Completix

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Engineering

The design was right. The margin is where the project got away from you

Completix gives engineering firms one live view of fee, cost and named resource allocation across every active job, so a scope change shows up as a number this month instead of a write-off at phase close.

Built for consulting engineers, EPC firms and owner side engineering groups running concurrent multi phase jobs with shared discipline leads.

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Portfolio, EAC against approved budgetLive
ProjectApprovedEACVarianceStatus
Northline Water Treatment UpgradeDetailed design4,850,0005,120,000-270,000At Risk
Harbour Road Bridge RehabilitationConstruction support2,400,0002,335,000+65,000
Eastfield Substation MEPFEED1,150,0001,148,000+2,000
Kingsway InterchangeConcept780,000845,000-65,000Off Track
Port Callan Terminal ExpansionDetailed design3,600,0003,580,000+20,000
5 active projectsRecorded costs flow into the budget
Decisions log, D-014Precast panels substituted, priced as change order CO-07Owner R. Hale, 12 May 2026

Most engineering firms already have a system. It is a schedule tool, a spreadsheet and a mail thread.

It works until you have nine live jobs, four shared discipline leads and a client who wants to know why the fee moved. Take one scope change in week six and see when each approach finds out.

One scope change on Northline, followed through the phase
Week 6The scope change is agreed
Schedule tool, spreadsheet, mailAgreed on a call and noted in an email thread. Nobody has priced it yet.
With CompletixLogged in the Decisions log with its rationale. The cost is recorded and counts toward the budget, so EAC moves.
Week 7The first look
Schedule tool, spreadsheet, mailThe cost sheet is rebuilt at month end from timesheets and invoices. The overrun is not in any report.
With CompletixThe Warning Center surfaces the variance, based on triggers you set. A person decides what happens next.
Week 10The gate review
Schedule tool, spreadsheet, mailDesign proceeds because the schedule says it should. If a review is held, it runs on last month's numbers.
With CompletixReviewers see the EAC and variance before they approve, reject or ask for more information.
Week 22The phase closes
Schedule tool, spreadsheet, mailThe overrun finally shows up, as a write-off, and someone spends a week assembling the trail for the client.
With CompletixThe fee position has been a known number since week 7, and the decision trail was written when the call was made.
Schedule tool, spreadsheet, mail
Completix
Fee and cost control

A fixed fee erodes quietly. Make it a number you can see in week six.

The damage is rarely one event. It is uncosted rework, a scope note nobody priced, and a subconsultant package that drifted. Completix holds the approved budget, actuals, forecast and EAC on the same record the project manager already works in.

Northline Water Treatment UpgradeDetailed designTotalCurrent FY
Approved4.85M
Forecast4.96M
EAC5.12M
Variance-270K
Actuals vs BAC2.19M of 4.85M
EAC vs BAC5.12M of 4.85M
Budget locked as of 31 March 2026, the end of FEED.
Record the cost, the budget followsA person records each cost and marks it to count toward the budget. From there it flows into the budget automatically, so actuals and EAC move together.
EAC calculated for youEstimate at completion is calculated automatically and shown next to the approved figure, so the gap is a number, not a burn rate guess.
Invoices beside their quotesMatching is a manual step, made easier by showing the quote and the invoice side by side, with flags to help you spot what needs a closer look. Invoice approval stays in your finance system.
A fixed reference pointLock the budget as of a date, for example at the end of a design phase or before a change is priced. Locking needs the lock permission.

The constraint on the next win is usually one structural lead, not the fee.

Engineering firms do not run out of work, they run out of the two or three people every job needs. Completix tracks allocation per named person across every project they are on, so when a project manager asks for the structural lead in October, the answer accounts for every other job that person is committed to.

Before a bid decision, add the job to a what-if model and the new demand shows up hatched, clearly modeled, before anything is committed. The Warning Center can flag over-allocation on triggers you set, and the decision about who moves stays with you.

ARAna RuizStructural lead
Projects2
Utilization110%
Wk 415 OctWk 4212 OctWk 4319 OctWk 4426 Oct
Mon110%110%140%140%
Tue110%110%140%140%
Wed110%110%140%140%
Thu110%100%140%140%
Fri90%100%110%110%
NormalModerate over-allocationHigh over-allocationModeled
Northline 60% and Port Callan 50% are committed. Hatched cells come from a what-if model and are not committed.
What-if modelKingsway Interchange starts 19 OctAdds 30% to this person. Nothing changes until the model is applied.
Phase gates

A design phase should not end because the schedule says it ended.

Concept, FEED, detailed design, construction support. Each transition is where cost is locked in and a firm's exposure changes. In Completix a phase closes at a gate review governed by the policy you define, and the outcome is chosen by named reviewers.

  • Approval is a decision, not a state changeThe gate does not clear itself when the tasks complete. A reviewer approves, rejects or asks for more information, and the record shows who, when and what they chose.
  • Your methodology, templatedSet the phases and the required reviews once, and template them, so the same governance applies across every job in the portfolio.
  • Deliverables keep their historyDeliverable files are versioned, so there is a clear record of what was submitted as the phase progressed.
  • Variance is surfaced separatelyThe Warning Center flags cost and schedule drift for human review, so a reviewer can look there before the gate. Nothing is escalated or resolved automatically.
Detailed design gateNorthline Water Treatment UpgradeIn review
R. HaleProject directorApproved 14 Oct
A. RuizStructural lead, technical reviewApproved 14 Oct
J. FeldCommercial manager, fee reviewNeed more info 15 Oct
L. BrandtQuality managerPending
Outcomes are Approve, Reject or Need more info. Approval follows the policy set for this gate.

Every claim conversation is really an argument about what was written down at the time.

Substituting a material, accepting a client instruction, extending design by four weeks. On the day these are ordinary calls. Eighteen months later they are the entire basis of a claim. Completix keeps four separate logs on each project, risks, actions, issues and decisions. You work in one at a time, and nothing is promoted or escalated between logs. A person makes the call and the record shows it.

  1. 1The client questions CO-07Eighteen months after design closed, their project manager asks why the clarifier walls changed.
  2. 2You open the Decisions logThe entry, its rationale, its owner and its date were written when the call was made, not rebuilt from an email thread.
  3. 3The change history answers the follow upEach entry keeps a history of who changed what and when, so an edit made later is visible as an edit.
Decisions log, Northline Water Treatment UpgradeRisksActionsIssuesDecisions
RefDecisionRationaleOwnerDate
D-014Substitute cast in place clarifier walls with precast panelsSchedule recovery, priced as change order CO-07R. HaleProject director12 May 2026
D-011Extend detailed design by four weeksLate geotechnical results at pile location P4A. RuizStructural lead28 Apr 2026
D-009Retain existing inlet works, no replacement in scopeClient instruction received at the 9 April coordination meetingR. HaleProject director09 Apr 2026
D-006Award SCADA package to Verrado ControlsLowest compliant of three quotesJ. FeldCommercial manager21 Mar 2026
Each entry keeps a change history, who changed what and when.

The report should not be a second job on top of the project.

The status report in Completix is the live project record, not a document assembled from it. When you post a period it is frozen as a snapshot, so what the client saw in June stays exactly as it was in June while the project keeps moving.

Status report, Northline Water Treatment UpgradePeriod ending 30 June 2026Posted 02 Jul
Monthly forecast vs actualsForecastActuals
600K 400K 200K 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
BudgetEAC 270,000 above approvedDriven by the four week design extension and change order CO-07.
ScheduleDetailed design, 82 percent completeGate review scheduled, fee review outstanding.
Open issues3 open, 1 raised this periodRebar delivery for pier 3 confirmed for 14 July.
Posting a period writes a snapshot that does not change afterward. The live record keeps updating.
SchedulePhase and task planning with milestones and an automatically calculated critical path. The approved end date moves only through a change request.
Versioned deliverablesDrawings and deliverable files are versioned, so the history of what was issued and when stays intact.
Warning CenterTriggers you set on budget, schedule and allocation surface drift for human review. Nothing is escalated or resolved automatically.
Executive dashboardsDashboards read budget, schedule and RAID data from each project component rather than from a re-keyed copy.

Completix for other project-driven industries

The buyer questions change by industry, the underlying platform does not. See how the same portfolio, budget and governance model applies elsewhere.

ManufacturingPlant shutdowns and capital projects competing for the same people IT Services and SoftwareConcurrent client engagements on shared delivery teams Defense and AerospaceAuditable approvals across long program lifecycles Government and Public SectorApproval trails and reporting that stand up to review Banking and FinancialRegulatory change programs and risk posture Professional ServicesClient engagements, utilization and billable capacity EducationGrant funded work planned around term cycles MarketingCampaign portfolios and budget pacing across channels

Engineering project management, common questions

How does Completix track fee and cost on engineering projects?

Completix holds the approved budget, actuals, forecast and estimate at completion (EAC) on the same project record. A person records each cost and marks it to count toward the budget, and from there it flows into the budget automatically. EAC is calculated for you. See the project budget for the project-level view.

Yes. Allocation is tracked per named person across every project they are on, so a discipline lead's total commitment is visible before they are promised to another job. The Warning Center can flag over-allocation based on the triggers you set, and the resourcing decision stays with you.

Yes. You can template your phase gates. Each gate is a review that ends in Approve, Reject or Need more info, chosen by a person under the policy you set, and the system records who decided and when. Gates are project reviews with no link to funding.

Completix keeps four separate logs on each project: risks, actions, issues and decisions. You work in one at a time, each entry has an owner and dates, and changes keep a history of who changed what and when.

Matching is a manual step that Completix makes easier. The quote and the invoice are shown side by side, with flags to help you spot differences. Invoice approval itself stays in your ERP or finance system, Completix does not run an approval workflow for invoices.

The status report is the live project record. When you post a reporting period it is frozen as a snapshot that does not change afterward, while the live record keeps updating. Reports can be exported as a PDF, which is designed for sharing and is close to, but not identical to, the on-screen view.

Completix supports MPP file import and export, so a schedule built in Microsoft Project can be brought into a project and an updated schedule exported back out. It is a file exchange, not a continuous two-way sync.

Bring one live job to the demo.

The fastest way to judge this is against a project you are already worried about. If you share its data, we can build the demo around it, and you can see whether the fee position looks the way you expect.

Book a demo Ask about multi project setup