Project Pipeline & Revenue Scheduling
This use case explains how to represent a project pipeline and revenue scheduling for consulting and professional services firms using Model Reef.
You will:
Capture the project pipeline as a series of engagements with fees, start dates and durations.
Apply probabilities and win rates.
Schedule revenue over time based on work patterns or milestones.
Connect pipeline output to utilisation, capacity and cashflow.
When to use this pattern
Use this pattern when:
You win work through discrete projects or engagements.
You want a forward view of revenue based on actual pipeline, not just run rate assumptions.
You need to see how pipeline supports or falls short of capacity and headcount plans.
It is closely linked to:
Utilisation and Capacity Planning
Rate Card and Billable Hours Forecasting
Office or Team Profitability Modelling
Architecture overview
The pipeline modelling structure has three components:
Project definitions
One set of drivers or variables per project or per project group.
Fee, start date, duration, probability.
Revenue scheduling rules
How fees convert into revenue by period (time and materials, fixed fee, milestones).
How probabilities are applied (weighted pipeline versus committed work).
Outputs
Pipeline based revenue series by office, practice and role.
Comparison of pipeline revenue to capacity based revenue.
Views for base, upside and downside scenarios.
Step 1: Represent projects in the Data Library
Decide how granular your project list should be in the model:
One entry per major project.
One entry per client or per programme of work.
Aggregated entries for many small jobs by type.
In the Data Library, create entries for each project or project group with fields such as:
Total Fee.Expected Start Date.Duration in Months or Weeks.Probability of Winfor pipeline stages.OfficeorPracticeif you want branch level mapping.
You can maintain this list directly in Model Reef or import regularly from a CRM or sales system as a CSV.
Step 2: Define revenue scheduling patterns
For each project, decide how fees will be recognised over time. Common patterns:
Time and materials
Revenue follows hours staffed and rates.
Can be approximated as evenly spread over expected duration if detail is not required.
Fixed fee straight line
Equal revenue each period over the project duration.
Milestone based
Revenue recognised at defined milestones and dates.
In Model Reef, you can represent these patterns by:
Using schedule style drivers for each project.
Or using formulas that map total fee into a series over the chosen periods.
Document the rule for each project in notes so that it is clear how revenue scheduling is being applied.
Step 3: Apply probabilities and build weighted pipeline
For pipeline stages that are not yet won, you can compute a weighted pipeline by:
Weighted Fee = Total Fee × Probability of Win.
Weighted Revenue Series = Scheduled Revenue Series × Probability of Win.
Implement this by either:
Applying the probability directly in the formula that generates revenue.
Or storing both unweighted and weighted series separately for reporting.
This allows you to see both committed work (probability near 100 percent) and earlier stage pipeline in the same structure.
Step 4: Map projects into branches and roles
Use branches to reflect where work is delivered, for example by office or practice.
For each project:
Assign the relevant branch.
Optionally, break the project into components by role or team if you need role level revenue.
Create Revenue variables such as:
Revenue - Project Alpha - Strategy Practice.Revenue - Project Alpha - Technology Practice.
These variables will reference the scheduled revenue series for that project. Because they are type Revenue, they feed P&L and cashflow automatically.
Step 5: Link pipeline to capacity and utilisation
Once pipeline based revenue is in place, compare it to your capacity based revenue expectations from Rate Card and Billable Hours Forecasting and Utilisation and Capacity Planning.
Use dashboards or reports to show:
Pipeline derived revenue per branch and period.
Capacity derived revenue per branch and period.
Gaps where pipeline is insufficient to hit revenue targets or keep staff productively utilised.
Overloads where pipeline implies more work than you can deliver with planned headcount.
This comparison provides an early warning for hiring, marketing and sales planning.
Step 6: Build pipeline and scheduling dashboards
Create a Pipeline and Revenue dashboard that includes:
Weighted pipeline by month or quarter.
Committed work versus early stage opportunities.
Revenue by project, office or practice.
Funnel style views summarising total fee and weighted fee by stage.
If you maintain separate models for different scenarios, you can compare:
Base pipeline.
Optimistic or upside pipeline.
Downside or conservative pipeline.
Step 7: Maintain the pipeline over time
To keep the pipeline model useful:
Update project inputs regularly from your CRM or sales pipeline tool.
Move projects between stages and adjust probabilities.
Close won projects and convert them to committed work with probability 100 percent.
Archive lost or completed projects when no longer needed for planning.
You can either edit Data Library entries directly or replace them via periodic imports from external systems.
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