Spend By Invoice Group Report

Overview

The Spend By Invoice Group Report is a financial analysis tool that provides a hierarchical breakdown of billable spending organized by Invoice Group. This report aggregates invoiced time records within a specified date range and presents the data in a multi-level structure: Invoice Group, Client, Project, and Activity. Each level displays both hours worked and dollar amounts, enabling detailed analysis of where time and money are being spent across the client portfolio.

The report focuses exclusively on invoiced time records—work that has been finalized in the billing workflow and included on client invoices. This ensures the data represents actual billed revenue rather than work-in-progress, making it ideal for revenue analysis, post-billing reconciliation, and financial reporting to stakeholders.

Location: Navigate to Reports from the main navigation menu, then click Spend By Invoice Group in the TIME section.

URL: /reports/spendbyinvoicegroup.aspx

Access Level: Staff with reporting access, Account Managers, Administrators

Business Value

For Company Leadership

The Spend By Invoice Group Report provides executives with essential financial insights:

• Revenue Distribution Analysis - Understand how billed revenue is distributed across Invoice Groups, enabling strategic decisions about resource allocation and client focus
• Client Portfolio Assessment - Quickly identify which Invoice Groups (and their underlying clients) generate the most revenue
• Activity Mix Visibility - See how time is distributed across different activity types, informing service offering strategy and pricing decisions
• Trend Analysis - Compare spending across different date ranges to identify growth patterns or declining accounts

For Account Management

Account directors and managers use this report to:

• Client Business Reviews - Generate comprehensive spend summaries for client discussions, showing exactly how their budget was utilized
• Invoice Group Health Check - Monitor spending levels across all Invoice Groups to identify accounts that may need attention
• Project Cost Transparency - Drill down to see how hours and dollars are distributed across individual projects
• Activity Breakdown Reporting - Show clients the mix of services delivered (project management, design, production, etc.)

For Finance and Operations

Finance and operations teams benefit from:

• Revenue Verification - Confirm that invoiced amounts align with expectations and are properly allocated across Invoice Groups
• Cost Allocation Analysis - Understand how resources are consumed across different client groupings
• Billing Rate Effectiveness - Compare hours to dollars to assess effective billing rates by Invoice Group or activity type
• Audit Support - Provide detailed breakdowns for financial audits or client billing inquiries

Business Benefits

1. Revenue Transparency - The hierarchical breakdown from Invoice Group down to individual activities provides complete visibility into how revenue is generated and where time is being invested.
2. Selective Analysis - The ability to select or deselect specific Invoice Groups allows users to create focused analyses of particular client segments or compare spending across chosen groups.
3. Multi-Format Export - Both Excel and PDF export options enable different use cases: Excel for further analysis and manipulation, PDF for polished client-facing reports.
4. Time-to-Revenue Connection - By showing both hours and dollars at every level, the report connects effort (hours) to outcome (revenue), enabling productivity and rate analysis.
5. Client Hierarchy Visibility - The Client layer within each Invoice Group shows how spending is distributed across individual clients, important when Invoice Groups contain multiple client relationships.
6. Activity-Level Granularity - The deepest drill-down level shows spending by activity type, revealing the service mix delivered to each project.
7. Invoiced-Only Focus - By filtering to only invoiced time records, the report shows confirmed revenue rather than estimated or pending amounts, ensuring data accuracy for financial reporting.

Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: Quarterly Revenue Analysis

Role: Finance Director

At the end of each quarter, the finance director generates a Spend By Invoice Group report covering the quarter dates. They select all Invoice Groups to get a comprehensive view of revenue distribution. The report reveals which Invoice Groups drove the most revenue and how it was distributed across clients and projects. They export to Excel for integration into the quarterly financial package.

Scenario 2: Client Business Review Preparation

Role: Account Manager

Before a client business review meeting, the account manager needs to show the client how their investment was utilized. They set the date range to match the review period, select only the Invoice Groups associated with that client, and build the report. They expand the hierarchy to show the project and activity breakdown, then export to PDF. The formatted PDF becomes part of the presentation materials demonstrating work delivered.

Scenario 3: Invoice Group Profitability Comparison

Role: Account Director

An account director wants to compare revenue across their portfolio of Invoice Groups. They build the report for the year-to-date period with all Invoice Groups selected. By reviewing the hours and dollars columns, they can calculate effective hourly rates for each Invoice Group (Dollars / Hours). This analysis reveals which client relationships generate higher effective rates and which may need pricing adjustments.

Scenario 4: Activity Mix Analysis

Role: Operations Manager

An operations manager wants to understand the service mix being delivered. They build the report for a recent period and expand several Invoice Groups to see the activity breakdowns. They notice that certain Invoice Groups have high "Project Management" activity while others are dominated by "Production" activities. This insight informs resource planning and skills development decisions.

Scenario 5: Post-Billing Reconciliation

Role: Billing Specialist

After invoices are sent for a billing period, a billing specialist uses the report to verify that all expected revenue is captured. They set the date range to match the billing period and review totals by Invoice Group. The grand totals in the footer should align with the period's invoice amounts. Any discrepancies trigger investigation into specific clients or projects.

Scenario 6: Targeted Export for Executive Summary

Role: Controller

A controller needs to create an executive summary showing only the top five Invoice Groups by revenue. They build the full report, then selectively deselect smaller Invoice Groups using the checkboxes. With only the desired groups selected, they export to Excel. The export includes only the selected groups, providing a focused data set for the executive summary.

Industry Context

Standard Practice in Professional Services

Revenue analysis by billing entity is fundamental to professional services management:

Invoice Group Concept
In agency and professional services environments, clients are often organized into billing groups based on:

• Contractual relationships (master service agreements)
• Invoice recipients (who pays the bills)
• Payment terms (NET 30, NET 60, etc.)
• Account management responsibility

These Invoice Groups serve as the primary unit for billing, revenue tracking, and account management. The Spend By Invoice Group Report aligns with this organizational structure.

Multi-Level Revenue Analysis
Best-practice financial reporting in agencies provides revenue visibility at multiple levels:

• Invoice Group Level: For billing management and accounts receivable
• Client Level: For relationship management and client profitability
• Project Level: For project profitability and scope management
• Activity Level: For service mix analysis and resource planning

This report delivers all four levels in a single view.

Invoiced vs. Recognized Revenue
Financial reporting distinguishes between:

• Billed/Invoiced Revenue: Amounts actually invoiced to clients
• Work in Progress: Completed work not yet billed
• Recognized Revenue: Revenue recorded under accounting standards

By focusing on invoiced time records, this report shows confirmed billed revenue, which is typically the most reliable for financial analysis and client reporting.

Competitive Differentiation

Agencies with strong financial visibility capabilities demonstrate operational excellence:

• Client Confidence: Ability to provide detailed spend breakdowns builds trust
• Pricing Intelligence: Activity-level data informs pricing strategy
• Resource Optimization: Understanding time distribution enables better staffing
• Financial Accuracy: Reconciliation capabilities reduce billing errors

Key Features

Filter Controls

Report Grid Columns

Footer Totals

The report footer displays grand totals for selected Invoice Groups:

• Total Hours: Sum of hours for all selected Invoice Groups
• Total Dollars: Sum of dollars for all selected Invoice Groups

Totals automatically recalculate based on checkbox selections.

Default Date Range

When the page loads, default dates are set to:

• Start Date: January 1st of the current year
• End Date: Today's date

This provides a useful year-to-date default while allowing custom range selection.

Functional Components

Hierarchical Expansion

The report displays as an expandable tree structure:

1. Collapsed View: Shows Invoice Groups with summary totals
2. First Expansion: Reveals Clients within each Invoice Group
3. Second Expansion: Shows Projects within each Client
4. Third Expansion: Displays Activities within each Project

Each level shows its own Hours and Dollars totals, allowing analysis at any depth.

Selection Controls

The selection mechanism enables focused analysis:

Header Checkbox

• Located in the column header
• Toggles all Invoice Group selections simultaneously
• Visual indicator of "all selected" or "partial selection" state

Row Checkboxes

• Each Invoice Group has its own checkbox
• Selection state is preserved when rebuilding report
• Deselected rows appear but don't contribute to totals

Project Navigation

Project names within the report are clickable links:

• Opens the full project detail page
• Opens in the same browser window
• Enables investigation of specific project data

Export Functions

Excel Export

• Generates downloadable .xlsx file
• Includes only selected Invoice Groups
• Full hierarchy with all detail levels
• Formatted columns for Hours and Dollars
• Suitable for further analysis in spreadsheet applications

PDF Export

• Generates formatted PDF document
• Professional presentation suitable for client delivery
• Includes title, date range, and hierarchical data
• Print-ready format

Relationship to Other System Components

Integration with Time Tracking

The report's data comes from the time tracking system:

• Time entries with finalized status
• Activity assignments for categorization
• Employee assignments for rate calculation
• Week-of dates for period filtering

Integration with Billing System

The report connects to billing data:

• Invoice status determines "invoiced" flag
• Billing rates drive dollar calculations
• Invoice dates align with reporting periods

Integration with Client Registry

Client hierarchy provides organizational structure:

• Invoice Group registry for primary grouping
• Client names and IDs for secondary level
• Client-to-Invoice Group assignments

Integration with Project Management

Project data enables the third level of detail:

• Project assignments link time to projects
• Project names and IDs for display and navigation
• Project-to-Client relationships

Relationship to Other Reports

The Spend By Invoice Group Report complements other financial reports:

Invoice Group Concept

Invoice Groups are the primary billing entity in the system:

• Multiple Clients can belong to one Invoice Group
• Invoice Group determines billing recipient and terms
• Invoice Group is assigned to an Account Manager
• All time for clients under an Invoice Group is billed together

This report provides the definitive view of revenue by Invoice Group, which is the system's primary billing unit.

Summary

The Spend By Invoice Group Report is an essential financial analysis tool that transforms invoiced time data into actionable revenue intelligence organized by the system's primary billing entity—the Invoice Group. By aggregating confirmed billed revenue into a hierarchical structure spanning Invoice Groups, Clients, Projects, and Activities, the report enables comprehensive analysis of how revenue is distributed across the client portfolio.

Key Capabilities:

• Hierarchical Revenue View: Four-level drill-down from Invoice Group to Activity
• Hours and Dollars Analysis: Both effort and revenue at every level
• Selective Focus: Checkbox selection to analyze specific Invoice Group subsets
• Date Range Flexibility: Custom period selection with convenient defaults
• Multi-Format Export: Excel for analysis, PDF for client-ready reports
• Invoiced-Only Data: Focus on confirmed billed revenue, not work-in-progress
• Project Navigation: Direct links to investigate specific projects

Business Impact:

• Provides revenue transparency essential for financial management
• Supports client business reviews with detailed spend breakdowns
• Enables activity mix analysis for service strategy decisions
• Facilitates billing reconciliation and audit requirements
• Delivers insights for client portfolio optimization

The report serves as the definitive view of how invoiced revenue flows through the Invoice Group structure, connecting time tracking data to financial outcomes and enabling data-driven decisions about client relationships, resource allocation, and service delivery optimization.