Tech – Consultant Hours Analysis

What is an Actual and Estimated Consulting Hours Report? Professional Services reports showing actual and estimated hours are considered operational analysis and planning tools and are used by consulting managers to track consultant hours delivered per project. Some of the main functionality in this type of report is that it is parameter driven and can be run for any month, entity and project(s). It compares the actual hours each consultant delivered by project versus the estimated hours and displays the variance amount and percent with exception highlighting. The rows can be expanded and collapsed and they group projects by consultant and region/entity. The chart compares the grand total hours delivered for the chosen time period versus the estimated hours. You find an example of this type of report below.

Purpose of Actual and Estimated Hours Reports Technology companies use Actual and Estimated Hours Reports to easily monitor each of the organization's locations and their ability to achieve or exceed the professional service hours they targeted. When used as part of good business practices in Project Management departments, a company can improve its estimate accuracy and therefore increase its ability to drive revenues with optimal human resource planning, and it can reduce the chances that managers react slowly, or not at all-, to trends and outliers.

Who Uses This Type of Report? The typical users of this type of report are: Project Managers, Project Management Offices (PMO), Directors of Services, Consulting Managers. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Actual and Estimated Hours Reports Progressive Executive and Project Management departments sometimes use several different Actual and Estimated Hours Reports, along with detailed project reports, utilization reports, project dashboards, billing reports, project budgets and forecasts and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional xFP&A solutions.

Built for technology finance teams and aligned with Solver's xFP&A platform, this Solver report template connects directly to your ERP data via the Solver Data Warehouse, enabling near real-time analysis with minimal setup. Designed for QuickStart deployment, it can be activated rapidly so your team can focus on analysis and decisions — not data preparation.

What is the Tech – Consultant Hours Analysis in Solver? The Tech – Consultant Hours Analysis is a pre-built xFP&A report template in Solver designed for technology organizations. It delivers key financial and operational metrics in a single, easy-to-use interface — purpose-built for technology finance workflows.

Who uses this Solver report template? Finance leaders at technology organizations — including CFOs, FP&A managers, and technology finance teams — use this template to get fast, reliable answers without waiting on IT or building custom reports. It supports both day-to-day monitoring and strategic decision-making.

Where does the data come from? Data is sourced automatically from your ERP system through the Solver Data Warehouse, which integrates with platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Acumatica, Sage Intacct, and other leading ERP solutions. Salesforce and subscription billing systems such as Binary Stream can also be connected for unified SaaS and technology metrics. Once connected, the template updates in near real-time with no manual data entry required.

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