> Complete glossary of consulting, PSA and staffing terms: PSA, Time & Materials, ATS, day rate, utilization rate. Clear English explanations.

Source: https://hice.ai/en/glossary
# Consulting & PSA glossary

Essential terms for anyone running a consulting firm: PSA, T&M, ATS, day rate, utilization and 30+ more concepts explained without buzzwords.

## PSA & Core concepts

### PSA (Professional Services Automation)

Software that unifies project management, staffing, timesheets, billing and CRM for consulting and professional services firms.

## Billing & Rates

### Time & Materials (T&M)

Billing model where the client pays for hours actually worked, multiplied by an agreed bill rate, plus pass-through expenses.

### Fixed Price

Billing model with an agreed price for a defined scope: the vendor takes on overrun risk in exchange for a potentially higher margin.

### Day rate

Daily rate charged for a consultant on each billable day, the typical pricing unit in European T&M contracts.

### Bill rate

Hourly or daily rate the consulting firm charges the end client for a consultant's time.

### Cost rate

Internal hourly or daily cost of a resource, including salary, payroll taxes, benefits and a share of company overhead.

### WIP (Work in Progress)

Value of work already delivered but not yet invoiced to the client, recorded as an asset on the balance sheet.

### Revenue recognition

Accounting process determining when and how much revenue can be booked to the income statement, independent of cash collection.

### Project margin

Difference between revenue and direct costs of a project, expressed in absolute value or as a percentage of revenue.

## People & Performance

### Utilization rate

Percentage of billable hours worked compared to total available hours of a consultant in a given period.

### Bench

Set of consultants not currently allocated to billable projects, waiting to be assigned to new engagements.

### NPS (Net Promoter Score)

Metric measuring the propensity of clients or employees to recommend the company, computed on a 0-10 scale by subtracting detractors from promoters.

### Onboarding

Structured process for integrating a new employee or new client, aimed at reducing time-to-productivity.

### KPI (Key Performance Indicator)

Quantitative indicator that measures the performance of a company, team or individual against predefined targets.

## Recruiting & ATS

### ATS (Applicant Tracking System)

Software that manages applications, recruiting pipelines, interviews and onboarding for HR teams and staffing agencies.

### Placement fee

Recruiting pricing model where the agency earns a one-off commission only if the candidate is hired by the client.

### Retainer

Recruiting model where the agency earns a fixed fee in multiple tranches during the search, regardless of the outcome.

### Clawback

Clause requiring the recruiting agency to refund or reduce the fee if the candidate leaves or is dismissed within a guarantee period.

### Vesting period

Period during which a placement fee is subject to clawback if the candidate leaves the role before the agreed deadline.

## Delivery & Projects

### Staffing

Process of assigning the right people to the right projects, balancing required skills, availability and utilization targets.

### Resource allocation

Detailed planning of the share of time each consultant dedicates to different projects in a given period.

### Capacity planning

Process of projecting total team capacity versus future demand, to identify resource gaps or excesses in the medium to long term.

### Progress billing milestone

Periodic document certifying a project's completion percentage and authorizing invoicing of an agreed tranche.

### Scope creep

Uncontrolled growth in project requirements or activities beyond what was originally defined in the SOW.

### Timesheet

Document, often digital, where a consultant logs hours worked, split by project, activity and type (billable or non-billable).

## Sales & Pipeline

### Backlog

Total value of signed but not yet delivered contracts, representing future revenue already secured by the firm.

### Sales pipeline

Set of ongoing sales opportunities, each with an estimated value, close probability and expected signature date.

### SOW (Statement of Work)

Contractual document detailing scope, deliverables, timeline, cost and responsibilities for a services engagement.

### Customer Success Manager

Role responsible for post-sale client satisfaction, service adoption and contract expansion through upsell and cross-sell.

### MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue)

Recurring monthly revenue generated by subscription contracts or managed services, net of one-off components.