Engagements and margin

An engagement carries the client, project manager, owning organization, engagement type, start and end dates, contract value and budget hours. Its status separates a proposal from active delivery, an on hold commitment and completed or cancelled work. Service entries, time, expenses and milestones all point back to this record. That connection lets an Engagement Manager inspect the work behind a commercial result instead of relying on a summary alone.

The Engagement Margin Desk puts contract value next to delivered and billed amounts per engagement. It shows realization, projected margin and over-budget signals and opens the underlying engagement. Use it as a review surface: the decision still belongs to the person responsible for delivery and the person responsible for billing. A signal calls for checking the linked records and the agreed commercial terms.

• Scope. Engagement type and contract value set the commercial context for the proposed work.
• Delivery. Service entries, logged time and expenses attach activity to the same engagement.
• Position. Delivered, approved and invoiced amounts, delivered cost and budget hours support margin and burn review.

Define when an engagement changes from Proposed to Active and who may pause it. Decide how fixed-fee, time-and-materials, retainer and milestone engagements use service entries and milestones. The types are available on the record, while contract rules and invoice timing need explicit operating agreement. Confirm whether a service entry rate comes from the entered rate or the member’s bill rate in each case. Keep the cost-rate and bill-rate sources consistent when comparing engagements.

Choose a review cadence for the project manager and Delivery Director. An engagement may show delivered value before a service entry is invoiced, and a milestone may show an amount before cash is received. Review those stages separately. When a contract changes, preserve the original decision context and explain the update in the engagement and its attachments.

An engineering team opens an Active milestone engagement with a defined contract value and budget hours. Engineers log time and service lines as work proceeds. The Engagement Manager checks delivered hours against budget and follows an Approved service entry to its amount. Delivery Director opens Engagement Margin Desk when an over-budget signal appears, then drills into the engagement and its service entries, expense total and milestone value. Finance Manager compares the invoiced service amount and milestone payment records before concluding how much remains to bill.

Repeat the review for a Completed engagement. The team should be able to distinguish total delivered value, approved service amount, invoiced service amount and payment receipts. A Completed status is a delivery state; it is not itself evidence that every invoice was collected.

• Active Engagements — Current client commitments with contract value, budget and project manager.
• My Engagements — Work assigned to the current project manager for daily follow-up.
• Engagement Schedule — Proposed, active and paused work arranged by start and end dates.

Trace delivery and review and follow collection.