Set how we turn payroll into an hourly loaded cost, so every margin number is real. Worked example: a $150k engineer with a $22.5k bonus costs $104/hr.
This is cost — what a person costs us, from HR payroll. It is not what you bill a client; set that under each project's billing settings. Margin is the gap between the two.
1Where does a person's cost come from?
2What do we add on top?
Advanced · estimate bridge & where cost applies
How points / no-estimate projects still get costed, and the per-project cost on/off switches.
Cost basis · what money is computed from
Independent of how the project estimates — this is what keeps margin real on a points or no-estimate board.
actual cost=logged hours×loaded $/hr
Always the truth, whatever the estimate unit. A team can size in story points or item count — cost still comes from the real hours they log × their rate. No estimate at all? Cost still flows from logged time + the capacity they’re allocated.
Forecast bridge · before any time is logged
To show a cost forecast on a points- or count-based project before work starts, convert the estimate to hours using the team’s velocity. As real hours log, forecast → actual.
A 5-point story, forecast before work starts. The moment hours are logged, the same ticket re-costs from actual time — the forecast was only ever a placeholder.
Where cost applies
Internal teams (marketing, ops) may not want cost at all — it’s a per-project switch, set on each project so the planner, reports and cost columns hide cleanly. Managed in project settings, summarised here.
Where a person's base cost comes from before overhead is applied.
HR cash comp
Pull salary + bonus from each employee's HR contract. Always current — updates the moment payroll changes.
Manual rate
Type a fixed cost rate per person on the project. Use when salary isn't in Symphora (e.g. contractors).
Fallback: when HR salary is selected but a person has no salary on file, Projects falls back to the manual project rate and flags them for review — no cost silently reads as $0.
Overhead & working-hours basis
The org-wide default. Departments can override below.
Bonus basis
Bonuses are real pay, so they roll into the base before overhead. Choose how the variable amount is measured so the rate doesn't lurch when bonuses pay out.
Overhead multiplier ⓘ
Benefits, payroll taxes, software, facilities & non-billable time, as a % on top of cash comp.
22%35%
28%
Working-hours basis
Paid hours per year used to convert annual cost into an hourly rate.
Billable-hours basis inflates the hourly rate and the dashboard also applies a utilization target — using both double-counts unbilled time. Pick a calendar-hours basis unless you know you want this.
Resulting formula
Shown to finance on every cost figure for an audit trail.
loaded $/hr=(salary+bonus)×(1+0.28)÷2,080
Base is total cash comp (salary + bonus). A department or role override replaces 0.28 with its own rate. Contractors use their manual rate directly, skipping the multiplier.
Advanced · team & role overrides
Most people don't need these — the org default above covers everyone. Open to fine-tune by department or role.
3 overrides
Per-department overhead overrides
Override the org default where a team carries a different cost load.
Department
Headcount
Overhead %
Avg loaded $/hr
Per-role overhead overrides
Most-specific wins: a role override beats its department, which beats the org default. Use sparingly — e.g. contractors or offshore roles that carry a different load.
Role
Inherits from
Overhead %
Loaded $/hr
3Check the result — live preview
Rate preview Draft — not yet live
Live worked example.
$104/hr
loaded cost · Engineering · 26% overhead
SourceHR cash comp
Base salary finance only$150,000
Bonus last paid$22,500
Total cash comp$172,500
Annual loaded cost$217,350
$—/hr
no salary on file
Devon Park is a contractor with no HR salary. Cost can't be loaded automatically. Set a manual rate on each project they work, or add a contract in HR.
Source— missing
Manual fallback rate$90/hr set per project
Saved · last edited by you · just now·
Cost model is finance-only
Cost rates expose individual salaries, so only Leadership / Finance can view or edit them. You can still see margin % and project-level aggregates on the cost dashboard — just not per-person rates.
No cost model configured yet
Until you set an overhead % and hours basis, every project cost reads as a manual guess. Three steps, one minute — then all of Projects starts costing from live payroll.
Step 1 · Where do rates come from?
Recommended: pull salary + bonus from HR so rates never go stale.
HR cash comp
Always current — updates when payroll changes.
Manual rates
Type rates per person. For orgs without salaries in Symphora.
Step 2 · Overhead on top of pay
Benefits, payroll taxes, software, facilities. Services firms typically land 22–35% — we've started you at 28%.
28%
Step 3 · Confirm with a worked example
A $150k engineer with a $22.5k bonus, at 28% overhead and 2,080 h/yr:
You can fine-tune the hours basis, bonus treatment, and per-team overrides any time after setup.