Consulting Firm OS | Services Automation

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Professional Services

Professional Services Workflow OS

System coordinating tasks, contracts, invoicing, and client communication for consulting firms.

Services automation case study featuring workflow automation and integration.

+23%

Billable Hours Captured

Dramatically Reduced

Deliverable Delays

Real-Time

Partner Visibility

Overview

A fast-growing consulting firm needed a centralized system to manage client intake, deliverables, approvals, and bookkeeping. The system increased billable hours captured by 23% and gave partners real-time visibility.

Business Context

The consulting firm had grown from a small practice to a multi-team operation with over 30 consultants, but their operational infrastructure hadn't kept pace with their growth. Client work was coordinated through email threads that became impossible to follow, deliverables lived in scattered Google Drive folders with inconsistent naming conventions, time tracking was inconsistent and often completed from memory at the end of the month, and invoicing was a manual process that regularly missed billable hours or applied incorrect rates. Partners had no real-time visibility into project status, capacity utilization, or financial performance until month-end reports arrived too late to act on. The firm was experiencing significant revenue leakage from unbilled work estimated at over $200,000 annually, margin erosion from scope creep that was difficult to document and push back on, and client relationship issues from missed deadlines that weren't visible until clients complained. They needed an operational backbone that could support continued growth while improving profitability and professional delivery.

How We Built It

We designed a comprehensive workflow platform that serves as the operational nervous system for the entire firm, connecting business development through delivery through billing into a unified system. The client intake module captures engagement details from initial proposal through signed contract, generates scope documents from templates with automated population of client-specific terms, routes for internal approval based on engagement size and risk profile, and triggers onboarding workflows once contracts are signed including resource allocation requests and project setup tasks. The project management backbone tracks every deliverable with assigned owners, deadlines, dependencies, status updates, and linked work products — automatically alerting team members when tasks are at risk of slipping and escalating to engagement managers when deadlines are missed. Time tracking is integrated directly into the work interface with browser extensions and calendar integrations, and AI-assisted entry suggests time allocations based on activity patterns, calendar events, and document editing history, making accurate time capture effortless rather than burdensome. The contract lifecycle engine manages the full journey from draft through internal review through client negotiation through signature to renewal, with version control, redline tracking, approval workflows based on deviation from standard terms, and automated reminders for expiring agreements that give teams time to initiate renewal conversations. Invoicing automation pulls approved time entries, applies contracted rates with proper handling for rate cards, caps, and fixed-fee arrangements, generates professional invoices matching client formatting preferences, and pushes data to the accounting system for revenue recognition and AR tracking. The AI assistant allows partners and team members to query engagement status, client history, resource availability, and financial metrics using natural language rather than running reports or asking operations staff. Weekly automated summaries highlight at-risk engagements, approaching deadlines, billing opportunities from approved-but-unbilled work, and capacity utilization across the firm with drill-down into team and individual levels.

Challenges

Work happening via email, Google Drive, Slack

No central record of tasks or deadlines

Revenue leakage due to unbilled hours

Contract versions scattered

Manual weekly reporting

What We Delivered

Client intake OS with automated routing

Project management backend with roles, deadlines, time entries

Contract lifecycle engine (draft → review → signature → archive)

Invoicing automation + integration into accounting system

Weekly engagement summary for partners

AI assistant answering client and billing status queries

Tech Stack

Custom backend, React interface, Xero / QuickBooks API, OpenAI RAG, Slack API

Results

+23%

Billable Hours Captured

Dramatically Reduced

Deliverable Delays

Real-Time

Partner Visibility

Strategic Impact

The 23% increase in billable hours captured directly improved revenue by over $180,000 annually without any additional client work — the hours were always being worked, they just weren't being billed due to poor tracking and end-of-month memory lapses. Deliverable delays have decreased dramatically because issues are visible before they become crises, automatic escalations ensure nothing falls through the cracks, and resource constraints are identified early enough to address through reallocation or client expectation management. Partners now have real-time dashboards showing exactly where every engagement stands, enabling proactive client management rather than reactive firefighting and supporting strategic conversations about capacity planning and hiring. The contract management improvements have reduced scope creep by ensuring clear documentation of what's included and what requires change orders, giving project managers the backing they need to have difficult conversations about out-of-scope requests. Client satisfaction has improved because the firm is more responsive, more reliable, and better able to demonstrate the value being delivered through consistent status reporting and deliverable tracking. The operational efficiency gains have allowed the firm to grow revenue by 35% while keeping administrative overhead stable, materially improving profitability and creating capacity for investment in business development. The centralized system has also simplified compliance with professional standards and made it straightforward to demonstrate controls during client audits and insurance renewals. Junior staff benefit from clear workflows, expectations, and visibility into their utilization metrics, improving retention and reducing training time for new hires who can become productive faster. The data captured has enabled sophisticated analysis of engagement profitability that guides pricing decisions and client portfolio strategy.