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Firm operations agent

Timesheet and WIP check

Every missing timesheet chased before billing, and every entry checked against its project code and budget. Clean WIP goes to the prebill, and write-off risk goes to the project lead.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for Timesheet and WIP check: four items, three done, and one ($14,200 over fee) waiting for the project lead, who is asked: Brand refresh is $14,200 over its fixed fee. Bill it as a change?
How it works

Timesheets in before prebills run. Overruns go to the project lead.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for Timesheet and WIP check, in 5 steps. It starts with “Billing week opens” and ends with “Clean WIP on the prebill”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
Timesheet and WIP checkA typical run
Starts withBilling week opensThe September close starts, and every project’s time has to be in and coded before prebills run.
Automation: Checks timekeeping against who was staffed that week, nudges anyone missing once in team chat, then again the morning billing starts.
~20h/mo

Step 1 of 5Find the missing time

  • Automation

    Checks timekeeping against who was staffed that week, nudges anyone missing once in team chat, then again the morning billing starts.

    Who owes time is the staffing plan checked against what’s been logged.

Reads
  • Timekeeping
  • Staffing plan
Writes
  • Team chat

~20 hours a month back

The agent: Reads each entry’s description, checks it’s on a live code at the agreed rate, and marks any that look booked to the wrong project.
~38h/mo

Step 2 of 5Code every entry

  • The agent

    Reads each entry’s description, checks it’s on a live code at the agreed rate, and marks any that look booked to the wrong project.

    Someone logs “Tessaly deck edits” to internal admin. Only the words say which project it belongs to.

Reads
  • Timekeeping
  • Engagement letters
Writes
  • Practice management

~38 hours a month back

The agent: Puts Brand refresh’s $61,200 of WIP against its $47,000 fixed fee, and reads the plan to see how much work is still to come.
Automation: Any project past your warning line goes to its project lead. One over its fee is held off the prebill until they decide.
~16h/mo

Step 3 of 5Check it against the fee

  • The agent

    Puts Brand refresh’s $61,200 of WIP against its $47,000 fixed fee, and reads the plan to see how much work is still to come.

    A fixed fee rarely maps to hours one for one. The phases and what’s left to deliver matter as much as the total.

  • Automation

    Any project past your warning line goes to its project lead. One over its fee is held off the prebill until they decide.

    The warning line is a percentage of the fee, so crossing it is a sum.

Reads
  • Practice management
Writes
  • Practice management

~16 hours a month back

Where teams differMany firms warn at 80% of the fee. Some watch hours instead, and a few set a line for each phase.

IfYour team: Writes the $14,200 down, or takes it to Tessaly Foods as a change in scope, with the WIP, the fee and the scope history in front of them.
~6h/mo

Step 4 of 5Decide on the overrun

  • Your teamIf over the fixed fee

    Writes the $14,200 down, or takes it to Tessaly Foods as a change in scope, with the WIP, the fee and the scope history in front of them.

    Writing time down costs the firm, and billing a change costs goodwill. That trade needs someone who knows the client.

Reads
  • Practice management
Writes
  • Practice management

~6 hours a month back

Where teams differHow much a project lead can write down alone varies. Past a set amount, the billing partner often joins.

Automation: Moves every coded, priced entry into the prebill, with a short list of the projects at risk of a write-off beside it.
~12h/mo

Step 5 of 5Hand over the prebill

  • Automation

    Moves every coded, priced entry into the prebill, with a short list of the projects at risk of a write-off beside it.

    Clean entries go the same way every close. By this point there’s nothing left to decide.

Reads
  • Practice management
Writes
  • Practice management

~12 hours a month back

Ends withClean WIP on the prebillEvery entry coded and priced, and the overrun on Brand refresh settled by its project lead.
Total~92h/mo

What changes

Billing starts with the time already in. The project lead hears Brand refresh is $14,200 over its fee before the prebill goes out, not after.

  • 3steps automated
  • 2steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~92 hours a month back

$60,700 a year in time

For a 150-person firm billing about 60 projects a month, at $55 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never writes off time on its own

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentTime from your timekeeping tool, WIP and prebills in your practice management system.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentWhen time is due, the budget warning line, and which codes are never billable.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentThe project lead for write-downs, the billing partner above $25,000.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentSlack nudges for missing time, a WIP list by email before each cycle.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentA clean prebill, and a list of the projects at risk of write-off.

Retainer burn alerts and collections are other agents in this catalog. What a client is billed stays with the project lead.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your billing team and project leads.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past projects, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real projects.
The number we agree

Timesheets still missing on the day billing starts. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of timesheets, prebills and write-offs, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of timesheets, prebills and write-offs.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past projects.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

Will it nag people about their time?
It sends one nudge in Slack or email, then a second the morning billing starts, in wording you approve. Anyone still missing goes on the billing team’s list.
Does it decide what gets written off?
No. It shows the project lead the WIP, the fee and what’s left, and the lead decides whether to write it down or bill it.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the timesheets still missing on the day billing starts. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want every prebill to start with the time already in?

Tell us how your team handles projects today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Professional services
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  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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