CS Payroll
Fully-loaded compensation for customer success managers, onboarding, and account management (where not sales-owned) for the period. The retention/expansion-oriented people cost, distinct from cost-of-revenue support. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: finance.cs_payroll
Type: Currency
Domain: Finance
Definition
Fully-loaded compensation for customer success managers, onboarding, and account management (where not sales-owned) for the period. The retention/expansion-oriented people cost, distinct from cost-of-revenue support.
Formula
Fully-loaded customer-success personnel cost for the period.Why it matters
The investment behind retention and expansion; pairs with NRR.
How to interpret
Read against NRR/GRR — CS spend that is not moving retention warrants scrutiny.
Related KPIs
finance.total_cscustomers.net_revenue_retention
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
| Public | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+, Public.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/finance/cs_payroll.json - All Finance KPIs:
/api/ontology/finance.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Contractors / Outsourcing
Cost of freelancers, dev shops, outsourced QA, and temporary engineering help for the period. Often used to flex capacity without permanent headcount. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
CS Tools / Software
Cost of customer-success tooling for the period — customer-health platforms, support/ticketing, chat, and onboarding tools. — Finance KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).