Financial Plan - Cost vs. Revenue

This article explains the difference between cost and revenue in OnePlan and how each relates to cost tables and rate tables in the Financial Plan.

What you’ll learn
After reading this article, you’ll understand:

• How OnePlan models cost and revenue
• Why both concepts exist and when each is used
• How cost tables and rate tables convert effort into financial values

Audience

This article is intended for:

• OnePlan Administrators configuring Financial Plans
• Portfolio and Financial Managers reviewing cost and revenue data
• New OnePlan users seeking a conceptual understanding of financial modeling

This article provides conceptual guidance and does not replace configuration or setup instructions.

Conceptual Overview

In OnePlan, cost and revenue represent two different financial perspectives derived from the same underlying work data, such as hours, assignments, or allocations.

• Cost answers the question: What does this work cost the organization?
• Revenue answers the question: What is the financial or billable value of this work?

Organizations can track costs, revenue, or both, depending on how their Financial Plans are configured. Understanding this distinction is essential for accurate budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and decision‑making.

Key Concepts

Cost

Cost represents money spent to deliver work. This may include:

• Labor costs (internal employees or contractors)
• Non‑labor expenses (materials, software, services)

Costs are commonly used for:

• Budgeting and forecasting
• Tracking actual spend
• Understanding internal financial impact

Revenue

Revenue represents money earned or billed as a result of work performed.

Revenue is commonly used for:

• Billable project tracking
• Chargeback or cost‑recovery models
• Understanding financial return on investment

Revenue does not replace cost tracking—both can coexist within the same Financial Plan.

How Effort Becomes Financial Data

Most financial data in OnePlan starts as effort, such as:

• Planned hours in a Resource Plan
• Assigned effort in a Work Plan
• Actual hours from Timesheets

When financial data is imported from other areas in OnePlan (such as Resource Plans, Work Plans, or Timesheets), this effort is converted into financial values using either cost tables or rate tables.

• Cost is derived from cost tables, which may be defined at the resource level (actual costs) or at a standardized level, such as by role or cost category (blended costs).
• Revenue is derived from rate tables, which may be defined at the resource, task, role / category level, depending on whether actual or blended revenue is being modeled.

This flexibility allows organizations to model finances at the level of precision that best fits their needs.

Cost Tables vs. Rate Tables

Cost Tables

Cost tables define how effort is converted into cost values.

They are commonly based on:

• Resources
• Roles
• Labor cost categories
• Organizational cost standards

Cost tables are typically used when modeling:

• Internal labor costs
• Budgeted or actual spend
• Operational expense tracking

Rate Tables

Rate tables define how effort is converted into revenue values.

They are often based on:

• Billable roles
• Contracted or standard rates
• Resource‑specific or plan‑specific pricing

Rate tables are typically used when modeling:

• Billable work
• Revenue forecasts
• Chargeback or revenue reporting

Blended vs. Actual (Conceptual)

When converting effort into cost or revenue, OnePlan supports two conceptual approaches:

• Blended
  Uses standardized costs or rates (for example, by role or category) to produce consistent, high‑level financial values.
• Actual
  Uses specific costs or rates defined at the resource or plan level to reflect real‑world financial variation.

Both approaches apply to costs and revenue. The choice depends on how detailed and precise the financial modeling needs to be.

How This Fits Into OnePlan

Cost and revenue modeling in OnePlan supports a wide range of workflows, including:

• Resource planning and capacity analysis
• Financial forecasting and budgeting
• Actuals tracking and variance analysis
• Portfolio‑level financial reporting

The same Financial Plan may include:

• Cost‑only views
• Revenue‑only views
• Side‑by‑side cost and revenue comparisons

This flexibility allows organizations to align financial modeling with their operational and reporting requirements.

Common Scenarios

You might rely on cost and revenue modeling in OnePlan to:

• Understand the true cost of delivering work
• Forecast revenue for billable initiatives
• Compare planned vs. actual financial performance
• Evaluate portfolio investment decisions