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Exchange Rates ​

Currency exchange rates power multi-currency financial forecasting in Flowstate. If your organization has employees, contractors, or vacancies paid in different currencies, exchange rates let you convert all costs into a single reporting currency for accurate headcount budgets and cost projections.

Why Exchange Rates Matter ​

Organizations with globally distributed teams pay people in different currencies. A software engineer in London is paid in GBP, while a contractor in Berlin bills in EUR. To produce a unified financial forecast, Flowstate needs to convert every salary and contractor rate into your organization's reporting currency.

Without exchange rates configured, costs in non-reporting currencies cannot be accurately projected. This affects every financial view in the platform: team cost summaries, project budgets, and scenario comparisons.

How Exchange Rate Lookup Works ​

Flowstate uses time-based lookups to find the correct rate for any given calculation date. When computing a cost that requires currency conversion, the system:

  1. Finds all rates matching the fromCurrency and toCurrency pair
  2. Filters to rates where effectiveFrom is on or before the calculation date
  3. Selects the most recent match (sorted descending by effectiveFrom)

This means you can set future rates for budget planning and historical rates for accurate retrospective reporting. The system always picks the rate that was "current" at the point in time being calculated.

Example: If you have a GBP to USD rate of 1.27 effective January 1 and 1.30 effective July 1, costs calculated in Q1 use the 1.27 rate, while costs in Q3 use 1.30.

TIP

Set future exchange rates for your planning horizon. If you are forecasting 18 months out, enter projected rates for each quarter so that forward-looking cost estimates reflect expected currency movements.

Configuring Exchange Rates ​

  1. Navigate to Settings > Exchange Rates
  2. Click Add Exchange Rate
  3. Enter the source currency, target currency, conversion rate, and effective date
  4. Click Save

Repeat for each currency pair and time period you need.

WARNING

Each exchange rate is a directional pair. A USD to GBP rate is a separate entry from GBP to USD. If you need conversions in both directions, you must create both entries.

Data Model ​

FieldTypeDescription
fromCurrencystringSource currency code (3-character ISO 4217, e.g., "GBP")
toCurrencystringTarget currency code (3-character ISO 4217, e.g., "USD")
ratenumberConversion multiplier (from amount * rate = to amount)
effectiveFromdatetimeDate the rate takes effect (used for time-based lookups)

Unique constraint: [organizationId, fromCurrency, toCurrency, effectiveFrom] -- only one rate per currency pair per effective date.

Impact on Calculations ​

Exchange rate changes ripple through every cost projection for employees and contractors paid in non-reporting currencies. When you update or add a rate:

  • Team cost summaries recalculate using the new rate for the affected time period
  • Project budgets reflect updated contractor and employee costs
  • Scenario comparisons may shift if the scenario spans the affected date range

TIP

Review exchange rates at least quarterly. Currency fluctuations can materially change your cost forecasts, especially for organizations with large international teams.

Best Practices ​

  • Update regularly -- refresh rates monthly or quarterly to keep forecasts accurate
  • Plan ahead -- enter projected rates for future quarters so forward-looking views are realistic
  • Cover both directions -- if you have GBP employees and USD reporting, create both GBP to USD and USD to GBP entries
  • Use the effective date -- avoid overwriting old rates. Instead, add a new entry with a future effectiveFrom date to preserve historical accuracy

Required Permissions ​

Managing exchange rates requires the settings_financial_config_* permission set.

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