What it produces
The monthly WIP schedule, a fade report, answered flags, a drafted adjusting entry and a WIP-to-ledger reconciliation.
Workflows
WIP Schedule
a monthly report that compares each open contract's earned revenue with its billings to show which jobs are overbilled or underbilled
The job in one minute
Who owns it
The project accountant builds it, PMs own their estimates, the controller approves, the CFO decides what goes to the surety and the bank.
How often
Monthly for the schedule and entry, daily or weekly for the reconciliation.
Why it hurts
Estimates to complete arrive late, or unchanged on a job that clearly moved. A big subcontract is signed but not entered, so the forecast looks safe. A change still in negotiation sits in contract value. Delivered switchgear pushes percent complete ahead of the work. The schedule gets rebuilt in Excel from four exports, the entry is keyed by hand, and the ledger tie-out finds the problem on day twelve. Underbillings on nearly finished jobs are exactly what sureties disallow.
Systems it touches
The ERP, PM estimate workbooks in Excel, Outlook, SharePoint, Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project, Power BI, and Procore or Unifier.
If your ERP already posts the over and under billing entry from its own WIP, keep it. The agent checks the inputs that report cannot see before the numbers are computed.
- ERP
- PM estimate workbooks in Excel
- Outlook
- SharePoint
- Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project
- Power BI
- Procore or Unifier
12 steps · 6 actions · 4 decisions · 2 human reviews
The workflow, step by step
Action Decision Human review Select a step in the flowchart to jump to it.
Show the flowchart
- 01 Decision · Agent After the cost cutoff
- 02 Action · Agent Pull every open job's contract value with approved changes
- 03 Action · ERP Collect each PM's estimate to complete from the ERP or the PM's own…
- 04 Decision · Agent The estimate is at least cost to date plus open commitments
- 05 Action · Agent Compute percent complete
- 06 Decision · Agent Fade past the threshold needs a PM explanation
- 07 · Human review · Controller PMs answer each flag in writing
- 08 Action · Agent Draft the over and under billing entries and any loss provision
- 09 · Human review · Controller The controller approves and the entry posts
- 10 Action · Agent Reconcile WIP to the ledger
- 11 Decision · Agent Every difference is zero or listed with its source transaction
- 12 Action · Agent Publish the package and keep the month's snapshot
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Decision · Agent
After the cost cutoff, check for unposted payroll, AP, equipment and job cost batches. Any batch carrying job cost for the period stops the run for accounting.
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Action · Agent
Pull every open job's contract value with approved changes, billed to date, cost to date, committed cost and last month's estimate.
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Action · ERP
Collect each PM's estimate to complete from the ERP or the PM's own workbook.
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Decision · Agent
The estimate is at least cost to date plus open commitments, an estimate unchanged for two months flags, uninstalled materials and pending changes stay out.
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Action · Agent
Compute percent complete, earned revenue, over or under billing, gross profit and fade.
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Decision · Agent
Fade past the threshold needs a PM explanation, an underbilling past 90 percent complete needs a reason and collection date, a projected loss goes to the controller.
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Human review · Controller
PMs answer each flag in writing; the controller reviews the schedule.
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Action · Agent
Draft the over and under billing entries and any loss provision, unposted.
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Human review · Controller
The controller approves and the entry posts.
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Action · Agent
Reconcile WIP to the ledger: cost, billings, contract asset and liability, retainage.
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Decision · Agent
Every difference is zero or listed with its source transaction.
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Action · Agent
Publish the package and keep the month's snapshot.
✓ Done
See it done in the Gallery
Rules vs judgment
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Exact rules
- Every WIP formula, the cutoff check, the estimate floor, fade and late-stage underbilling thresholds, the to-the-cent ledger tie-out.
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The model reads
- PM workbooks in their own layouts, PM explanations, signed subcontracts sitting in email, change status notes, surety and bank definitions. A rule still decides.
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A person decides
- The estimate to complete, whether unpriced changes or delivered materials count, loss provisions, and what to tell the surety and the bank.
When it stops
- run stops
Unposted batch at cutoff
The run stops for accounting.
- flagged
PM workbook missing
Last month's estimate carries, clearly marked stale.
- routed
Committed cost above the estimate
The PM revises or names the commitment that will be cancelled.
- run stops
Signed subcontract found only in email
Purchasing and the PM are flagged before the floor is tested.
- flagged
Export cut off at a row limit
Totals are checked against the report footer and a mismatch stops the run.
- routed
Reconciling difference with no source
Stays on the list until a person finds the transaction.
What you end up with
A WIP package the controller can review in one sitting: every figure one click from the ERP screen it came from, every flag answered in writing, the entry drafted and ready, and a ledger tie-out that holds. The CFO gets a schedule the surety will not pick apart. Product →
Questions
Can the agent estimate cost to complete?
No. It tests the PM's estimate against cost, commitments, last month and the PM's own history. The number is the PM's.
Does it only support cost-to-cost?
Cost-to-cost is the default. A job-level table can set a different measure for a job whose contract calls for it.
Why reconcile weekly?
A difference found in week two has one or two transactions behind it. At month-end it has thirty.
Can it prepare the package for the surety or bank?
It lays the approved schedule into each one's format. What to send and how to explain it stays with the CFO. Invoice Coding to Job Cost →
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