Billable Utilization & Capacity Calculator
How much of your team’s time is billed, what it earns and what a revenue target needs.
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- Free preview: the team’s billable utilization in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and a watermarked chart; every other figure is hidden.
- Locked until you unlock it: download and copy.
- Unlock: Pro pass, ₹179 for 30 days or ₹79 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews. Unlock: Pro pass, $5.99 for 30 days or $2.99 for 1 week, a one-time payment that never renews.
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Printing this result is locked in the free preview.
Each person, by role
| Role | People | Available | Left for clients | Billable | Utilization | Revenue |
|---|
Hours are for one person of the role; revenue is for all its people (billable hours × rate × realization).
What the revenue target needs
| Role | Utilization needed | Or people |
|---|
The staffing pyramid
| Level | People | Utilization | Revenue |
|---|
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Results are estimates for general information and planning, not financial advice. Banks and institutions may calculate differently (rounding, fees, rate changes). Confirm figures with your lender or a qualified adviser before deciding.
How this tool is checked
- Based on
- the method set out under ‘How it is worked out’.
- Tests
- 10 automated tests check its results.
- Found an error?
- Report a problem or write to support@mysmartcopilot.com, with what you entered and the result you expected.
About the Billable Utilization & Capacity Calculator
For consultancies, agencies and IT services teams. From your working days, public holidays and hours a day, and for each role its people, leave, internal time (admin, meetings, training, sales), the billable hours you aim for, its bill rate and its realization (the share of the value worked that is billed), the calculator works out each person’s available hours, the time left for client work, the billable utilization, the revenue capacity at your rates and, when you give each person’s cost, the profit.
A revenue target shows the utilization it needs from today’s team, or the headcount at today’s mix of levels, role by role. The staffing pyramid shows how many people each level has for each one above it (the leverage of a firm). Results are a year or a month, and targets above 100% of the available time — or above the time left after internal work — are flagged.
In the free preview the team’s billable utilization shows in full; the other figures, the pyramid, the full tables, the copied summary and the CSV come with a Pro pass. A solo freelancer’s day rate is the Freelance Rate Calculator’s job.
How to use it
- Type the working days in a year (260 is five days a week), the public holidays that fall on them and the hours in a working day.
- Add a row for each role: its level, people (0.5 for half-time), leave days a year, internal hours a week, the billable hours a year you aim for, the bill rate and the realization. Add what one person costs a year to see the profit.
- Choose whether utilization is measured against the available hours (after holidays and leave) or the standard hours (before them), and whether results show a year or a month.
- Type a revenue target to see the utilization or the headcount it needs.
- Read the team’s utilization, each role’s hours and revenue, and the pyramid. With a Pro pass, copy the summary or download the CSV; in the free preview both stay locked.
Examples
260 working days, 10 public holidays, 8 hours a day · 2 partners (25 days leave, 15 internal hours a week, 1,000 billable hours at 300, 90% realization) · 4 managers (25, 8, 1,400 at 200, 92%) · 8 consultants (22, 5, 1,600 at 150, 95%) · 10 analysts (20, 4, 1,650 at 100, 95%)
36,900 billable of 43,792 available hours: 84.3% billable utilization (73.9% of the standard 49,920 hours). Value worked 5,290,000, billed 4,961,900: a realization of 93.8%. The consultants’ 1,600 hours are 4 hours above the 1,596 left after their internal time, so the page flags it.
The same team with a revenue target of 6,000,000
A utilization of 101.9% with today’s team — consultants and analysts above 100% of their available time — or about 29 people at the same mix (31 rounded up role by role).
2 partners, 4 managers, 8 consultants, 10 analysts
Leverage of 11: 11 people below the top level for each partner; 2 managers for each partner, 2 consultants for each manager, 1.25 analysts for each consultant.
Common uses
- Setting realistic billable-hour targets for each level of a consultancy or agency.
- Checking whether a revenue plan needs more people or more billable time.
- Showing a team’s capacity and leverage in a business plan.
How it is worked out
- Standard hours = working days × hours a day; available hours = (working days − public holidays − leave days) × hours a day.
- Internal time = internal hours a week × the weeks available (available days ÷ working days in a week); what is left is the time for client work.
- Billable utilization = billable hours ÷ available hours (or ÷ standard hours, when you choose it). The team’s is weighted by people.
- Value worked = billable hours × bill rate; value billed = value worked × realization; that is the revenue capacity.
- Realization below 100% is time worked at the bill rate that is written off, discounted or not billed; above 100% happens when a fixed fee pays for fewer hours than planned.
- Revenue target: the target ÷ the revenue capacity is the factor; utilization × that factor is what today’s team needs, and people × that factor is the headcount at today’s mix.
- Leverage = people below the top level ÷ people at the top level.
Choosing the basis
Firms measure utilization in two common ways: against the hours people are actually available (after holidays and leave), which shows how busy they are when they are there, or against a standard year (often 2,080 hours: 52 weeks of 40 hours), which also counts the time off. The same team can be 84% utilized on the first basis and 74% on the second; compare targets only on the same basis.
Limitations
- Each role’s people share the same targets and rates; split a role when people differ a lot.
- Leave is counted as whole working days, and public holidays as the same for everyone.
- The revenue capacity is what the targets would bring in, not a forecast of sales: the work has to be sold first.
Privacy
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Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Billable Utilization & Capacity Calculator shows the team’s billable utilization in full, with the first rows of each table (up to 3) and a watermarked chart; every other figure is hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded or copied. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
What is a good billable utilization?
It depends on the level and the business: people who also sell and manage need lower billable targets than those who mostly deliver. Set targets that leave room for the internal time each level really needs; the page flags targets above the time left after it.
What is the difference between utilization and realization?
Utilization is how much of the time goes to billable work; realization is how much of that work’s value at the bill rates is actually billed. A team can be busy (high utilization) and still lose money to write-offs and discounts (low realization).
Should internal time count against utilization?
Utilization counts billable hours only, so internal time lowers it. The calculator shows the hours left after internal time, so you can see whether a target fits beside the internal work.
How is the headcount for a revenue target found?
The target is divided by today’s revenue capacity; each role’s people are multiplied by that factor, keeping today’s mix of levels, and each role is rounded up to whole people.