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Review, measure and advise by your method, and bill from the same record
An operations firm has a method: review how a client works, measure it, follow a process and give advice. Clients engage you to run the process, to give specific advice, or to measure and report. DAY ONE keeps your method as the starting point for each engagement, tracks the tasks and the time, and bills from the same record.
From enquiry to invoice
One record follows the engagement from the first question to the final invoice, so advisers, engagement leads and finance work from the same facts.
Take the enquiry and agree what the client needs
A client wants its operations reviewed, wants advice on one problem, wants measures and a regular report, or wants you to run a process for them. Record the client, the opportunity and the question as it was put, so the engagement starts from what was asked.
Billed: nothing yet.
How it worksScope the engagement from your method
Start from a proposal template built for your firm, then shape it to the client: the phases of your method, the team by role and the price. Price each part the way it suits: a fixed fee for the review, a payment per phase, hours for advice, or a retainer to stay on. Rates start from your Price List and the Engagement Rate. Once the client signs, the contract is locked, and a change becomes a new contract.
Billed: the pricing basis for each part is agreed here.
Scoping and QuotingSet up the phases, tasks and deliverables
Each phase of your method becomes a milestone and breaks into tasks and deliverables, such as a process map, a baseline report or a findings workshop, each with an owner, a due date and a priority. Work waiting on the client shows as blocked.
Billed: fixed-fee work accrues in work in progress, and a milestone once its completion is approved.
Delivery and TimeDo the work, and log time to the task
Analysts, advisers and engagement leads pick up their tasks and log time from the task itself, at the rate for their role. Time is approved before it is billed.
Billed: approved hours at the role rate.
ResourcingReview and approve the invoice
Work in progress is logged against all the work and reported by client and by business unit. A draft invoice is built from approved time, completed milestones and approved expenses, then approved by a manager and by Finance. Billing batches can run on a schedule for each client, and the client's Invoice Level, set at client, engagement or contract, decides how the work is grouped.
Billed: milestones, hours and expenses in one invoice run.
Invoicing and WIPSend it and hand to accounting
The approved invoice goes to the client, and your accounting system takes it from there. It stays your ledger.
Billed: nothing further. The ledger carries it from here.
Integrations
Give every phase of your method tasks and owners
Whatever the size of the engagement, each phase breaks into tasks, each with an owner, a due date and a priority. An analyst finds the next task, opens its menu and chooses Log Time, so the hours start from the work. A task waiting on the client shows as blocked, so the engagement lead knows what to chase.
To do 4 tasks
- Agree the measures with the client
- Plan the process walk-throughs
- Prepare the staff interview guide
- Outline the baseline report
In progress 3 tasks
- Map the current process end to end
- Run the first round of interviews
- Collect the cycle-time records
Blocked 2 tasks
- Client's access to the case records
- Client's confirmation of the workshop date
How each kind of work is billed
Operations firms sell reviews, advice and running a process in different ways. Each part takes the basis that suits it, and all of them go through the same approvals.
Fixed fee for a review
A diagnostic or an operating review for one agreed price. Time is still recorded against it, and the fee accrues in work in progress while the work runs.
Milestone per phase
A phase billed when it is done, such as the baseline report or the findings workshop. The completion is approved first, then the milestone is billed.
Time and materials for advice
Specific advice priced by the hour from the Price List and the Engagement Rate for each role. Hours are logged to tasks and approved before they are billed.
Retainer to stay on
Ongoing advice or running a process for a client each month. DAY ONE tracks the unders and overs, and additional work is billed on top.
Expenses
Expenses are approved and billed in the same run as the time and the milestones.
Several in one engagement
A fixed-fee review, hours for follow-up advice and a retainer afterwards can sit as separate contracts in one engagement. Extra work becomes a new contract in the same engagement.
See a fixed-fee phase against what it consumed
Each milestone shows its fee and invoice status, with the budget against the revenue and hours consumed, so you can see how a phase is running while the work continues.
Fee and invoice
- Status
- Completed
- Fixed Price
- $60,000 (90%)
- Invoice Schedule
- Arrears
- Invoice Status
- Processed
Budget against consumed
- Budget
- $60,000.00
- Consumed Revenue
- $54,000.00
- Remaining
- $6,000.00
- Assigned Hours
- 240.00
- Consumed Hours
- 216.00
Pick a situation from your own engagements
At the firm, .
DAY ONE tracks the work, time and billing of your engagement. It does not collect or analyse your client's operating data.
What it means for each role in an operations firm
Partners and directors: one method for every client
Your way of reviewing, measuring and advising becomes the starting point for each proposal, so each engagement is scoped, tracked and billed the same way.
Engagement leads: see who holds each task
Every phase has tasks with an owner and a due date, and the team logs time from the task. Waiting on the client shows as blocked, ready to chase.
Finance leaders: bill what each contract says
Follow an invoice line back to the hours and expenses behind it, and to the contract it was priced on.
Salesforce leaders: one governed record
The enquiry, the tasks, the time and the invoice lines share one record on Salesforce. Your accounting system stays in place.
Questions from operations and advisory firms
Can't see your question? Ask us directly.
Can one engagement mix reviewing, advising and running a process?
Yes. Fixed price, milestone, time and materials and retainer contracts can sit in one engagement, so a fixed-fee review, hours of follow-up advice and a retainer afterwards stay on one record. Milestone completion goes through an approval step before it bills.
Can every engagement follow our method?
Yes. Proposal templates are created for your business, so each proposal starts from your standard approach and is tailored for the client in front of you. Each phase becomes a milestone with tasks and deliverables, with an owner, a due date and a priority.
How does the team log time?
Time is logged to the task. An analyst or adviser finds the task, opens its menu and chooses Log Time. Time is approved before it is billed, and work in progress is logged against all the work.
What if the client asks for more part-way through?
A signed contract is not edited in place. Agreed extra work is a new contract in the existing engagement, signed again. Ask us to walk through it on one of your engagements.
Does DAY ONE measure our clients' operations?
DAY ONE covers the work of your engagement: the phases, tasks and deliverables, the time logged, work in progress, and the billing. Your clients' own measures, data analysis and reports stay in the tools you use for them, and the report itself is tracked as a deliverable.
Do we have to replace our project tools?
DAY ONE has enough to track the tasks, deliverables and time of an engagement, and the billing that follows, but it is not a full Jira-style project management tool. You can replace your current planning tool or keep it and integrate it: the integration hub supports both.
Does this replace our accounting system?
No. DAY ONE runs the client-work and invoicing record. It can send invoices without an accounting integration, and can connect to your accounting system where appropriate.
Do we need Salesforce already?
On Salesforce; works with your Salesforce org, or available as a bundled edition if you don't use Salesforce.
Walk through an engagement from enquiry to invoice
Bring a recent engagement, from the first question to the final invoice, and we will talk it through.