Cross-module workflow
Project Planning to Profitability
Approved timesheets, expenses, and procurement actuals compute live project gross margin against contracted revenue while the project is still open.
- 01
Trigger
- 02
Work
- 03
Govern
- 04
Outcome
What it is
Project Planning to Profitability is Vercentlabs ERP's real, cited sequence connecting Projects, Procurement, Accounting, and HR & Payroll — gross margin is computed live from approved actuals against contracted revenue while a project is still open, not reconstructed after it closes.
Execution sequence
- Steps
- 07
- Modules
- 04
- Approvals
- 01
The real sequence, step by step
The runbook shows trigger, participants, each module handoff, approvals, automated actions, exceptions, visibility and business value in one continuous operating document.
Trigger
A project is set up with a billing method and, where relevant, contracted revenue and a linked Sales order.
Participants
Project/delivery manager · Consultants and employees logging time/expenses · Finance/PMO staff
- Project setupProjects
Billing method (fixed price, time & material, milestone, or non-billable) and customer/order linkage are set at creation.
- Work breakdownProjects
Tasks and milestones structure the delivery plan.
- Time and expenseProjects
Time entries carry cost and bill rate; the person who logs an entry cannot approve their own entry.
- Procurement actualsProcurement
Real procurement actuals linked to the project feed into profitability, not a separately tracked spend estimate.
- Live margin calculationProjects
Gross margin is computed from approved labor, approved expenses, and real procurement actuals against contracted revenue — while the project is still open.
- Billing milestoneProjects
An idempotency-keyed billing milestone hands off to Accounting — the same billing event can't be entered, or double-billed, twice.
- InvoiceAccounting
Accounting posts the resulting customer invoice.
Approvals
- 01A timesheet or expense entry cannot be approved by the person who logged it.
Automated actions
- 01Live gross-margin calculation runs from approved actuals, not a manually rebuilt spreadsheet.
- 02A hard rule blocks marking a project complete while it still has open tasks.
- 03Billing milestones are idempotency-keyed against duplicate entry.
Exceptions & honest limits
- 01A project cannot be marked complete while it still has open tasks — a hard rule, not a warning a manager can override casually.
Visibility
- 01A per-project profitability report alongside the module dashboard's active/overdue project and task counts.
Business value
- 01Gross margin is visible while the project is still open, not discovered after close.
- 02Billing milestones can't be entered — or double-billed — twice, removing a real source of client-facing billing errors.
Handoff map
Every module involved, in operating order.
The workflow is deliberately shown as a chain of responsibility rather than a bag of features.
Buyer questions
Questions buyers ask about this runbook
Direct answers about how the sequence behaves, where controls sit and what a real deployment should expect.
Does margin only get calculated at project close?
No — it's a live calculation from approved labor, approved expenses, and real procurement actuals against contracted revenue, available at any point while the project is still open.
What stops someone from approving their own hours?
Self-approval is blocked structurally — the person who logs a time entry cannot also approve it, so cost data feeding the margin calculation isn't self-certified.
Can procurement spend on a project be missed from the margin calculation?
Real procurement actuals are linked to the project via project_procurement_links and feed directly into the profitability calculation — not tracked in a parallel spend estimate someone has to remember to reconcile.