Projects

Project management software for Swiss SMEsprofitable before it ends

Hours are logged too late, expenses sit in drawers and the margin only shows up at year-end close. Numezis connects budget, time, expenses, invoices and team capacity so you see every week whether the engagement still makes money.

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Forecast margin at completion
Time approved, then invoiced
Data hosted in Switzerland

By what you need

What you expect from a project tool

Agencies, engineering offices, consultancies and fiduciaries sell time. Four needs always come back: capture it, bill it, protect the margin and spread the workload.

An agency engagement tracked week after week

Studio Lago SA, an agency in Lugano, is rebuilding a client’s website and online shop for a budget of CHF 86’000.00. At the end of October 2026, cost to date reaches CHF 51’240.00 and CHF 58’500.00 has been invoiced. Numezis computes the margin to date, projects cost at completion and flags that the forecast margin drops to 4.8 %. The agent proposes a change order for out-of-scope work.

Cost to date adds up approved hours valued at internal cost and the expenses actually incurred on the project.
Invoiced comes straight from invoices issued from the project, with no export or intermediate spreadsheet to maintain.
The estimate at completion combines actuals, the remaining work estimated per phase and the observed burn rate.
When the forecast margin falls below your target, the agent drafts a costed proposal that the project manager accepts or dismisses.

Numezis · Projects · PRJ-2026-031

Website and online shop rebuild

Studio Lago SA · Lugano · planned end 18.12.2026

In progress

Project budgetCHF 86’000.00

Cost to dateCHF 51’240.00

Invoiced to dateCHF 58’500.00

Margin to dateCHF 7’260.00 · 12.4 %

Budget consumed60 %

Estimate at completionBelow 10 % target

Forecast costCHF 81’900.00

Forecast revenueCHF 86’000.00

Forecast marginCHF 4’100.00 · 4.8 %

The Integration phase is 38 h over its estimate. The agent proposes a CHF 5’600.00 change order for out-of-scope work: the forecast margin would rise back to 10.6 %.

Swiss controls

Projects held by rules, not by memory

Every hour, every expense and every project invoice goes through explicit checks. Deviations are flagged the moment they appear, not three months later at the period-end close.

No invoice on unapproved time
Only entries approved by the project manager enter an invoice preview. Pending time stays visible but cannot be invoiced by mistake.
Blocked
Approved entry locked for editing
An approved hour can no longer change silently: any correction goes through a reasoned, traced send-back, which protects the invoice and the working-time record (OLT 1 art. 73).
Traced
Budget alert at configurable thresholds
At 80 %, 100 % or any other threshold of the cost budget, the project manager and management receive an alert with the estimate at completion and the responsible phase.
Flagged
Rebillable expense only with a receipt
A rebillable expense requires a legible attachment, kept for ten years as an accounting record under CO art. 958f and linked to the invoice line that recharges it.
Approval required
VAT details checked on every invoice
Project invoices carry the details of VAT Act art. 26: UID VAT number, service period, and the 8.1 %, 2.6 % or 3.8 % rate resolved deterministically.
Automatic
Closed period, protected project
Once the accounting period is locked, no time or expense can be posted to it; reopening requires a reason and stays recorded in the ledger history.
Blocked

One record, the whole journey

From a won opportunity to the accounting entry

A project is not an island. It starts with a sale, consumes time, produces invoices and ends up in accounting, with the same identifier from one end of the chain to the other.

The whole project cycle, from sale to close

A module built for companies that sell hours and deliverables: it connects the team, the client and accounting, and lets the agent prepare the repetitive work.

Complete project record

Client, customer account, contract, sold budget, phases, milestones, team, hourly rates and revenue method in one record, with the history of every decision and the link to the originating opportunity.

Time and expenses per project

Entry from the browser, the phone or a conversation with the agent, scanned receipts, approval by the project manager and overtime computed under CO art. 321c.

Project billing

Invoice preview from approved entries, automatic monthly or quarterly billing, down payments, milestones and Swiss QR-bill with payment matching by QR reference.

Budget and forecast

Cost and revenue budget by phase, actuals updated continuously, estimate at completion and overrun alerts sent to the right owner before the margin disappears.

Capacity planning

Load per person and per week, activity rate and approved leave built in, overloads flagged and a team view to accept a new engagement with full knowledge of the facts.

Portfolio and reports

Portfolio view of every active project and five report types: profitability, budget versus actual, time per person, work to invoice and forecast, filterable by client or team.

Project AI agent

The agent prepares the month’s invoices, chases missing timesheets, explains a budget deviation and proposes a costed change order, then waits for your approval before any sensitive write.

Controls and traceability

Approvals with segregation of duties, entries locked after approval, closed periods protected and full history: every project figure can be justified to a client or an auditor.

Project skills

Natural-language skills with an allowlist of tools automate your routines: monthly project close, rate checks, a margin report sent every Monday morning.

The guide

Guide: managing project profitability in a Swiss SME

Choosing project management software is not choosing a Gantt chart. For a Swiss SME that sells hours, the stakes are financial: knowing what each engagement costs, what it earns and what is left to invoice. Here are the benchmarks that matter.

Which project management software should a Swiss SME choose?

Good project management software for a Swiss SME must first speak the language of accounting. Classic task tools plan well, but ignore hourly rates, VAT, the QR-bill and the Swiss chart of accounts. The result: hours are retyped into a spreadsheet, then into invoicing, then into accounting, with just as many chances for error.

The decisive criteria are therefore time and expense entry linked to the project, approval by the person in charge, invoicing directly from approved entries, budget versus actual tracking and analytical breakdown in the general ledger. Add data hosting in Switzerland, compliance with the nFADP and the ability to work in French, German and Italian. Numezis brings these building blocks together in one system and can also run alongside bexio, Abacus or Odoo, without migration.

How do you calculate a project’s margin?

A project’s margin is calculated by subtracting the project cost from recognised revenue. Cost includes hours valued at each employee’s full internal cost, salary, AHV, BVG and UVG social charges and a share of overheads, plus direct expenses and subcontractors. Revenue depends on the chosen method: as invoiced, as delivered, by percentage of completion or by milestone.

Margin to date is useful but misleading on its own. A project can show a 12 % margin halfway through and end at zero if the heaviest phase is still ahead. That is why Numezis also computes the forecast margin at completion: actuals incurred plus estimated remaining work, compared to the sold price. When this indicator falls, there is still time to negotiate a change order, reassign the team or revisit the scope with the client.

Time and materials or fixed price: which model for your engagements?

On time and materials, the client pays for the hours actually worked at the agreed rate; the overrun risk sits with the client, but the value depends on rigorous, approved time tracking. On a fixed price, the price is set in advance; every extra hour reduces your margin, which makes budget versus actual tracking essential.

Many Swiss SMEs combine both: fixed price for design, time and materials for changes requested along the way. Engineering and architecture offices often structure their fees along SIA phases, while agencies work in work packages or milestones. Suitable project management software must accept these mixed models on a single engagement, with rates and billing rules per phase, and separate tracking of out-of-scope work that justifies a change order.

What are the legal requirements for project time and invoices?

Working time must be recorded: the Labour Act and OLT 1 art. 73 require employers to document daily and weekly working time and breaks, except for simplified regimes agreed under conditions. Overtime is governed by CO art. 321c. Time tracking per project, time-stamped and approved, meets both the billing need and the recording obligation.

On the invoice side, VAT Act art. 26 sets the required details: supplier name and UID VAT number, recipient, date or period of the service, nature of the service, amount and applicable VAT rate. Records, including receipts for rebilled expenses, are kept for ten years under CO art. 958f and VAT Act art. 70. Numezis checks these details before issuing and keeps every document linked to its project, its invoice and its accounting entry.

How does an AI agent help manage projects?

In an SME, the project manager spends a significant share of their time on administrative tasks: chasing timesheets, preparing invoices, explaining a budget deviation to management. The Numezis AI agent takes over this preparatory work. It flags employees who have not logged their week, compiles approved entries into an invoice preview and writes a readable variance note.

The agent does not decide alone on what matters. An invoice, a change order or a correction to an approved entry waits for the approval of an authorised person, according to the approval rules you define. Every action is traced. You can ask the agent from the web, Microsoft Teams, Slack, WhatsApp or Telegram: “What is the forecast margin on the Lago project?” gets a figure-based answer, sourced from the project’s entries.

Frequently asked questions about project management

Answers to the questions agencies, engineering offices, consultancies and fiduciaries ask most often before choosing their tool.

Does Numezis replace our current task tool?

Numezis focuses on the financial and administrative side of the project: time, expenses, budget, billing, capacity and accounting. Tasks and milestones are handled in the project record, which is enough for most SMEs. If your team insists on a specialised planning tool, Numezis can remain the reference for the figures and receive time logged elsewhere by import.

Can we manage both time-and-materials and fixed-price projects?

Yes. Each project, and even each phase, can have its own billing mode: hourly time and materials, fixed price, milestones, down payments or a monthly subscription. Budget versus actual tracking adapts: on time and materials it watches the cap agreed with the client; on a fixed price it watches your margin. Out-of-scope work can be isolated to prepare a change order.

How is the hourly cost of employees calculated?

You define an internal cost per person or per role, which can include salary, social charges and a share of overheads. Numezis can derive it from payroll and HR data, then apply it to approved hours. Sales rates stay separate from costs, so you get a real margin rather than a simple revenue figure per project.

Can fiduciaries track their client engagements?

Yes. A fiduciary can treat each engagement as a project: annual fee budget, time per employee, periodic billing and profitability per client. Recurring engagements such as bookkeeping, payroll or VAT can be invoiced automatically every month or quarter, with the detail of the services delivered.

Where is our project data hosted?

The application and the data are hosted in Switzerland, in data centres in Geneva and Zurich. Access is controlled by role and by company, and every sensitive action is traced. Processing complies with the nFADP. You can export your project data at any time in open formats.

Do we have to leave bexio or Abacus to use the Projects module?

No. Numezis can work inside bexio, Abacus or Odoo, without migration. The Projects module then tracks time, budgets and capacity, while accounting stays in your current software. You can also use Numezis as a complete system if you prefer to bring projects, billing and accounting together in one place.

Know whether your projects make money

Open an account, create your first project and see its forecast margin from the very first hours logged, with no commitment.