Model the shape before you commit
Role mix, hours per week, vendor lines and contingency, with an all-in margin that moves as the deal moves.
Platform / Pre-Sales & Scoping
Price it, staff it, and see the margin before anyone signs.
Margin is decided when the engagement is priced, not when it is delivered.
OpportunitiesPipeline and deal health
+ New opportunity Total pipeline $1,775,000
Weighted pipeline $1,067,500
Open deals 6
| Name | Stage | Deal value | Prob. | Weighted | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gridline Advisory P1 Gridline Energy Partners | Negotiation | $750,000 | 75% | $562,500 | Healthy |
| Chart Integration P2 Baker Hughes | Negotiation | $500,000 | 75% | $375,000 | No delivery lead free |
| Evergreen Revenue Mgmt Evergreen Industrial | Negotiation | $450,000 | 75% | $337,500 | Healthy |
| Meridian Transformation Meridian Foods | Discovery | $300,000 | 25% | $75,000 | Priced 9pts under practice |
| Industrial Marketing Evergreen Industrial | Qualification | $175,000 | 10% | $17,500 | Healthy |
Qualification
Discovery
Proposal
Negotiation
Closed
Octayne · Gridline Advisory P1
Priced at practice-area margin and the two senior roles it needs are free from Jun 10. Nothing blocking. If it closes at $750k it lands 4 points above the practice average.
✓ Ready to convert to a project No approval required at this value
Weighted pipeline, with a health column derived from delivery capacity and your own realized margin.
In the product
How Octayne handles it.
- Pipeline and opportunities
- Resource and margin modeling
- Rate cards and contingency
- Contractor lines with cost rate, fixed fee or markup
- SOW generation
- Budget handoff to delivery
Pipeline and opportunities
Stage, probability and the weighted value that falls out.
Deal health
Deliverability and price, scored against your own realized margin.
Scope table
Workstreams to activities, with hours, roles and rates on every line.
Timeline and allocator
When each role is needed, and whether anyone is free then.
Rate cards and margin model
The mix that decides the profit, modeled before signature.
SOW generation
Every section written from the scope, and regenerated when it changes.
Contractor and vendor lines
Its own cost rate or fixed fee, plus your markup, flowing into margin and budget-vs-actuals.
Handoff to delivery
The won deal becomes the plan, with its resourcing intact.
A handoff that survives
The budget that won the work becomes the budget delivery is measured against — the same numbers, not a re-keyed approximation.
Documents that come out of the model
The statement of work is generated from the plan, so what you signed and what you staffed agree.
The agentic layer
Before the proposal goes out.
A pipeline is only a forecast if the firm can deliver it. The agent scores every open deal against delivery capacity and your own realized margin, and flags what will not survive contact before the proposal goes out.
- 01 Score every open deal Stage, age, probability and weighted value, refreshed against what actually moved rather than what someone remembered to update.
- 02 Check it against delivery Whether the roles the scope implies are free in the window the client wants. A deal nobody can staff is not a forecast, it is a risk.
- 03 Compare the price to your own history Against the practice area's realized margin on comparable work, not against a target nobody hit.
- 04 Flag what will not survive contact Underpriced, unstaffable or stalled — each with the reason and the room to fix it, before the proposal goes out.
Before the proposal goes out
One deal, flagged while it could still change.
Meridian is priced nine points under what this practice actually realizes
The proposal blends to $232/h. The last three Meridian engagements realized $255/h on the same role mix, and the two senior consultants this scope assumes are booked through October. Both are fixable now and neither is fixable after signature.
$27k margin gap · at signed value
Open pipeline 6 deals · 2 flagged · $1.78M total ✓ Approve all clean
RM Marks, Robert Deal owner
Discovery · 41 days Meridian Transformation $300,000
Blended rate $232/h against a $255/h realized average on comparable Meridian work. Scope assumes two senior consultants from Jul 6; both are committed to Gridline through October.
Octayne · Priced below practice and unstaffable in the window as scoped. Either is survivable. Together they are the engagement that loses money.
Note to deal owner · sent on submit draft from Octayne · edit freely
Hi Robert — before this proposal goes out: Meridian is blended at $232/h against $255/h realized on the last three. The scope also assumes two seniors from Jul 6 and both are on Gridline until October. Worth a pricing and staffing pass this week.
Send note to owner ✓ Accept as priced Nothing on the deal changes either way
2 more entries this week
From deal to plan
The won deal becomes a priced plan.
Scope table, timeline, SOW and the margin model on one record. A won deal moves into delivery with the resourcing that justified its price still attached, rather than being re-planned from the signed document.
Pre-Sales›Workspace
Template MFC Marketing & Fundraising Campaign FY26 Draft ✓ Saved
▾ Discovery & Strategy
| Activity | Wks | Hrs/wk | Bill | Cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stakeholder interviews & discovery | 2 | 20 | $240 | $140 | 42% |
| Fundraising strategy & messaging | 3 | 30 | $240 | $140 | 42% |
| Project management & kickoff | 3 | 10 | $185 | $105 | 43% |
▾ Creative Development & Production
| Activity | Wks | Hrs/wk | Bill | Cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creative concepting & messaging | 4 | 25 | $285 | $160 | 44% |
| Copywriting & content creation | 6 | 30 | $200 | $118 | 41% |
| Video production (short-form) | 6 | 20 | $210 | $126 | 40% |
▸ Campaign Execution & Optimization
JunJulAugSepOctNov
Discovery & Strategy
Stakeholder interviews & discovery
Fundraising strategy & messaging
Project management & kickoff
Creative Development & Production
Creative concepting & messaging
Copywriting & content creation
Design & art direction
Video production (short-form)
Campaign Execution & Optimization
Paid media setup & management
Email program: build & send
Landing page builds & CRO
Analytics & reporting
Northstar Advisory Partners will partner with Meridian Foods to deliver the FY26 Marketing & Fundraising Campaign, covering strategy, creative, production, paid media and measurement across a six-month engagement from Jun 29 to Nov 15, 2026.
- Define fundraising objectives and KPIs aligned to Meridian’s FY26 goals.
- Develop messaging frameworks and creative concepts to drive donor acquisition.
- Execute multi-channel campaigns with a measurable optimization cadence.
Three workstreams across five roles. Each activity in the scope table carries its own bill and cost rate, and the pricing section is generated from those rates — change a rate and this document changes with it.
Rate-card value$525,700 2,290 hours across 5 roles
Delivery cost$298,780 Loaded cost at role rates
Locked contract value$900,000 $374,300 above rate card
Gross margin on contract67% $601,220
| Role | Hours | Bill | Cost | Cost total | Rate GP | Share of cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partner | 120 | $450 | $210 | $25,200 | 53% | |
| Director | 340 | $285 | $160 | $54,400 | 44% | |
| Senior consultant | 620 | $240 | $140 | $86,800 | 42% | |
| Consultant | 810 | $200 | $118 | $95,580 | 41% | |
| Analyst | 400 | $160 | $92 | $36,800 | 43% | |
| Total | 2,290 | $298,780 |
Octayne — the mix carries the margin, not the rate. Moving 120 hours of reporting from Consultant to Analyst holds the deliverable and adds 1.4 points. Contingency is set at 10% and is not spent in this model.
Workstreams3
Total hours2,290
Duration20 weeks
Cost$298,780
Margin67% $601,220
Contract value 🔒$900,000
The margin model
The same price, staffed three ways.
One locked contract value and five points of margin between the mixes that could deliver it. The mix that earns most is not automatically the one to sell — so the model surfaces the trade rather than optimizing past it.
Margin model MFC Marketing & Fundraising Campaign FY26
$900,000 locked · 2,290 hours The same price, staffed three ways. 63% to 68% margin on an identical contract value —
$45,118 decided by the mix, before anyone signs.
As proposed
The mix in the current scope table 66.8% gross margin
- Cost
- $298,780
- Gross profit
- $601,220
Two senior roles booked through October
Leaner mix Best margin
Work pushed down a grade where it can be 68.5% gross margin
- Cost
- $283,540
- Gross profit
- $616,460
No Director coverage on Discovery
Contingency spent Worst case
The proposed mix, with the 10% contingency consumed 63.5% gross margin
- Cost
- $328,658
- Gross profit
- $571,342
Still above the 60% practice floor
PartnerDirectorSeniorConsultantAnalyst
✦
The leaner mix earns $15,240 more and puts no Director on discovery. That is a judgement about the client, not about the spreadsheet — so it is surfaced rather than chosen.
Inputs and outputs
What it uses, and what you get.
What it uses The systems and records it reads from.
- Opportunity and stage
- Role and rate card
- Historical actuals
- Vendor quotes
- Delivery calendar
What you get out What a partner can act on Monday morning.
- Priced scenarios
- All-in margin
- A resource plan
- Contingency exposure
- A plan handed to delivery
The agentic layer
Agents that work here.
Next step
See it run against one of your live engagements.
Bring an engagement that worried you. We will show you where the margin went, and the week Octayne would have told you.