Actual Costs based on Time Records and User Rates

Requires the following solutions to be installed:

• Years, Quarters, Months, Weeks and Days (4fb0e9dd-40e7-4dd2-ba10-548b86ecebeb)
• Person (User) Rate (f09ee69d-78a8-4ad0-a495-b5e01c18b418)
• Timesheets (9c890350-638e-451c-a401-33691b3f4da6)

At least one of the following solutions should be installed:

• Time Records for Features (24789387-8799-438e-b924-daf51efd41c8)
  
• Time Records for Epics (7303e733-ab69-4561-b861-e739fbc5ff8d)
• Time Records for Portfolio Epics (b483cef6-292a-4e11-8712-e6f78a4d5d37)
• Time Records for User Stories, Tasks, Bugs (816cb13f-83c5-49d5-ac3b-a8ae757caeed)

Can be extended with the following solution:

• Costs Roll Up (0bbe950e-dc15-4354-a255-42bc956c0e19)

Note: this solution can not be installed together with the following solution:

• Actual Costs and Expenses (69a324ca-faa6-4c65-9b81-2d1571565f8c)

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Solution Overview

The solution enables the calculation of a Cost related to a Time Record. The costs allow tracking how much we spend working on different work items and managing Actuals for different Periods (Days, Weeks, Months, Quarters and Years). The Cost will be created when a new Time Record is added to a system and will be based on a Connected User's current Hourly Rate and Hours defined in a Time Record.

When you create or import a new Time Record (on a Timesheet or on a Feature, Epic or Portfolio Epic), a respective Cost will be created automatically. In a Time Record, you define the following parameters: 

• Hours – the number of hours spent doing work
• Run or Grow - the type of expense a related Cost should be attributed to
• Is Capitalizable – set it to True if it's a capitalizable time record
• Description – optional field
• Work Item – optional, it can be a Portfolio Epic, Epic, Feature, User Story, Bug, Task, depending on the solutions installed

The following information will be set automatically:

• Date – a date when a Time Record has been created. It can be changed after creation if needed. Changes would affect the Cost, as a User may have a different Rate on the specified Date.
• Connected User – Time Record creator by default. It can be changed after creation if you post time for a different User rather than for yourself. Changes will affect the related Cost, as other Users may have different Rates.

Note: To calculate Actuals correctly, Users should have a current Rate (with Planned Start Date earlier than today and Planned End Date later that today or without Dates, if it's the only Rate available for a User)

For the Cost, the following fields are available:

• Actuals – calculated based on Time Record Hours and a Connected User current Rate
• Capex Actuals – set for Is Capitalizable Time Records and equal to Actuals
• Grow Actuals – set for Grow type of  Time Records and equal to Actuals
• Run Actuals – set for Run type of  Time Records and equal to Actuals

Please check out the following video to see the solution in action.

Solution Configuration

To keep Costs in the Budgeting Portfolio, we need to update the automation rules with the correct Budgeting Portfolio ID.

1. Make sure there is a Budgeting Portfolio created
2. Copy Budgeting Portfolio ID.
3. Go to Settings -> Automation Rules and update the following automation rules with the correct Budgeting Portfolio ID:
   • Create or update a Cost for Time Record
   • Move Costs to Budgeting portfolio