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Client Work in Progress (WIP) Report ​

Monitor unbilled work for clients, track revenue opportunities, and ensure timely billing.

🎥 Video Tutorial ​

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Learn how to generate and use the Client Work in Progress report to track unbilled work.

Overview ​

The Client Work in Progress (WIP) report is one of the most critical financial reports in Hidma, showing you work that's been completed and approved but not yet billed. This unbilled work represents revenue you've earned but haven't collected - essentially money you're owed but haven't invoiced yet. High WIP balances directly impact cash flow, since you've invested time and resources delivering work but haven't converted that effort into actual invoices that generate payment.

The WIP report gives you complete visibility into unbilled work by client, project, team member, and time period. You can see which clients have the largest unbilled balances, how long work has been sitting unbilled (aging analysis), what types of work are pending billing, and which team members have unbilled time. This visibility lets you identify billing opportunities, catch work that's been overlooked, and maintain healthy cash flow by ensuring prompt invoicing.

What the Report Shows ​

Core Information ​

When you generate a WIP report, you see a comprehensive table listing all unbilled entries for the selected client and time period. Each line in the report represents a specific piece of work - a time entry, an expense, or another billable item - with detailed information about that work.

Time and Date Information shows when the work was performed, making it easy to see how recently the work happened or how long it's been sitting unbilled. Work from months ago sitting unbilled represents aging WIP that needs immediate attention.

Work Details include who performed the work (the team member's name), what project it was performed on, what type of work it was (the job classification), and any comments or descriptions the team member added when logging the time. These details help you understand exactly what work is pending billing and provide context for invoice creation.

Financial Calculations form the heart of the report, showing multiple perspectives on the work's value:

Cost reflects what the work cost your organization to deliver, based on configured cost rates for team members. If you haven't configured cost rates, this column remains empty. Cost visibility helps you understand profit margins and profitability, comparing what work cost to deliver against what you'll bill for it.

Proposed Amount shows what you would bill for this work based on configured charge-out rates. This is the revenue opportunity - what these hours are worth at your standard pricing. Proposed amount calculations use Hidma's rate hierarchy, applying the most specific applicable rate for each piece of work.

Billed Amount initially shows zero or empty for all items on the WIP report, since by definition these items aren't billed yet. Once work gets billed, it disappears from the WIP report and the billed amount reflects what was actually invoiced (which might differ from proposed amount due to discounts, adjustments, or negotiated rates).

The report totals all these columns at the bottom, showing aggregate cost, proposed revenue, and any billed amounts for the selected period and client. These totals quickly communicate the scale of unbilled work and the revenue opportunity waiting to be captured.

Filtering and Customization ​

The WIP report offers extensive filtering to focus on exactly what you need to see:

Time Period Selection lets you define which work to include based on when it was performed. You might generate a report for "last month" to see work from the previous period that should be billed now, "last quarter" for quarterly billing clients, or custom date ranges for any specific period you need to analyze.

Entry Type Filtering controls what kinds of unbilled items appear in the report. You can include just unbilled time entries (the most common scenario), add unbilled expenses if your organization tracks reimbursable expenses, include non-billable time to see work that won't be invoiced but contributes to capacity utilization, or include billable entries to see work that's already on bills. This selective filtering lets you focus the report on exactly what matters for your current purpose.

Sorting and Organization capabilities let you reorganize the report data to highlight different insights. Sort by amount to see which items represent the largest revenue opportunities. Sort by date to identify oldest unbilled work that needs immediate attention. Sort by project to group work by engagement. Sort by team member to understand who has unbilled time waiting to be billed. This flexible sorting reveals different patterns and priorities in your unbilled work.

Generating the Report ​

Accessing the Report ​

Navigate to the client dashboard for the client whose WIP you want to review. Every client dashboard includes a "View Work in Progress Report" button that launches the report generator specifically for that client. This client-specific entry point ensures you're always looking at one client's unbilled work, avoiding confusion across multiple clients.

Alternatively, access the WIP report from the main Reporting menu, where you can select one or multiple clients to analyze together. This multi-client view helps you understand aggregate WIP across your entire client base or across a subset of clients you want to review together.

Configuring the Report ​

When you click to generate the report, a configuration dialog appears with several options:

Select Entry Types to Include

  • ☐ Unbilled time - The core of WIP reporting, showing approved time entries not yet on bills
  • ☐ Unbilled expenses - Reimbursable costs not yet invoiced
  • ☐ Non-billable time - Internal work that won't be billed but shows resource consumption
  • ☐ Billable entries - Work already on bills (useful for comparing billed vs unbilled)

Check the boxes for what you want included. Most commonly, you'll select just "Unbilled time" to see straightforward billable work waiting to be invoiced.

Choose Date Range Select the time period to analyze:

  • Last 30 days - Recent work likely ready for billing
  • Last quarter - For quarterly billing reviews
  • Last 6 months - Broader analysis of aging WIP
  • Custom range - Any specific period you need

The date range determines which work appears on the report based on when it was performed.

Generate Report Click "Generate Report" and Hidma compiles all matching entries into a comprehensive table showing everything that meets your filter criteria. The report appears on screen immediately, ready for review, sorting, and export.

Interpreting Results ​

Once generated, review the report systematically to identify billing opportunities and issues:

Check Total Unbilled Amount - The summary at the bottom shows the aggregate proposed amount for all unbilled work. Is this larger than expected? If you have $50,000 of unbilled work for a client, that's significant cash flow tied up in WIP that should potentially be invoiced.

Identify Aging WIP - Sort by date and look for old entries. Work from 60, 90, or more days ago sitting unbilled represents either billing delays or work that's been forgotten. Investigate why old work hasn't been billed and create invoices promptly.

Review by Project - Group or sort by project to see which engagements have unbilled work. Perhaps one project has $30,000 unbilled while another has just $1,000 - that indicates where billing attention should focus.

Analyze by Team Member - Sort by user to see who has unbilled time. If certain team members consistently have large unbilled balances, investigate whether there's a systematic reason their work isn't being billed promptly.

Compare Cost to Proposed Amount - If you have cost rates configured, compare cost column to proposed amount column to understand profit margins. Work where proposed amount is much higher than cost is highly profitable. Work where they're close together or where cost exceeds proposed amount needs pricing review.

Exporting and Sharing ​

CSV Export ​

Click the "Export Report" button and select "CSV Download" to generate an Excel-compatible spreadsheet containing all report data. The CSV includes every column you see on screen - date, user, project, job, hours, cost, proposed amount, billed amount, and any comments.

CSV exports are ideal when you need to further analyze data in Excel, create custom pivot tables, integrate WIP data with other financial systems, or perform calculations not available in Hidma's reporting interface. The raw data export gives you complete flexibility for whatever analysis you need.

Missing rate flags carry into the export

Any WIP cost or proposed charge calculated for a user with no rate configured is flagged on screen with a warning icon (for example "User has no cost rate configured"), and those flags appear in the CSV as dedicated warning columns. Check them before treating an export as final - an understated figure looks exactly like a correct one. Learn about missing rate indicators

PDF Export ​

Select "PDF Download" to generate a professionally formatted report suitable for printing, emailing, or including in presentations. The PDF format differs from the screen view by organizing work by project, providing clearer visual separation between different engagements.

PDF reports include summary tables at multiple levels: totals by project showing aggregate unbilled work for each engagement, totals by user showing which team members contributed unbilled time, and grand totals across all included work. These multi-level summaries make PDF reports particularly useful for executive review or client discussions where you need professional presentation rather than raw data.

Sharing with Team Members ​

Click the "Share" button to send report access to specific users or entire teams. Enter email addresses or select users/teams from your organization, add them to the share list, and click "Done." Recipients receive an email with a link to view the exact report you generated - same filters, same date range, same data.

This sharing capability is valuable for collaborative billing review where multiple people need to see the same WIP data, for manager oversight where supervisors want to monitor team WIP, or for client discussions where you might share portions of WIP data to explain billing timing or amounts.

Common Uses ​

Weekly Billing Review ​

Establish a weekly routine of reviewing the WIP report to identify work ready for billing. Every Monday morning (or Friday afternoon), generate a WIP report for each active client showing work from the previous period. Review unbilled amounts, decide what should be billed now versus held for later, and create bills for work that's ready to invoice.

This weekly discipline prevents WIP from accumulating unchecked, ensures clients receive regular predictable invoices, improves cash flow by accelerating billing, and catches forgotten work before it becomes awkwardly old to invoice.

Month-End Financial Close ​

During financial close, the WIP report provides crucial information about work in progress that impacts your financial statements. Generate WIP reports for all clients showing work performed during the closed month but not yet billed. This unbilled work represents accrued revenue on your books - revenue you've earned but not yet invoiced.

The report's cost and proposed amount columns help you calculate work-in-progress asset values and understand profit margins on unbilled work. Many accounting systems require detailed WIP reporting for accurate financial statements, and Hidma's WIP report provides exactly the data needed.

Client Billing Discussions ​

When clients question why they haven't received an invoice recently, or when you need to explain upcoming billing, the WIP report provides definitive data. Generate a report showing their unbilled work, and you can specifically say "We have $15,000 of completed work from the past month that will be on your next invoice, including 40 hours of consultation, 25 hours of analysis, and 15 hours of report preparation."

This data-driven conversation is far more productive than vague responses about billing timing, builds client confidence in your financial management, and helps set accurate expectations about forthcoming invoices.

Project Profitability Analysis ​

For completed or near-complete projects, compare the WIP report's cost and proposed amount columns to understand profitability before creating the final bill. If a project shows $20,000 cost and $35,000 proposed amount on the WIP report, you're looking at healthy profit margins. If cost is $25,000 but proposed amount is only $20,000, you've lost money and need to understand why (underpricing, scope creep, inefficiency) before this happens again.

This pre-billing profitability check prevents surprises, informs pricing on similar future work, and helps you decide whether to bill full amounts or need to discuss budget overruns with clients before sending invoices.

Best Practices ​

WIP Management Tips

Review WIP Weekly Make WIP report review a weekly non-negotiable routine, not something you do occasionally when you remember. Pick a specific day and time - perhaps every Monday at 9 AM or every Friday at 3 PM - and block calendar time for WIP review across all active clients. This weekly discipline catches unbilled work promptly before it ages into problematic territory.

Set Aging Thresholds Establish clear rules about how old unbilled work should get before triggering action. Perhaps anything over 30 days unbilled needs investigation and explanation. Anything over 60 days requires immediate billing or explicit documentation of why it can't be billed. These aging thresholds prevent work from languishing unbilled indefinitely.

Monitor WIP as Percentage of Revenue Track your total WIP as a percentage of monthly or quarterly revenue. If WIP consistently exceeds 50-75% of monthly billings, you're accumulating unbilled work faster than you're billing it, creating cash flow problems. High WIP percentages indicate systematic billing delays that need process improvement.

Address Root Causes, Not Just Symptoms When you find large or aging WIP balances, don't just create a bill and move on. Investigate why the work wasn't billed promptly: Was timesheet approval delayed? Did project managers forget to bill? Is there a systematic process breakdown? Fixing root causes prevents recurring WIP accumulation.

Use WIP for Resource Planning The WIP report shows not just billing opportunities but also team capacity allocation. If certain team members consistently have lower unbilled amounts than others doing similar work, investigate whether they're underutilized and have capacity for additional assignments.

Need Help?

Regular WIP monitoring is essential for healthy cash flow. Make it a weekly habit to review unbilled work and create invoices promptly.

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