Model seat changes and the cost of inactive users
Compare billed and active seats without assuming merchant proration terms.
Model billed seats separately from active users, and ask how additions, removals and inactive accounts affect the actual invoice. Never assume that disabling a person immediately reduces cost.
Get the billing definition in writing
Ask what counts as a billable seat, whether a minimum applies, when a removal takes effect, how additions are charged and whether historical access requires a paid seat. Record the plan, billing period, currency, taxes and any add-ons. This worksheet deliberately does not publish merchant prices or assume proration terms that have not been verified.
Build a month-by-month scenario
For an original fictional example, suppose a quoted monthly price is 10 units per billed seat. Eight seats for six months and twelve for six months produce 1,200 units of seat charges before taxes or add-ons, if the contract actually bills those quantities monthly. Twelve seats committed for the full year would produce 1,440 units under that different assumption. Neither figure is a DeskTime quote.
Include the work of changing access
Seat changes can affect reviewer assignments, unresolved entries and the ability to retrieve older exports. Keep those operational decisions separate from the invoice calculation. Before removing access to reduce cost, preserve the required records and establish who handles corrections. Do not delete an account solely because it appears inactive without checking ownership and retention obligations.
Use a sensitivity range, not a savings promise
Calculate a base case and a higher-seat case using verified billing rules. Add administration and migration effort separately, then compare against the required outcome. A cheaper plan that cannot provide the necessary export fields is not a substitute. If future headcount is uncertain, value flexibility explicitly instead of assuming the lowest advertised annual equivalent is automatically best.
Continue this work-record check
Use the linked guide for the next decision in this workflow. Keep your original records separate from experiments and record any unresolved requirement before changing a live process.
Sources and boundaries
Primary documentation supports the dated product facts. Proposed checks and fictional examples are our editorial method, not observed product results.
- DeskTime — export · checked September 23, 2026