Clark and Shiffer LLP perform activities related to e-commerce consulting and information systems in Vancouver, British Columbia. The firm, which bills $140 per hour for services performed, is in a very tight local market and is having difficulty finding quality help for its overworked professional staff. The cost per hour for professional staff time is $50.

Clark and Shiffer LLP perform activities related to e-commerce consulting and information systems in Vancouver, British Columbia. The firm, which bills $140 per hour for services performed, is in a very tight local market and is having difficulty finding quality help for its overworked professional staff. The cost per hour for professional staff time is $50. Selected information follows. Billable hours to clients for the year totaled 6,000, consisting of information systems services, 3,600; e-commerce consulting, 2,400. Administrative cost of $381,760 was (and continues to be) allocated to both services based on billable hours. These costs consist of staff support, $207,000, in-house computing, $145,000; and miscellaneous office charges, $29,760. A recent analysis of staff support costs found a correlation with the number of clients served. In-house computing and miscellaneous office charges varied directly with the number of computer hours logged and number of client transactions, respectively. A tabulation revealed the following data.
		E-Commerce Consulting	Information Systems Services	Total
	Number of clients.............	60	240	300
	Number of computer hours.............................	2,100	2,900	5,000
	Number of client transactions....................	720	480	1,200