Clients and engagements

Account Owner starts with the client and the person responsible for it. The client record carries the primary contact, industry, billing terms, owning organization, and status. For a consulting firm beginning a technology assignment, the owner can move the client from Prospect to Active when the commercial arrangement is agreed. The client remains the parent for later engagements, so the team can see the delivery portfolio without relying on a folder name or a billing spreadsheet.

An engagement is the working agreement for delivery. Engagement Manager records the client, type, start and end dates, agreed fee, budget hours, owning organization, and responsible manager. Proposed work can remain visible before it is active; an on hold engagement remains distinguishable from completed work. The manager uses the agreed fee and hours budget as the baseline for later delivery and margin checks.

• Client ownership. Account Owner maintains the client, contact, and billing terms, while the owning organization shows which part of the firm serves it.
• Engagement scope. Engagement Manager records the agreed value, hours budget, dates, and delivery owner before work is logged.
• Delivery position. Amounts, hours, cost, and remaining value accumulate on the engagement as linked work is recorded.

Decide when a prospect becomes an active client and who may make that change. Set a clear rule for when proposed work becomes active, who can place work on hold, and who can mark it Completed. The status should reflect a business decision, rather than merely the passage of a date. Agree whether work is Fixed Fee, Time And Materials, Retainer, or Milestone and how each type uses the agreed fee and budget.

The account and delivery owners should agree on the billing terms before a billing milestone is prepared. They should also decide how organization ownership is assigned when several practice groups work for one client. Start with a case that has one client and one engagement; then check an additional engagement under the same client so the ownership and reporting boundaries stay clear.

Take an active client with an agreed fee of $80,000 and a 400 hour budget. The Engagement Manager sets the dates and names the delivery owner. A Consultant records work against that engagement. As service entries, time, and expenses arrive, the manager compares delivered amount and hours with the baseline. Billing Specialist later checks invoiced service value and milestone payments against the same engagement. If the project pauses, the manager sets it on hold; the client remains Active if other work continues.

Before closing the case, confirm that the manager can explain any difference between delivered, approved, and invoiced amounts. Check that Account Owner can follow the engagement and that service approval results remain visible to Service Reviewer. An engagement marked Completed should still retain its linked history for later collection and margin review.

• Active Engagements — Current client work with its manager, agreed fee, budget, and status.
• Proposed Engagements — Work being prepared before delivery begins.
• Engagement Schedule — Start and end dates for proposed and active work.

See client work to collection and engagement review. The data model shows how client and engagement records connect.