A busy team that does not feel profitable
Everyone in the practice is busy. Testers are on engagements, writing reports, reviewing each other's work, helping with scoping calls, doing research, sitting certification exams. Yet at the end of the quarter the numbers feel thin, and nobody can say exactly why.
When you try to work it out, the data does not line up. The scheduling spreadsheet shows planned bookings, some of which moved. The timesheet system, if you have one, shows time logged in broad categories. Invoices lag delivery by weeks. A test booked for five days took six because the report ran over, and the extra day was absorbed.
So utilisation is discussed as a feeling. Some people are 'always busy', some are 'on the bench'. Neither is backed by figures.
The questions you actually need to answer are simple ones. How many days did we sell last month, and how many did we deliver? Where did the rest go? Which kinds of work overrun most? None of them can be answered from the data you have without days of spreadsheet work.
Why utilisation is invisible
- Bookings, time and invoices are in three places with no common reference.
- Report writing and QA are sometimes billable and sometimes absorbed, depending on the proposal.
- Pre-sales scoping and proposal work is done by billable people and not recorded.
- Overruns are absorbed rather than recorded as unbilled time.
- Forward bookings are not compared with capacity, so gaps are seen too late.
What not knowing costs
| Blind spot | Result |
|---|---|
| Overruns absorbed | Engagements less profitable than priced |
| Pre-sales time unrecorded | Cost of winning work unknown |
| Bench time seen late | Gaps not filled with other work |
| No per-type view | Some test types quietly lose money |
| Hiring on feel | Too many or too few people |
Report writing is the usual hidden leak. A five-day test is often sold as four days of testing and one of reporting. When the report takes two days, and QA takes another half day of a senior tester's time, the engagement has cost more than it earned, and nothing in your current records says so.
The utilisation reporting we build
- Every booking, time entry and invoice line is linked to an engagement reference, from your scheduling tool, timesheets or PSA, and accounts package.
- Time categories are set up to match how you actually work: testing, report writing, QA review, retest, scoping and proposals, internal, training, leave.
- Where you do not use timesheets, booked time is used as the baseline, and testers can record exceptions (overruns, extra QA) quickly without filling in a whole timesheet.
- Each engagement shows days sold, days delivered and days invoiced, so overruns and unbilled time are visible per engagement and per test type.
- Per-consultant views show billable, non-billable and available time, for past weeks and booked weeks ahead.
- A monthly practice report shows utilisation, overruns by test type, pre-sales effort and the forward booking position.
We keep this as light as possible for your testers. The aim is accurate figures with the least extra logging, not a new admin burden.
What the practice lead sees
Real figures for billable and non-billable time, per person and per test type. Which engagements overran, and by how much, compared with what was sold. How much senior time goes into pre-sales. And the weeks ahead: who is booked, who has gaps, and where a postponement will leave someone idle.
That changes decisions. Scoping rules can be adjusted for test types that consistently overrun. Pre-sales can be shared more evenly. Hiring can be based on the forward booking position rather than on how busy everyone feels.
Pricing improves too. If the figures show that mobile application tests routinely take longer than scoped, the next proposal for one can reflect that, or the scoping questions can be improved so the estimate is right. Over a few quarters the gap between days sold and days delivered narrows because you can see it.
Is this your practice?
- Utilisation is discussed as a feeling, not a figure.
- Overruns are absorbed without being recorded.
- Senior testers spend unrecorded time on scoping.
- You find out about bench time when it happens.
- Bookings, time and invoices do not line up.