry validity dates. Change a rate by ending the old card and starting a new one from the effective date, exactly as with structure effectivity. Do not edit a card in place: entries already created keep the rate they captured, so editing the card leaves you with a card that does not explain the entries.
Dated cards also let a rate rise be entered in advance, which is much better than remembering to do it on the first of the month.
Both rates, always
Fill in cost as well as bill. Without cost, you have revenue but no margin, and revenue alone cannot tell you which work is worth doing. Cost should include real employment cost, not bare salary.
Capacity
Resource Capacity records available minutes per period against a working calendar, plus a target utilisation.
Capacity is what turns a plan into a check: demand exceeding capacity is visible before the commitment rather than after the deadline. The target is what makes utilisation reporting meaningful — 68% is neither good nor bad until you know you were aiming at 75%.
Set targets honestly
A 100% target guarantees the figure is missed and the metric ignored. Set it to what is genuinely achievable after admin, training and leave, and it becomes a useful management signal instead of a stick.
Worked example
An agency runs a role-based default card at priority 10, a client-specific card for its largest account at priority 50, and a personal card for its technical director at priority 90. A director's entry on that client resolves to the personal card. When the client's rates are renegotiated, only that one card is ended and replaced.
Recommendations
- Number priorities in tens so tiers can be inserted later.
- Always populate cost rates.
- End and replace cards; never edit in place.
- Set achievable utilisation targets and review them annually.