Rate Card (Charging Rate)

A Rate Card is the internal price list of an IT organization that defines the charging rate per unit of service at which an IT service is shown or charged – for example per mailbox, user, virtual machine or ticket. It translates the costs of a service into an understandable, chargeable quantity.

Each rate is derived from the Service Costs divided by the planned or actual service volume. €60 per mailbox per year, for example, becomes €5 per mailbox per month. The rates of all services are usually consolidated in the rate card. Points to be clarified in the calculation include the handling of planned versus actual volumes and of over- or under-recovery when the actual volume deviates from the plan.

Charging rates are used in statements and internal invoices as part of IT Charging and Billing. Understandable units and stable rates considerably increase the acceptance of charging.