Platform Costs Tracking

Overview

Platform Costs lets administrators track monthly operating expenses (Vercel, Neon DB, AWS SES/SNS, Domain, and other costs) for accurate margin calculations. These costs appear in the CFO Dashboard to calculate real net profit across all customer subscriptions.

Accessing Platform Costs

1. Log in with an admin account
2. Navigate to Admin > Finance > Platform Costs
3. View monthly cost entries by year and month

Adding Platform Costs

Entering Costs for a Month

1. Select the year from the dropdown (defaults to current year)
2. Select the month from the dropdown (defaults to current month)
3. Enter amounts for each cost category:
   • Vercel: Hosting costs
   • Neon DB: Database costs
   • AWS SES: Email sending costs
   • AWS SNS: SMS notification costs
   • Domain: Domain registration/renewal
   • Other: Add a label and amount for miscellaneous costs
4. Click "Save Costs" to record the entries

How It Works

• Costs are saved per category per month - if you enter $50 for Vercel in January 2025, that's stored separately from February 2025
• Amounts can be updated - entering a new amount for the same category/month updates the existing record
• Empty fields are ignored - only categories with amounts > 0 are saved
• Other category requires a label - describe what the cost is for

Viewing Cost History

The platform costs page shows:

• Most recent entries first - newest costs at the top
• All months and categories - complete history across all time periods
• Edit or delete - Update amounts or remove entries as needed

CFO Dashboard Integration

Platform costs automatically flow into the CFO Dashboard (Admin > Finance > CFO Dashboard):

• Monthly overhead calculation uses the sum of all platform costs for the current month
• Falls back to $50 default if no costs are entered for the month
• Net margin calculations subtract real platform overhead from gross revenue

Tips

• Enter costs monthly at the beginning of each month when bills arrive
• Use "Other" sparingly - if a cost repeats, consider adding it as a permanent category
• Review CFO Dashboard to see how platform costs affect overall margins
• Track trends - rising costs may indicate need for optimization

Questions

Q: What if I don't enter costs for a month? A: The CFO Dashboard will use a $50 default platform overhead for margin calculations.

Q: Can I edit costs from previous months? A: Yes, select the year and month, update the amounts, and click Save.

Q: Do platform costs affect customer billing? A: No, these are internal tracking for your margin analysis only. Customer subscription prices are separate.

Q: Who can access Platform Costs? A: Only admin users can view and edit platform cost entries.