Profitability

Profitability shows whether work is earning more than it costs. Pike compares earnings (revenue) against cost (labor, overhead, and certain expenses) and reports profit as the difference. Available to admins, managers, and finance users.

Where to find it

Location	Scope
Finance → Overview	Whole workspace
Project → Finance	Single project

Both surfaces show earnings, cost, profit, and a cumulative chart. The workspace overview also includes billed/unbilled time stats and a monthly financial chart. For project-level charts and toggles, see Project finance.

The core formula

For every period (grouped by month):

profit = earnings − cost

Totals at the top of the card are the sum of all monthly data points in the selected range. Each data point contains:

Field	Meaning
Earnings	Revenue attributed to that month
Cost	Internal cost attributed to that month
Profit	Earnings minus cost

Three profitability modes

Pike calculates profitability in three ways. Two are actual (based on logged work or invoices). One is planned (based on future allocations).

1. Actual — Billable time

Revenue calculation method: Billable time Earnings come from completed time entries on billable work:

earnings = hours logged × billable rate on the task assignment

Only time entries with an end time (completed entries) are included.
The billable rate is the rate on the member’s task assignment (userTask.rate), not the invoice rate.
Revenue is grouped by the month the time entry started.

Cost for the same entries:

cost = hours logged × (employment hourly cost + hourly overhead)

This mode answers: “Based on time we tracked and the rates on those tasks, how profitable was the work?“

2. Actual — Revenue booked

Revenue calculation method: Revenue booked Earnings come from invoices:

earnings = invoice total × exchange rate

Revenue is grouped by the invoice due date month.
Invoice line items and tax/discount handling follow standard invoice total calculation.

Cost still comes from time entries in the filtered scope (same labor + overhead formula as billable time), plus qualifying expenses (see below). Time entry cost is grouped by the month the entry started. This mode answers: “Based on what we invoiced and what the work cost us, how profitable was the period?“

3. Planned

Planned profitability (shown as a comparison line on the cumulative chart) comes from resource allocations — scheduled hours on tasks:

planned earnings = allocated hours × task assignment rate
planned cost     = allocated hours × (employment hourly cost + hourly overhead)

Allocations are clipped to calendar month boundaries.
Hours per day come from the allocation’s weekday schedule (Monday–Sunday minutes).
Only allocations whose date range overlaps the filter are included.

This mode answers: “If we deliver what is currently planned on the schedule, what profitability should we expect?”

How cost is built

Total cost per month is:

cost = labor cost + overhead + qualifying expenses

Labor cost (employment contract)

For each hour of work (logged or planned), Pike looks up the member’s employment contract and derives an hourly employment cost from:

Contract frequency	Hourly employment cost
Hour	Cost amount directly
Week	Cost amount ÷ hours per week
Biweek	Cost amount ÷ (hours per week × 2)
Month	Cost amount ÷ monthly working hours from contract
Year	Cost amount ÷ yearly working hours from contract

Monthly / yearly working hours use business days (weekends excluded) and the contract’s hours per week:

working hours = (business days ÷ 5) × hours per week

If a member has no contract, employment hourly cost is 0 for that member in profitability. Overhead may still apply if they are assigned overhead items. For how contracts feed hourly cost on member profiles, see Cost profile.

Overhead

Hourly overhead from assigned overhead cost line items is added to the employment hourly cost:

loaded hourly cost = employment hourly cost + hourly overhead

See Overhead costs for allocation rules and the contract-based hours conversion.

Expenses

Project expenses add to cost when either:

the expense has no project, or
the expense is not billable

Billable expenses linked to a project are excluded from profitability cost (they are treated as pass-through to the client, not internal cost). Expense cost uses amount × exchange rate and is grouped by date incurred month.

Filters

Profitability respects filters passed to the calculation. What you select determines which time entries, invoices, allocations, and expenses are included.

Supported filters

Filter	Effect
Date range	Limits records to the period. If omitted on the API, the range is inferred from the data
Customer	Only work / invoices / expenses linked to those customers
Project	Only work / invoices / expenses on those projects
Team	Only work on tasks belonging to those teams. For invoices and expenses, the project must be linked to the team

Filters combine with AND logic: a record must match every filter you set.

Where filters appear in the product

Surface	Default filters	Notes
Finance → Overview	Date range (current year), optional customer / project / team	Uses the shared time-entry filter bar
Project → Finance	Fixed to the current project	No customer/team picker; scoped automatically

Person / member filter

The time-entry filter bar on Finance Overview includes a member filter. That filter applies to billed/unbilled stats on the page. Profitability totals use customer, project, team, and date range only.

To review one person’s contribution, narrow by project or team, or review their logged time and contract/overhead setup on the member profile.

Date grouping and chart behaviour

Results are aggregated into monthly data points.
The cumulative chart stacks profit over time within the filtered range.
Planned profitability is always fetched alongside actuals for comparison on the chart.

How the effective date range is chosen

When you set a date range explicitly, that range is used. When you do not, Pike infers the range from the data:

Mode	Range derived from
Billable time	Earliest to latest time entry month, extended by expense months if present
Revenue booked	Earliest to latest invoice due date month, merged with time entry and expense months
Planned	Earliest allocation start to latest allocation end

Revenue vs cost timing

Billable time and revenue booked can tell different stories because earnings and cost use different anchors:

Mode	Earnings dated by	Cost dated by
Billable time	Time entry start month	Time entry start month
Revenue booked	Invoice due date month	Time entry start month + expense incurred month

An invoice raised in March for January work will show revenue in March (revenue booked) but cost in January (when time was logged).

Switch between Billable time and Revenue booked when month-to-month profit looks off. Timing differences between logged work and invoice due dates are expected — pick the mode that matches the question you are answering.

Access and permissions

Feature	Roles
View profitability endpoints	Admin, Manager, Finance
Manage overhead (affects cost)	Admin
Manage employment contracts (affects cost)	Admin, HR (contract management)

Prerequisites for accurate numbers

Profitability is only as good as the underlying data.

Data	Affects	If missing
Task assignment rate	Earnings (billable time & planned)	Earnings = 0 for that work
Employment contract	Labor cost	Labor cost = 0 for that member
Overhead assignment	Loaded cost	Only base contract cost used
Completed time entries	Actual profitability	Open timers excluded
Billable flag on tasks	Billable time earnings	Non-billable tasks excluded from revenue

Example walkthrough

Setup

Developer logs 10 h in March on a billable task at £150 / h billable rate.
Contract: £6,000 / month, 37.5 h/week → ~£36 / h employment cost.
Overhead share: £2 / h.
Loaded cost: £38 / h.

Billable time mode (March data point)

earnings = 10 × £150 = £1,500
cost     = 10 × £38   = £380
profit   = £1,120

Revenue booked mode — same cost, but earnings appear in the month the invoice is due, not necessarily March.

Overhead costs

Shared expenses, allocation rules, and how hourly overhead loads onto labor cost.

Cost profile

Set member contracts, capacity, and hourly employment cost.

Project finance

Profitability, budgets, and invoices on a single project.

​Where to find it

​The core formula

​Three profitability modes

​1. Actual — Billable time

​2. Actual — Revenue booked

​3. Planned

​How cost is built

​Labor cost (employment contract)

​Overhead

​Expenses

​Filters

​Supported filters

​Where filters appear in the product

​Person / member filter

​Date grouping and chart behaviour

​How the effective date range is chosen

​Revenue vs cost timing

​Access and permissions

​Prerequisites for accurate numbers

​Example walkthrough

​Related documentation

Overhead costs

Cost profile

Project finance

Where to find it

The core formula

Three profitability modes

1. Actual — Billable time

2. Actual — Revenue booked

3. Planned

How cost is built

Labor cost (employment contract)

Overhead

Expenses

Filters

Supported filters

Where filters appear in the product

Person / member filter

Date grouping and chart behaviour

How the effective date range is chosen

Revenue vs cost timing

Access and permissions

Prerequisites for accurate numbers

Example walkthrough

Related documentation