Consulting project budget and scope control system
The project manager sees consulting costs, remaining work and customer changes. The additional order is separated from its error correction to make the price matching reasonable.
Contract volume, additional surveys, interviews, iterations of analysis, consultants time, external data and accounts are not linked. unpaid work accumulates, the team is overloaded, and margin problems become apparent at the end of the project.
How the solution works
- Agree the fee model and initial scope
- Collecting actual commissioning costs
- Update the forecast for the rest of the job
- Evaluate the reason for the change and the commercial solution
- Ending the Economy of Work
Key challenges
- Project scope and profitability become clear too late
Solution capabilities
Fee model
Fixed price, hourly work and periodic commitment have different logic of income and volume. Account, income recognition and money receipt are not shaken.
Cost basis
Expert time, data licenses, travel and subcontracting are assigned an agreed methodology. The value of the consultant's hour has a clear meaning.
Forecast of the rest of the work
The required research, review and transfer is evaluated. The released portion of the budget does not automatically become a percentage of physical completion.
Volume change
The client's additional question is allocated, an analytical iteration is originally provided and correcting their own error. Not every extra hour justifies an additional fee.
Economic Review
The margin methodology chosen and the still uncertain cost are shown. The profitability of the consultant project is not presented as a return on the client's investment.
Business context
- Project scope and profitability become clear too late
- Contract volume, additional surveys, interviews, iterations of analysis, consultants time, external data and accounts are not linked. unpaid work accumulates, the team is overloaded, and margin problems become apparent at the end of the project.
- The proposal for additional consultation has a clear basis
- The client's changed need may require additional investigation or work, and fixing their own error has a different meaning. The history of the apparent cost and scope helps to distinguish these cases. The client can be explained the cost, and the consulting team can plan the rest of the work.
Core features
- Fee model
- Cost basis
- Forecast of the rest of the work
- Volume change
- Economic Review
Key integrations
- Contract, Time and Accounting Sources
- The agreed scope, actual costs and the meanings of financial states.
Potential impact (%)
The ranges indicate an illustrative relative change in the metric under the stated assumptions. Results depend on the starting position and actual use of the solution. Percentages for different metrics must not be added together.
End-cost forecast error
3–16%Decreasing
This illustrative scenario assumes that 15-40% of forecast error is attributable to the data and model used. That share is assumed to fall by 20-40%. Company data is needed to verify both the addressable share and the resulting change.
Measure the absolute difference between forecast and actual costs in euro at the same agreed project stage.
Scope fact reconciliation work
16–42%Decreasing
This illustrative scenario assumes that 40-70% of information searches and repeated cross-checks can be addressed. That share is assumed to fall by 40-60%. Company data is needed to verify both the addressable workload and the resulting change.
Measure working hours for the reconciliation of the period's additional works and their taxation.
Conditional calculation scenarios. The assumptions have not been validated against client measurements.
When this solution is relevant
- The scope of the work changes during the consultation, but additional work is not always timely compatible with the client.
- The profitability of the project only becomes clear at the end, as the forecast of the remaining works is not tied to the budget.
Implementation requirements
Project economics combines agreed-upon results, expert work, and other cost attribution. The forecast of the remaining work must separate the client's additions from its own error correction and maintain the history of the original scope.
Further development options
- Other remuneration models after cost methodology and remaining job forecast verification.