Project margin is shaped before the invoice
A sales commitment creates expectations about scope, people, timing and price. If those assumptions disappear at handover, the delivery team starts with an incomplete picture and finance discovers changes after the work is done.
We work through that handover with sales, delivery and finance. A fixed-fee milestone may need customer acceptance before billing; time-and-materials work may depend on approved time. Making the evidence explicit helps the project team see why an invoice is ready or still waiting.
Connect the decisions across the engagement
- 01
Scope and commercial model
Separate time-and-materials, fixed-fee, milestone and recurring work. Specify the evidence required for billing each type and the treatment of approved changes.
- 02
Resources and capacity
Make demand, skills, availability and allocation visible at the level the business needs. Distinguish a provisional assignment from a confirmed commitment.
- 03
Time and expense
Set usable capture and approval rules. Include late entries, corrections, nonbillable work and expenses that require additional evidence.
- 04
Billing and financial review
Agree how approved delivery becomes an invoice and how project cost is reviewed. Finance should approve revenue treatment and accounting requirements.
Use the project structure people can maintain
Too little detail hides useful information; too much creates time-entry and reporting overhead. Choose the project, phase and task structure according to the decisions managers need to make. Define responsibility for budgets, forecasts and changes.
Oracle describes NetSuite’s services offering across ERP, professional services automation, resource planning and CRM. Confirm which product or module serves each requirement and whether your existing project tools should remain connected to finance.
Bring a project that changed along the way
A realistic assessment should include the revised scope, reassigned team member, delayed milestone and late expense. Trace who approved each change and how it affected delivery and billing. The goal is to make those effects visible before they become a month-end surprise.
For migration, prioritize active engagements, remaining commitments, opening positions and the history needed for ongoing decisions. Define how managers will access completed-project information without recreating every legacy detail.
Agree the measures and their definitions
| Measure | Definition to agree |
|---|---|
| Utilization | Specify the denominator, work categories and treatment of leave. Otherwise teams can report the same percentage while describing different realities. |
| Project performance | Define planned versus actual cost, forecast effort and approved changes. Identify the date and owner of each forecast. |
| Billing readiness | Track the work waiting on approval, evidence or a commercial decision. Give each unresolved item an accountable owner. |