--- title: How to Use Costed Roster Forecasting description: Roster cost forecasting gives you an award-based cost estimate for your rostered shifts — before employees clock in. Use it to plan staffing budgets and spot costly scheduling decisions early. --- [Skip to content](https://help.jointimecloud.com/how-to-use-roster-cost-forecasting#main-content) [Contact us](https://help.jointimecloud.com/kb-tickets/new?hsLang=en) [![Timecloud-Logo-600-2](https://help.jointimecloud.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Timecloud-Logo-600-2.png?width=200&height=40&name=Timecloud-Logo-600-2.png)](https://help.jointimecloud.com/?hsLang=en) Open main navigation Close main navigation - [Contact us](https://help.jointimecloud.com/kb-tickets/new) - [Go to app.jointimecloud.com](https://app.jointimecloud.com/) [Go to app.jointimecloud.com](https://app.jointimecloud.com/) Got questions? Ask away - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 1. [Service Portal](https://help.jointimecloud.com/?hsLang=en) 2. [Roster](https://help.jointimecloud.com/roster?hsLang=en) # How to Use Costed Roster Forecasting ## Costed roster forecasting gives you an award-based cost estimate for your rostered shifts — before employees clock in. Use it to plan staffing budgets and spot costly scheduling decisions early. **What It Does** - Calculates predicted costs for each rostered shift based on your configured award rules - Breaks down forecasted hours and costs by category (ordinary, overtime, paid breaks, leave, and more) - Shows totals per day and across the full roster period - Updates automatically as you add, move, or remove shifts **Where to Find It** Open **Roster** from the main navigation. The **Forecast** summary appears at the top of the roster grid in both views: - **Shift View** - forecast totals are displayed per shift template column and across the full period - **Employee View** - forecast totals are displayed per employee and across the full period, with per-employee cost and hour summaries **In both views:** - **Total hours** and **total cost** display in the summary row for each day and for the full period - Values are rounded using the **Costed Roster Rounding** setting (configurable in **Settings \> Roster**). Options are **Whole Number** (default), **1 DP**, or **2 DP**. - Each value is rounded independently - per day and per category - Cost figures are only visible if your account has **Financial Details** permission enabled **Viewing the Forecast Breakdown** Click the **expand button** (chevron arrow) to reveal a detailed breakdown. The expand button floats at the centre of the visible date columns and stays on screen as you scroll horizontally, so you can always reach it. When expanded, the breakdown is organised into two sections - **Hours** and **Cost** - each separated by a full-width horizontal rule. Detail rows appear directly beneath their section summary, making it easy to scan from top to bottom. In the period summary column (left side), each row shows its category label with a left-aligned label and a right-aligned bold total. In the individual day columns, values are displayed without labels - each row lines up with the corresponding label on the left. ### **Hours Breakdown**     | Category | What It Means | | --- | --- | | **Ordinary** | Standard (normal time) hours | | **Overtime** | Hours exceeding the ordinary threshold | | **Paid break** | Break time that is paid | | **Leave** | Hours attributed to approved leave | | **Min engagement** | Extra hours added to meet minimum shift engagement requirements | | **Rate penalty** | Hours associated with rate-based penalty conditions (shown for reference) | | **Currency penalty** | Currency-based penalty units (shown for reference - not added to the hours total) | | **Allowance** | Allowance units triggered (shown for reference - not added to the hours total) |       ### **Cost Breakdown** When Financial Details are enabled, you also see:     | Category | What It Means | | --- | --- | | **Ordinary** | Cost of ordinary hours | | **Overtime** | Cost of overtime hours | | **Paid break** | Cost of paid break time | | **Leave** | Cost of leave hours | | **Min engagement** | Cost of minimum engagement top-ups | | **Rate penalty** | Additional cost from rate-based penalties | | **Currency penalty** | Additional cost from currency-based penalties | | **Allowance** | Cost of triggered allowances |       **Day-by-Day View** The breakdown is available both at the **period level** (left column) and for **each individual day** in the roster grid. Expand the forecast row to compare costs across days - all values are rounded using your chosen precision so you can quickly scan and compare. **Employee View Forecasting** In the **Employee View**, forecasting works the same way with a few additions: - Each employee row shows their individual forecast hours and cost - The **Forecast row** aggregates totals across all visible employees - When you filter employees by department, the forecast totals update to reflect only the filtered employees - Forecast data loads in the background - you may briefly see a loading indicator while costs are being calculated **Changing the Display Precision** By default, forecast values display as whole numbers. If you need more detail: 1. Go to **Settings \> Roster**. 2. Under **Costed Roster Rounding**, choose **1 DP** or **2 DP**. 3. Click **Save Changes**. The updated precision applies to the roster grid, the forecast breakdown, and all roster exports (PDF and CSV). Tips - **Forecast updates live** - costs recalculate as you edit shifts - **Compare days** - use the expanded day-by-day breakdown to identify the most expensive days in a roster - **Budget check** - review the period total before publishing a roster to stay within labour budgets - **Overtime visibility** - spot overtime costs building up across the week before they happen - **Filter to focus** - use department filters in Employee View to see forecasted costs for a specific team - **Precision control** - switch to **1 DP** or **2 DP** in **Settings \> Roster** when you need exact figures for payroll comparison - [Account & Security](https://help.jointimecloud.com/account-security?hsLang=en) - [Attendance & Timesheets](https://help.jointimecloud.com/attendance-timesheets?hsLang=en) - [Award Interpretation](https://help.jointimecloud.com/award-interpretation?hsLang=en) - [Biometric Scanners](https://help.jointimecloud.com/biometric-scanners?hsLang=en) - [Employees](https://help.jointimecloud.com/employees?hsLang=en) - [Forms & Checklists](https://help.jointimecloud.com/forms-checklists?hsLang=en) - [Geofencing](https://help.jointimecloud.com/geofencing?hsLang=en) - [Human Resources](https://help.jointimecloud.com/human-resources?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Organisation View](https://help.jointimecloud.com/human-resources?hsLang=en#organisation-view) - [Integrations](https://help.jointimecloud.com/integrations?hsLang=en) - [Job Tracking](https://help.jointimecloud.com/job-tracking?hsLang=en) - [Leave Management](https://help.jointimecloud.com/leave-management?hsLang=en) - [Mobile App](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Kiosk](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#kiosk) - [Mobile App](https://help.jointimecloud.com/mobile-app?hsLang=en#mobile-app) - [Payroll](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#main-content) - [Xero](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#xero) - [iPayroll](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#ipayroll) - [MYOB](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#myob) - [Smartly](https://help.jointimecloud.com/payroll?hsLang=en#smartly) - [Reporting](https://help.jointimecloud.com/reporting?hsLang=en) - [Roster](https://help.jointimecloud.com/roster?hsLang=en) - [Settings](https://help.jointimecloud.com/settings?hsLang=en) - [Shifts](https://help.jointimecloud.com/shifts?hsLang=en) - [Time Clock](https://help.jointimecloud.com/time-clock?hsLang=en) - [Dashboard](https://help.jointimecloud.com/dashboard?hsLang=en) Service Desk Copyright © 2025, Timecloud Ltd