In addition, their sales force can use project initiation modules in order to access client contact information and determine current in-house capabilities and availability.
Some suppliers refer to project initiation as opportunity management or business development.
They also enable professional services providers to develop delivery strategies via templates, and provisionally reserve, or 'softbook', resources in the event they win the bid. In addition, project management modules within this category enable mangers to track project changes, prioritise, manage a deliverable schedule, conduct milestone reporting, and generate real-time revenue and expense reports. It is used by managers to provide an overview of the career paths of their consultants, including their skills and certifications, as well as by consultants to enter time and expenses online. Most importantly, project managers can generate reports on such variables as staff utilisation rates and in-house skills and certification levels. In future, they will also enable these organisations to offer limited guest access to clients so that they can approve expenses, check on project status, approve project changes and so on.