Documentation MarginPlan Approach Scope and price work before you promise it
The MarginPlan Approach

Scope and price work before you promise it

Turn revenue targets into commercially defensible project plans by shaping scope, effort, rates, and timing before anyone makes a client promise.

Scope and price is where strategy becomes commitment. This step translates yearly goals into specific projects and estimate logic the team can deliver without margin surprises. When this page is run well, the business avoids feast-or-famine booking, delivery avoids last-minute thrash, and billing inherits a clean commercial trail instead of fragile invoice patching.

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Quick summary Step by step Guardrails Troubleshooting Related workflows

Quick summary

  • Check month-level demand against available team capacity before pulling new projects into the current month.
  • Run estimate reviews with both delivery and commercial owners before the quote stage begins.
  • Refactor estimates when scope shifts instead of compensating later with invoice edits.
  • Update catalog definitions when recurring estimate workarounds appear so future pricing improves by default.
  • Document commercial assumptions in plain language so handoffs survive staffing changes.
  • Use variance history from recent projects to calibrate effort and rate assumptions before approving new work.

Put it into practice

  1. Start with target context: confirm the currently approved yearly goal and whether the business is ahead or behind pace for the period this work would occupy.

    InteractionsRevenue Goal and At A Glance: confirm yearly target and pacing before project commitment.
    Open workflow: Revenue Goal

  2. Decide whether this opportunity belongs in the current month or should be scheduled later to protect delivery quality and margin.

    InteractionsAt A Glance and project planning review: compare expected demand, current commitments, and available capacity.
    Open workflow: At A Glance

  3. Create or open the project that will own the work and confirm client context, owner accountability, and delivery window.

    InteractionsProjects List: create a new project or open an existing project detail record.
    Open workflow: Create Project

  4. Draft scope in estimate structure that mirrors delivery reality: phases, tasks, role mix, and effort assumptions with explicit boundaries for what is out of scope.

    InteractionsProject detail: open planning and estimate areas and model the full delivery shape before commercial conversion.
    Open workflow: Estimate Workflow

  5. Apply catalog-backed offerings, rates, and resources wherever possible so pricing logic is reusable and explainable.

    InteractionsService Catalog: verify offerings, rates, resources, and categories referenced by the estimate.
    Open workflow: Service Catalog

  6. Pressure-test at least one downside scenario (higher effort or delivery delay) and confirm the commercial model still behaves acceptably.

    InteractionsEstimate review workshop: compare baseline and downside scenarios before approval.

  7. Run a pre-commit gate with delivery and commercial owners: scope narrative, estimate math, assumption list, and acceptance boundary must all agree.

    InteractionsEstimate review: complete cross-functional sign-off before quote conversion.

  8. Only then move to quote creation, keeping all approved assumptions traceable for downstream billing.

    InteractionsProject quote workflow: convert approved estimate without introducing silent scope changes.
    Open workflow: Quote Workflow

What to review

Goal and pacing context

Before scoping details, confirm where the business sits against the current yearly target and month-level pace. New commitments should close a real revenue gap or intentionally fill future capacity, not just react to urgency.

Project framing

Define client outcome, commercial owner, delivery owner, timing window, and key constraints so the estimate is attached to a real delivery container rather than an abstract number.

Estimate structure

Break work into phases and tasks that map to actual execution sequence. If the structure cannot be used by delivery, pricing certainty is an illusion.

Resourcing and effort model

Convert scope into role-level effort assumptions early. Margin risk usually begins when teams price on optimistic totals without pressure-testing effort at the role and phase level.

Rate posture and margin intent

Rates should reflect the margin posture needed for the year, not just what feels easy to sell this week. If rates are discounted, record what is being traded away and who approved that trade-off.

Catalog alignment

Reuse offerings, groups, rates, and resources so pricing logic remains consistent across projects. One-off exceptions should be explicit and rare.

Scenario checks

Test at least one downside scenario before approval (higher effort, schedule slip, or staffing mix change) so the team knows where margin breaks first.

Pre-commit quality gate

Before quote conversion, validate that scope narrative, estimate math, assumptions, and acceptance boundaries all agree. If these do not align now, they will surface later as billing conflict.

Guardrails

  • Estimate totals should always be reproducible from phase structure, role effort, and rate assumptions with no hidden manual patches.
  • Scope boundaries must be explicit enough that a different team member can tell what is included and excluded without additional meetings.
  • Any discounted rate or non-standard pricing decision should include rationale and approver, otherwise margin drift becomes untraceable.
  • If delivery says the estimate cannot be executed as modeled, approval should pause until structure is corrected.
  • Scope changes require estimate updates before quote or invoice stages continue; invoice edits are not a substitute for planning corrections.
  • Capacity and timing assumptions should be credible for the month being planned, not dependent on optimistic overtime.
  • Pre-commit review should confirm downstream billing intent (milestones, phases, or cadence) so commercial records do not need reinterpretation later.
  • Project and estimate management permissions are required for structural changes to scope and effort models.
  • Catalog maintenance should stay with pricing owners so standards do not drift through ad hoc edits.
  • Commercial approvals should be limited to roles accountable for margin and client commitment, not just whoever can click save.
  • Delivery leads need enough visibility to challenge unrealistic assumptions even if they do not own final commercial approval.

If it starts drifting

  • If projects are repeatedly underpriced, audit role-level effort assumptions first before changing invoice behavior.
  • If win rates look good but margin collapses later, inspect discount patterns and unlogged scope concessions in estimate notes.
  • If teams keep squeezing new work into overloaded months, enforce pacing checks before estimate approval so delivery quality does not degrade.
  • If similar projects produce different prices, inspect catalog usage consistency and exception governance.
  • If quote reviews become subjective debates, require written assumptions and exclusion lists in every estimate.
  • If delivery and commercial teams disagree late, bring both into pre-commit gate ownership rather than escalating only after client promise.
  • If teams bypass estimate quality gates, add a required approval checkpoint before quote creation and block conversion until completed.
  • If scope keeps changing after approval, tighten discovery and baseline acceptance criteria before creating future estimates.