Every shop sets a shop rate - the dollars-per-hour it needs to charge to cover cost and make margin - and quotes off it. But discounts, overruns, rework write-downs, and expedite credits mean the rate you actually realize per hour is almost always lower than the rate you quoted. This dashboard measures the realized rate against the target and names where the difference goes, turning shop-rate calculation from a once-a-year guess into a measured number.
What this dashboard answers
It answers "are we actually earning our shop rate?" Realized Revenue per Hour is billable revenue over the shop hours consumed - the real dollars-per-hour your floor earns. Rate Realization % is that revenue as a share of what the target/quoted rate would have produced, and the Realization Gap $ is the dollars given up to get from target to actual. Revenue per Machine-Hour does the same on machine time, the lens that matters when machines, not people, are the constraint.
The metrics that matter
Rate Realization % is the headline an owner has never seen on a screen before - the honest answer to "is our shop rate real?" The leakage page is where it becomes actionable: Realization Gap $ broken down by reason (discount, absorbed overrun, rework write-down, expedite credit), revenue per machine-hour by machine type, and a Customer-by-Part-Family matrix colored by realized rate. That matrix is where you find the customer or part type that's quietly priced below the rate the rest of the shop carries.
Why this data is trapped
Billable revenue, the hours consumed, and the target revenue at the quoted rate are spread across the quote, the work order, and the invoice in JobBOSS (E2 Shoptech), ProShop ERP, Global Shop Solutions, ECI M1 / Epicor, or QuickBooks. The ERP knows what you billed and what you logged, but it doesn't reconcile billed revenue against target-rate revenue and attribute the gap to leakage reasons. That reconciliation is exactly the job-costing clean-up that fractional controllers get hired to do by hand.
How to read it
Realized Revenue per Hour by work center shows which parts of the shop earn their keep; Rate Realization % by customer shows who you're effectively discounting. The Realization Gap $ by reason is the prioritized fix list - if absorbed overruns dominate, the leak is upstream in estimating and the floor (see the job-margin and labor-variance reports); if discounts dominate, it's a pricing-discipline conversation. Revenue per machine-hour by machine type tells you whether your most expensive iron is earning a premium or being given away.
The sample uses realistic synthetic revenue and hours data - no real jobs, customers, or financials.
Metrics it tracks
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Billable Revenue | Recognized top line across completed work orders. |
| Shop Hours | Actual labor plus machine hours consumed on those orders. |
| Realized Revenue per Hour | Billable revenue divided by shop hours - actual dollars earned per shop hour. |
| Rate Realization % | Actual revenue as a share of what the target/quoted shop rate would have produced. |
| Revenue per Machine-Hour | Billable revenue divided by machine hours - dollars earned per hour of machine time. |
| Realization Gap $ | Target revenue minus billable revenue - dollars given up to discounts, overruns, and write-downs. |
Used by: Owners and controllers who set the shop rate and watch realized margin
Frequently asked questions
What is shop-rate realization?
It's the revenue you actually realized per hour as a share of what your target (quoted) shop rate would have produced. A realization below 100% means discounts, overruns, rework write-downs, or expedite credits are eroding the rate you priced at - this report quantifies that gap and names where it goes.
Why measure revenue per machine-hour separately?
When machines are the constraint rather than labor, dollars per machine-hour is the truer profitability lens. It shows whether your most expensive equipment is earning a premium or being given away on under-priced work, which is a different question from revenue per labor hour.
Can I build this on my own financial data?
Yes. Export your completed orders with billable revenue, shop and machine hours, and the target revenue at your quoted rate, then use this as a template. We model it into a Power BI report. The sample is fully synthetic, so there's no real financial data in what you see here.
Build this report on your own data
Clone this Machine / job shops template — describe it and we’ll generate sample data so you can try it free, or upload your own export. You get a fully modeled, branded Power BI project that opens in Power BI Desktop.
Use this as a template →