Project to Profit: manage delivery, billing, and profitability

Use this workflow to manage a customer engagement through delivery, cost capture, billing, and final review. The project connects operating records; the profit view is a management view that depends on complete and correctly linked activity.

Where this workflow fits

This workflow suits professional-service firms, contractors, field-service organizations, and project-based manufacturers. An approved engagement starts the project. Project to Invoice handles each approved billing event; final review returns to project control.

Featured capabilities

• Projects & Timesheets: Connect resource time, costs, and project work.
• Orders & Sales: Prepare the quote or order and hand off accepted demand.
• Purchasing & Accounts Payable: Verify purchasing documents and supplier bills.
• Invoicing & Accounts Receivable: Review invoices, credits, and open balances.
• Reporting in VersaCloud ERP: Review project or financial results.

People and preparation

A project owner needs the customer and scope, planned dates, revenue and cost estimates, available resources, billing agreement, and rules for approving time, expenses, and scope changes.

Process areas and stages

1. Establish the project

   Owner: Project owner. Input: Accepted engagement or internal authorization.

   Work and decision: Create the project with its customer context, name, scope description, type, planned dates, estimated time, estimated expenses, and estimated revenue. Use sub-projects when the engagement needs separate but connected jobs. Describe deliverables and create the project with customer, dates, estimates, and relevant sub-projects. Agree with the customer what completion means before work starts.

   Evidence and handoff: Project and plan give delivery and finance a shared reference.

2. Staff and prepare

   Owner: Project manager. Input: Scope and resource needs.

   Work and decision: Assign resources and project roles. Confirm that team members who will record time have valid resource setup and the required timesheet access. Assign people and project roles. Confirm resource and timesheet access, availability, and the work they are authorized to record.

   Evidence and handoff: Assignments give the delivery team an accountable starting point.

3. Deliver and connect activity

   Owner: Project team and manager. Input: Active project.

   Work and decision: Move the project into its active status when work begins. Link sales-order, invoice, supplier-bill, purchase-order, shipment, work-order, and GL details to the project as they become relevant. Perform the agreed work, communicate milestones, and link relevant sales orders, purchase orders, supplier bills, shipments, work orders, invoices, and GL details as they arise. A linked document does not by itself establish that the work was accepted.

   Evidence and handoff: Active project and related records show delivery and obligations.

4. Capture cost and progress

   Owner: Team and project owner. Input: Time, expenses, and linked transactions.

   Work and decision: Record timesheets and other project costs. Review posted labor, linked revenue and expenses, project estimates, and the project profit view throughout the delivery period. Submit timesheets and expenses, review posted labor and other costs, and compare actual work with estimates. Investigate missing links or unapproved scope before relying on the profit view.

   Evidence and handoff: Reviewed time, costs, revenue, and forecast inform billing and delivery decisions.

5. Bill approved work

   Owner: Project owner and billing. Input: Billable milestone or work evidence.

   Work and decision: Create a draft invoice from billable project activity when billing is due, then complete the invoicing and customer-payment process. Use Project to Invoice for the billing-focused path. Confirm what the contract allows, prepare the draft invoice from eligible activity, and review detail with the project owner. Complete posting and customer payment through the billing workflow.

   Evidence and handoff: Invoice and AR result link the commercial outcome to the project.

6. Complete and assess

   Owner: Project owner and finance. Input: Delivered work and latest project view.

   Work and decision: Review outstanding work, unbilled activity, revenue, cost, and profit. Complete or cancel the project only when the final operating and finance review is done. Check unfinished obligations, unbilled activity, linked revenue and costs, and the profit view. Resolve open matters or assign them before changing final project status.

   Evidence and handoff: Completed or cancelled project has a reviewed financial and operating result.

Variations and exceptions

Changed scope returns to project estimates, customer agreement, staffing, and billing review. Project to Invoice is the focused path for each billing event; it does not replace delivery management.

Completion and review

The project shows its final status, linked revenue and costs, posted labor where applicable, billing result, and reviewed profit. Outstanding obligations or unbilled work have a named next action.

Related workflows

• Project to Invoice: prepare and review project billing