AREA 05 / 06·Dashboard and Cockpit

The management cockpit, at a glance.

Outlook and Funnel put your firm's forward financial and commercial position in one place: the three views, the ranked drivers, pipeline movement and open demand on the same calendar.

The question this answers

What should a services firm leadership team read each week?

One view that puts your firm's forward position in one place: where profit is heading under each of the three views, the drivers moving it, what changed in the funnel, and the open demand about to become a capacity problem. The point is to act on the number while there is still time to move it, rather than explain it once the month has closed.

The pain

Monday morning. Pipeline lives in one tool, delivery capacity in another, and your firm's profit in last month's accounting close. Each tells you something; none of them line up until the month is over. The top line looked strong all month, so no one looked harder, and then the close lands: you kept about $60k less profit than the work should have produced. By the time you can see what caused it, those decisions are already in the run rate.

Profitdrive replaces three lagging views with one forward one. Posture, pipeline, and capacity move together as the business moves, so a margin shift shows up while it can still be addressed, not after the close confirms it.

What this area covers

Pipeline, projects, people, and profit, in one view.

Dashboard is the cockpit that brings pipeline, projects, people and financials into one view. It is what you see at login, for the daily and weekly decisions about your firm's position.

Three surfaces sit inside that cockpit. Outlook carries the headline financial and operational position. Funnel carries pipeline stock, movement and quality signals. P&L and Activity are roadmap tabs. KPIs is live: utilisation, rate economics, FTE and open roles at firm level. A P&L Movement view, which compares the outlook with a prior date and shows what moved and why, a deal won or slipped, an extension confirmed, a start date pushed, a hire brought forward, is in verification and unavailable today. This page covers the two surfaces you can use today.

Open Demand is the aggregate view of unfilled roles from Pipeline and Projects: the staffing requirement that has financial consequence but no named person yet. The Open Roles entity itself lives in People; here it appears as a firm-level constraint signal alongside the other posture cards.

Three surfaces · two live, one partly · P&L and Activity on the roadmap

Surface

Function

Status

01

Outlook

Revenue, Operating Income, Utilisation, Open Demand, and the drivers moving those numbers.

Live

02

Funnel

Pipeline stock, movement, and quality signals that inform commercial decisions.

Live

03

P&L · KPIs · Activity

P&L and Activity are tab shells on the roadmap. KPIs shows utilisation, rate economics, FTE and open roles at firm level.

Roadmap

Unified calendar

Set the period once. Outlook and Funnel read the same calendar and the same comparison baseline (Budget, Forecast, or Last Year), so the posture and the pipeline movement tell one story, not two.

What you can do on this screen

What you read on Monday and act on the same week.

BEHAVIOUR 01 / 04

Read your firm's posture across the three views.

A posture card shows Revenue across three rows: Contracted (signed work, staffed as planned), Contracted + Extensions (with the extensions and change requests delivery expects) and Contracted + Extensions + Pipeline (with the opportunities priced and staffed in the deal model, added at full value). Each row shows the amount and a delta against your selected comparison baseline. Below, identical cards for EBT and Utilisation.

Monday. You open the Dashboard. Contracted revenue is $2.3M; with extensions and change requests it is $2.7M; with pipeline at full value it reaches $2.9M. Against your comparison baseline, extensions are down, which is worth investigating. You open Outlook Drivers to see which extensions are behind it.

The three views read the same facts as Financials. Dashboard shows the headline; Financials carries the full grid and the figures behind each line. Both are built from the same underlying facts, so the cockpit and the grid do not tell different stories.

P//Caldera Group ▾

Dashboard

Outlook

Pipeline

P&Lsoon

KPIssoon

Activitysoon

‹Apr 2026›to‹Jul 2026›PeriodMonthly ▾Compare vsBudgetForecastLast Year

Revenue vs Last year ($1.0M)

ScenarioImpactTotalvs Last year

Pipeline$200K$2.9M150%

Extensions$400K$2.7M140%

Actual + Contracted$2.3M$2.3M125%

ContractedExtensionsPipelineActualCompare vs

EBT vs Last year (−$31K)

AmountMargin %

ScenarioImpactTotalvs Last year

Pipeline$168K$739K$770K

Extensions$115K$571K$602K

Actual + Contracted$455K$455K$487K

ContractedExtensionsPipelineActualCompare vs

Outlook posture · repeated metric panels · Revenue and EBT · scenario impact table + chart · Apr 2026 actuals · delta vs Last year

Outlook Posture · Revenue, EBT, Utilisation · three cumulative scenarios · delta vs comparison baseline.

BEHAVIOUR 02 / 04

Understand what is moving the forward P&L: four ranked drivers.

Below the posture cards, the Outlook Drivers panel with four sections: Extension drivers (projects with upcoming continuations), Funnel opportunity drivers (active opportunities ranked by revenue impact), Projects ending soon (delivery commitments ending in the next 30 days), and Overruns (fixed-price or fixed-fee projects running over budget). Each section shows the top three rows by default; a Top 7 toggle reveals more. Each row shows the driver name, the client, and the revenue and margin impact.

You see the top extension driver is a $400k retainer ending next month at 48% margin, a renewal priority. A qualified opportunity in the funnel is worth $600k at 38% margin. You open the retainer's detail to check whether the continuation is staffed, then flag the $600k deal with sales for close timing. Two decisions made before the first meeting of the week.

The Drivers panel ranks by revenue impact, not by probability: a $100k certain extension ranks above a $150k pipeline opportunity. The views themselves carry the funnel composition; Drivers shows the underlying deals so you can act on a specific row, not an aggregate.

Overruns is currently a roadmap tab on the Drivers panel; the row will surface once actual-vs-planned days materialisation is live. The other three sections are operational today.

P//Caldera Group ▾

Dashboard

Outlook

Pipeline

P&Lsoon

KPIssoon

Activitysoon

‹Apr 2026›to‹Jul 2026›PeriodMonthly ▾Compare vsBudgetForecastLast Year

Extension driversTop 3Top 7

ClientProjectOpen rolesRevenueCM%

NorthwindERP retainer renewal$182K48%

HelixData platform, Ph2$124K42%

Brent CrossFit-out programme$97K36%

Pipeline opportunity drivers

ClientOpportunityStageRevenueCM%

Aurora GroupClaims platformnegotiation$472K38%

NorthwayLogistics rebuildqualification$103K35%

Coastal BankKYC reviewlead$33K30%

Outlook Drivers · what is moving the forward P&L · Extension drivers and Pipeline opportunity drivers · Top 3 / Top 7 · ranked by revenue

Outlook Drivers · four ranked lenses · ranked by revenue impact · Overruns on roadmap until actual-vs-planned materialisation lands.

BEHAVIOUR 03 / 04

See what changed in the funnel: won, slipped, lost, or revalued.

The Funnel surface shows a waterfall: pipeline stock at the start of the period, columns for deals won this period, deals that slipped (moved from a near-close stage to a later stage), deals that closed without being signed (lost), deals that changed value, and pipeline stock at period-end. Below the waterfall, a Movement Drivers table: the specific deals that moved the most, ranked by revenue impact.

End of the month. $5.0M pipeline at start. $400k won, $200k slipped (one client running late, not a sales issue), $150k lost, $80k value delta. $4.53M at end. You click the slipped deals and see they are concentrated in two opportunities from the same client, a known schedule delay. You plan follow-up next week with revised close dates. No spreadsheet reconstruction.

The movement view answers the question an aggregate pipeline report cannot: not where the funnel is today but what changed since the last anchor point, and which deals account for the change. The anchor period is configurable (week, month, quarter) where the funnel has history for it, and the comparison baseline (Budget, Forecast, or Last Year) is the same one Outlook reads.

P//Caldera Group ▾

Dashboard

Outlook

Pipeline

P&Lsoon

KPIssoon

Activitysoon

‹May 2026›to‹Jul 2026›PeriodMonthly ▾Compare vsBudgetForecastLast Year

$5.00M start · $4.53M end · net −$0.47M

Anchor 1 May snapshot

Pipeline movement waterfall

1 week ago ▾

Movement drivers

Top 3Top 10

REPORTING POINT 30 MAY 2026 · COMPARE ANCHOR 23 MAY 2026 · BY REVENUE IMPACT

won

Aurora Insurance, claims platform

Aurora Group · Closed 09 May

+$260k

won

Tindale BI rollout, Phase 2

Tindale Foods · Closed 14 May

+$140k

slipped

Northway logistics rebuild

Northway · Negotiation to Proposal

−$200k

lost

Greenfield CRM consolidation

Greenfield Co · Lost · price

−$150k

Pipeline stock by close month

WonActivePast

Pipeline quality trend

Weighted CM% of open pipeline

37%+3pp vs Q1

Hygiene

Deal Model coverage86%

Stale over 30d4 deals

Missing close date2 deals

Funnel · Pipeline tab · waterfall and movement drivers · Stock by close month · movement waterfall · quality trend · movement drivers · hygiene

Funnel waterfall · stock movement against baseline · Won / Slipped / Lost / Value Δ · with movement drivers.

BEHAVIOUR 04 / 04

Spot open demand before it becomes a capacity surprise.

The Open Demand card aggregates unfilled roles from Pipeline and Projects: how many roles, how many FTE they represent, which months they fall into, and the revenue and cost exposure attached to them. The headline reads "8 Open Roles · 5 Pipeline / 3 Projects · 6 FTE · $180k revenue at risk / $70k cost at risk."

You drill into the card. Five roles sit on pipeline deals, planning ahead. Three roles sit on active projects, needing to fill now. A per-role breakdown shows the top open roles with their source (Pipeline or Project), FTE, and either revenue at risk (pipeline) or cost at risk (committed project). You open the People area to start recruiting, reassign from bench, or flex contractor capacity.

This is your capacity-constraint signal. If eight roles are open and the recruitment runway is short, you have a problem to solve now, not in the variance report after the close. The cost resolution, the fulfilment workbench and the Open Role lifecycle (open, filled, cancelled) live in the People narrative. Dashboard shows the aggregate consequence.

P//Caldera Group ▾

Dashboard

Outlook

Pipeline

P&Lsoon

KPIssoon

Activitysoon

Open Demand · firm-level constraint signal

Sits beneath the Outlook drivers, which already flag open roles per driver. On the surface it is just the count; open it for the detail.

On the surface

Open demand

Open role count

Open roles (FTE)

open ↓

On open · detail

Open demand8 roles · 6 FTE×

Where the roles sit

Pipeline 5 Active projects 3

Revenue at risk

$180k

5 pipeline roles

Cost at risk

$70k

3 active roles

Top open roles

DeveloperMeridian · Platform ModernisationPipeline$72k

Senior ConsultantBrindle Bank · PlatformActive$34k

Business AnalystMeridian · Platform ModernisationPipeline$48k

Open the People area to fill →3 OF 8

Open Demand · a count on the surface, the detail one click away · Pipeline / Active split · revenue at risk · cost at risk · per-role breakdown

Open Demand · unfilled roles across Pipeline and Projects · revenue at risk · cost at risk · per-role breakdown.

How this connects to the rest

This area does not stand alone.

Pipeline and deal pricing

The Outlook and Funnel surfaces show the consequences of pipeline and deal decisions. When a Deal Model is built with cost and margin assumptions, those assumptions flow into the Pipeline scenario on the Outlook. When a deal is won, it moves from the Pipeline scenario into Contracted. Outlook Drivers highlights which deals are moving the forward P&L most. The deal margin and staffing details live in Pipeline; Dashboard shows the aggregate firm-level consequence.

See how deals are priced

Project delivery and margin

Projects contribute to the firm's forward P&L through the Contracted scenario. When a project extension is signed, it appears as an Extension driver. When a project is ending within 30 days, it appears in the Projects ending section of Outlook Drivers. Funnel monitors pipeline opportunities; Projects monitors delivery commitments. Dashboard surfaces both sides, demand and capacity, in one cockpit.

See project profitability

People cost and capacity

The Open Demand card aggregates unfilled roles across Pipeline and Projects, a people-constraint signal. The Utilisation posture card shows whether consulting staff are billable or on the bench across the three scenarios. Falling utilisation, rising open roles, and growing bench cost appear together as a coordinated signal, not three separate metrics needing reconciliation. The cost resolution and Open Role lifecycle live in People.

See capacity and cost

Forward P&L

Dashboard Outlook shows the firm-level P&L across the three views, reduced to the headline rows. Financials carries the full P&L grid (Revenue → Delivery Cost → Contribution → Non-Billable Production Cost → SG&A → Operating Income), and its figures open to the project, the deal and the person and rate behind them. Dashboard is the cockpit; Financials is the analysis. Both are built from the same underlying facts.

See the forward P&L

The principle behind it

The cockpit exists to make the forward number steerable. Forward Profit Clarity is the pillar behind it: leadership acting on margin risk while there is still time to change the outcome.

Read Forward Profit Clarity

Closing

If an extension slipped last week, would it be on your desk this Monday, or in next month's close?

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