> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.2cloudnine.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rate & Margin Management: Protect Staffing Margins

Rate & Margin Management gives your recruiters and account managers everything they need to protect margins on every placement — before the deal is signed. Rather than estimating profitability in a spreadsheet after the fact, you model rates, burdens, and markups directly inside 2cloudnine and see the gross margin impact in real time.

## Real-time margin calculation

Every time you adjust a pay rate, bill rate, or burden cost, the platform recalculates gross margin instantly. You know exactly where you stand before you finalize terms with a client.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Pay rate adjustments" icon="arrow-up-arrow-down">
    Change a worker's pay rate and see the immediate effect on your gross margin — no spreadsheet required.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Bill rate adjustments" icon="file-invoice-dollar">
    Modify client-facing bill rates and watch margin figures update alongside burden costs in real time.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Burden cost modeling" icon="calculator">
    Factor in payroll taxes, workers' compensation, insurance premiums, and VMS fees to arrive at a true gross margin figure.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Instant deal validation" icon="circle-check">
    Confirm that every placement meets your target margin threshold before you close — not after payroll runs.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Configurable rate cards and templates

You can build rate cards tailored to specific clients, projects, job titles, or engagement types. Burdens and fee structures are pre-loaded into each template so your team does not have to recalculate them placement by placement.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a rate card">
    Define a rate card for a client, project, or job title. Set the base pay rate range, target bill rate, and applicable markup structure.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pre-load burdens">
    Attach burden costs directly to the rate card — payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, workers' comp classifications, and VMS fees are stored once and applied automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assign the rate card to a placement">
    When a recruiter creates a placement, they select the relevant rate card. All configured rates and burdens populate immediately, ready for final review.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve and activate">
    Once rates are confirmed, the approved figures flow directly into the placement record and carry through to payroll and billing without any re-entry.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Use rate templates to dramatically speed up placement creation. Build a master template for each major client or job category, then clone and adjust as needed. Your team skips the repetitive burden calculation work and focuses on closing the deal.
</Tip>

## Complex scenario modeling

Not every engagement fits a simple percentage markup. 2cloudnine supports the full range of pricing structures your business actually uses.

* **Fixed-dollar markups** — set a specific dollar amount over pay rate, regardless of role or market
* **Percentage-based margins** — define a target gross margin percentage and let the system calculate the required bill rate
* **Multi-variable calculations** — combine base pay, multiple burden categories, and markup in a single model to arrive at the correct bill rate
* **Engagement type variations** — model W2, 1099, and contract-to-hire scenarios from the same interface and compare margins side by side

## Integrated quoting and placement

Rates calculated in 2cloudnine are not estimates kept in a separate tool — they are the authoritative figures that flow into every downstream process.

<Note>
  When you approve a rate in 2cloudnine, it flows directly into the placement record. Payroll and billing both draw from that same approved figure, so there is no manual transcription step and no risk of a rate mismatch between what you quoted and what gets paid or billed.
</Note>

Your account managers can generate accurate quotes directly from the system and share them with clients, confident that the figures reflect real burden costs — not rough estimates. Once a deal closes, the approved rates become the baseline for every timesheet calculation and invoice that follows.