Projects
Know which engagements actually pay
Fixed-price and retainer work, and the team that does it.
The problem it solves
Profit by month, not by job
A profit and loss account says how the month went. It cannot say which engagement paid for the others and which quietly lost money.
Billing that depends on memory
Which phase is finished, which is billed and which is paid, kept apart from the invoices, drifts — and a finished phase goes unbilled.
What the team is owed
People on a project are paid differently — a sum per task, a monthly rate, a share of what it earns — and a change to any of them rewrites the past if it simply overwrites the old figure.
What it does
Milestone billing
Milestone billing against agreed values
Profit per engagement
Profitability per project, not just per invoice
Costs tied to the work
Expenses and invoices tied to the engagement they belong to
Who it is for
Companies and LLPs
Projects under a parent for a programme of work, each with its own purchase orders, budget and status, and visible only to the people allowed to see them.
Agencies, studios and firms
Fixed-price and retainer work side by side, team members paid by task, by month or by a share of revenue, and the margin each project made.
Freelancers and consultants
One project per client engagement, milestones billed as they are finished, and the TDS a client withheld shown against the work.
Proprietors and small businesses
A plain record of each job: what was agreed, what has been invoiced, what has come in and what it cost.
How it works
Two ways to price the work
A fixed price billed by milestone, or a retainer billed every cycle, weekly to yearly. A parent project groups related work under one programme, with the sub-projects each keeping their own figures.
| Type | How it bills | Agreed value | Where the risk sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed price | Per milestone | Known up front | With you, on scope |
| Retainer | Per cycle, weekly to yearly | Known per cycle | With the client, on cycles |
| Parent project | Through its sub-projects | Their sum | With each sub-project |
A project with no agreed total is shown as open rather than as a zero.
An example, not live data.
Milestones, and the costs attached to them
Bill a phase when it is done rather than the whole engagement at the end, and keep the costs booked against the same project, so the margin is the engagement's own and not the month's.
An example, not live data.
What each engagement actually paid
Invoiced value less the costs booked against that project — per engagement, which is the question a month-by-month profit and loss cannot answer.
| Project | Type | Agreed | Invoiced | Costs | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand refresh | Fixed price | ₹3,60,000 | ₹2,40,000 | ₹96,000 | ₹1,44,000 |
| Operations | Retainer | — | ₹1,80,000 | ₹1,32,000 | ₹48,000 |
| Packaging | Fixed price | ₹1,20,000 | ₹90,000 | ₹78,000 | ₹12,000 |
Margin is invoiced value less the costs booked against that project.
An example, not live data.
Everything it covers
Setting one up
Billing
The money
The team
What it does not do
Questions about projects
How can work be priced?
Two ways: a fixed price billed by milestone, or a retainer billed every cycle, weekly to yearly. A parent project can group several of either under one programme of work.
Can I bill a phase rather than the whole engagement?
Yes — milestone billing against agreed values, so a phase is invoiced when it is done rather than everything at the end.
How is profit per project worked out?
Invoiced value less the costs booked against that project. It is per engagement, not per invoice, which is the number that tells you whether the work was worth doing.
Can a project have sub-projects?
Yes. Work can be broken up under a parent, and lists can show or hide the sub-projects.
What about work with no agreed value?
A project with no total agreed at the start is shown as open rather than as a zero, and what it earns is what it bills. The people working on it can still be paid a share of what it earns.
How do costs get attached to a project?
An expense is booked against the engagement it belongs to when it is entered, so the margin is the margin rather than a reconstruction.
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1 project, 5 clients and 3 invoices a month.