When monitoring the finances of your projects, especially if you’re using Jira, this usually happens on a spreadsheet, and we all know that’s not the most comfortable situation. It generates confusion and loss of time and productivity when changing from one tool to another.
Regarding tracking costs, it’s essential to differentiate between direct and indirect costs (among others). Simply put, Indirect costs cannot be directly traced or attributed to a specific project, product, or service and are usually more challenging to track.
Indirect costs, also known as overhead costs, are necessary for running a business. The costs aren’t directly tied to producing a product or service but are essential for the company to function. These costs can be further classified into two categories:
- Fixed overhead costs: These are incurred regardless of the production or activity level. E.g., rent, utilities, and insurance are fixed overhead costs.
- Variable overhead costs vary depending on the production or activity level. E.g., the cost of supplies and machine maintenance are variable overhead costs.
Why should you track Indirect costs?
The sole purpose of tracking anything is to keep a record of it. In this case, we’re talking about indirect costs. With the mission to estimate budgets and expenses accurately, preventing budget overruns and wrong forecasting is critical. More specifically, we’re going through some key benefits that this activity brings:
- Control project expenditures
- Make well-informed decisions
- Enhance resource allocation to impact project goals.
- Provide transparency and accountability.
Now, if you’re going through that situation of tracking projects in Jira, and you need to keep an overview of a project’s finances, and you need to stop working with the spreadsheet aside, we have a solution here:
How to track Indirect costs in Jira?
It’s as simple as getting Budgety from the Atlassian Marketplace, starting to input the different types of costs (Direct, Indirect, CAPEX, and OPEX), and relating them to your projects in Jira. Here’s an example of how it might look in the end:
If you want to keep learning how to track these costs, keep reading.
