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What is the Target Utilization Rate?
A Utilization Rate is a productivity measure common in professional services firms that shows the number of billable hours worked in a given period over the number of working hours available during that time.
You can set target utilization rates for the entire company or just for an individual within Monograph.
Setting a Target Utilization Rate
Setting Available Hours
Before we set a Target Utilization Rate for our team, we want to first omit items from our calculation such as PTO, Vacation, Sick Leave, etc and set Available Hours.
Head to Settings > App Defaults > Overhead List. From there, click Edit.
A pop-up will appear with a toggle that you can switch on and off for items you would like to omit. Leaving the toggle off (as shown below) will omit the item from the utilization rate calculation.
It is common to omit items such as PTO, Vacation, Sick Leave, etc from the utilization rate calculations as these are not hours a company would expect to be able to bill a client against.
💡 Having your team enter items such as PTO ahead of time will adjust their target rate for that week accordingly.
Setting Target Utilization Rates For an Individual
To set a Target Utilization Rate for an individual, navigate to their profile by heading to the Staff > Directory. Click on the Team Member, and then scroll down to Utilization Rate.
From here, click Edit and assign their target rate. Don't forget to Save the changes!
💡 Adding compensation data to a profile will be beneficial for determining the hours per week that will be used in the utilization calculator.
Setting Target Utilization Rate for the Company
To set a universal Target Utilization Rate for the company, head to Settings > Organization and scroll down to Utilization Rate.
From here, you can click Edit and enter your team's Default Weekly Hours and the Target rate. Don't forget to Save your changes!
If there are any new team members who do not have a Target Utilization Rate within their profile, you can check the box beneath the default weekly hours to apply this rate to their profile as shown in the screenshot above.
🚨 Checking the box will ensure all NEW team members that do not have a Target Utilization Rate will be assigned the universal rate set under App Defaults. If you have Target Utilization Rates for specific team members or roles, we suggest setting their Target Utilization Rate first within the Staff Directory. Checking this box will not override any individual's Target Utilization Rate within the Staff Directory.
Navigating to the Target Utilization Rate
To navigate to and see your team's Target Utilization Rates that you've set up, head to Analytics > Staff > Utilization rate.
From here, filter down to a team member and you'll see the Target Utilization Rate you set up for that team member, indicated by a dotted line.
Different Parts of the Target Utilization Rate
Target Utilization Rate Line - The drop-down option on the chart below the graph will give you the team members' Utilization Target Hours for that month and how those hours have been utilized.
If a Team Member has entered items you have selected to omit ahead of time such as PTO, you will see the graph will dip compared to the previous week and adjust accordingly based on the amount of PTO they entered.
Where Does the Information Come From?
All of the information for Target Utilization Rates comes directly from the settings you set for your individual team members.
Total Hours Utilized - these numbers take the average number of hours we plan for this team member to work on projects over the course of a week.
🚨 For us to calculate this number, we need to have Planned Hours filled out for each Project and Phase within the Project Planner.
Utilization Target - this number comes from the number of hours we set for our team members within either their Profile or settings page.
Utilization Rate - The Utilization Rate is calculated by taking the number of Billable Hours Worked in a Week and dividing it by the Available Hours per Week.
Billable Hours Worked in a Week: The number of hours across all billable projects that are logged into Timesheets
Available Hours per Week: The number of hours an employee is expected to work for your firm. For example, a full-time employee would be expected to have 40 available hours per week.
💡 To enter the Available Hours per Week for an employee, head to the Team Directory, select the Team Member, and under compensation, select Add Compensation. This will allow you to add their Available Hours.
Report Use Cases
Utilization Rates can be used in a few different ways. Some examples are:
Identifying Underutilized Staff - See who may be falling below their utilization targets. This information gives your firm the insight to make decisions on who can take on more work based on their target.
Identify High Performers - Obtain the visibility to see which team members are in high demand across projects based on their target.
Permission Setting to Access Target Utilization Rates
Admins will have access to these Target Utilization Rates. To allow other users to have access, you'll want to make sure you have 'View Team Reports' enabled.
If you do not see the Reports option, it means your current access level does not permit you to see Team Reports. Please speak to an Admin for assistance.