Project margin in AlibeeZ: set when the contract is created, recomputed on every entry

Most organisations know how far along their projects are. Far fewer know how profitable they are before the end. Margin is worked out once invoices are out and time is consolidated, often in a spreadsheet, and the overrun shows up in the project review, when there is nothing left to fix.

AlibeeZ tracks margin the way it tracks progress: continuously, from data the software already holds. The panel above illustrates it, and what follows explains where its numbers come from.

What the panel shows

For each project, a bar compares effort consumed with effort sold in the contract, and the gross margin sits next to the project name. In the illustration, three projects stay within their envelope, with margins between 27% and 34%. The fourth, “Migration ERP”, has consumed 118% of the effort sold: 18% beyond the contract, and a margin down to 9%, below the threshold that was set. At the bottom, the consolidated gross margin of the portfolio.

The panel answers two questions at once: where each project stands, and what that is costing. That is the point of the section: project profitability, not just progress.

A margin that exists from contract creation

In AlibeeZ, forecast gross margin is computed as soon as the contract is entered. Before the first day of delivery, the project already has effort sold, an amount and an expected margin. That is the baseline everything else is compared against.

This matters more than it seems. A margin that only exists at the end cannot be steered: it can only be recorded. A margin set at creation gives the project lead and management control a shared reference from day one, and tells them at any moment how far the project has drifted from it.

Recomputed on every write

From then on, the margin moves with the project. There is no overnight batch to wait for: every write updates both forecast and actual.

• An hour booked: every approved entry feeds consumed effort per project, per person and per activity, and therefore the margin.
• An expense approved: it weighs on the project margin, and if it is rebillable it goes onto the client invoice, with or without margin depending on the contract.
• A contract amendment: effort sold and the amount change, and the forecast margin with them.

Because this is the same data that drives the capacity plan and invoicing, utilisation, margin and consumed effort all come from the same base. There is no competing version to reconcile at month end.

On fixed-price projects: the remaining work

On a fixed-price project, knowing what has been consumed is not enough: you need to know what is left to deliver. AlibeeZ lets project leads update the remaining work estimate, and keeps the history of those updates. Comparing what has been delivered with what is left tells you whether the project is making or losing money, and flags a loss at completion early enough to provision for it. If your teams log time in Jira, the synchronisation avoids double entry.

Forecast versus actual, against your thresholds

Comparing forecast and actual continuously only helps if someone is told at the right moment. AlibeeZ lets you set alert thresholds on the forecast-versus-actual variance, per project and per activity. The gap between sold and consumed effort triggers the alert at the threshold you set, not at project close.

You choose who receives it. An alert such as “Kepler: margin below 20%” can go to management control and appear on their AlibeeZ home screen. Going further, a Make scenario can add a conditional branch: only notify leadership when a project’s margin drops below a threshold.

Envelope thresholds exist on the invoicing side too: an overrun alert is set on a purchase order or a budget, and AlibeeZ warns you before the invoice is issued.

Cutting the margin along your own axes

The forecast is controlled per project, per activity and per person. But leadership often asks other questions: margin by business unit, by office, by contract type. For that, AlibeeZ relies on two tools.

Historised tags

You create your own tag categories and put them on your projects, people, contracts or accounts. Any category can be made mandatory. Above all, these tags are historised: if a project moves from time and materials to fixed price in March, an analysis of last year still counts it as time and materials. Your year-on-year comparisons stay right.

Reports

You build reports the way you would in a spreadsheet: columns, filters, groupings, pivot table, chart. With one difference: the numbers are the application’s own, read the moment you open the report. A margin-by-office report can then be exported to Excel or CSV, or pinned to the home screen. If your finance team works in Power BI, the automatic export sends projects and margins there too.

What it changes

• Overruns caught in time: the alert fires at the threshold you set, while the project is running.
• A margin that is current today, recomputed on every hour booked, expense approved or amendment.
• Analysis by business unit or contract type that does not rewrite itself when the organisation changes.

Going further: margin depends first on who works on the project, which is covered in the capacity plan article. On fixed price, read how AlibeeZ handles forecasting for fixed-price projects, and on analysis by BU, why historised tags change your comparisons.

Frequently asked questions

How often is the margin recomputed in AlibeeZ?

On every write: an hour booked, an expense approved or a contract amendment updates both forecast and actual. There is no overnight batch to wait for.

From when does a project have a forecast margin?

From contract creation. Forecast gross margin is computed at that point, then serves as the baseline for comparing forecast and actual throughout the project.

Can we be alerted when a project drifts?

Yes. You set alert thresholds on the forecast-versus-actual variance, per project and per activity, and you choose who receives the alert. It fires while the project is running, not at close.

Can margin be tracked by business unit?

Yes, through historised tags on your projects, people or contracts. A change of BU does not rewrite the past, so comparisons between years stay reliable.