How can I manage pro bono proposal items?

What does "pro bono" mean in the context of Kompass?

Kompass does not have a dedicated pro bono flag. In practice, a pro bono proposal item is simply a proposal item where the work is being delivered for free or at a reduced price, either because the project is entirely charitable/voluntary, or because a specific item within an otherwise billable project is being written off.

How you handle this in Kompass depends on one key question: does the proposal item have a price, or is it priced at zero?

Q: Can I set a proposal item to £0 for pro bono work?

Yes, and this is the simplest approach. If you set the proposal item price to £0, Kompass will treat it as having no value. Status updates on a £0 lump sum item will record 100% completion with a value of £0, so no WIP will be generated and no under-billing will appear when the project is closed or delivered.

Use this approach when the work is entirely free and there is no expectation of invoicing any portion of it.

Q: What if the pro bono item has a price, can I still use it without creating a WIP problem?

This is the most common scenario and it requires a specific workflow. If a proposal item has a non-zero price but you do not intend to invoice it, Kompass will show a Work in Progress (WIP) figure on the project because:

WIP = Value (from status updates) − Amount invoiced

If the item reaches 100% status (which happens automatically when a lump sum item's project is delivered, or when you manually close the item) but has never been invoiced, the full price will appear as outstanding WIP. This will show as under-billing in any status update or project close-out report.

The correct workflow is:

1. Invoice the full amount of the pro bono proposal item as normal. This creates an invoice for the pro bono value.
2. Issue a credit memo (credit note) for the same amount against that invoice. The credit note nets the invoice to zero.
3. The result: the proposal item shows as fully invoiced, WIP returns to zero, and the project closes cleanly.

This is currently the only way to handle a pro bono item with a price in Kompass without leaving a residual WIP balance.

Q: Why can't I just leave the item un-invoiced and close the project?

When a project is delivered (or a lump sum proposal item is closed), Kompass automatically inserts a virtual 100% status entry for that item. This means value = price . Since no invoice has been raised, invoiced_net = 0 , so:

WIP = price − 0 = price

The full price of the pro bono item will appear as WIP in project reports and status updates. This does not resolve itself automatically; the only way to clear it is to invoice and credit as described above.

Q: Is there a way to exclude a pro bono item from the project value and WIP altogether?

Yes. If the pro bono item has not yet been accepted, you can use the Visibility setting on the proposal item. Setting visibility to Exclude from proposal (E ) removes the item from project totals and client-facing documents entirely. It will not contribute to the project's price, value, or WIP.

However, once a proposal item has been accepted (i.e. it has an accepted date set), the Exclude visibility setting no longer removes it from financial calculations. It will still contribute to project value and generate WIP if un-invoiced.

Use the Exclude approach only if the item has not been formally accepted and you want to track the work internally without it appearing in financials.

Q: What does the "billable" status of a proposal item affect?

Whether a proposal item is billable is determined by three things in combination:

• The Service assigned to the item has its billable flag enabled
• The Department linked to that service has its billable flag enabled
• The Project itself is billable (which depends on the project's category and whether the billing client is set to "internal")

If any one of these is set to non-billable, the proposal item's hours will not count towards billable hours in diary and schedule reporting. However, this does not affect whether the item has a price or generates WIP. A non-billable item can still have a price and still generate WIP if un-invoiced.

Setting a service or project to non-billable is not a substitute for the invoice + credit note workflow when you need to clear WIP on a priced pro bono item.

Q: What is the recommended approach for a project that is a mix of billable and pro bono items?

Handle each item separately:

• Billable items: invoice as normal.
• Pro bono items priced at £0: no action needed; they close cleanly.
• Pro bono items with a non-zero price: invoice the full amount and immediately raise a credit note to net to zero.

This keeps the project's financials clean at close-out and prevents residual WIP from appearing in reports.

Q: Will the credit note affect the client's account balance?

Yes, the invoice and credit note will both appear on the client's account. The net effect is zero (the credit cancels the invoice), but both documents will be visible in the client's invoice history. If you do not want the pro bono amount to appear on client-facing documents at all, consider using the Exclude from proposal visibility setting on the proposal item before it is accepted, or setting the price to £0 if the work is genuinely free.

Summary