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Costs & Revenue / Budget Management

2022-10-07 14:40:53

(Available in Premium level or higher plans only)

The Financials application is for organizations who wish to handle finances surrounding their projects, tickets, and tasks within OneDesk. The Financials application contains invoicing and budgeting features. You can create, send, and view invoices as well as track planned and actual costs,forecast revenue/expenditure, and more. There are a variety of supported cost and invoicing (billing) calculation levels. This article focuses on the setting rates, and using the costs & revenue tab of the Financials app.

Accessing the Financials application

Go to the more applications section in the bottom left side panel.
Select the Financials app denoted by the “$” symbol.

There are two tabs within the Financials application: 'Invoicing' and 'Costs & Revenue'. You will find all invoices within the Invoicing tab. You can plan and monitor your budget from the Costs & Revenue tab.

Restricting access to the Financials application

By default, non-admin users cannot access the financials application (it is hidden from their side bar). You can configure admin or non-admin status and application access from a user’s profile.

Go to the user app on the side bar.
Double click a user to access their profile, then tab to “Permission and Notifications.”
Select limited access for the user. The user will not be able to access the Financials app.

Set your cost and invoicing (billing) rates

OneDesk’s Financials application allows you to change the cost and invoicing calculations from a variety of levels. At each level, you can set the hourly rates and optionally, a monthly minimum. These rates can be changed to best reflect the flow of money into and out of your business as you work on your projects, tickets, and tasks. Read on below to find how to change these rates, as well as a few examples of use-cases for different industries.

Editing cost/invoicing rates

To change the cost calculations and invoicing calculations:

Go to Administration > Financials
Select 'modify' under the Cost Calculation Level or Invoice Calculation Level.

Your cost level refers to how much work costs your company. In other words, cost is your internal rates. For instance, you might calculate your costs based on the hourly pay of each employee.

The invoicing level refers to your external rate - the amount you charge your customers. For instance you might charge customers based on a pre-determined hourly rate for the project.

In the window, first select the level at which you calculate your costs or invoicing amounts. You can choose from several calculation levels for both cost and invoicing calculations, shown below:

Depending on what calculation level you choose, your options will change. If we go on a per-team basis to calculate billing, then we would specify different hourly rates and monthly minimums for different teams. If we went on a user rate, we would specify different rates and monthly minimums for each employee.

How rates and monthly minimums are used

An important distinction to make when using the cost and billing calculator is how rates and monthly minimums interact with each other and specific values, especially 0 values and blank fields. Here are the interactions of these fields depending on what values are used:

Both hourly rate and monthly minimum (hours and cost) have values (non-zero and non-blank): The monthly minimum value will be used until the allotted time is up, at which point the hourly rate will apply.
Eg. A contractor is paid $500 for 10 hours minimum of work per month, with an hourly rate of $75.
If their total work to finish is 20 hours, the first 10 hours will cost $500, and the last 10 will cost $750 for a total of $1250.
If their total work to finish is 5 hours, the cost will still be $500 (the minimum)
Hourly rate is non-zero and non-blank, monthly minimum (hours and cost) is zero or blank: The hourly rate applies at a flat rate.
Eg. An employee works part time at a variable schedule. They are paid $20/hr with no monthly minimum. If they are scheduled for 20 hours a week, they will earn $400 that week.
Hourly rate is zero or blank, monthly minimum (hours and cost) has a value (is non-zero and non-blank): The worker will be paid the monthly minimum, regardless of hours worked, while the customer does not pay more than the specified value.
Eg. An agent has an on-call tech support agreement with a monthly minimum set at 10 hours for $1000. If the hourly rate is set to zero but the monthly minimum is filled, then the agent will be paid $1000, regardless of the actual work done by the agent this month.
This works both ways – the agent gets paid $1000 per month for 10 hours, regardless of if they actually worked 11 hours or 9 hours, for example. The customer will not pay more than $1000 per month no matter if the agent works overtime.
Hourly rate is zero or blank, monthly minimum dollar amount is non-zero and non-blank, monthly minimum hours are zero or blank: The cost/billable minimum amount is accrued to the employer/client, regardless of work performed, applicable as soon as service is agreed upon.
Eg. A minimum is entered for $200 for a plumber. As soon as the plumber receives a call from a client and shows up at their home, the client is charged $200 for whatever job the plumber performs, regardless of if the plumber has actually done any work or not and how long the job takes.
Hourly rate is zero or blank, monthly minimum dollar amount is zero or blank, monthly minimum hours are non-zero and non-blank: The entered minimum amount of hours worked per month are expected to be completed at no cost to the employer and/or customer.
Eg. A lawyer agrees to provide 10 hours of pro-bono work to a client per month. Their monthly minimum will thus be 10 hours, with no minimum cost or hourly rate attached.
Both hourly rate and monthly minimum are zero and/or blank: The service will be treated as free with no attached costs and/or billable amount – no monthly amount of work will be implied either.

Also note that the level at which cost and billing rates are calculated is the framework in which all these calculations are possible. Finding what level is most applicable to your specific situation is the key to getting OneDesk’s Financials application running as smoothly as possible.

The columns in the Cost & Revenue tab

The columns that can be added or changed in the Financials application deal with a variety of potential metrics. Here is a quick overview of all the default columns and what they mean, separated by the column type.

Work Columns

Planned Work (PW): The planned schedule of a given project or item. This can be specified as the sum of the days/hours of work allocated to each item.
Actual Work (AW): The actual work of a given project or item. This is the total amount of days/hours worth of work put into the item to date.
Actual Billable Work (ABW): The actual work of a given project or item that has been marked as billable on submitted timesheets.
Estimated Work (project) (EW): The estimated work that a project will take to complete. This is a personal estimate and is optionally input when creating a project.

Cost Columns

Planned Cost (PC): The planned cost for a project or item in dollars, calculated from your set cost calculations and the planned work.
Actual Cost (AC): The actual cost for a project or item at its completion in dollars, based on submitted billable hours.
Estimated Cost (project) (EC): The estimated cost in dollars that a project will take to complete. This is a personal estimate and is optionally input when creating a project.

Billable Columns

Planned Billable Amount (PBA): The planned billable amount in dollars for a given project or item, calculated from the billing calculations and the planned work.
Actual Billable Amount (ABA): The actual billable amount in dollars for a given project or item, based on submitted billable hours at completion.
Estimated Billable Amount (project) (EBA): The estimated billable amount for a project. This is a personal estimate and is optionally input when creating a project.

Forecast Columns

Forecast Work (FW): The forecast work for a project or item, based on the pace at which work is being done.
Eg. A ticket has planned work of 8 hours. After 4 hours worth of work is submitted, the ticket stands at 25% complete. Therefore, the Forecast Work is currently 16 hours.
Forecast Remaining Work (FRW): The forecast work that remains on a project or item, based on the pace of completion.
Eg. A ticket has planned work of 8 hours. After 8 hours worth of work are submitted, the ticket stands at 50% complete. Therefore, the Forecast Remaining Work is currently another 8 hours.
Forecast Cost (FC): The forecast cost for a project or item, based on set cost calculations and the pace at which the item is being completed.
Eg. A task has planned work of 8 hours at $100/hr planned cost. If after 8 hours the task stands at 50% complete, the forecast cost is currently $1600.
Forecast Billable Amount (FBA): The forecast billable amount for a project or item, based on set billable calculations and the pace at which the item is being completed.
Eg. A ticket has planned work of 8 hours – 4 hours non-billable and all hours billable at $100/hr after the first 4 hours. The forecast billable amount will then be If the item is at 25% completion after the first 4 hours, then the Forecast Billable Amount is currently $1200 (4hrs per 25% complete = 12hrs from 25% to 100% at $100/hr).

Invoicing Overview

Create and Send Invoices