A common starting point
Separate planning → late time records → margin calculated after close.
A business need
Steer engagements before variances become surprises.
Workload, progress and invoicing can tell three different stories. Build a shared view so you can act at the right time.
Understand the blockage
The process before the solution.
Management discovers an overrun when the project is nearly finished. Planning shows an active engagement, sales has promised a date and finance uses different scope boundaries. Adding charts will not reconcile those definitions.
We define the management unit: client, engagement, phase or work package. Then connect budget, actual effort, remaining work, milestones and billing events. Update frequency must match the decisions people actually make.
The first view covers a few representative engagements. It must explain a variance, identify an owner and trigger action. A value without a source, date or definition remains an assumption, even on a dashboard.
Illustrative flow · no client data
What the pilot should make possible.
The target to test
Shared scope → effort and remaining work → explained variances → decisions and follow-up.
This is a proposed workflow to test against your situation, not a claimed client result.
Measure before extending
A baseline your team can check.
Agree the sample, definitions and period before the pilot. Compare like-for-like cases afterwards, including maintenance effort and exceptions.
Difference between planned, actual and estimated total effort.
Late milestones, with a cause and next-action owner.
Time needed to prepare a reliable engagement review.
Decide what to change
Three options to compare.
Option 1
Define: metrics conflict because their scope or calculations differ.
Option 2
Connect: sources are usable but scattered across planning, finance and CRM.
Option 3
Reorganise: a review or decision process is missing to turn information into action.
Prepare your decision.
Published scope
A related engagement
Examine the documented scope and delivery status to assess relevance to your organisation.
Read the casePractical guide
Engagement workload and margin: prepare a useful review
Read the guideFrame the engagement
A decision before implementation
A €5,000 excluding VAT strategic audit. Implementation is scoped separately after the decision.
Explore the auditUse a decision toolYour questions
Can we start without changing time tracking?
Yes, if the existing source supports a useful view. The pilot states its limits and compares definitions; it does not claim precise margins from incomplete data.
What gains should we expect?
Establish a baseline and success criteria before committing to outcomes. Benefits must be observed in your engagements, without borrowing another client’s numbers.
Your next step
Let’s start with your situation.
A free, no-obligation 60-minute conversation to understand your needs and check whether we can help. The strategic audit is a separate paid engagement.