Over and Under Billing Metric Trend

Contractors looking for key metrics to manage should be focused on Outcomes or Key Results, and Lead Measures or Leading Activities.

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Cash Flow: Over / (Under) Billing Trend.
  • OUTCOMES: Or Key Results. What metric(s) will best show the final state you want to be in AND progress toward that target level of performance?
  • LEAD MEASURES: Or Leading Activities that will most likely lead to the Key Results or Outcomes you want. The metrics that measure the Leading Activities are typically at a more rapid cycle time than the outcome based metric.  

At the cash flow level, if you want to improve your Cash Metric to 100% or better, the first activity that must be controlled is the monthly billing performance of the projects.  

No amount of excellence in collections will help you get close to 100% if you are continuously under-billed on your Work-in-Progress (WIP) as a whole.

Metrics alone WILL NOT change your outcomes; they will simply let you know the score. The most important aspect of this is the regular Operating Rhythm that reinforces a rigorous PDCA cycle each period, similar to what the Last Planner System does at the project level.


Over and Under Billing Metric Trend
Great cash flow is a key driver of valuation and successful successions. Running out of cash is is the #1 reason contractors fail. Improving cash flow improves your Return on Equity. Protect yourself and never let cash flow be the limitation to your profitable growth....

Over and Under Billing Metric Trend
Great cash flow is a key driver of valuation and successful successions. Running out of cash is is the #1 reason contractors fail. Improving cash flow improves your Return on Equity. Protect yourself and never let cash flow be the limitation to your profitable growth....

Racing, Equipment, Heart Rates, and Contractor Growth
The fastest marathon runner used shoes costing $300 and is 2X as fast as an intermediate runner. The fastest 100-mile bicycle time is about 2.5X faster than the fastest marathon runner, going nearly 4X as far. Contractor and career growth is similar.
Org Structure Planning (2X)
We would never build a project room-by-room without having an overall design. Contractors must look at their organizational structures the same way, focusing on what they want to accomplish and designing the best way to get there.
Lead Measures and Outcomes: Starting with the Schedule of Values (SOV)
It is nearly impossible for a contractor to have consistently great cash flow if they have a Schedule-of-Values (SOV) that isn’t loaded properly and integrated with the project schedule, including a projection of the cash flow.