NetSuite for Professional Services Firms (PSA Deep-Dive)

Run your services business — not your spreadsheet. How NetSuite PSA supports the full professional services business — billing models, profitability, utilisation, subcontractors, and revenue recognition — from Awatay implementation experience. 9 hrs · 3 sessions · Advanced. Overview Professional services firms in Africa — consulting, legal, audit, IT, engineering, and architecture — are a growing and underserved NetSuite segment. They choose NetSuite for its integrated CRM, PSA, and Finance capability but frequently struggle to make the PSA module produce the financial outcomes they need: accurate project invoices, reliable profitability data, and a WIP position that reconciles to the balance sheet. Simpl'IT is a professional services firm that runs on NetSuite. This course is the practitioner's view of NetSuite PSA for professional services — the billing models that work, the revenue recognition choices that satisfy the auditor, the utilisation metrics that tell the truth about the business, and the management reports that practice leaders in Africa actually need. It is the one course in the NetSuite catalogue that we teach from the inside. Learning outcomes • Configure NetSuite PSA to support each billing model used by professional services firms in Africa • Build the services P&L with direct costs, overhead, and margin at engagement and practice level • Track utilisation, WIP, and billing pipeline with the accuracy needed for professional services management • Manage subcontractor costs and pass-through billing with correct profitability capture • Apply IFRS 15 revenue recognition to each billing model and manage deferred revenue correctly Prerequisites • PSA in NetSuite — Projects, Timesheets & Resources course (Track A) • PSA Configuration course (Track B) is recommended but not mandatory • Finance director or operations lead attending without the Track B course should have equivalent PSA configuration experience Modules 1. Business model configuration for African professional services (3 hours) The professional services business model landscape in Africa: consulting firms (project-based, milestone-heavy), legal firms (time and materials, retainer, or hybrid), IT services firms (managed service, project, or support contract), and architecture and engineering firms (stage-gate milestone billing, long project cycles). How each business model maps to NetSuite PSA project types — and the configuration decisions that ensure the billing model produces the correct financial outcome. The services catalogue in NetSuite: the structured list of service offerings with standard billing rates, standard task templates, standard resource role requirements, and standard billing schedules. Why the services catalogue matters: consistency in project setup reduces the administrative overhead of creating a new engagement from two hours to fifteen minutes and ensures that the management reports across all projects are comparable. Engagement management in NetSuite: the lifecycle from CRM opportunity (the commercial commitment) to project record (the delivery commitment) to billing schedule (the payment commitment) — and the configuration that links all three. Contract management: how the project record serves as the contract, how to record scope changes without losing the original budget baseline, and how to use NetSuite to manage the change order process without email chains. Topics: Professional services business models in Africa; Business model to project type mapping; Services catalogue design; Standard billing rates; Task template library; Billing schedule library; New engagement setup time; Opportunity-to-project link; Delivery commitment; Payment commitment; Contract as project record; Scope change management; Change order process; Budget baseline preservation 2. Profitability management, utilisation & the services P&L (3 hours) The services P&L in NetSuite: how to configure the chart of accounts and the project cost allocation so that the income statement shows revenue, direct delivery cost, gross margin, overhead, and net margin at the engagement, client, practice, and business unit level. Direct cost capture: how time (at the resource cost rate, not the billing rate), expenses (at actual cost), and subcontractor costs (at purchase price) flow through the project record and appear in the profitability report. The cost rate versus the billing rate: why the resource must have both, why they must be maintained separately, and what happens to profitability reporting when cost rates are not set. Overhead allocation in NetSuite: the limitation (NetSuite does not have a native overhead allocation engine) and the workaround (a monthly journal that allocates overhead to project cost centres based on headcount or revenue). Utilisation: the billable utilisation metric (billable hours divided by total available hours), how to calculate it accurately in NetSuite using a saved search, and the target utilisation rate that professional services firms in Africa need to price correctly. The five management reports that a professional services director in Africa needs to run the business — and how to build each one in NetSuite: project profitability (margin by engagement), client profitability (margin by client), resource utilisation (billable percentage by person), WIP ageing (how long cost has been waiting for revenue recognition), and the billing pipeline (revenue expected to be invoiced in the next 60 days). Topics: Services P&L structure; Direct delivery cost; Gross margin tracking; Overhead and net margin; Cost rate vs billing rate; Time cost posting; Expense cost posting; Subcontractor cost posting; Cost rate maintenance; Overhead allocation journal; Utilisation calculation; Billable percentage saved search; Target utilisation for African market; Project profitability report; Client profitability report; Resource utilisation report; WIP ageing report; Billing pipeline report 3. Subcontractor management, revenue recognition & growth reporting (3 hours) Subcontractor management in African professional services: treating subcontractors as vendors in NetSuite, creating purchase orders for their time at the agreed daily rate, receiving their time via the item receipt or the timesheet import, and linking their cost to the project task. The pass-through billing model: marking up subcontractor cost for the client invoice and ensuring the margin is captured in the profitability report rather than being absorbed into cost. The three-way check: verifying that the subcontractor invoice (vendor bill) matches the purchase order and the time recorded against the project before approval. Revenue recognition for African professional services: the practical application of IFRS 15 to the billing models used in the region — T&M (recognise as time is approved), fixed price (percentage of completion based on hours or cost), retainer (straight-line over the retainer period), and the milestone model (recognise when the milestone is accepted). The deferred revenue balance: why it appears on the balance sheet when a client pays before revenue is earned, how NetSuite holds it in deferred revenue, and how it releases to income when revenue is recognised. Business development reporting for professional services in Africa: the pipeline-to-revenue conversion rate by service type, the average engagement size trend (are we winning bigger or smaller engagements over time?), the client concentration risk (what percentage of revenue comes from the top three clients?), the new logo versus existing client revenue split, and the revenue per employee trend as a productivity measure. Topics: Subcontractor as vendor; Subcontractor PO setup; Time receipt process; Project task linking; Pass-through billing; Markup configuration; Three-way check; IFRS 15 application; T&M recognition; Fixed price percentage completion; Retainer straight-line; Milestone acceptance recognition; Deferred revenue; Revenue release to income; Pipeline-to-revenue conversion; Engagement size trend; Client concentration risk; New logo vs existing revenue; Revenue per employee Delivery Three sessions over three days. Best attended by the finance director, the operations director, and the practice leads together — the shared understanding of how PSA configuration drives financial outcomes is the primary value of joint attendance. Groups of 4–12. Certification Certificate of completion Price USD 900 · per participant per person · indicative · group pricing available HRDC eligibility Up to 75% refundable Mauritius-registered employers may claim this training via the HRDC levy. We provide full documentation to support your claim. Languages English Provider reference SIMPLIT-051-NS_NETSUITE_PS_FIRMS

• Operations directors and COOs at professional services firms using NetSuite • Finance directors responsible for project billing, WIP, and revenue recognition • Practice leaders who need reliable profitability and utilisation data • Managing directors of consulting, legal, audit, IT services, or architecture firms evaluating NetSuite PSA • NetSuite administrators supporting a professional services firm who want deeper PSA knowledge • Implementation consultants who specialise in professional services industry NetSuite deployments