Search milestones

The engagement manager records each milestone under its mandate with an owner, amount and due date. The stage and interview summary can explain the commercial event without creating a separate candidate pipeline. A milestone can move from Pending to Submitted and then to Approved when the named finance owner accepts billing. Approved milestones appear in the invoice queue with billing readiness, payments received and outstanding amount.

• Source record. search milestones ties an agreed billing event to a mandate, amount, due date and consultant owner. Its status separates work awaiting a billing decision from work invoiced through the milestone operation.
• Named owner. Engagement Manager prepares the milestone against the client agreement. Finance Manager authorizes billing and checks the operation receipt before following the payment.
• Visible outcome. Check the source status and linked evidence before the next person acts.

Agree the event that counts as milestone completion, the owner who authorizes billing and the date used for aging. Use Milestone Billing Exceptions to inspect missed or still-approved work. Do not use an invoice operation receipt as evidence that the customer paid; collection is tracked on the linked payment.

For example, a retained search has a contractual shortlist milestone. The manager records the agreed amount and due date, then submits it. Finance checks the mandate link and amount before approval. The invoice operation moves an approved milestone to Invoiced only when both are present. If either is absent, the milestone remains Approved and a Failed operation receipt shows why the invoice step did not complete. The team corrects the record before retrying.

The invoice operation confirms a change on the milestone; it does not collect the fee. Finance follows the linked placement fee payment for the due date and Received status. Compare its invoice number and amount with the client agreement before discussing collection.

The consultant owner and due date make the next billing event visible to the delivery team. Check the milestone against the client agreement before finance authorizes it.

If a milestone is marked Missed, keep its due date and owner visible to the engagement manager. Finance should resolve the billing decision on the source milestone before starting an invoice operation.

• Milestones Ready To Invoice — Inspect approved milestone amounts and mandate links before running invoicing.
• Milestone Billing Exceptions — Find missed or still-approved milestones that need follow-up.

See the related process and review the record model.