Example Engineering Co. · Project Administration · team interview

What the team told us

How the people who do the work describe it: how they decide, what they wait for, what makes a case unusual, and where they disagree. Answers are pooled and paraphrased; a task is only included when at least 5 people answered.

Enter subconsultant invoices

7 people answered

Record each subconsultant invoice as a voucher in Deltek Vantagepoint, checked against the subcontract, and route it to the right approvers so it can be paid and billed to the client.

Starts when: A subconsultant invoice arrives by email, usually in the first week of the month.
Done when: The voucher is entered and approved by the project manager (and the principal where required), so it is ready to pay and to bill the client.
Order: Open the invoice email and PDF, enter the voucher in Vantagepoint (vendor, phase, approval route), then send the Outlook message to the approvers.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Vendor	Choose the subconsultant named on the invoice.	Most agree
Phase	Use the phase the subcontract assigns to that subconsultant. Each sub works under one phase. Survey firms go to 02 Survey, geotechnical to 01 Design, environmental to 03 Environmental. Observed data matches: Northwest Survey Partners and Summit Utility Locating go to 02 Survey, Cascade Geotechnical to 01 Design, Riverbend Environmental to 03 Environmental.	Most agree
Approval route	The project manager always approves. If the invoice is over $50,000, the principal also approves. Otherwise the route is project manager only.	Most agree

Unusual cases

The invoice is over the remaining subcontract authorization (part of a group of unusual invoices that 43% say come up oft): Do not enter it. Send it back to the subconsultant.
Backup for expenses is missing (same overall frequency as above; the answers do not separate): Answers do not say exactly what is done. Backup is evidently needed before entry.

Rules and checks

Never enter more than the remaining subcontract authorization.
Check the not-to-exceed amount in the subcontract before entering.
The project manager must approve every voucher. The principal also approves invoices over $50,000.

Why extra steps happen

Opening Microsoft Edge (about 38% of cases) to check the subcontract on SharePoint for the not-to-exceed amount.
Opening Project Review in Vantagepoint (about 29% of cases) adds roughly 14 minutes of work. The answers do not explain this step.
Rework (about 30% of cases) is mainly caused by entering the wrong phase and then fixing the voucher.

Where people disagree

Team members give different reasons when an invoice can't be entered right away: contract or budget mismatch (40%), missing approval or sign-off (40%), missing or unclear project or phase information (20%).
Estimates of how often unusual invoices occur are split between often and sometimes.

Still open

What is the Project Review step in Vantagepoint for, and which invoices need it?
What exactly is in the Outlook message, and who receives it?
What is done when expense backup is missing, and who is contacted?
Are the approval rules and the $50,000 threshold written down anywhere?
What decides the roughly 11-15% of cases where the phase differs from the vendor's usual phase?
The invoice-to-voucher match is checked how, given the 3% mismatch rate on transfers from the PDF?

Prepare monthly client invoices

7 people answered

Prepare each project's monthly client invoice: pull approved figures from Vantagepoint into the backup workbook, get PM review, and submit the package to the client's portal.

Starts when: Billing opens on the 1st of the month, when draft invoices for the person's projects appear in Deltek Vantagepoint.
Done when: The invoice package has been accepted in the client's portal (DOT eCMS) and the invoice is marked Final in Vantagepoint.
Order: The answers do not give a clear required order; the only response was 'it depends', though the observed main path goes from status edit to backup workbook to package PDF to portal entry.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Invoice status	Keep the invoice as 'Draft for PM review' until the PM has signed off, then set it to 'Final'. Some PMs want to see every draft, so review may be required more often for them.	Most agree
Whether to bill a phase or hold the invoice	If a phase is over budget, a contract modification is needed before billing more. If subconsultant invoices have not arrived, hold the invoice or bill it next month.	Most agree

What cases wait for

Subconsultant invoices not yet received (29%)
PM review/sign-off before the invoice becomes Final (100%)

Unusual cases

A phase is over budget (mostly 'almost never' or 'sometimes (under 1 in 10)'; one re): Get a contract modification before billing more.
Subconsultant invoices are not in yet (same overall frequency as other unusual invoices (mostly rar): Hold the invoice or bill it next month.

Rules and checks

PM review is required before anything is submitted.
Use the client's approved overhead rate.
Agreement number must match the client's contract exactly.
Invoice amount is the approved total from Vantagepoint and must match the backup to the cent.

Why extra steps happen

Rework is attributed to missing information, a cause all answers share. Measured rework is low (about 5% of cases re-edit fields).
Figures are retyped by hand between systems (Vantagepoint to Excel about 59% of the time, Excel to the DOT portal about 85%). The answers give no reason beyond that this is how the data moves.

Where people disagree

Whether PMs see every draft varies: some PMs want to see all drafts, others only sign off before Final.
Frequency of unusual invoices varies: most say almost never or under 1 in 10, one says often (1 in 10 to 1 in 3).
The Invoice status split (70% Draft, 30% Final) mixes the status at a point in time with the end state, so the rule is consistent but the observed choice differs.

Still open

How subconsultant costs are brought into the invoice is unclear: the answers describe 'what was done and the outcome', which does not say what is needed from subconsultants or what happens when it is missing.
What order of steps matters and why, since only an 'it depends' answer was given.
Where the rules (PM review, overhead rate) are documented.
Which PMs require seeing every draft, and how the agent should know.
What 'missing information' means in practice and how it is resolved.
Why figures are retyped rather than exported or copied directly.

Issue drawing transmittals

7 people answered

Send an approved drawing set to the client or recipient as a formal transmittal, with the right purpose, delivery method and message, and record it in ProjectWise.

Starts when: The engineer of record approves a drawing set for issue in ProjectWise.
Done when: The transmittal is logged in ProjectWise and the client has received it.
Order: Open the submittal in ProjectWise, review the drawing set PDF in Bluebeam, open the transmittal record and set purpose and delivery method, then write the message in Outlook.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Transmittal purpose	Set the purpose from the submittal, according to the kind of set: review set, construction set or bid set. Information copies are also issued.	Most agree
Delivery method	Use the client portal for DOT sets and bid sets, and email for information copies. In the data, For review and For bid usually go by client portal (83% and 89%) and For information usually goes by email (83%).	Most agree

Unusual cases

The set is sealed. (uncommon: most say under 1 in 10, the rest say almost never.): Get the PE's signature before issuing.

Rules and checks

Only issue drawings approved by the engineer of record.
Sealed sets need the PE's signature before they go out.

Why extra steps happen

Details are moved by hand from ProjectWise to Outlook and retyped in about 40% of cases. The main reasons are that ProjectWise details can't be copied or exported (most common), that copied text needs reformatting, and that people check or reword as they go.

Still open

What exactly decides the roughly 17% of cases where delivery method differs from the usual one for the purpose (e.g. DOT or client requirements)?
Where are the issue rules written down? Only 4 of 7 answered, and none gave a location.
Is there a standard template or wording for the message body, or does each person write their own?
Which 'names and numbers from the ticket' are carried across, and is the list always the same?
How does the team handle For construction sets? No delivery method rule was given for them.
How is client receipt confirmed before closing?

Answer project manager questions

7 people answered

Answer project managers' questions about project budget, invoices or subcontractors by looking up current figures in Deltek Vantagepoint and replying by email.

Starts when: A project manager emails asking about budget, invoices or a subcontractor.
Done when: The project manager has the answer they asked for.
Order: Read the PM's email in Outlook, look up the project in Vantagepoint Project Review, then return to Outlook and write the reply.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Which figures to include in the reply	Include the numbers the PM asked for (such as remaining budget and invoice status) taken from Vantagepoint, plus what is still outstanding.	Most agree
Whether the question follows the usual handling	Questions about another group's project, or requests for forecasts rather than actuals, are treated as not fitting the usual way of answering. The answers do not say what is done instead.	Unclear

Unusual cases

The question is about another group's project (sometimes (under 1 in 10) for most respondents; a minority s): Not described in the answers.
The PM asks for a forecast, not just actuals (mentioned by one respondent; frequency is not separately sta): Not described in the answers.

Rules and checks

Answer from the Vantagepoint figures as of last night's posting, and say so in the reply.

Where people disagree

The most common question types are spread out: project setup or changes and 'other' (a third each), then budget/hours remaining and billing/invoice status (about one in six each). This differs from the email trigger, where everyone described budget, invoice or subcontractor questions.

Still open

How are questions about another group's project handled (redirect, answer, or ask permission)?
How are forecast requests answered, and from what source, since Vantagepoint figures are actuals?
What are the 'other' and 'project setup or changes' questions, and do they follow a different process?
Why is retyping from Vantagepoint into Outlook needed (observed in 82% of cases), and what errors or delays does it cause? The answers only repeated which items are carried over.
Where are the rules, such as the as-of-last-night statement, written down, if anywhere?
The trigger answers mention subcontractor questions; what is looked up for them?

Set up new projects

7 people answered

Set up a new project in the firm's systems (Vantagepoint project, phases, budgets and billing terms; ProjectWise folders; project site request) from the signed contract so that charging can begin.

Starts when: A notice to proceed or a signed contract arrives from the project manager (PM).
Done when: The project, phases, budgets and billing terms exist in Vantagepoint, the folders are created in ProjectWise, and the project site has been requested.
Order: Observed main path: open the email, read the agreement and fee schedule PDF, create the project in Vantagepoint (client type, contract type, billing terms, phase budgets), then create the ProjectWise folders and request the site in the browser.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Client type	Read it from the contract and enter the matching category (DOT, federal, city or private). Observed entries are mostly Municipal and State DOT.	Most agree
Contract type	Enter whatever the contract states. DOT work is almost always cost plus fixed fee. Observed entries are split evenly between cost plus fixed fee and lump sum.	Most agree
Billing terms	Follows the contract type. Cost plus fixed fee gives cost plus with fee by percent complete, lump sum gives percent complete, and time and materials gives hourly.	Most agree

Unusual cases

Work starts before the contract is signed (not stated separately. overall, unusual cases are almost nev): Open an at-risk project.
Multi-year contracts with separate funding by year (not stated separately (see above).): Handled as a special case because funding is separate for each year. The specific setup steps were not described.

Rules and checks

No charging until the project is set up and the PM has confirmed the budget.
Setup is based on the signed contract or notice to proceed.

Where people disagree

Respondents differ on how often unusual cases occur: half say almost never, a third say sometimes, and one says often.

Still open

What is done differently for multi-year contracts with yearly funding (phase and budget structure)?
How is an at-risk project set up and later converted once the contract is signed?
Which contract details are hardest to find, and what causes missing or unclear information? Nobody answered this.
Time and materials was mentioned for billing but not observed. Is it used, and how are the Client type values determined beyond DOT?
Is the mismatch after retyping (about 4%) checked, and by whom?
How does the PM confirm the budget, and where is this policy written down?

Write monthly progress reports

7 people answered

Produce a monthly progress report for each public-client project that accompanies the invoice, combining the project manager's account of work done with budget and percent-complete figures from Vantagepoint.

Starts when: The monthly invoice cycle: a report is due with the invoice for every public client.
Done when: The project manager has approved the report and it has gone out with the invoice.
Order: Observed flow: open the Word report, collect Vantagepoint figures into the Excel tracker, copy them into the report, edit the work-completed section, get PM approval, then send with the invoice. The data do not confirm a fixed sequence.

How decisions are made

Field	How the team decides	Agreement
Whether to include a recovery plan	If the project is behind schedule, include a recovery plan in the report.	Most agree
Which figures go in the report	Report budget, spent and percent complete by phase, taken from Vantagepoint, and enter them in the tracker and the report.	Most agree

What cases wait for

Review and approval by the project manager (33%)
Chasing updates from project managers or task leads (17%)

Unusual cases

The project is behind schedule (mostly 'sometimes' (under 1 in 10) or 'almost never'; one pe): Add a recovery plan to the report.

Rules and checks

Percent complete in the report must match the invoice.
The PM approves the report before it is sent.
The report goes out together with the invoice.
Where these rules are written down was not stated.

Why extra steps happen

Every case opens the monthly Word report file, and most also open the Excel tracker and the Vantagepoint Project Review.
The work-completed section is edited in most cases, after asking the PM or task leads what was done.
Vantagepoint figures are moved by hand into Excel (retyped in about 75% of cases) and then from Excel into Word (retyped every time), instead of being exported or linked. The answers do not explain why.

Where people disagree

Biggest pain point is split: review and approval delays (about a third), then chasing PM updates, checking numbers, matching client formats and retyping data (each about one sixth).
Frequency of unusual reports varies from almost never to often.

Still open

Where do progress details such as schedule and issues come from, and who is asked when something is missing? Five people answered 'not sure'.
Why are figures retyped rather than exported from Vantagepoint?
Are there client-specific formats? One person raised format matching as a pain, but no formats were described.
Where are the rules (approver, required checks, client requirements) documented?
What must a recovery plan contain, and how is 'behind schedule' decided?
Is there any measurable wait for PM input or approval? The measured data show none.