May 2026
Retainer Revenue Attribution
We’ve updated how retainer revenue is displayed for months where no hours are worked or planned.
Previously, scheduled revenue for those months was spread evenly across employee attributes (such as department, role, etc.), which could make reporting feel arbitrary and difficult to interpret.
Going forward, that revenue will be grouped under a dedicated “Unattributed Revenue” line item. This provides a clearer and more accurate view of your financials, making it easier to distinguish between revenue tied to actual work and revenue not yet associated with any activity.
This update applies across both Core and Insights.
Monthly Revenue Is Determined by Scheduled Services Revenue Grid
For fixed retainer offerings, monthly revenue is based on the months in which Services Revenue is scheduled.
For example:
- $15,000 scheduled in January
- $15,000 scheduled in February
- $15,000 scheduled in March
Each of those months will show $15,000 in total revenue.
Revenue at the monthly level reflects the full amount scheduled for that month — regardless of how hours are distributed within the month. If a month has multiple revenues scheduled, it will be summed for the month.
Revenue Is Attributed to Hours Using the Effective Bill Rate
Even though revenue is scheduled monthly, it is still distributed across hours using the Effective Bill Rate.
The Effective Bill Rate is calculated as:
Total scheduled revenue for the month ÷ Total hours for the month
Example
If in March you have:
- $15,000 in scheduled Services Revenue
- 75 total hours (planned or actual)
The Effective Bill Rate for March is:
$15,000 ÷ 75 hours = $200/hour
Each hour in March will have $200 of attributed revenue.
This matters in two important ways:
A. Weekly Financial Views
When reviewing financials weekly, revenue reflects the number of hours allocated (planned or actual) in that week.
Using the example above:
If 10 hours are planned in a given week:
- 10 hours × $200/hour = $2,000 in revenue for that week
However, when viewing financials at the monthly level, the system will display the full $15,000 scheduled for March.
In other words:
- Weekly view → Revenue scales with hours in that week
- Monthly view → Displays the full scheduled monthly revenue
B. Revenue by Employee Attribute
- When viewing revenue by employee attribute, revenue is distributed based on the number of hours each group worked during the month.
- Using the same March example and viewing by department:
- Development: 50 hours
- Design: 25 hours
- Effective Bill Rate: $200/hour
Revenue attribution would be:
- Development → 50 × $200 = $10,000
- Design → 25 × $200 = $5,000
The Effective Bill Rate is the same across all attributes within a given month. However, it may change month over month depending on the scheduled revenue and total hours for that month.
In the shaper the 'effective rate' is no longer shown in a rate column when the project is a Fixed retainer - only since the retainer work is not priced as an hourly rate at the role level in the same way as say a T&M project would be.