Fixed and Monthly Rate

In Costlocker, we have two methods for calculating project costs based on worked time—fixed and monthly rates.

Setting Costlocker to calculate using the Fixed or Monthly rate mode affects the calculation of hourly rates for salaried individuals and overhead costs per worked hour.

Fixed Rate

As the name suggests, the fixed rate sets the hourly rate and overhead cost for individuals when creating a project, and the rate does not change without manual intervention.

The advantage is its stability and immutability—hence the name fixed rate.

Conversely, the disadvantage is that inaccuracies may arise between the total project costs and the costs allocated to projects in this mode—detailed below for the hourly salary in Inaccuracies in Cost Allocation with Fixed Rate and the overhead rate in the Calculation of Overhead Cost per Worked Hour article.

Monthly Rate

When setting the monthly rate, the exact hourly rate and overhead cost are calculated only after the end of the month. Subsequently, any changes will be recalculated to ensure the most accurate results.

The disadvantage is that the profitability of a project can retrospectively change even after its completion.

The methods for calculating an individual's hourly rate can be found in the Calculation of Individual Hourly Rate article.

The methods for calculating overhead costs per worked hour can be found in the Calculation of Overhead Cost per Worked Hour article.

How to Switch Between Fixed and Monthly Settings

You can find the settings in Settings -> Cost Allocation.

Setting the Coefficient in the Monthly Rate

The method of calculating salary is described in the Calculation of Individual Hourly Rate article.

This coefficient limits how many times the hourly rate, which is calculated based on the actual worked hours, can increase compared to the hourly rate calculated from the monthly workload.

Example:

I have an individual with a salary of $2,000 and a workload of 160 hours. And the coefficient is set to 2.

The default hourly rate is therefore $2,000 / 160 = $12.5.

Let's say the individual works only 50 hours in a given month (e.g., due to vacation).

If we calculate the hourly rate based on the actual worked hours: $2,000 /50 = $40.

According to the set coefficient, the default hourly rate can increase by a maximum of double: $12.5 /hour * 2 coefficient = $25/hour.

Since the calculated rate is higher than the maximum according to the coefficient (i.e., 30> 25), the hourly rate is set to $25, and the excess remains unallocated.