Projects and consultant billing, one chat

From project kick-off to billable amounts ready to export: AI handles every step, you control and approve.

Too many manual steps between project and invoice

PM updates the project, consultant logs hours, admin generates invoice, someone checks, someone sends. 4-5 steps, 4-5 tools, frequent errors, late invoices.

Timesheets recovered at month-end via email
Manual reconciliation between hours-project-invoice
Errors generating client disputes
Cash flow suffering from billing delays
Project margin reporting only quarterly

One flow, AI-driven

Project → timesheet → billable amounts: all in the same system. AI orchestrates, Manager only checks exceptions.

"Billing status of Generali project today"
"Compute all October T&M amounts to invoice"
"Notify PMs that timesheet closes in 48 hours"
"Show projected cash flow for next 60 days"

Try it in chat

Examples you can ask:

Static demo of hice's AI chat.

What you get

Full project lifecycle

From lead to signed deal, from kick-off to closure.

AI-validated timesheet

AI checks coherence vs plan, flags anomalies.

Automatic billing data

Billable amounts computed from validated timesheets, ready to export.

Live project margin

Cost vs revenue per project, always updated.

Cash flow forecast

Forecast based on billable amounts and signed contracts.

Full audit trail

Every change tracked, compliant with internal controls.

The five steps between the hour worked and the invoice issued

Between the hour worked and the invoice issued there are five steps, and each carries its own characteristic delay: time entry, manager approval, rate and terms validation, invoice preparation and dispatch. Added together they explain why many firms invoice delivered work halfway through the following month.

Almost all of those delays are internal rather than the client's. That also makes them the easiest to fix: cutting two days from each step pulls invoicing forward by a full week, which in a business with monthly payroll has an immediate effect on cash and none on the commercial relationship.

Time reminder the same day, not two weeks later
Approval by exception, with only the anomalous highlighted
Current rates tied to the contract, not hunted down monthly
Billable amounts generated from already-approved hours

Margin is controlled during the project, not at close

On a time-and-materials project the margin is not decided at signature: it is built or lost week by week. The four leak points are always the same and all of them can be spotted before the damage is irreversible.

The quietest is the seniority mix. Work sold with two seniors and three juniors that ends up delivered with four seniors bills the same and leaves considerably less, and that difference appears in no report unless someone compares the planned composition with the actual one.

Hours worked and not yet logged
Bookings outside the assignment or the contract
Variance between the seniority mix sold and delivered
Delivered work still unbilled because an approval is missing

Preparing billing so the client does not dispute it

Most invoice disputes do not arise from an error in the amount but from disagreement about the detail. The client expected a different breakdown, or does not recognize an activity, or does not remember authorizing certain hours.

Agreeing the detail format at signature and not changing it later removes much of that conversation. The same applies to warnings: flagging that a significant share of the budget has been reached turns a surprise into a joint decision, and usually ends in an extension rather than an argument.

Detail format agreed at the start of the contract
Warning when agreed consumption thresholds are crossed
Traceability of who approved each block of hours and when
Credit notes and corrections with their justification attached

60-consultant T&M service company, 25 active projects

The admin manager closed the billing run in 5 working days. With hice.ai: one day. 4 person-days recovered every month = 48 person-days/year. Plus fewer client disputes thanks to first-time-right billing amounts.

hice.ai vs separate PM + admin tools

Feature	hice.ai	PM tool + separate ERP
Billing closing time	1 day	5+ days
Hours-invoice reconciliation	Automatic	Manual
Project margin	Real-time	Quarterly
Cash flow forecast	Integrated	Separate Excel
Billing-amount errors	Near zero	Frequent
Billing-data export	Ready to use	Often manual