Each resource group or pool has a rate per hour, week or year which can vary from one fiscal year to the next. These rates are used for costing purposes and are normally set based on the blended or average cost of the individuals in your company in this resource group. These are direct rates, so they do not normally include burdens such as benefits/fringe, or overheads, however the application is flexible enough for you to manage labor rates inclusive of any indirect costs you wish to include with other burdens or overheads applied in the costing sheet.

Resource details can be accessed from the resource group list by double-clicking on the resource you want to open. The RATES tab allows you to:

1. Click the + button to add a new rate or the - button to delete an existing rate
2. Specify the valid from date which is normally the start of your fiscal year. The rate entered in the next column is valid from this date until the start of the valid-from date for the next rate
3. Enter the rate including the proper currency (based on where this resource group is located) and the unit e.g. Hours. Rates can be entered per hour, week or year
4. You can download or upload the rates to/from Excel

Labor estimates in the estimating application do not consider varying labor rates by fiscal year, the rate which is valid from the start date of the resource assignment is used. The labor costs in the cost model do consider varying rates by fiscal year, with the result that a single labor estimate for one resource group can have varying cost for the same number of hours from one year to the next.