Tracking costs in Cost Tracker by Tempo on Cloud vs Budgets by Tempo on Data Center

On both Jira Cloud and Jira Data Center, Tempo has provided different ways to calculate cost and revenue within different Tempo apps: Cost Tracker, Timesheets, and Budgets. If you have migrated from Jira Data Center to Cloud, this article will help you understand the differences in behaviour of Tempo features between the two hosting platforms.

This article focuses on comparing Cost Tracker on Cloud versus Tempo Budgets on Data Center.

Similarities:

Tempo Budgets and Cost Tracker both use Jira filters (JQL) to create scopes for a project/folio. Both apps can use Tempo Accounts in Tempo Timesheets, and both have flexible rates with effective dates.

Differences:

1. Cost Tracker on Cloud

The similar function of cost and revenue reports is provided through global role rates and project role rates by Cost Tracker. Cost Tracker provides global rates on Cost Tracker Roles for all Cost Tracker projects. If necessary, a Cost Tracker project can also define its local project Roles, but Cost Tracker roles can be different roles assigned in Tempo Teams.

Cost Tracker does not use Tempo Teams to define project members, but instead uses dynamic Teams where all users who have logged time on the issues within the project scope are automatically part of the Cost Tracker project’s members. Also, Cost Tracker Roles defined for cost/billing rates do not affect Tempo Teams.

It’s not possible to assign multiple roles rates for the same user on the same Cost Tracker project. Project managers need to create a separate Cost Tracker project to assign different rates for a user with different roles. However, it’s possible to set up different user rates for different timeframes.

2. Tempo Budgets on Data Center

Tempo Budgets can use Tempo Teams, Team Roles and Account Price Table in the folio as Tempo Teams and Accounts are core features that come with all Tempo plugins.

Or it can use Cost Rates by User/Role to calculate the cost and revenue in the global configuration. Cost Rates by User has precedence over Cost Rates by Role. Once the cost rate by user is set for a particular user, this user’s rate will be set globally regardless of the roles assigned in the folios. Cost rate by user is only available on Tempo Budgets, and not available on Cost Tracker.

Within the folio, it’s also possible to define how the cost rate of the user will vary over time. Each entry specifies a date at which the cost rate will become effective.

What’s available on one but not the other: