Costs Roll Up

Requires the following solutions to be installed:

• Actual Costs based on Time Records and User Rates (b69cd45d-2c80-44dc-afa6-c4abfd135870)
• Time Records for Epics (7303e733-ab69-4561-b861-e739fbc5ff8d)
• Time Records for Portfolio Epics (b483cef6-292a-4e11-8712-e6f78a4d5d37)
• Time Records for Features (24789387-8799-438e-b924-daf51efd41c8)

Can't be installed together with:

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solution Overview

The solution enables the calculation of Costs based on Time Records and User Rates up the hierarchy from Feature to Epic to Portfolio Epic so that we can see the total costs of those items. Costs will be calculated for different Periods ( Weeks, Months, Quarters, and Years) on a weekly basis.

Solution Flow

When you add a new Time Record to a Feature, Epic or Portfolio Epic, a Time Record's Cost will be created. It will be calculated based on a Connected User's current Hourly Rate and Hours defined in a Time Record.

The current solution will create weekly Costs for Feature, Epic and Portfolio Epics, if new Time Records are created for them or their child entities, and sum up all the Costs up the hierarchy.

The hierarchy of Costs looks as in the picture below:

There are the following fields are available on Costs:

• Actuals – represent the Total Costs of an item considering its own Time Record Costs as well as child Work Items costs (for Epic it'll be child Features, for Portfolio Epics – child Epics). 
• CapEx Actuals – represent the Total CapEx Costs of an item, summing up Capitalizable Costs of Time Records and Child Work Items.
• Run Actuals – represent the Total Run Costs of an item, summing up Run Costs of Time Records and Child Work Items.
• Grow Actuals – represent the Total Grow Costs of an item, summing up Grow Costs of Time Records and Child Work Items.

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

Solution Configuration

Hide Costs in Budgeting Portfolio

To keep Costs visible only to people who need to have access to them, we need to create all the Costs in a Budgeting Portfolio. To do that, adjust 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:

• Recalculate Costs if Date is updated
• Reconnect Cost if Date is updated
• Reconnect Costs when parent is updated for Features or Epics
• Link new Costs to parent Costs - part 1
• Link new Costs to parent Costs - part 2

Calculate Costs

In case you already have Time Record Costs in a system, we need to calculate Feature, Epic and Portfolio Epic Costs based on them in the past.

Note: Please ensure you do this during non-working hours, as if you have a lot of data, it'll slow down the system.

• Go to Settings -> Automation Rules 
• Open Cost in Cost Solution automation rule
• Set the correct getDay parameter matching today's day of a week

• Click Save and trigger now button

As a result, Costs for Features, Epics and Portfolio Epics, which have related to them Time Records, will be generated.

Note: From now the Costs will be calculated automatically every week on the Day set in getDay parameter. So make sure you set the Day which fits your working schedule.

Coming Soon

For now, the solution only works for the following items: Time Records, Portfolio Epic -> Epic -> Feature. We are working on the possibility of customizing the hierarchy for which Costs need to be calculated. It'll also be possible not to use Time Records for all the Work Items (Features, Epics, Portfolio Epics) listed above, but for just some of them. Please get in touch with us if you need some improvements or customizations to this solution.