– Time and Materials ‖ contracts. T & M contracts often specify a maximum number of hours for which the client is willing to pay. CMS managers must ensure that when these maximum( cap) amounts are exceeded, the clients are not billed for such additional hours. For T & M contracts, the rate per hour for each consultant is determined by the employee‘ s level of expertise. For example, a client might pay $ 100 / hour for an employee who is at the level of Systems Analyst I. That same client would pay $ 250 / hour for an employee designated as a Manager Level II. Although T & M and Fixed Price contracts are the only two types of contracts currently used by CMS, it is likely that other types of contracts will be used in the near future. All CMS employees must keep a record of the time they spend working for each client. Because employees can work for more than one client and perform different functions for each client, CMS utilizes ― project management ‖ to keep track of employee assignments to client contracts. Employees can be assigned to many different projects throughout their tenure. They also can be assigned to more than one project at a given time. In fact, it is not unusual for an employee to spend time on two or more different projects within the same day. Likewise, projects can consist of many different employees. Project assignments change over time. For example, Employee ― A ‖ may work on Project ― X ‖ during January, and, in February, that same employee may be reassigned to Project ― Y.‖ It is important to maintain records of the dates for which each employee is assigned to each project. Additionally, each project has a manager who oversees its progress and ensures that contracts are fulfilled and profitable( e. g., U. S. project managers try to prevent hours worked in excess of the maximum allowed by a fixed price contract). Just as a client can have more than one contract with CMS, a contract can consist of more than one project. For example, a contract for the development of a new system could be fulfilled in multiple phases.