Phase-based fee control
Fee budgets by phase with live burn against them — the moment hours run ahead of fee, it shows in the project, not in a retrospective report.
Deliver the work. Get paid for all of it.
Consulting engineering has a quiet failure mode: the work gets delivered and the fee does not follow. Hours land on phases whose budget is already burnt, variations are done on goodwill, WIP ages between claim cycles. Engis puts the firm’s commercial position inside the project record itself — so the money is managed in the same motion as the work.
One system for the firm and the job
A consultancy runs two intertwined operations: delivering projects, and running the business of delivering projects. Most firms split them across a delivery stack (folders, spreadsheets, portals) and a commercial stack (practice management or accounts software) that never reconcile until month end.
Engis is built as one system for both. Each project carries its phases, permit conditions, authority submissions, documents and spatial context — and, in the same record, its fee budgets, timesheet burn, WIP, claims and variations. Logging time updates the commercial position. Raising a claim draws on the delivery record. There is nothing to reconcile because there is only one truth.
The gap between doing the work and billing it is where firms leak.
None of the classic consultancy leaks are dramatic. Each is a small delay or a small omission — an unclaimed variation here, a late claim there, a phase quietly overrun. They compound because the systems involved cannot see each other: the spreadsheet that knows the fee, the timesheet tool that knows the hours, the accounts package that knows the invoices, and the inbox that knows the variation was ever requested.
- Fee burn discovered at month end, not during the phase
- Variations delivered on goodwill and never converted to fees
- WIP ageing invisibly between claim cycles
- Claims assembled by hand from three systems
- Timesheets disconnected from the phases they burn
- Utilisation and profitability reported from different truths
What Engis gives the firm
The commercial layer and the delivery layer as one record — for every job, and rolled up across the practice.
Live WIP
Work-in-progress tracked continuously across the firm — a live answer to “what have we done that we haven’t been paid for?” — with overdue claims flagged against their payment due dates.
Timesheets that feed the record
Weekly grid timesheets flow straight into phase burn and WIP. Logging time is the same act as updating the commercial position.
Progress claims
Claims built from the project record with GST-aware invoicing, so the claim reflects the work actually done — assembled in minutes, not rebuilt from three systems.
Variation register
Variations tracked from identification through approval to invoice, so delivered extras convert to fees instead of goodwill.
Xero integration
An available per-firm integration pushes progress claims to Xero and syncs payment status back automatically — enabled per firm on request.
Delivery programme and approvals
A dependency-aware programme across real phases, with permit conditions, engineering approval submissions and referral coordination tracked as part of the job.
Documents, RFIs and transmittals
Controlled document numbering, transmittals, RFIs and submittals attached to the project — the correspondence discipline clients and authorities expect.
Spatial intelligence
Live parcels, zoning, overlays, flood extents and utility assets from Australian authority services on the project map — site context beside the fee and the programme.
Built for how a firm actually divides the work
Directors and principals
Firm-wide fee, WIP and claims position live — plus pipeline visibility — without waiting for the bookkeeper’s month end.
Project managers
Phases, approvals, documents and programme in one workspace, with the commercial state of the job alongside the delivery state.
Engineers
Timesheets, RFIs and documents in the same system as the project — less admin friction, better records.
Clients of the firm
A shareable, scoped portal view of project status is available, so client reporting can be a link rather than a monthly document.
Against the stack most firms run today
Practice management plus a delivery stack
Practice management tools know hours and invoices but have no concept of a permit condition, a referral authority or a transmittal. Running one beside a delivery stack means every commercial question starts with a reconciliation. Engis carries both layers in one record.
The spreadsheet stack
Free until it isn’t. Fee burn found late, variations never claimed, WIP ageing quietly — the spreadsheet stack has a real cost, booked as write-offs instead of licence fees.
Contractor construction platforms
Built for head contractors administering site works, and priced like it. Fee phases, design deliverables, claims and approvals — a consultancy’s shape — is not their shape.
Frequently asked questions
Does Engis replace our practice management software?
It covers the commercial ground practice management tools cover — fee budgets, timesheets, WIP, claims, invoicing — inside a system that also runs the delivery itself: phases, permit conditions, authorities, documents and spatial context. For civil consultancies that means one record instead of a practice system plus a delivery stack.
Does Engis integrate with Xero?
Yes — a Xero integration is available that pushes progress claims to Xero and syncs payment status back automatically. It is enabled per firm on request.
How quickly does the WIP position update?
Continuously. Timesheet hours burn against phase fee budgets as they are logged, and the firm-wide WIP position is visible at any time — not reconstructed at month end.
What does Engis do with variations?
Variations are tracked as first-class records from identification through approval to invoice, linked to the project they belong to. The point is simple: work you delivered beyond scope becomes a claimable fee, not an anecdote.
How do I get access?
Access is provisioned per firm. Request a three-day sandbox preview on synthetic data, book a demo, or run the ROI calculator on your own numbers first.
Run the firm and the projects from one truth.
Request a sandbox preview, book a 20-minute demo, or run the ROI calculator on your own numbers.
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