Engineering Precision for Your Business Operations
Opus Management Platform gives engineering firms the tools to track project profitability, manage billable hours, coordinate multi-disciplinary teams, and stay on top of equipment compliance — all from one integrated platform that syncs directly with Xero.
Free 14-day trial · No credit card required · Xero integration included
What Engineering Firms Struggle With
Running an engineering practice means balancing technical excellence with business performance. These are the operational challenges that hold firms back from reaching their full potential.
Tracking Billable Hours Across Projects
Engineers juggle multiple projects simultaneously. Without centralised time tracking, billable hours slip through the cracks — costing your firm thousands in unbilled revenue every quarter.
Managing Project Profitability
Engineering projects often span months or years. Scope creep, change orders, and shifting resource allocations make it nearly impossible to know if a project is profitable until it is too late.
Coordinating Multi-Disciplinary Teams
Civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers working on the same project need visibility into each other's progress. Siloed tools create coordination gaps and costly rework.
Equipment Calibration and Compliance
Survey equipment, testing apparatus, and specialised instruments require regular calibration and certification. Missing a compliance deadline can invalidate project deliverables and create liability.
Client Management Across Long Cycles
Engineering projects can run for years. Maintaining strong client relationships through design reviews, milestone approvals, and variation negotiations demands a structured approach, not scattered emails.
How Opus Solves It for Engineering
Opus replaces the patchwork of spreadsheets, disconnected tools, and manual processes with a single platform designed for how engineering firms actually work.
Project Management with Budget Tracking & Milestone Billing
Create projects with detailed budgets, track costs against estimates in real time, and invoice clients at project milestones. Opus gives you a live view of every project's financial health — from initial fee proposal through to practical completion.
Time & Materials Billing with Xero Sync
Log time against projects and automatically generate invoices that sync directly to Xero. Whether you bill hourly, on a lump sum, or a hybrid of both, Opus keeps your billing accurate and your accounting up to date without double-entry.
Multi-Project Resource Allocation & Team Utilisation
See who is working on what, identify under-utilised team members, and balance workloads across your civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical teams. Opus tracks utilisation rates so you can maximise productive capacity and plan hiring effectively.
Equipment Calibration Tracking & Compliance Management
Register every piece of equipment — from total stations to concrete test rigs — and set calibration schedules with automated expiry alerts. Never risk non-compliance or invalid test results again. Full audit trail for ISO and NATA requirements.
Client Lifecycle Management from Proposal to Completion
Track the entire client journey — from initial enquiry and Go/No-Go assessment through fee proposal, project delivery, and post-completion maintenance. Built-in CRM keeps every interaction, document, and decision in context.
AI-Powered Analysis for Profitability & Utilisation
Ask questions about your business in plain English. "Which projects are over budget?" "What is our average utilisation this quarter?" Opus's AI assistant analyses your live data and returns actionable insights — no spreadsheet gymnastics required.
The Engineering Project Lifecycle in Opus
From the first client enquiry to project closeout and repeat work, Opus manages every stage of your engineering project delivery.
Opportunity
A new project enquiry arrives. Opus captures the lead, logs the client, and creates a pipeline entry so nothing falls through the cracks.
Proposal & Go/No-Go
Run a structured Go/No-Go assessment. If it is a go, generate a professional fee proposal with scope, deliverables, and pricing directly from Opus.
Active Project
The project kicks off. Assign team members, set budgets, create task breakdowns, and begin logging time. All data flows to your financial dashboard in real time.
Milestones & Billing
Hit design milestones and trigger invoices automatically. Track progress against budget, manage variations, and keep clients informed with structured updates.
Completion & Handover
Finalise deliverables, generate completion reports, and close out the project financials. Opus calculates your actual margin so you can benchmark for future bids.
Maintenance & Repeat
Post-completion, track any maintenance or defect periods. Opus keeps the client relationship warm so the next project is already in your pipeline.
Financial Visibility Built for Engineering
Engineering firms need more than basic accounting. Opus gives you project-level financial intelligence that connects billable effort to bottom-line profitability in real time.
Project Profitability
See real-time profit margins for every active project. Compare budgeted vs actual costs, and forecast the final margin before the project completes.
Billable vs Non-Billable Hours
Understand exactly how your team's time is being spent. Identify projects consuming disproportionate non-billable effort so you can address scope or pricing.
Overhead Allocation
Allocate office rent, insurance, software, and other overheads across projects using configurable rules. Get a true picture of project-level profitability including indirect costs.
Xero Integration for Invoicing
Generate invoices in Opus and sync them to Xero in one click. Bill payments, credit notes, and client contact details stay in sync across both platforms automatically.
Real-Time Dashboards, Not Month-End Surprises
Most engineering firms only discover a project is unprofitable when the final invoice goes out. Opus gives principals and project managers live dashboards showing budget burn rate, margin trajectory, and team utilisation — so you can course-correct mid-project, not after it is too late. When paired with the Xero integration, your financial data stays consistent across project management and accounting without any manual reconciliation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from engineering firms evaluating Opus as their business management platform.
Is Opus suitable for small engineering firms or only large consultancies?
Opus is designed for engineering firms of all sizes. Whether you are a two-person structural consultancy or a 200-person multi-disciplinary firm, the platform scales to fit your needs. Smaller firms benefit from the all-in-one approach — replacing separate tools for project management, accounting, and CRM with a single platform. Larger firms benefit from the multi-team coordination, utilisation tracking, and enterprise-grade reporting capabilities.
How does Opus integrate with Xero for engineering billing?
Opus provides a deep two-way integration with Xero. Invoices created in Opus (whether milestone-based, time-and-materials, or lump sum) sync automatically to Xero with full line item detail and GST. Client contacts, bill payments, and credit notes also sync bidirectionally. This eliminates double-entry and ensures your accounting records always match your project management data.
Can Opus handle both lump sum and time-and-materials billing?
Yes. Opus supports multiple billing models on a per-project basis. You can set up lump sum projects with milestone-based invoicing, time-and-materials projects that invoice based on logged hours, or hybrid arrangements that combine both. Each project can have its own billing configuration while still rolling up into unified financial reports.
How does the equipment calibration tracking work?
Opus's equipment management module lets you register every piece of equipment with its calibration schedule, certification details, and compliance requirements. You set calibration intervals and the system automatically tracks expiry dates, sends notifications before deadlines, and maintains a full audit trail. Equipment can be assigned to specific projects, and the checkout history provides accountability for who had what, when.
Can we track project profitability across multiple disciplines?
Absolutely. Opus lets you assign team members from different disciplines (civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental) to the same project and track their time and costs separately. You can view profitability broken down by discipline, by project phase, or at the total project level. This gives principals and project managers granular visibility into where margins are being made or lost.
Does Opus support document management and SharePoint integration?
Yes. Opus includes built-in document management with version control, plus direct integration with Microsoft SharePoint. When a new project is created, Opus can automatically generate the corresponding folder structure in SharePoint. Fee proposals, reports, and compliance documents generated within Opus are stored centrally and can be synced to SharePoint for team-wide access.
Ready to run your engineering firm with precision?
Join Australian engineering firms already using Opus to track profitability, manage teams, and stay compliant. Start your free trial today.
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