Create and edit indirect cost rates

Indirect cost rates define how indirect costs are calculated as a percentage on top of eligible direct costs (for example personnel, travel, other direct costs). In EMDESK they are used both in:

• Budget planning - indirect costs are calculated automatically on top of budgeted direct costs
• Cost reporting - indirect costs are calculated automatically on top of reported direct costs

You can define indirect cost rates at two levels:

General level - in Customization, as default rates that apply to all participants for all or selected projects and for all or selected cost categories

Participant level - in the Financial profile of each participant, that apply to this participant for all or selected projects and for all or selected cost categories (see here).

Once you set indirect cost rates, budget entries and expense records are automatically calculated based on these rates.

When you enter a budget item or an expense, you simply choose the participant and the cost category (for example personnel, travel, other direct costs). You do not have to pick an indirect cost rate yourself. EMDESK looks at all indirect cost rules that exist in your workspace and automatically picks the most specific one that fits this project, this participant and this cost category. It then calculates the indirect costs on top of the direct costs for you.

This means you can have different indirect cost rules at workspace level and at participant level, and even different rules for different projects. For example, one project might use 25 % overhead on personnel, another project 15 %, and a specific participant might have its own special rate.

Creating a general indirect cost rate

General indirect cost rates are defined in Customization and can be set to:

• Apply to all projects, or one specific project only, and
• Apply to one or multiple cost categories

These rates act as defaults and are applied to all participants in the respective projects where no project-specfic participant-level rate is defined for a given cost category.

1. Go to the Settings tab on the left-hand side of your workspace and click Customization.

1. Scroll down to the General indirect cost rates section and click + Add indirect cost rate. An indirect cost rate sidebar opens, where you define the general indirect cost rate:

• Rate (%): Click the blue “0” placeholder and enter the rate as a percentage
• Name: Enter a clear label, for example 25 % HE overhead or Org X special overhead.
• Description (optional): Add any explanation needed.
• Projects:
  • Any projects - use this rate as default for this participant in all projects
  • Or pick a project if the rate should apply only there
• Cost categories:
  • Tick the checkbox for each cost category to which the rate should apply.
  • Cost categories can be configured in the Customization settings.

1. Click Save Cost Rate in the bottom right corner.

Updating an existing general indirect cost rate

Go to Settings → Customization. Scroll to the Indirect cost rates section. Hover over the rate you want to edit and click the Edit icon. In the sidebar, update:

• Rate (%): Click the blue value and enter the rate as a percentage
• Name: Update the rate name
• Description (optional): Update the description.
• Projects:
  • Any projects - use this rate as default for this participant in all projects
  • Or pick a project if the rate should apply only there
• Cost categories:
  • Tick the checkbox for each cost category to which the rate should apply.
  • Cost categories can be configured in the Customization settings.