Roles are the primary way to assign a Resource to a Resource Request. When creating a Phase you will likely want to define the Resources required but may not know the specific people to assign. In Precursive you can create a Participant with just a Role, this is called a Resource Request. The Resource Request can later be assigned to a specific Resource from the Resource Plan or Magic Assign.

Role Costs & Rates

It may not be immediately clear why you need to have a cost on a Role and a Rate Card Role. The reason for this is because this cost is then used until a Resource is assigned (this is called a Resource Request), and it is treated like a default/bended Cost for the Role. Role Costs are used by default for a Participant Resource Request but once the Resource is assigned then the Resource Cost is used by default. 

NB: This may be overridden for each Participant to a Rate defined on the Resource or a Fixed Rate. See Edit Participants' Rates & Costs.

NB: If you set up costs and rates on your Roles records without using Rate Cards, any changes to these values would affect historical data.

Why use Rate Cards?

Rate Cards are used in combination with Roles. You can create Rate Cards to assign specific Costs and Rates for each Role. Rate Cards can be created for a specific Project to define the agreed Rates for each Role on a Project or can be used to define standard Rates for different currencies, industries, geographies, or specific Accounts.

It is recommended that you create Rate Cards to accommodate Rate changes. Without Rate Cards if you wanted to change the Cost/Rate of a Role then that change would apply to all historical Phases. When the Phase has a Rate Card the Rate Card Role Cost and Rate will be used. This means you can define new Rates as a new Rate Card and start using this new Rate Card on new Phases without impacting Phases using the old Rate Card.

Manage Roles & Rate Cards

Create a Role

1. From Precursive HQ, in Quick Find type “Roles”, then select the “Roles” item.
2. Click 'New'
3. Name the new role
4. Assign rates and costs (optional)
5. Hit “Save“.

The new role will appear in the drop down list when adding Participants to Phases.

Assign Roles to Resources

When Adding New Resources, you can assign them a specific role in the 'Details' section.

Create a Rate Card

1. From Precursive HQ, in Quick Find type “Rate Cards”, then select the “Rate Cards” item.
2. Hit 'New'
3. Name your rate card
4. Link it to an Account if you want to create a separate Rate Card for a specific customer, otherwise you can leave this blank
5. Hit 'save'

Create Rate Card Roles

From the Rate Cards record:

1. Click 'New' to assign rates and costs to the Roles you want to link to that Rate Card
2. In the pop up window select a Role (please see Create & Assign Roles if you haven't created them yet)
3. Add the associated rates and costs for that role
4. Hit 'Save' or 'Save and New' to continue adding roles to the rate card