See the work behind the hours, and the hours behind the budget.

Set the team structure before reading the workload.

Assign people to the jobs they carry and keep their positions current. Manager, Supervisor, Senior, Associate and Junior positions provide the team context and the relevant rate information. The preparation role on a job and the person's position are useful information to read together.

For a workload discussion, examine annual capacity, current assignments and the work still to complete. If capacity has not been defined, collect the information before interpreting the view. A missing capacity figure should prompt a question, not a conclusion about availability.

• Identify the people assigned to each job.
• Keep positions and the rate card current.
• Review annual capacity alongside the jobs carried.
• Explain missing information before reallocating work.

Use timesheets and the timer for a consistent time record.

Timesheets can be read by day, week or month, and the built-in timer helps capture time while work is taking place. Choose the working rhythm that your team can maintain: current records are more useful than a reconstruction at the end of the month.

Read the time entry with the client and job context. A long period of preparation may have a simple explanation, such as additional documents or a new question from the reviewer. Bring that explanation into the management conversation, then check the hours recorded on the job when reading its WIP.

Read WIP from the job's hours and position rates.

For each relevant job role, multiply the recorded hours by its applicable position rate, then add the amounts. Compare the total with the agreed job budget. Read both the amount of the difference and its percentage so large jobs and small jobs can be discussed in context.

The WIP calculation uses the job's hours. Timesheet entries and timer records have their own working purpose; confirm the job hours used in the calculation when reconciling a time discussion with the WIP view. This makes the basis of the comparison clear to the manager and preparer.

A fictional job makes the calculation easy to inspect.

In this example, the Owner's preparation takes 15 hours at $110, the Supervisor spends 4 hours at $200 and the Manager spends 1 hour at $240. The total is $2,690. Against a $2,500 budget, the job is $190 above budget, or 7.6%.

The question for the manager is what explains the additional work. Did the engagement include more preparation than planned? Did review require a new round of supporting documents? A useful WIP discussion connects the numerical difference with the work completed and the work still ahead.

Scroll the table if needed.

Fictional example · sample data

Use the variance to decide the next action.

A budget difference becomes actionable when the team explains it. For a job above budget, examine the work performed, missing information and remaining review. The next action may be to resolve a blocker, change the allocation of work or revisit the engagement's assumptions.

For a job below budget, examine completion before drawing a conclusion. Work still awaiting review can change the picture. WIP is a working valuation for management; the fee, invoice and final engagement result also depend on the firm's commercial and accounting decisions.

1. 01

   Check the inputs

   Read the hours, applicable rates and current budget.

2. 02

   Explain the difference

   Connect the variance with the preparation and review work actually performed.

3. 03

   Act while work remains

   Agree the next action and the responsible person before the next handover.

Bring the job view back to the portfolio.

The portfolio view brings the picture together by client and season. Use it to identify which jobs deserve a closer conversation, then inspect their individual hours and context. Review recurring obligations alongside return work so workload decisions cover the whole engagement rhythm.

For a demo, use a fictional job with preparation, supervision and management hours plus an agreed budget. We can show how to read its difference and how the firm would use that information in a weekly portfolio meeting.

Common questions