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Margin and cash · For FDs and commercial directors

See margin drift before the board meeting.

The Cockpit reconciles finance, WIP and variation data at month-end and drafts the margin position, the trackers and the board narrative. Your FD and commercial director approve every figure before it goes to the board.

Discuss Your CVRSee the Worked Example
  1. Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
    Open the full document (3 pages)
  2. Page 1 of the Margin bridge sample document
    Open the full document (4 pages)
  3. Page 1 of the Aged WIP tracker sample document
    Open the full document (3 pages)
  4. Page 1 of the Completed not invoiced sample document
    Open the full document (2 pages)
  5. Page 1 of the Invoice blocker taxonomy sample document
    Open the full document (4 pages)
  6. Page 1 of the Variation pipeline summary sample document
    Open the full document (3 pages)
  7. Page 1 of the Unclaimed variation register sample document
    Open the full document (3 pages)
  8. Page 1 of the Board narrative sample document
    Open the full document (3 pages)
Monthly margin snapshot · 1 of 8

The close

Month-end data in. A reconciled CVR for board review.

Five stages run in order, each one a gate. Your FD clears it before the pack goes to the board.

Stage 1 of 5 · Data and reconciliation

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Page 1 of the monthly margin snapshot from the worked example, on a sample portfolio.

The Feed

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Stage 2 of 5 · Margin position

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Page 1 of the monthly margin snapshot from the worked example, on a sample portfolio.

The Gauge

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Stage 3 of 5 · WIP, CNI and blockers

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Page 1 of the monthly margin snapshot from the worked example, on a sample portfolio.

The Drain

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Stage 4 of 5 · Variations and deductions

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Page 1 of the monthly margin snapshot from the worked example, on a sample portfolio.

The Shield

Open the stage example

Stage 5 of 5 · Action pack

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Page 1 of the monthly margin snapshot from the worked example, on a sample portfolio.

The Pulse

Open the stage example

  1. Data and reconciliationStage 1 of 5

    The Feed

    Finance, WIP, CNI, variation and deduction data pulled in and reconciled to one set of figures before anything is read from it.

    Finance lead confirms the data set

    Open the stage example

  2. Margin positionStage 2 of 5

    The Gauge

    The margin position and forecast by project and for the portfolio, with the bridge from last month explained line by line.

    Commercial director reads the bridge

    Open the stage example

  3. WIP, CNI and blockersStage 3 of 5

    The Drain

    Aged WIP, completed-not-invoiced and every invoice blocker classified, with an owner and a date against each.

    Commercial manager owns the actions

    Open the stage example

  4. Variations and deductionsStage 4 of 5

    The Shield

    The variation pipeline, the unclaimed register and the deductions position, so the month's recovery is visible before it is lost.

    QS confirms the pipeline

    Open the stage example

  5. Action packStage 5 of 5

    The Pulse

    The board narrative and the action pack: owners, dates and decisions, in the same order every month.

    FD signs the board pack

    Open the stage example

What comes back

Eight documents in the month-end pack, from margin snapshot to board narrative.

The snapshot, bridge, trackers and narrative are sample draft views. They include unresolved summary allocations that need finance and commercial confirmation before they can be read as one reconciled month-end position.

Stages
05
Documents
08
Review
Named

Worked example on a fictional job.

Page 1 of the Monthly margin snapshot sample document
Monthly margin snapshotOpen the readerPDF3 pages
Page 1 of the Aged WIP tracker sample document
Aged WIP trackerOpen the readerPDF3 pages
Page 1 of the Completed not invoiced sample document
Completed not invoicedOpen the readerPDF2 pages
Page 1 of the Invoice blocker taxonomy sample document
Invoice blocker taxonomyOpen the readerPDF4 pages
Page 1 of the Variation pipeline summary sample document
Variation pipeline summaryOpen the readerPDF3 pages
Page 1 of the Unclaimed variation register sample document
Unclaimed variation registerOpen the readerPDF3 pages
Page 1 of the Board narrative sample document
Board narrativeOpen the readerPDF3 pages

Margin Cockpit

Worked example · BAI-MC

  • Monthly margin snapshot3 pages
  • Margin bridge4 pages
  • Aged WIP tracker3 pages
  • Completed not invoiced2 pages
  • Invoice blocker taxonomy4 pages
  • Variation pipeline summary3 pages
  • Unclaimed variation register3 pages
  • Board narrative3 pages

Worked example on a sample portfolio: one month-end close on a mid-sized contractor's live projects. The full documents are on the worked-example page, one link from the top of this one.

Open the worked example

Who signs

The Cockpit reads the numbers. Your FD calls the position.

  1. The Cockpit reconciles and drafts

    Finance, WIP and variation data in; the snapshot, the bridge, the trackers and the board narrative out as drafts, every figure traced to its source.

  2. Your FD decides

    What the margin position means, which actions to take and what goes to the board stay with your FD and commercial director.

  3. The issued pack locks

    The board pack is recorded against the month with who signed it. An edit after approval voids it and asks for it again.

The gates, by role

  1. Stage 5 of 5 · The Pulse

    FD signs the board pack

    Open the stage example

Where it runs

The Cockpit runs in The Plant Room, stage by stage, gate by gate.

Your finance and commercial teams see each stage of the close, who reconciled it, who cleared it and what is next to run.

The Plant Room →

05 / Questions

Before we talk.

Questions teams ask about this pack. The 30-minute call covers the rest.

Do we need a data warehouse before this lands?

No. Margin Cockpit assembles from your existing finance and operations sources (Sage, Xero, Procore, spreadsheets). It is a discipline layer over the data you already have, not a warehouse migration. If the underlying data is missing entirely, we would recommend the Operational Intelligence Audit first.

Will the board pack assemble itself, or does someone still write it?

Both. Each delta carries a category, a source pointer and a narrative template that populates the draft. A finance lead reviews and signs off the pack before it goes to the board; the pack is a draft until a person has reviewed it. We do not auto-issue board reports.

How does this hold up under external audit?

Every reported margin movement is traceable to an operational record (project, instruction, recovery line), so an auditor can sample against source-pointed lines. That is the evidence-and-narrative rule applied to monthly reporting.

Build a clearer route from month-end data to board review.

Tell us about the CVR, the source data and where the month-end close gets held up. Arrange a 30-minute call to explore the next step.

Discuss Your CVRSee the Worked Example
How the commercial model works →