What the multiplier does – Budgeting

What the multiplier doesBudgetingYou know what the multiplier scales, why it exists in two different panels, and what number to put in it.The **Multiplier** appears in two panels — applying supplements, and applying extra costs — and means the same thing in both:**The definition holds the standard case. The multiplier says how far this account differs from it.**A definition is shared by the whole budget. If it carried one person's numbers you would need one definition per person. So the definition answers *what is normal*, and the multiplier answers *what about this one*.What it scales| Panel | The definition holds | The multiplier scales | | --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | **Supplements** | the expected share of working time — say 10% overtime | that share. `2` means this person will run at 20% | | **Extra costs** | the standard quantity — one hotel night | that quantity. `12` means twelve nights |Same mechanism, different thing being scaled — which is where it goes wrong. On a supplement you scale a **percentage**; on an extra cost you scale a **count**.The definitions here hold one flight, one hotel night, one per diem. The multipliers say how many this account needs.Working out the numberAsk: how many times the standard is this?- Standard 10% overtime, this person will run 20% → **2** - Standard one hotel night, this person stays twelve → **12** - Exactly the standard → **1**, or leave itIt is a factor, never a value. Entering `20` on a supplement because you meant twenty per cent gives you twenty times the standard — an expensive slip, and nothing warns you, because 20 is a legal multiplier.It takes a formulaBoth accept expressions, so the count can come from elsewhere in the budget rather than being typed:Hotel nights that follow the shoot length, and re-cost themselves when the schedule moves. That is the better habit wherever the number is derived rather than decided.What it does not doIt does not change the definition. Nothing you set here reaches any other account — if the *standard* is wrong, change the definition instead.Markdown