Rate Studio video tutorials

In this video, you will take a quick tour of Rate Studio: the sidebar, the header, the footer, and the File menu, and learn where your data is stored.

The sidebar lists every step in order, from Mode and Purpose at the top, to Hiring at the bottom. A green number means the step is complete, and the step you are on is highlighted. Steps unlock as you finish the ones before them, so you always know what comes next.

The header at the top shows where you are, with the step number and a short description. When a step has sections of its own, the tabs appear right here in the header, and they stay in place as you scroll.

The footer is always at the bottom. Back and Continue are on the right. The File menu is on the left.

Everything file related lives in the File menu. Save keeps your work as a file on your computer, and Import opens a saved file. In Chrome and Edge, you can also connect to a folder, so your saved files are one click away. When you reach the calculation screens, the same menu offers the Excel and PDF reports.

Rate Studio runs in your browser. Your data remains on your device or network. Because of that, save your work before you close the page. The sidebar tells you when you have unsaved changes.

The period box in the sidebar holds your fiscal years. You can keep an actual year and a budget year in the same file, switch between them, and compare them later.

The free demo has sample data you can explore but not change. Government reviewers get a view only mode that can import a file and print a PDF.

That is the tour. Next, we choose a mode and name your company.

In this video, you will accept the license agreement, enter your company information, choose Actual or Budget, and choose a mode.

Each time you open Rate Studio, you read and accept the license agreement. Scroll to the end of the terms, and the Accept button turns on.

If you are returning to earlier work, start at the top. Import a saved file, or connect to a folder, to pick up where you left off. For a new file, continue below.

Enter the company name. It is required, because it labels every report and file. Once you enter it, the name locks, because it names your saved files. To change it later, choose Edit name. Then add the fiscal year or period, for example FY2026, and who prepared the work.

Choose the data type. Actual is for historical costs. Budget is for a forward-looking plan, and it asks whether you have a completed budget to load, or need to create one. Creating one opens the Budget Module, which has its own videos. The data type labels your exports, and keeps the two apart when you save.

Now choose what you want to do. Each mode locks one thing, so every difference in your rates has one cause.

Calculate Single Set of Rates is for one structure.

Perform a What-If Analysis keeps the structure locked, and you change only dollars.

Model Multiple Rate Structures keeps the dollars locked, and you change only the structure.

Select a mode, then choose Continue. Your company name and fiscal year now show in the sidebar, and the next step opens.

That is how you set up a file. Next, we look at saving, and opening your work.

In this video, you will save your work, open a saved file, and connect to a folder.

To save your work, choose File, then Save. In Chrome and Edge, your browser asks where to put the file the first time. The name is your company and today's date, and one file holds every period. After that, each Save updates the same file in one click. In other browsers, Save downloads the file to your Downloads folder.

Save As makes a new copy with a new dated name, for example before you try a different mode.

When you change anything, a banner tells you that you have unsaved changes, with a Save now button. After fifteen minutes it reminds you again. If you close the page with unsaved work, your browser asks you to confirm.

To open a saved file, choose File, then Import configuration, and pick the file. Rate Studio restores your structures, your cost data, and your periods.

In Chrome and Edge, you can connect to a folder instead. Choose Connect to a folder, pick one, and allow access when your browser asks. Rate Studio lists the JSON files it finds. Choose Open next to a file to load it, and it is marked open now. Choose Save to this folder to save back to it.

The folder is remembered. When you return, one click on Reconnect gives the browser permission again, and your files are back. If you want it gone, choose Forget this folder.

That is how you save and open your work. Next, we define your structures.

In this video, you will see how many structures your mode uses, and name them.

After Mode and Purpose, the Structures step asks how many structures to model. Your mode decides the answer.

Calculate Single Set of Rates always uses one structure.

A What-If uses a Baseline and one What-If.

Model Multiple Rate Structures lets you choose two to six, a Baseline plus up to five alternatives.

To change the answer, go back and choose a different mode.

Below, name each structure. The Baseline is your current structure, the way you run it today. You can rename it, and the names you choose label every tab, report, and comparison, so use names you will recognize.

Choose Continue to configure the structure.

That is how you define your structures. Next, we configure your fringe and intermediate pools.

In this video, you will set up your fringe pool and base, and add intermediate pools with their drivers and feed order.

The Configure Structures step follows the order of the calculation: fringe, intermediate pools, overhead, MSOH, and G&A. Fringe comes first, because every pool after it depends on it, and fringe follows labor everywhere it goes.

Choose how fringe is pooled. A separate fringe pool is the standard. Fringe embedded in overhead is rare: there is no fringe rate, and the fringe costs sit inside the overhead pool.

Most structures use one fringe pool. Use two when labor must be split by class, for example SCA and non-SCA, or union and non union. Name each pool to match your labor classes. Other splits are allowed, but the tool asks you to be ready to document the reason.

The number of fringe pools you can use depends on your subscription level: two for Solo/SMB and Small Firm, and four for Enterprise.

Next, choose the fringe base. Total W-2 labor dollars is the most common. Direct labor dollars only is the alternative. The two hours based options need hours from outside the general ledger, so the tool flags them with a warning.

Intermediate pools collect costs, such as facilities, IT, or HR, and allocate them to the pools that use them. Select the ones this structure needs, or add a custom pool. Leave them empty if you have none.

The number of intermediate pools also depends on your subscription level: two for Solo/SMB, four for Small Firm, and ten for Enterprise.

Each pool has an allocation base, also called a driver. The tool recommends one: square footage for facilities, and headcount for IT. You can choose an alternative, but it must be applied consistently and documented. The allocated cost reaches each recipient pool as an applied cost line, the same way applied fringe does.

If one intermediate pool charges another, set the feed order. A feed cannot circle back. If IT feeds facilities, facilities cannot feed IT. The tool detects a circular feed and blocks the calculation.

Here is what that looks like. After you calculate, the Rate Summary names the circle, facilities to IT and back to facilities. Remove one of the feeds, and the error clears.

That is fringe and intermediate pools. Next, overhead pools and their bases.

In this video, you will choose how many overhead pools to use, name them, choose each pool's allocation base, and link each pool to a fringe pool.

Choose how many overhead pools this structure needs. One pool gives a single combined overhead rate. Use more when your work carries overhead differently, for example services and manufacturing, or SCA and non-SCA work.

The number you can use depends on your subscription level: four for Solo/SMB, six for Small Firm, and twenty for Enterprise.

Each overhead pool collects overhead labor, overhead expenses, the applied fringe on that labor, and any intermediate pool cost allocated to it.

Name each pool to match how you run the business. Here, an SCA overhead pool, and a non-SCA overhead pool.

Then choose each pool's allocation base. This is the denominator of the overhead rate, and it can differ from pool to pool. Direct labor plus applied fringe is the most common. Material dollars, or prime costs, which are direct labor plus materials, suit manufacturing. Hours, machine hours, and units of production need data from outside the general ledger, so the tool flags them with a warning.

When you have more than one fringe pool, each overhead pool also chooses which fringe pool applies to its labor. SCA fringe goes with the SCA overhead pool, and non-SCA fringe goes with the non-SCA overhead pool.

Bid and proposal labor and IRAD labor, with their applied fringe, bear overhead like direct labor. Each of those dollars is tagged to the one overhead pool it bears cost from, when you enter cost data, so it sits only in that pool's base.

Below each base is the routing table for materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs. That is the next video.

That is how you set up your overhead pools. Next, we route materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs.

In this video, you will route materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs, and see how your routing decides the G&A base.

Below each overhead pool's base is the routing table. For each non labor cost, materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs, you choose where it flows for that pool.

There are three destinations.

OH base puts the cost in the overhead base, and it also lands in the G&A base automatically.

MSOH routes it to the MSOH pool, so it reaches G&A only through the MSOH pool total, never as raw dollars.

G&A only skips overhead and goes straight to the G&A base.

Materials can go to any of the three. Manufacturing usually puts materials in the overhead base. Services usually use MSOH.

Subcontracts in the overhead base is unusual, because subcontractors work in their own facilities. If you choose it, the tool asks you to confirm, and warns that it may be hard to defend in an audit.

Travel and other direct costs can never go in the overhead base. That choice is blocked. It is a hard rule.

Travel and other direct costs can go to MSOH only when you enable them as optional MSOH base elements in the MSOH section.

Your routing decides the G&A base. Scroll down to the G&A section, and you see the base type, derived from your choices. With no MSOH, it is Total Cost Input.

Turn on MSOH and route costs to it, and it becomes Value Added. You never choose the label. It comes from your routing.

That is how you route non labor costs. Next, we look at MSOH and G&A in detail.

In this video, you will decide whether to use an MSOH pool, see how G&A is built last, and finish the structure.

An MSOH pool lets you recover a handling cost on materials and subcontracts. Choose Yes to include it. The pool collects MSOH labor, expenses, applied fringe, and applied intermediate cost, and its rate is the pool divided by the MSOH base.

The tool shows the math. A hundred thousand dollars of materials, at a five percent MSOH rate, gives five thousand dollars of MSOH. G&A, at twenty four percent, applies to that five thousand dollars, not to the hundred thousand. That adds twelve hundred dollars, for a total burden of sixty two hundred, a six point two percent effective rate. The two rates never compound.

A cost routed to MSOH leaves the G&A base as raw dollars, and it cannot also sit in an overhead base.

Materials and subcontracts are always in the MSOH base when routed there. Travel and other direct costs are optional, so check them only if a handling fee applies.

If MSOH is on but nothing is routed to it, the tool warns you, because the pool would have no base.

If a structure does not use MSOH, costs recorded as MSOH, such as MSOH labor in a trial balance, default to G&A. You can treat them as overhead in one of that structure's pools instead. It is a structure decision, so it can differ between structures, and your cost data does not change.

G&A is always last. Its pool is G&A labor and expenses, with applied fringe and applied intermediate cost, plus the B&P and IRAD pools. There is nothing to configure. The base is derived from your routing: Total Cost Input, or Value Added when you use MSOH.

Next, choose whether to track unallowable costs. Full tracking follows FAR 31.203(d). Unallowable costs are excluded from the pools, but they stay in the bases, so the base is never fractured.

Finally, choose whether the organization has B&P, IRAD, both, or neither. Both are treated as quasi direct costs.

That is how you finish a structure. Next, we review the data requirements and the configuration summary.

In this video, you will see what cost data your structure requires, and review the whole configuration before you enter data.

This screen turns your structure into a list of the data you will need. It is informational, and nothing here stops you from continuing. The more you split your pools, the more detail your cost data needs.

Direct labor dollars are always needed. Red items are blocking. For example, with two overhead pools, direct labor must be split by pool. And with a Facilities pool, you need square footage for each recipient pool.

The tool will not calculate until you provide the red items. Yellow warnings, such as hours from a timekeeping system, do not block, but you should review them before you go on.

Below, each structure gets its own summary: its pools, its G&A base type, and the data it needs. This is your checklist for the data entry step.

Next is the Configuration Summary, your last review before data entry. At the top are the company name and the fiscal year.

The Structure Comparison lists every choice you made: fringe, intermediate pools, overhead pools, MSOH, the G&A base type, B&P and IRAD, and unallowable tracking. If you build more than one structure, they appear side by side.

Cost Element Routing shows where materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs go for each pool: overhead, MSOH, or G&A. If something looks wrong, go back and fix it now, before any data is entered.

That is the review before data entry. Next, we enter cost data manually.

In this video, you will enter your cost data by hand: add cost lines, tag them to the right pools, flag unallowable costs, and enter the allocation data for an intermediate pool.

Cost data can come from a trial balance upload, covered in the next video, or be typed in by hand. To enter it yourself, choose Manual entry. The tool shows one card for each kind of cost, in the order the rates are built.

Start with direct labor. Click Add line, and name it. Because this structure has two overhead pools, each line needs a business line, which is the overhead pool the labor belongs to. Because fringe is split, each labor line also needs a fringe pool. Then enter the dollars.

Add one line for each combination you need. The section total keeps a running sum, and you can remove a line at any time and undo it.

Direct materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs have their own cards. When routing differs by pool, tag each line with its pool, so the right dollars reach the right base.

Check Unallowable on any line that is unallowable under FAR 31.205. The cost is removed from the pools but stays in the bases, as you saw in the structure video. On G&A expenses, Charitable amounts are excluded completely.

The optional EBITDA add-back column tags interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for reporting.

Because this structure has a Facilities pool, a second tab collects its allocation data. Add a line for each department, choose the recipient pool, and enter the driver value, here square footage. Lines for the same recipient add together.

That is how you enter cost data by hand. Next, we upload and map a trial balance.

In this video, you will bring in a trial balance, map its categories and departments, review the account mappings, split an account, and see how a later file reuses your mappings.

To bring in a trial balance, choose Upload trial balance. You can upload a CSV or Excel file, or paste a range copied from Excel, including the header row. The file needs an account number, an account name, and either debit and credit columns or one balance column.

First, confirm the columns. The tool detects each one, and you can change any of them with the drop down above it. If your file has a category column or a department column, the tool uses them to map accounts, which saves a lot of time.

A department says which pool an account belongs to. Rows marked suggested were pre-filled from the department name. Review them, and set any department the tool could not match, such as an IT department when there is no IT pool.

Next, map each category once. Every account in that category is tagged the same way. The tool suggests a type and a business line from the category name. Change anything that is wrong, and check Unallowable where it applies.

Use the EBITDA add-back column for interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. If one category spans several types or pools, use Split.

Now review the accounts. The amounts are already in your cost data, so this step is about the mappings. Sort by confidence to see the riskiest accounts first, and check each one.

Then accept all the high confidence rows at once.

The control totals check the import against your file. The file total, the imported total, and the total in cost data should agree, and the tool tells you if they do not.

Sometimes one account serves more than one pool. Click Split, divide the balance by dollars or percent, and enter a rationale. The rationale is required, because an auditor will ask why the account was allocated this way. The amounts must add up to the account balance.

When everything is reviewed, choose Apply and continue. Because this structure has a Facilities pool, the tool then takes you to the allocation data, which you saw in the last video.

Next year, upload the new file. Your saved mappings are kept, every amount is replaced, and the tool lists only what changed: renamed accounts, new accounts, and accounts that are gone. Confirm those, and you are done.

That is how you bring in a trial balance. Next, we calculate and reconcile the rates.

In this video, you will calculate your rates, check the reconciliations, and export the results.

After you enter your cost data, the next screen is Calculate and Reconcile. Select it in the sidebar, or choose Continue from the cost data screen.

Rate Studio calculates as soon as the screen opens. If something your structure needs is missing, a Data Sufficiency card appears instead, and it lists exactly what to add. Nothing calculates until that card is clear, so you never get a rate built on incomplete data.

At the top is the Rate Summary. It shows each rate in order: fringe, then each overhead pool, then MSOH if you use it, then G&A. The order matters, because each rate feeds the next.

Below the summary, the detail tabs show every stage of the cascade. For each pool you see the pool dollars, the base dollars, and the resulting rate. Look inside an overhead pool to see what it holds: labor, applied fringe, applied intermediate cost, and expenses.

Each pool has a reconciliation. It adds up the amounts applied across the base, and compares them with the pool total. Multiple reconciliations make sure no cost or account is left behind or skipped. A green check means the pool foots exactly.

Now let us see what a problem looks like. Suppose you turn off MSOH in your structure, but your cost data still has MSOH accounts. Return to Calculate and Reconcile. A red message appears above the Rate Summary. It says how many dollars of cost data are not used, and that Pricing, Hiring, and all reports are blocked until you fix it. Further down, the list titled Cost data used by this structure names each account, and the reason. Here, MSOH is not enabled in this structure. To fix it, turn MSOH back on, and choose its routing again. The message clears, and the rates recalculate.

To keep a copy, open the File menu at the bottom left. On this screen it offers an Excel report, and a Print or PDF version, in summary or detailed form.

The detailed report opens in a new browser tab, and your browser offers to print it or save it as a PDF. It lists every account that feeds each pool. In the fringe section, find Overhead Labor. You see its amount, the fringe rate, and the fringe applied to it. Now look at the overhead pool. Below the overhead labor is a line for applied fringe, and it is that same amount. The two sections tie together. Further down, each base component shows its amount, the rate, and its allocation.

That is how you calculate your rates, confirm the reconciliations, and export the results. Next, we price contracts with your new rates.

In this video, you will turn your calculated rates into wrap rates and cost multipliers, test a contract price, and find the highest salary you can pay for a billing rate.

Pricing starts from the multipliers on the Calculate and Reconcile screen. The labor cost multiplier is what one dollar of direct labor costs once fringe, overhead, and G&A are added. Here it is about two point one seven times. The non labor cost multiplier is the same idea for other costs. Materials and subcontracts see only MSOH and G&A, about one point two six times here. Travel and ODCs see only G&A, about one point three seven.

Now, on the Pricing and Comparison screen, the contract pricing test. Choose the contract type: cost type, fixed price, or time and materials.

Enter the labor you expect to use. Each row has a category label, an overhead pool, the hours, and the pay rate. The overhead pool decides which overhead rate applies, so choose it on purpose. Then add non labor costs, each with its own pool.

For a cost type contract, enter the fee percent. The tool warns you above ten percent. Then calculate. The summary shows burdened cost, fee, and total price for each structure, side by side.

The detail shows exactly which fringe, overhead, MSOH, and G&A rates were applied to each row, and the dollars each added. So you can explain every line of a price.

For time and materials, the tool solves for the billing rate from your profit target, and shows the markup and margin it implies.

For fixed price, choose markup or margin, and the result shows both.

The Hiring screen works the other way. Enter the billing rate a customer will pay for a labor category, the overhead pool, and your target profit. The tool solves for the highest hourly rate and the highest annual salary you can offer and still hit that profit.

Detail shows the multiplier behind the answer, the breakeven point at zero profit, and a sensitivity table, so you can see what a few dollars more or less does to margin. The salary assumes full billable use, so treat it as a ceiling.

Both screens can be exported to Excel or saved as a PDF from the File menu.

That is how you price a contract and test a salary. Next, we create a What-If.

In this video, you will create a What-If, change some dollars, and see what it does to your rates.

A What-If starts from your Baseline, so first enter your cost data as you normally would. In Perform a What-If Analysis mode, the What-If is an exact copy of your Baseline structure. The structure is locked, so only the dollars can change.

On the What-If step, choose the What-If structure at the top. Each structure can carry its own adjustments, and your Baseline stays exactly as it is. An adjustment is one change in dollars.

For a new hire, choose Add labor adjustment. Set the reason to New hire, choose the labor type and the pool it belongs to, and enter the annual amount. The Fringe impact column shows the fringe Rate Studio adds, using your own fringe rate. A salary increase works the same way, and you can also move labor between pools.

To add a cost, such as a new subcontract, choose Add expense adjustment. Pick the cost, which can be direct materials, subcontracts, travel, other direct costs, or a pool expense, and enter the amount. Expenses carry no fringe, because only labor does.

Your actual cost data does not change. The adjustments sit on top of it, and you can remove one or all of them at any time. The tab shows how many adjustments each structure carries.

That is how you create a What-If. Next, we read the results.

In this video, you will calculate a What-If, read it against your Baseline, and see what it does to a contract price and a maximum salary.

With your adjustments entered, continue to Calculate and Reconcile. The rates are calculated from your actual cost data, with the What-If dollars added on top. Your actual cost data stays unchanged.

The Rate Summary now has two rows. Baseline is your real rates. What-If is the same structure with your adjustments added. Compare each rate across the two rows. Here, the new hire and the subcontract add dollars to the bases, so overhead falls from about thirty seven percent to about twenty seven percent, and the labor cost multiplier falls from about two point one seven to one point eight eight. A What-If can raise or lower a rate, depending on what you change.

Open the What-If tab for the full cascade. Every pool, base, and rate was recalculated through the same steps as the Baseline. Notice that the fringe pool and the bases are larger than the Baseline's, because they include your added dollars.

The reconciliations apply to the What-If too. Applied amounts still equal each pool, so the result is as sound as the Baseline.

On Pricing, enter a contract and calculate. Burdened cost, fee, and total price appear for the Baseline and the What-If side by side. The same contract carries less burden under the What-If rates, from about two hundred sixty thousand dollars to about two hundred twenty six thousand. Remember that your total cost went up. The rates show how that cost is shared.

On Hiring, enter a billing rate, a pool, and a profit target. The highest rate and salary you can pay appear for the Baseline and the What-If side by side. Here, the lower multiplier lets you offer about nineteen thousand dollars more under the What-If.

Export either report to Excel or PDF from the File menu, to share the analysis.

That is how you read a What-If. Next, we add alternative structures.

In this video, you will model more than one rate structure from the same cost data, and add and name the alternatives you want to compare.

To compare structures, choose Model Multiple Rate Structures. The dollars are locked: you enter your cost data once. Only the structure changes, so any difference in rates has one cause.

On Define Structures, choose how many alternatives to compare, from one to five, in addition to the Baseline. Here, we choose two.

Give each structure a name that says what it is. Those names appear on every tab, table, and report from here on.

On Configure Structures, each structure has its own tab. Set up the Baseline first, as in the earlier videos. Then, on an alternative, choose Copy structure from another version. Copying is the fastest way to start an alternative, because you change only what you want to test.

Alternative one turns MSOH off, so materials and subcontracts go straight to G&A. Alternative two keeps MSOH, but routes materials into the overhead base instead. Each change belongs to that structure alone.

How many fringe, intermediate, and overhead pools a structure may have depends on your subscription level. If a structure is over the limit, Rate Studio tells you before you continue.

That is how you add alternative structures. Next, we route costs and set overrides for each one.

In this video, you will route costs differently in each structure, enter allocation data for each one, and override how an account is treated in one structure only.

Each structure routes materials, subcontracts, travel, and ODC on its own. In the Current structure, materials and subcontracts go to MSOH. In this alternative, materials go to the overhead base. The rules from the routing video still apply.

If a structure has an intermediate pool, such as Facilities, it needs its driver data. Add a line for each department or cost center, with its recipient and its square feet. Choose the structure at the top, and each one can have its own. A structure you leave alone matches the Baseline.

Review and structure overrides is where one structure can treat something differently from the others. Everything you do not override uses the shared mapping.

Override a whole category at once. Here, in the No MSOH structure, the Facilities expenses are treated as overhead expense instead of an intermediate pool.

Or override a single account. An account override wins over its category override. Here, telecommunications moves to G&A, while the rest of Facilities stays in overhead.

To start another alternative from the same overrides, use Copy all overrides from.

That is how each structure can be different. Next, we compare them side by side.

In this video, you will compare every structure's rates, a contract price, and a maximum salary side by side, and decide which structure suits you.

The Rate Summary lists every structure on its own row, all from the same cost data. Read down a column to see how each rate changes. Here, overhead is about thirty five percent in the first two structures, and about thirty one percent when materials move into the overhead base. The labor cost multiplier runs from about two point one seven down to two point zero five.

Each structure has its own tab, with its cascade and reconciliations, so every result can be traced and checked.

Each tab also lists where every dollar of cost data was used. If a structure leaves any out, a red message appears above the Rate Summary, and Pricing, Hiring, and reports stay blocked until you fix it. That protects you from comparing structures built on different dollars.

On Pricing, one contract is priced under every structure at once. Compare burdened cost, fee, and total price. For this example, burdened cost runs from about two hundred sixty thousand dollars down to about two hundred forty six thousand.

The detail tabs show which fringe, overhead, MSOH, and G&A rates each structure applied to each row.

Hiring shows the highest rate and salary you could pay under each structure. Here, the maximum salary runs from about one hundred twenty five thousand dollars to about one hundred thirty two thousand.

The lowest rate is not automatically the best structure. Compare burdened cost on your own contract mix, and check that the structure matches how your company is really organized and how your accounting records support it. Then export the reports from the File menu.

That is how you compare structures. Next, we move on to the Budget Module.

In this video, you will load your chart of accounts, organize it by type and subcategory, and see where last year's accounts link to this year's.

Every budget starts with a chart of accounts. Each period keeps its own chart, so account numbers can change from year to year. Type says what kind of account it is. Category is how the account is treated in the rate calculation. Subcategory says what the cost is, such as insurance or travel.

Import your chart from a CSV or Excel file. Only posting accounts come in. If this period already has accounts, Rate Studio asks whether to replace the chart, update and add, or add new accounts only.

To add one account, choose Add account, then enter the number, the name, and the type.

Subcategory is recommended, not required, and it never changes your rates. Use the Needs subcategory filter to see what is missing, then choose Suggest subcategories for a first pass.

When you load prior-year data on the Baseline screen, the Prior-year links tab connects each older account to its new one, so last year's numbers still line up. You can link them by hand, let Rate Studio link the obvious ones, or import a crosswalk file. Nothing is loaded yet here, so there is nothing to link.

Departments are an optional reporting layer under your pools. Add a department, choose its pool, and it can appear in your GL export. A department never changes a rate.

That is how you set up your chart of accounts. Next, we add last year as a baseline reference.

In this video, you will bring in last year's actuals as a reference while you build the budget.

The Baseline is optional. It brings in last year's actual costs as a reference number, shown beside each line when you build the budget. There are two cards: one for the prior year, and one for the current year to date.

Load the prior year's final actuals from a trial balance, or from a Rate Studio file you saved earlier. Here, we import a saved file. The card shows how many lines came in, and the total.

For the current year to date, load the data the same way, then enter how many months it covers. Rate Studio uses that number to annualize it.

If your account numbers or names changed, a message tells you how many baseline accounts are not in your chart. Open the prior-year links to connect them, so last year's dollars land on the right accounts.

To replace a year, or take it out, open Change the source. You can also use another period already in this file, so you never upload anything twice.

That is how you bring in a baseline. Next, we project revenue.

In this video, you will project next year's revenue for each business line.

Revenue is entered for each business line, which is the overhead pool the work lands in. There are three kinds of work: backlog, pending proposals, and other filler work.

Backlog is awarded work you have not yet delivered. Type a total for each business line, or itemize it, and the lines add up for you.

Pending proposals are weighted. Enter each proposal's value and its chance of winning, and Rate Studio uses the weighted value, not the full pipeline.

Other filler work covers small, recurring work that is not in backlog or a named proposal. Type a lump sum.

The total projected revenue is shown at the bottom.

That is how you project revenue. Next, we build labor.

In this video, you will set your benefit rates once, load your employee roster, and assign each person's time.

Start with Setup. Enter your company-wide rates once, as percentages, so seven point six five means seven point six five percent. They apply to every employee. Then add your health and dental plans, with their monthly cost.

Benefit classes say which benefits each kind of employee gets. Paid absence types, such as holiday and P T O, are hours per year that come out of each person's annual hours.

Overtime is paid at a multiplier for non-exempt employees, so the cost is right, not just an average rate.

On Employees, download the Excel template. Its drop-downs and checks follow your own setup. Fill in one row per person, upload it, and Rate Studio builds the table.

Open one employee to see their pay, their plans, and their time allocation.

Time is assigned to direct work, overhead, B&P, IRAD, or G&A. The percentages must add to one hundred percent of worked hours, which is annual hours minus paid absences.

A warning also tells you when benefit options are not yet chosen for an employee. They still calculate with your company default, but each option needs a choice. You can set them all to the company default in one click, or show only those employees.

That is how you build labor. Next, we roll up the costs for each pool.

In this video, you will start each pool from last year's accounts, put a reason on every line, and see the rate each pool produces.

Cost Rollup has one tab for each pool. The Overview lists each pool, its total, its base, and the rate the budget produces. A reconciliation line tells you whether everything ties.

On a pool tab, labor and fringe are locked. They come from the Labor tab, so you cannot change them here by accident.

If you loaded a baseline, each pool is pre-filled with last year's accounts. The Prior year column shows final actuals. The Current year column shows year to date, annualized, as a recommended amount. Choose Use to copy that number into your budget, then change it wherever you expect something different.

Every line needs a note, so the budget explains itself. Write why the amount is right, and watch the pool total and its rate update as you go.

The Fringe tab shows what the Labor tab produced, in groups. If a real amount differs, adjust it in dollars or percent, and explain it in a note.

The Overview checks each pool against the calculation, and tells you if anything does not tie.

Direct labor is locked from the Labor tab. Enter direct materials, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs on Direct and other.

That is how you roll up costs by pool. Next, we export the budget to your accounting software.

In this video, you will map every budget item to an account and export the budget for your accounting software.

The GL accounts tab lists every budget item: revenue, labor, fringe, and your expenses. Each one needs an account from your chart, so the budget can be loaded into your accounting software.

Choose Suggest accounts for a first pass. Rate Studio matches labor, fringe, and expenses to your chart. Review them, and change any that are wrong. Several items can share one account, and the file adds them up.

Anything left needs an account from you. Export stays off until every item with dollars has an account, and the file ties out to your budget. This prevents a file that quietly leaves money behind.

Then export to Excel with three sheets, or to CSV, either one row per account for the year or one row per account per month. Calculated amounts, such as applied overhead, are not in the file, because they are not accounting entries. There are no formats for specific accounting software, so you load the file with your own import tool.

That is how you export your budget. Next, we preview the pro forma.

In this video, you will preview your budget as an income statement, and lock it in as your cost data.

The Pro Forma turns your budget into an income statement, using the same calculation engine as actual data. There is no separate math for budgets.

Your fringe, overhead, and G&A appear as dollars, with gross margin and net margin below. If you have more than one structure, each one has its own column.

EBITDA adds back interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, using the accounts you tagged for those. An untagged account adds back nothing, so tag them for an accurate figure.

Because a baseline is loaded, the trend card compares your budget with last year, in raw dollars.

For the detail by pool, use the File menu to print a detailed Pro Forma, or export it to Excel.

When you are satisfied, continue. Your budget becomes the cost data for Enter Cost Data, and for Calculate and Reconcile, so you can see the rates, price contracts, and test salaries on it.

That is how you preview and lock in a budget. Next, we work with periods.

In this video, you will keep a budget and its actuals as separate periods, lock one as Final, and compare two periods.

A period is a complete set of rates: its own cost data, structures, and mappings. Keep your budget and your actuals as separate periods in one file. This file holds a budget and an actual.

Choose New period. Name it, choose Budget or Actual, and for an actual, pick the budget to compare it against. Copy the structures, mappings, and treatments without the dollars, so you start with the same setup and enter fresh numbers.

Switch between periods with the selector. Nothing is mixed. Each period shows its own numbers.

When a period is done, choose Lock to mark it Final. Rate Studio first checks that the rates reconcile and that no cost data is left out. A Final period cannot be changed by accident, but Calculate, Pricing, Hiring, and reports still work.

To change a Final period, unlock it and type the reason. The reason is saved with the period.

Choose Compare to see two periods side by side. Rates are calculated now from each period's own data, and the change is shown in percentage points. If a budget and an actual of the same year use different structures, Rate Studio says so, because the rates are then not a like for like comparison.

Export the comparison to Excel to share it.

That is how you work with periods. To go further, open the User Guide on the Support page.