Introduction

Project Costs are located in Project editor → Estimates → Costs, and are generated on the basis of:

metrics,
statistics,
manual time entered by a linguist/PM (depending on settings).

The costs for the linguists’ work are calculated on the basis of these values and the figures contained in the rate cards.

There are several reasons that prevent you from generating costs. The section below presents the most common issues that relate to project costs generation, raised by clients. The first thing to do is to check the Project editor → Estimates → Costs tooltip, next to the most recent generation.

Issue description & Solution

No rate card(s) configured for a linguist/LSP assigned to workflow step(s)

Solution: The message itself is pretty self-explanatory. To generate costs correctly, you need to set up an suitable rate card in the user’s profile (Users → User list → (select user) → Rate cards) by choosing the appropriate language combination, subject matter and billing currency for the user (see How to create a rate card for a linguist for help).

No exchange rate for the user billing currency

Solution: If a particular user has a rate card with a currency that is different from your system billing currency, and this other billing currency has been selected and the rate card has been created, you also need to set an exchange rate for this rate card currency (this must be done for each currency used by your vendors) in Configuration → Data → Estimates → Exchange rates.

Keep in mind that, once the exchange rate has been created, you must enter a value (greater than 0), otherwise, the exchange rate will not be saved.

Lack of statistics for a user

Solution: The issue occurs if you have either decided to generate costs on the basis of the Statistics source or Statistics target but your linguist has not performed any actual work yet. In such a case, the Statistics tab will be empty:

The statistics reflect the real work done by the user in a specific project. These can be saved in the UI as follows:

Introducing a translation to a particular segment/modifying the translation provided by translation memory (TM):

Changing the status of a segment:

Group is assigned to a task

Solution: Assigning a group to the step instead of a single linguist is incorrect: you cannot assign a group to generate costs.

Resources are not assigned to a task

Solution: Check that linguists have been assigned to workflow step(s) correctly in Project editor → Workflow.

Missing rate card values for a particular workflow step(s)

Solution: In the user's rate card, ensure that you enter the appropriate values in all the workflow steps that apply for a particular user:

Rate card has not been configured for time tracking

The problem occurs when costs are generated on "Time or metrics/statistics" and you calculate the costs on the basis of manual time. In this case, the costs generator will always use the time tracked first.

Solution: In such a case, remember to fill in the appropriate Price per hour section in your rate card; you need to expand the Fixed price section first:

Manual time has not been entered

The problem occurs when costs are generated on "Time or metrics/statistics", and you calculate the costs on the basis of manual time. In this case, the costs generator will always use the time tracked first. If no time has been specified but the Calculate costs based on manual time checkbox has been selected in the Workflow editor, the warning message shown above will be displayed.

Solution: In such a case, remember to make your linguists fill in the time tracking field correctly:

The yellow warning means that costs have only been generated partially, for some steps or linguists.

The red error means that no costs can be generated.

If you select the option for generating costs on the basis of the "Time or ..." option, automatic time tracking visible in Statistics has not been included; instead, the costs were generated on the basis of metrics or/and statistics

Solution: XTM Cloud does not permit cost calculation based on automatic time tracking data that is displayed in Statistics. Only the time entered manually by the linguist/PM (depending on the settings) can be used when generating costs.

We recommend that you read the following article about manual time tracking in XTM Cloud: How to enable and set up manual time tracking in projects.

Generated costs are too low/high

Solution: This problem can occur when a project manager has selected either metrics or statistics as the basis for cost generation and then wanted to base their costs on the other basis. For this reason, it is important to double-check which basis has been selected for costs generation:

It is also worth checking if the Show Chargeable checkbox in Workflow Editor option is enabled in Configuration → Data → Estimates → Cost settings → Cost settings:

If you do, it must be selected in the workflow step for it to be chargeable, otherwise it will be zeroed out in the Purchase Order.

Good to know!

It is also worth checking if the Show Chargeable checkbox in Workflow Editor option is enabled in Configuration → Data → Estimates → Cost settings → Cost settings.

If you do, it must be selected in the workflow step, in the Workflow editor, for it to be chargeable, otherwise it will be zeroed out in the purchase order.

In the case of all of the above-mentioned issues, it is also good to use the Dummy assignee and Use zeros for missing rates/time options to eliminate the errors.

XTM Knowledge Base

Costs generation – most common issues & troubleshooting