Consulting runs on engagements, not transactions.
The work is won on a proposal, delivered as a project, and billed against time that has to reconcile with both. Onboarding proposes defaults for that shape rather than an empty CRM, and a researched starting point for consulting is being prepared.
A pipeline that already speaks the work.
Five engagement stages, proposed at onboarding and renamed or cut to match how your firm actually sells. Nothing here is fixed.
Sales, DealsThe engagement pipeline on the Rowan Hill demo workspace
Qualified opportunity 260,500
Discovery 146,000
Proposal 172,000
Verbal agreement 131,000
Won / Lost 164,000
Two automations we suggest.The ones consulting firms most often build by hand in week three. Approve, adjust or decline each.
Delivered and billed against what was sold.
Projects and invoicing sit on the same records as the engagement. Time logged counts against the project budget, and invoices go to the same client record the deal was won on.
- The project opens from the won deal, not from a copy of it.
- Time logged counts against the project budget.
- Invoices go to the same client record, with the same owner.
Advisory Engagement
- Client
- Kestrel Freight Systems
- Owner
- CDClaire Donovan
- Team
- MBORNW
- Billing
- Fixed Price
- Deadline
- 20 Oct 2026
Proposed for Rowan Hill
Suggested for management consultingEvery default arrives as a suggestion.
Each one comes with its reasoning. You add it, change it in the conversation or skip it, and you can ask Cyril to revisit the suggestions later from AI setup.
- Skipping one is a normal outcome, not an exception.
- The pipeline is usually the first thing to change.
- Nothing is locked afterwards. Stages, rules and automations stay yours.
The apps we switch on first.
Every app is included at every tier. This is about what we put in front of you first, not what you are allowed to use.
- SalesAccounts, contacts and the engagement pipeline.See Sales
- ProjectsDelivery against the engagement that was sold.See Projects
- FinanceInvoicing and payments, on the same client records.See Finance
- DocsProposals, methods and the record of what was agreed.See Docs
- AutomationThe two candidates above, and whatever you add.See Automation
Where this shape does not fit.
The further your business is from proposal-then-engagement, the less this starting shape is worth. We would rather say so at onboarding than bend the shape until it stops helping.
- Staff augmentation and pure time-and-materials placement sit awkwardly in an engagement pipeline.
- Retained advisory with no discrete deliverable gets less from proposal-stage automation.
- Cyril has no utilisation or bench forecasting across a consultant pool: treat it as absent.
Common questions
Is this an industry template?
No, and the difference matters. A template is a configuration you receive; this is a set of defaults proposed to you at onboarding, each with its reasoning, which you then add, change or skip. What you run afterwards is your configuration.
What if our pipeline looks nothing like that?
Then it changes, and that is the common case rather than a problem. The stages are the most frequently edited default we raise. Every firm draws the line between discovery and proposal differently.
Do we have to take the suggested automations?
No. They are two candidates aimed at the transitions that usually go quiet, and both are suggestions. Before you rely on one, you can run it in test mode against a sample record with every action withheld, so you see what it would have done.
Does time tracking reconcile with what was sold?
Time logged counts against the project budget, and invoices go to the same client record the deal was won on, so delivery and billing are read together. Cyril has no portfolio-level utilisation or bench planning; treat that as absent.
Further reading for consulting firms.
Guides written for the people who run a consultancy. They are meant to be useful whether or not you ever use Cyril.
- How to run a consultancy on one system: from proposal to paid invoiceWhat all-in-one software for a consulting firm has to cover, from proposal to paid invoice, with a vendor checklist and the usual consolidation mistakes.Read
- Client portals for consultancies: what clients should see, and what they shouldn’tWhat a consultancy’s client portal should show, what it must keep internal, the grey areas to decide per engagement, and what to ask a client portal vendor.Read
- Utilisation, budget and margin: the numbers a consultancy should see without a spreadsheetHow a consultancy should track utilisation, budget burn and project margin, with a worked fixed-fee example and a weekly checklist that needs no spreadsheet.Read
- CRM for consulting firms: what to look for, and what a sales CRM missesWhat to look for in a CRM for consulting firms, why generic sales CRMs break at the handover from sale to delivery, and a demo script to test any vendor.Read
- Running a consultancyFor consulting firms: winning engagements, delivering them on budget and getting paid, and what the software underneath has to do at each step.All posts
Start your firm further along.
Founding members get help moving in, and the defaults above are where that conversation starts.