Profectus, Inc., a national consulting firm that helps printing and packaging organizations improve their business, has announced the debut of CostRatesAdvisor.com. Cost Rates Advisor is a cloud-based software that is designed to take the mystery out of calculating budgeted hourly cost rates. The software design systematically compiles and distributes 100 percent of an organization’s expenses among each piece of production equipment so that all costs are accurately recovered in estimates, pricing, and job costs.

According to Profectus President Craig Press, Cost Rates Advisor takes the guess work out of estimating and pricing. “Cost Rates Advisor gives shops a more accurate picture of their out-of-pocket manufacturing and overhead costs so they can intelligently and competitively price jobs” says Press. “It helps organizations eliminate pricing errors that can lead to lost work and improve estimates to make the shop more competitive. Ultimately, Cost Rates Advisor can be a secret weapon to increasing revenue and greater profits.”
                                                                                                                   
Cost Rates Advisor was designed based on proven cost accounting principles, best practices, and standards used by the industry leaders. Expenses, wages, and assets can be allocated to sales and administration, building occupancy, a department, or a cost center. Employees working on several machines can have their wages and expenses distributed to multiple cost centers.

Three-tiered pricing makes it easy for companies to choose between a straightforward do-it-yourself approach and more fully featured professional and consulting-level plans. All financial and personal information is protected on encrypted and secure servers. According to Press, the Cloud-based service provides even more advantage in terms of mobility and anywhere accessibility. “Because Cost Rates Advisor is in the Cloud, users can access it from anywhere, at any time, and can easily keep their cost rates up-to-date to reflect cost changes.”