How Does Project Profitability Work?

Project Profitability allows you to track your non-internal Projects’ performance to see how profitable they are. Project Profitability also helps you better manage team members and see how time and expenses are being tracked to help you make better business decisions.
 
Project Profitability features like Capacity, Cost Rates, Project Estimates, Project Expense Markup and Profitability Reports are available for Premium and Select plans only.
 
 

Capacity

Capacity is the number of hours your Team Members are expected to work for your Business on a weekly basis. This is used to calculate the Utilization rate on the Team Utilization Report.
Set your Team Member’s Capacity with these steps:
  1. Click on My Team
  2. Then click on an invited Team Member
  3. Next, under Team Member Settings, click on Capacity
    Team Member profile with capacity setting selected.

  4. 40:00 hours / week is the default, edit this to change the number of hours to any number no higher than 168:00
    Capacity option with a field to fill out.
  5. Click Done and then click on Save to finish.
 
Note: Capacity can only be set up to a maximum of 168 hours per week.
 

Cost Rates

Team Cost Rates are how much you pay your Team Members for the work they do. By managing the cost of each of your Team Members, you’ll be able to see time costs for each of your Projects to measure project profitability.
Team Cost Rates are separate from your Team Member Rates which is used for rebilling the Team Member’s time to a Client on an Invoice.
Setting your Team Member’s Cost Rate can be done from either of these two areas:

Team Member profile with cost rate setting selected.
  • Go to the My Team section, then click on a Team Member and click on Set Cost Rate
  • Go to the Projects section, edit or create a Project, and click on Set Cost Rate


Set Cost Rates

Set Cost Rates section with fields to fill out.

  • Once a Cost Rate is entered in either My Team or in a Project, this becomes the new default for that Team Member
  • To update the Cost Rate for all past Time Entries, ensure Apply to all time entries is checked off when updating the Cost Rate
  • Click on See Past Cost Rates to see previous Cost Rates for a Team Member
 

Project Estimates

Use a Project's Estimate Type and choose between Total Hours or Hours Per Service to compare the hours logged against the amount specified. In your Project Overview, click on the Services sub-tab, and depending on which Project Estimate Type is selected, you will see either: 
  • Total Hours - The total hours for each Service tracked is displayed with a grand total at the bottom

    Services list for a Project with total hours displayed next to each service.


  • Hours Per Service - Percentage to Budget is displayed along with the Estimated and Actual hours tracked for each Service

    Services list for a Project with budget percentages, estimated hours and total hours listed next to each service.
 

Project Expense Markup

A percentage markup can be added automatically for all Expenses associated to a Project. To set the Expense Markup, use these steps while editing or creating a new project: 

Set Expense Markup section on new project creation screen.
  1. Go to the Projects section
  2. Either click on: 
    1. Any existing Project, then the Edit button
    2. Or click on the Create New... button and create a Project
  3. Under Settings, click on Set Expense Markup
  4. In the field next to % of expense grand total, enter the percentage you want to mark up
  5. Click Done
  6. Continue editing the rest of your Project as needed, then click Save to finish. The markup will now be used on all new Expenses assigned to that Project moving forward.
 
To assign an Expense to a Project and mark it up, use the steps here.
 
Notes: 
  • The percentage markup will apply the next time you create an Expense assigned to this Project
  • Rebilling the Expense back to a Client on an Invoice is optional, meaning you can have both non-billable and billable Project-related Expenses
 

Profitability Graph

The Profitability graph can be accessed with these steps:
  1. Click on the Projects section
  2. Then click on a Project
  3. Next, click on the Profitability tab next to Hours Logged.
Project overview showing profitability graph.
The Profitability graph will show you the below:
  • Billed - Includes all billed Income (all Draft, Sent, Viewed and Paid Invoices and Flat Rate Projects) and also displays any unbilled Income beneath (Flat Rate Projects, unbilled Time Entries and Expenses), Taxes are excluded except for any rebilled Expenses that may have had Taxes added to them
  • Costs - Includes all your Team Members’ costs (time tracked multiplied by Cost Rate), and Expense costs (billed, unbilled and non-billable Expenses, not including markup), Taxes are excluded
  • Profit - The resulting total after subtracting Costs from Income
  • Profit Margin - Calculated as ((Income - Cost) / Income) * 100%, if there is no income but there are costs, the Profit Margin is - % instead
 

Reports

As part of Project Profitability, these additional Reports help you keep track of which Projects are profitable: