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DSI
Calculator

Staffing, Rate, FX & Contingency Calculator

Stress-test the staffing, rate, currency and contingency assumptions behind a funding request across alternative scenarios.

Type
Calculator
Difficulty
Advanced
Time
45 min
Version
v1.0.0
Updated
8/9/2026
treasurybudgetsdata

What this helps you do

Most budget disagreements are really disagreements about four assumptions: how many people, at what rate, in which currency, and with how much contingency. Arguing about the total hides that.

This calculator isolates those assumptions per role, computes the resulting cost, and lets you run alternative scenarios beside the proposer base case so the sensitivity is visible. The output is a range and a set of questions, not a recommended number.

When to use this

  • A request depends heavily on staffing costs and you want to see the sensitivity.
  • The proposal prices costs in one currency and requests funds in another.
  • You want to test whether a contingency percentage is doing the work of a missing line item.

When NOT to use this

  • The proposal is not staffing-led and the roles are incidental.
  • You want a full budget rebuild across all categories; use the reconstruction workbook.
  • You are looking for a single correct answer; this tool produces a range.

What you'll need

  • Stated roles, headcount, hours or days, and rates
  • The currency each cost is incurred in
  • The FX and ADA price assumptions used by the proposer
  • The contingency percentage and the base it applies to

Estimated completion time

45 minutes

Working time for one governance action, assuming the inputs listed here are already to hand.

How to use it

  1. 1Enter one row per role, with headcount, hours or days, rate, and period.
  2. 2Set the currency per row rather than converting as you go.
  3. 3Record the FX assumption and its source and date once, at the scenario level.
  4. 4Apply contingency as an explicit percentage of a stated base, and name the base.
  5. 5Read the calculated cost per role and the scenario total.
  6. 6Create a second scenario changing exactly one assumption, so the effect is attributable.
  7. 7Add a third scenario for the adverse case: higher rates, weaker ADA price, or a longer period.
  8. 8Compare scenario totals against the requested amount and record which assumptions dominate.

The tool

Full calculator - v1.0.0

Role row fields

  • Role title
  • Headcount
  • Hours or days per period
  • Rate per hour or day
  • Period and number of periods
  • Currency of the rate
  • Calculated cost before contingency

Scenario-level assumptions

  • FX rate and the source
  • Date of the FX reading
  • ADA price assumption and its date
  • Contingency percentage
  • Contingency base: which lines it applies to
  • Requested amount for comparison

Scenario comparison

  • Base case as published by the proposer
  • Your reconstruction of the base case
  • Adverse case with the assumptions you consider plausible
  • Difference between scenarios in absolute and percentage terms
  • Which single assumption moves the total most
Fictional Example

Invented for illustration. It does not describe a real governance action, proposal, or organisation.

Fictional scenario set

  • Base case: 4 roles, 160 hours per month, 45 USD per hour, 12 months equals 345,600 USD
  • Contingency at 10 percent of personnel only equals 34,560 USD
  • At the proposer ADA price of 0.55 USD the personnel request is about 691,000 ADA
  • Adverse case: ADA price at 0.40 USD raises the same personnel cost to about 950,000 ADA
  • Sensitivity finding: the ADA price assumption moves the total more than a 20 percent rate increase
  • Question raised: is the request denominated in ADA or in USD, and who carries the price risk?

How to interpret the result

  • The most useful output is which assumption dominates, not the totals themselves.
  • If the adverse case is unaffordable, the real question is who carries the price risk, not whether the rates are fair.
  • Contingency above roughly fifteen percent usually indicates either genuine uncertainty or a line item nobody wanted to itemise. Ask which.

Limitations

  • Scenario outputs are only as good as the assumptions you enter, and they are your assumptions.
  • It does not benchmark rates against any market; it tests internal consistency and sensitivity.
  • FX and ADA price readings are point-in-time and go stale quickly.

Sources and methodology

  • Sensitivity analysis in project budgeting

    Placeholder entry. Method summarised from standard practice; a canonical citation is pending.

    Canonical link not yet verified. Treat this entry as incomplete.

  • ADA market price reference

    Placeholder entry. No single canonical price source is endorsed; record the one you used.

    Canonical link not yet verified. Treat this entry as incomplete.

Learn this method

This tool records the work. The Training Lab teaches how to do it.

  • treasury-and-budget · Reading a Treasury Withdrawal Like an Operator

    Reading a Treasury Withdrawal Like an Operator

    Teaches how to test staffing and rate assumptions.

    Open lesson
  • Lab lesson planned

    A dedicated lesson on FX and contingency sensitivity is planned.

Downloads

  • Markdown export: the complete tool, including metadata, instructions, the template, limitations, sources and version history.

No other file formats are published for this resource. We list a format only when the file exists.

Version and governance

Current version
v1.0.0
Published
8/9/2026
Last updated
8/9/2026
Next scheduled review
2/9/2027
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Editorial status
Not yet externally reviewed

No named reviewer is shown because no external review has been completed. Attribution appears only once a verified reviewer has signed off.

Changelog

  • v1.0.0 (2026-08-09) - First published edition.
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