Cost Monitoring — Roster Cost vs Budget
Cost Monitoring
The Cost Monitoring dashboard shows the financial side of your roster — base hours, overtime, agency / casual premium, leave loading — projected for the current period and tracked against budget.
Where to find it
Sidebar → Cost Monitoring (where enabled by your Org Admin / plan). URL: /cost-monitoring.
When to use it
- Weekly during the fortnight to see how you're tracking
- Before approving overtime / agency — confirm budget headroom
- Monthly for leadership reporting
Page layout
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Period summary | Total cost for the current fortnight, vs budget, vs same period last year |
| Cost by Stream | Stacked bar — base / OT / agency per ward |
| Cost by Craft Group | Stacked bar per profession |
| Trend | Weekly cost over the last 13 weeks |
| Drivers | The top 5 staff / shifts driving overtime or agency cost |
How cost is calculated
- Base rate × hours for in-band assignments
- Overtime premium for hours above the staff member's max
- Agency / casual premium for assignments tagged as such
- Leave loading where applicable (per leave type config)
Cost rates come from your Org Admin's setup. If they're wrong, the dashboard's wrong — flag it.
Reading the Drivers panel
The Drivers section identifies who and what is pushing your cost up. Recurring entries here often signal a structural issue:
| Pattern | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Same staff member top-5 every fortnight | Hours band set too low, or vacancy plan inadequate |
| Same shift type top-5 every week | Master Roster doesn't cover this slot — IRIS / Open Shifts are filling it at premium rates |
| Agency entries spiking | Capacity Analysis showing < 100% — structural shortfall |
Tips & common mistakes
- Don't optimise cost at the expense of fairness. They're linked — read this with the Fairness Auditing dashboard open.
- Use Drivers to find structural problems. If the same staff member is in the top-5 every fortnight, that's a model issue, not a person issue.
- Cost projection updates live as you assign. Watch the Fortnight Impact bar's cost figure when filling cells.