Rate Matrix - Overview

The Rate Matrix is Cora PPM's enterprise-grade cost-rate engine. It defines how the system automatically calculates the internal cost and charge-out (billing) cost for every planned resource on every task — across all resource types: Skills, Named Users, Materials, and Facilities. Rather than storing a single flat rate per resource, the Rate Matrix uses a multi-dimensional, attribute-driven lookup table so that the correct rate is determined at the point of cost calculation based on a combination of contextual factors (e.g., project type, skill type, cost centre, currency, custom dropdown values, user attributes).

Why It Exists

Project cost estimation requires rates that vary across many dimensions. A "Software Engineer" skill on a government contract might carry a different rate than the same skill on a commercial project, or if billed in Euros vs. Sterling vs. Dollar, or if assigned to a particular division. The Rate Matrix replaces manual rate entry with a structured, auditable, versioned lookup engine that is applied consistently at both project and task level.