Two consulting projects can have billed exactly the same amount and be heading for very different margins. One has a handover meeting left. The other faces three weeks of rework. To do anything about it, the project manager needs costs incurred alongside a recent estimate of the work still to do.
Read time entries and invoices in the context of the contract
For time-and-materials work, a useful action list is approved billable hours that have yet to appear on an invoice. Separate hours pending approval, billed hours and write-offs. If the invoicing system holds only a total, you may need the underlying billing record to identify which entries remain unbilled.
For fixed-fee work, invoices often follow a payment schedule. Issuing the first milestone invoice tells you little about the work left. Link time entries, subcontractor costs and invoices to the same project ID and ask the project manager to estimate remaining effort by deliverable.
What another 80 hours does to the forecast margin
Consider a fixed-fee contract worth SEK 480,000 excluding VAT. The team has invoiced SEK 180,000 and uses an internal hourly cost of SEK 600. For this example, project contribution is the contract value less direct project costs. Shared overhead is excluded.
| Item | Basis | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to date | 320 hours × SEK 600 + SEK 18,000 external costs | SEK 210,000 |
| Estimated cost to finish | 230 hours × SEK 600 + SEK 12,000 external costs | SEK 150,000 |
| Forecast project contribution | SEK 480,000 − SEK 210,000 − SEK 150,000 | SEK 120,000 (25%) |
Use one closed project and one open project to test the dashboard
The closed project tests the numbers. Reconcile hours to timesheets and invoices, including credit notes, to the finance system. Check how costs without a project ID are handled and which internal rate applied when the work took place.
The open project tests whether the view helps someone manage delivery. Show who estimated remaining hours and when. Make a missing or stale estimate visible before anyone relies on the margin forecast. Keep an unapproved extension out of the base forecast and show its impact as a separate scenario.
Common questions
Can we do this without exposing individual salaries?
Yes. You can agree cost rates by role or team and review exceptions at project level. Record what each rate covers and when it came into effect so older projects remain comparable.
Does the forecast represent recognised project revenue?
This forecast is a management view for delivery and staffing decisions. To include reported accounting results, ask finance to define which posted revenue and cost figures to draw on and how to reconcile them.