What you'll learn
In this tutorial, you'll set billable rates on your account's default Rate Card, see how projects use that Rate Card automatically, and watch Drum apply the correct rate when time is logged. It should take about five minutes.
First, understand how the pieces fit together
Before you start, it helps to see the whole picture. Four things work together when someone logs time in Drum:
A Rate Card. Sets one billable rate for each billable role in your account.
A Billable Role. Tells Drum which role's rate to use for a team member's time.
A Project. Uses your account's default Rate Card unless a different Rate Card is assigned to that project.
A Time Entry. Connects the role and project. When time is logged, Drum matches the person's billable role to the project's Rate Card and applies the rate automatically.
Example If a team member's billable role is Director, their time uses the Director rate on the project's Rate Card. Another team member with a different billable role uses that role's rate on the same project. No one selects a rate manually.
With that picture in mind, let's set up the default Rate Card and see it flow through to a project and its time entries.
Step 1: Set Up Your Rate Card
We'll start where Rate Cards are managed: your account Settings.
1. Open Settings
Click your profile picture or initials in the top-right corner of any screen, then select Settings.
Screenshot 1: Open Settings from your profile picture or initials.
2. Find Rate Cards
In the left-hand menu, under Fundamental Data, select Rate Cards.
Screenshot 2: Select Rate Cards under Fundamental Data.
3. Open your default Rate Card
Open Standard Rates, or whichever Rate Card is marked as your Default Rate Card. This is the Rate Card projects use automatically unless another one is assigned.
Screenshot 3: Open the Rate Card marked as the Default Rate Card.
4. Set a billable rate for each role
Under Billable Roles, enter the rate you want to charge for each role.
Screenshot 4: Enter the billable rate for each role under Billable Roles.
5. Save your changes
Click Save Rate Card to apply the rates.
Screenshot 5: Click Save Rate Card to apply the new rates.
Step 2: See It Applied to a Project
Because you updated the account's Default Rate Card, there is no separate step to attach it to a project. Projects use the default Rate Card automatically unless a different Rate Card has been assigned to them.
Remember: If a specific project needs different rates from the default, that is a separate workflow where you assign another Rate Card to the project.
Step 3: Watch Drum Apply the Right Rate
Open a project and go to its Time tab. The rate on each time entry is matched automatically to the billable role used for that entry and the project's Rate Card.
Screenshot 6: Time entries show the rates pulled from the project's Rate Card.
No one types a dollar amount or chooses a rate from a list. Drum matches each time entry's role to the project's Rate Card and applies the corresponding rate automatically.
What You Just Learned
A Rate Card sets one billable rate per billable role.
Your account's Default Rate Card is used automatically by projects unless another
Rate Card is assigned.
A team member's billable role connects their logged time to the correct rate.
When time is logged, Drum applies the matching rate automatically there is no manual rate selection.
Where to Go Next
How to Create a New Rate Card in Drum- Create a separate Rate Card when a project needs its own rates instead of the default.
How to Update a Rate Card in Drum- Change rates on a Rate Card you've already created.
How to Update Historic Time Entries to a New Billable Rate Update entries logged before a rate change.
Rate Cards: Roles, Rates & Time Entry Rules (Reference) Quickly look up where each Rate Card setting comes from and how time entry rates are determined.
How Rate Cards Affect Project Budgets and Billable Time (Explanation) Understand the wider impact of Rate Cards on project budgets and billable time.
Still have questions? Reach out to our support team via chat.