1
Early warning, not retrospective
Project trouble shows up before it escalates, not in the post mortem. Plan/actual and earned value update daily.
Project delivery process: how do we deliver reliably and profitably?
Delivery is the heart of every professional services firm. teamspace connects planning, resourcing, plan/actual comparison, earned value and project margin in a single view, with early warning instead of after-the-fact reporting.
What really matters in project steering
Three properties separate professional delivery steering from a simple task list.
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Resources before tasks
Who is doing what, with which capacity, until when? Resource planning is the planning basis, not a report.
3
Margin as the leading KPI
Projects are steered by profitability, not just progress. Margin per project, per client, per project lead.
Delivery process structure
Delivery runs along a clearly defined path, from handover out of sales to project close.
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Project creation from sales
Won opportunity becomes a project with budget, team, template and billing model. No media break.
- 2
Structure and plan
Work breakdown, milestones, tasks, dates and budgets are defined. Templates accelerate similar projects.
- 3
Resource allocation
People are assigned to tasks, capacity is reserved, conflicts surface. Utilisation is steered ahead, not afterwards.
- 4
Daily steering
Hours are booked on tasks, effort and progress flow together daily. Plan/actual and earned value expose deviations early.
- 5
Escalation and adjustment
Based on early signals, dates, budgets or scope are adjusted with documented reasoning and transparent communication.
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Close and handover
Remaining work is billed, learnings feed into future templates, the project is closed with a plan/actual summary.
Key project KPIs
Few but precise KPIs, each with thresholds and a clear meaning.
1
Project profitability
Project revenue minus project cost, or margin in percent. Green: 15 to 30 percent, industry dependent. Shows which projects carry the firm.
2
Realisation rate
Billable hours over total hours. When it drops, hidden project losses appear.
3
Earned value (EV)
Delivered progress as monetary value. Compares actual delivery to planned cost and actual effort.
4
Budget consumption
Consumed budget against progress. Green: in line. Red: consumption clearly ahead of progress.
5
Schedule variance
Delay against plan in days or percent. Rising variance calls for escalation or replanning.
6
Resource utilisation
Utilisation of assigned staff over project duration. Green target: 70 to 85 percent.
Earned value
Three numbers that flag project trouble early.
Earned value compares planned value (PV), earned value (EV) and actual cost (AC). It yields schedule (SPI) and cost (CPI) indices. The method sounds complex, but teamspace computes it automatically once plan, progress and hours are maintained.
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SPI above 1: ahead of plan
Project moves faster than planned. Often valuable because it creates buffer.
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SPI below 1: behind plan
Project is slower than planned. Escalate, replan or add resources.
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CPI below 1: over budget
Project costs more than planned. Margin at risk, act immediately.
Project delivery maturity
Which level describes your delivery steering most honestly today?
Level 0: unplanned
Projects run ad hoc. No plan, no baseline, no analysis. Success rides on the project lead.
Level 1: manual
Projects planned in spreadsheets or MS Project, hours captured separately. Analysis is laborious.
Level 2: structured
Phases, milestones and tasks are recorded systematically. Data sources are not connected.
Level 3: assisted
Project management software in use. Plan, resources and hours in one system. First plan/actual analysis.
Level 4: largely automated
Earned value, margin and early warning run automatically. Utilisation and forecast update daily.
Level 5: fully automated
Real-time steering with prompts, automatic escalation, suggested actions and forecast through to liquidity.
Classic delivery vs. teamspace
| Feature | Classic (PM tool + spreadsheets) | teamspace delivery process |
|---|---|---|
| Data model | Plan in MS Project, hours separate, billing in a third system | Plan, hours, effort, billing in one data model |
| Plan/actual | Assembled manually, often weeks old | Up to date and automatic, daily |
| Early warning | Escalation surfaces late, often through client complaint | SPI, CPI and utilisation variance with thresholds |
| Resource planning | On the side in a spreadsheet, unrelated to project plan | On the task model, with capacity check |
| Handover to billing | Export time list, push manually into billing | Invoice proposal generated from project data, review and send |
Relevant teamspace modules
1
Project management
Planning, tasks, milestones, boards. The central steering space.
Learn more 2
Project controlling
Plan/actual, margin, early signals, escalation.
Learn more 3
Earned value analysis
Automatic SPI and CPI on your data.
Learn more 4
Capacity planning
Resources across projects, with utilisation and conflict detection.
Learn more 5
Multi-project management
Portfolio view, prioritisation, resource allocation across projects.
Learn more 6
Project time tracking
Hours on project and task, with direct handover to billing and reporting.
Learn moreWhy delivery is the heart of the firm
In professional services value is created in delivery. Deadlines are met, hours are booked, margin is earned or burned. Yet delivery is often the weakest steered process. Typical symptoms: ‘we only know after closing whether the project was profitable’ or ‘resource planning sits in a spreadsheet because the project tool cannot do it’.
A professionally steered delivery process enables early problem detection, better resourcing and higher project profitability. Above all it is the precondition for clean billing and reliable numbers in business steering.
What maturity in delivery really means
Maturity is not the project tool you run. It is the connection of plan, resources, hours, effort and margin in one data model. A project tool without integrated time capture is Level 2. An integrated system with plan/actual and analysis reaches Level 3. Only when earned value, utilisation and margin run automatically are you at Level 4.
The honest assessment uses four questions: are all projects fully managed, are plan and effort current, are plan, hours, resources and margin in one system, does the system support actively with early warning and forecast?
Target picture: margin as leading KPI, early warning as standard
A high-maturity delivery process steers projects by impact, not by activity. Margin is the leading KPI, earned value provides early warning, resource planning prevents bottlenecks and reporting runs automatically. Delivery becomes something you consciously steer instead of merely running.
Frequently asked questions about delivery
We work with fixed-price projects. Which KPIs help us?
Project margin is decisive. It reveals immediately whether the agreed price covers actual effort. Earned value adds value because it shows schedule and cost deviations before margin erodes.
How useful is earned value on small projects?
Earned value pays off when several tasks or sprints run in parallel. On one-week tickets it is overengineered. Rule of thumb: from roughly 80 to 120 person-days of volume or several contributors.
What is the difference between project controlling and project management?
Project management plans and runs the project operationally. Project controlling steers it economically, that is margin, effort, budget and early warning. Both work on the same data but ask different questions.
How does delivery integrate with billing and workforce?
Won opportunities create projects, booked hours flow into the invoice proposal and into utilisation calculation, approved hours feed payroll preparation. One dataset, three views.
Can we run agile and classic projects in parallel?
Yes. teamspace supports Scrum and Kanban boards just as well as classic work breakdown structures with milestones and Gantt view. Each project picks its method, the data model stays consistent.
Other processes
How mature is your delivery process today?
In a 15 to 30 minute requirements call we score your delivery process against the maturity model and outline the next realistic step.