Managing Non-Billable Work Effectively, Part 4 of 5

Well, it took a while to get back into the swing of things as Q4 ended and the holidays rapped up, but I'm back on track, and here is part four of my article on Non-billable work.

In parts 1-3, we defined the different types of non-billable work, who often "gives away" this type of PS work, and some of the challenges the PSO experiences when work is given away without the PS team's involvement. In this and the final post on this subject, I will discuss some of the ways in which non-billable work - and the chance that it will occur - can be managed.

How to Manage Non-Billable Projects and Commitments?
As I mentioned in earlier posts, most PSO managers with whom I have talked have, at one point in his or her career, had to find the balance between meeting revenue, bookings, and profitability targets with the need to support product sales or generate customer goodwill by providing customers with non-billable projects. While non-billable work can be managed in such a way to avoid the pain associated with missed expectations and missed KPIs, it often isn’t. My research shows problems arise most often when:

1. The PSO is not viewed as a profit center.
2. Sales does not truly understand the value the PSO provided
3. There is no agreement at an executive level of the amount of non-billable work that can be given away in a given quarter or year

So, how do you ensure that your non-billable workload does not become a problem for you or your customers? To start, there needs to be agreement at all levels of the organization that all projects are created equal. The PSO should be involved early to scope any PS project, even when a decision is made to deliver the project at no cost to the customer. In order to treat all projects equally, the following rules should apply:

• Non-billable projects need to be properly scoped by the PS team, just like billable projects.
• Even when a project is a no-cost project, an SOW is required - the customer and the PSO must sign the SOW representing the agreement. (This is the only way of which I know to effectively manage scope.)
• Customers only value those things for which they pay. If a decision is made to give work away, the value must be spelled out. The true cost of the project must be spelled out in the SOW as well as the discounted price and percent. (The value of this project is $50,000 USD, discounted 100% for a cost to Customer of $0.00 USD.) Showing the discount rate up front makes it clear what the customer is likely to pay next time.
• No scheduling of billable resources is confirmed until the SOW is signed.

This is all great on paper, but this process still has gaps. It says nothing with regard to how much no-cost work can be given away each quarter or year. It also says nothing with regard to who can agree to non-billable work or how non-billable work is approved. While it does, however, indicate that scheduling does not happen until the SOW is signed and that the PS team is responsible for scoping the work, it does not prevent individuals from outside the PSO from making commitments on schedules, even when they have no real sense of how much time is needed and when resources are available to begin work. Lastly, it does not provide a provision for the PS team to get “credit” for this work against key metrics like revenue, bookings, and profit margins. (The PSO's ability to achieve annual goals and get compensated for doing so is diminished without such provisions.)

I'll talk next week about how to close the gaps and what the eight (8) other components of a "give away work" process should be.