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IndustryProcurement Compliance Software for Professional Services
Engagements end. The record has to stay
Professional services firms buy expertise rather than goods, which makes the purchasing file harder rather than easier. There is no delivery note, so the evidence is the scope, the rate and the reasoning behind choosing that particular supplier.
Buying expertise leaves less to point at
When you buy equipment there is a delivery note. When you buy three weeks of a specialist's time there is a scope document, a rate and a decision, and if none of those were captured properly the file has very little in it.
Scope disputes become short
A written scope attached to the engagement is what turns a disagreement about what was included into a two minute conversation.
Rates are agreed rather than argued
Confirming the rate against the agreement at engagement rather than accepting it from an invoice removes the most common professional services dispute.
Extra work stays visible
Additional scope agreed mid engagement has a habit of disappearing into the original award. Recording it as a modification keeps the money and the approval attached to the change.
Where services purchasing loses its record
None of these failures are unique to professional services, but they all hurt more when there is no physical delivery to point at.
Agreed in conversation
The subcontractor and the engagement lead both understood what was included, and neither of them wrote it down in a document attached to the award.
Attached to the engagement
A written scope sits on the award, so what was included is a document rather than two differing memories.
Taken from the invoice
The rate is discovered when the first invoice arrives, and challenging it at that point is awkward because the work has already been done.
Checked at engagement
The rate is confirmed against the agreement before the work starts, so the invoice matches what was expected.
Absorbed into the original
Extra scope gets done because it was reasonable, and by final account nobody can separate it from what was originally agreed.
Recorded as modifications
Each variation carries its own value, approval and evidence, so it stays separable from the original engagement.
The team has moved on
Professional services teams rotate quickly, and the engagement lead who made the decision is usually elsewhere when somebody asks about it.
Written at the decision
Reasoning is captured when the subcontractor is chosen, so it survives the rotation entirely.
Six things worth capturing on a services engagement
Six things worth capturing on a services engagement
What was included, attached to the award rather than agreed verbally.
- The written scope
- The agreed rate
- Why this subcontractor
The written scope
What was included, attached to the award rather than agreed verbally.
The agreed rate
Confirmed against the agreement before work starts, not read off an invoice.
Why this subcontractor
Written at the decision, since there is no delivery record to fall back on.
Who approved it
By name, with the date and the value at that point.
Each variation
Recorded as a modification with its own value and approval.
The activity trail
Who did what and when, which matters more when there is nothing physical to inspect.
What decides the final account
What decides the final account
Scope, rate and reasoning captured before the work starts rather than reconstructed from an invoice.
- Engaging specialist expertise
- Extra scope agreed mid engagement
- An invoice is disputed
Engaging specialist expertise
Scope, rate and reasoning captured before the work starts rather than reconstructed from an invoice.
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Extra scope agreed mid engagement
Recorded as a modification with its own value so it stays recoverable at final account.
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An invoice is disputed
Settled against the agreed rate and the written scope rather than two differing recollections.
Learn moreQuestions from professional services firms
We buy expertise, not goods. Does this still fit?
How are variations handled?
Can we check rates against a rate card?
What happens when the engagement lead moves on?
Do we need a scope document for every engagement?
Can one engagement serve two clients or awards?
How long does the record stay readable?
Other sectors and roles worth reading
IT and cybersecurity
Purchasing where the supply chain behind an award is examined too.
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Small business and 8(a)
The same documentation expectations carried by far fewer people.
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Contracts managers
The person who has to produce the file, usually at short notice.
Learn moreBring an engagement that was disputed
Ideally one where scope or rate came up at final account. We will show what the record would have contained.
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