Rates

A rate is the amount of money that it costs a resource to work on a task in a task plan for a given amount of time.

How much does it cost to finish all of the tasks in a task plan? In order to track costs, you must ensure that all rates are entered as accurately as possible. A rate is a way of associating a cost with an increment of time, whether that cost occurs just once, per-hour, per-day, and so forth. For example, renting a battery powered forklift for 8 hours may cost $60 per hour. Having 2 tons of gravel delivered may cost $400 per ton of gravel, plus an $80 delivery fee. Assigning a Web developer to one or more tasks in a task plan for two weeks may be billed at a $45 per-hour rate. Or if an outside contractor is brought in at a flat-fee of $2000 to create four online training videos.

There are three types of rates (fixed, per-use, and resource) that are used in a task plan:

Fixed A fixed rate represents a single cost, regardless of any resource requirements, the number of hours required to finish the task, or the amount of material resources that were used. For example, an $80 delivery fee or a flat, $2000 fee for an outside contractor.
Per-use A per-use rate represents the cost for each time a resource (work or material) is used. For example, $400 per ton of gravel used.
Resource rates A resource rate is associated with the amount of time a work resource spends doing actual work on a task in a task plan or when the cost of a material resource is best measured as an increment. For example, a $45 per-hour billing rate or a $60 per-hour rental rate.