Overview
What is Insights Pro
Analytics Plus was the starting point. Insights Pro is its next evolution, shaped by years of how A&E firms use Total Synergy.
Total Synergy remains your system of record - for managing your practice, projects, finances, and operations. With Insights Pro, it goes further: a solution that helps you understand performance and make better decisions, purpose-built for engineering and architecture firms.
It brings your Synergy data together in 52 ready-to-use dashboards across six core business areas, turning data into clear, actionable insights.
Six Modules, One Picture of the Practice
Each module covers a distinct area of practice operations. Together, they give a complete view from pipeline to delivery as outlined below.
Module | Practice Area | Overview | Number of Dashboards |
1 | Business | Practice-wide performance. Revenue, recovery, profitability, and hourly rates by office, discipline, or team. | 9 |
2 | Finance | Cash and billing health. WIP evolution, aged debtors, draft invoices, and mark-up/down tracking. | 10 |
3 | Projects | Fee tracking, stage-level profitability, residuals, revenue forecasting, and data quality flags. | 9 |
4 | Sales | Proposal pipeline, conversion rates, Book to Burn ratio, win/loss analysis, and weighted forecast. | 7 |
5 | Resources | Utilisation, headcount, leave, staff turnover, and timesheet detail by person, team, or office. | 8 |
6 | Planning | Forward loading, capacity vs. demand, revenue forecast vs. resourced charge, and backlog management. | 9 |
Upgrade
What you need to know
Insights Pro is an automatic upgrade that will be released on Monday 15th June 2026 at 6am AEST/Sunday14th June 9pm BST.
All customers with Analytics Plus add-on included in their Total Synergy subscription will receive the Insights Pro upgrade at no additional cost.
The upgrade includes new dashboards plus enhancements to existing ones.
Insights Pro is more customisable, allowing firms to configure financial year and how some metrics like utilisation are calculated.
Insights Pro has its own permissions and security matrix giving you more control over visibility of your financial data.
Your current Analytics Plus permissions will not be carried over to these new permissions. We recommend recording your current permissions in the Security Matrix so you can re-apply these on day one without disruption to users who currently have access.
All dashboards are disabled by default. Access is controlled by staff with System Administrator security access level. Permissions should be set based on how your practice operates which may require a conversation with leadership.
Data is live, with dashboards updating every 2 hours
Additional enhancements include:
Share: Send live dashboard links that reflect current filters and data
Print: Print dashboards with all visible content and applied filters
Download: Export clean, formatted PDF reports instantly with no rework needed (Coming soon)
Preparing for Day One
To make the most of Insights Pro from day one:
Take time to explore the dashboards relevant to different roles using this guide
Understand the key metrics that matter for your business
Day One - Configuration and Settings
**Relevant for System Administrators**
Step 1: Organisation Settings
Navigate to Organisation Settings > Organisation > Insights
The Configuration tab controls firm-wide settings that affect how metrics are calculated. Set these before opening access to any dashboards. These include:
Financial Year Start Month: set this to the month your financial year commences to have your dashboards reflect this.
Utilisation: specify if you want the utilisation formula to include, total hours, contracted hours with or without leave.
Project Snapshot: define whether you wish to show profitability, recovery or both in your project snapshot.
Failing to set the correct financial year means every FYTD figure across the Business module will be incorrect from the first login.
For more information and step by step guide refer to our Knowledge Base here
Step 2: User Permissions
Navigate to Organisation Settings > Organisation > Insights > Permissions tab
The right access matrix depends on your firm's structure, how open leadership is with financial data, and whether you have dedicated finance or HR staff. Before opening your permissions screen, consider these questions:
Which roles need firm-wide performance data, and which should be limited to their own projects and teams?
Are there dashboards - particularly in Finance and Business - that should be restricted to Directors and Finance Managers only?
What is the minimum useful set for each role on day one, without overwhelming them?
We recommend a staged rollout: start each role with a small, useful set of dashboards, allowing them to get comfortable, then add more based on the questions they're asking and data they need to see.
Each module row in the security matrix expands to show every individual dashboard. For each module:
Tick which Total Synergy access levels should be enabled for each dashboard.
The access level columns are User, Assistant Project Manager, Project Manager, Director, and Assistant Administrator and System Administrator.
Custom access levels will also be shown if you have this set up.
For more information and step by step guide refer to our Knowledge Base here.
Transition Guide: What's changed and Where to Find it.
A direct mapping of Analytics Plus capabilities to their Insights Pro equivalents.
Upgraded | Significantly enhanced with new data, metrics, or structure |
Refreshed | Same core data, updated layout or filter controls |
Renamed | Same concept, different name in Insights Pro |
New | No equivalent in Analytics Plus |
Business
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
WIP Breakdown & Recovery by Transaction Date | Recovery Analysis | Upgraded | Now includes GP%, FYTD, and prior-year comparison |
Total Charge vs. Invoiced Revenue chart | Business Performance | Refreshed | Refined layout; charge and revenue as separate bars with prior-year overlay |
Recovery % by Office / Cost Centre / Discipline | Recovery Analysis | Refreshed | Slice By control replaces separate tab navigation |
Profit % by Office / Cost Centre / Discipline | Profitability Analysis | Renamed | Excludes billable WIP by default; toggle available |
Invoiced Revenue by Office (bar chart) | Revenue Analysis | Refreshed | FY / quarter / month filter built in |
Invoiced Revenue by Client or Project per Office | Staff Performance | Upgraded | Extended to show staff utilisation and profitability |
Average Hourly Rate | Average Rate Analysis | Refreshed | Same metric; available across Business module |
WIP > 60 Days KPI | Business Overview | Refreshed | Shown on opening dashboard alongside debtors 60+ days |
Debtors > 60 Days KPI | Business Overview | Refreshed | Shown on opening dashboard |
— | Business Overview | New | FYTD revenue, recovery %, growth, WIP, and debtors in one summary view |
— | Forecast Analysis | New | Proposed rename: Revenue Outlook. Forward revenue view with office breakdown |
— | Team Performance | New | Revenue, recovery, and GP% by team. No direct equivalent in Analytics Plus |
Finance
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
Aged WIP by Project Manager | WIP Analysis | Upgraded | Project-level WIP bucketed by age with PM and office breakdown |
Aged Debtors by Invoice Due Date | Debtors Analysis | Refreshed | Same ageing logic; presented by office, project, then PM |
WIP by Transaction Date (monthly) | WIP Profile | Upgraded | Invoiced, draft, WIP, and written-off stacked by month |
Written-Off Charge by Transaction Date | Mark-up/Down Analysis | Upgraded | Shows mark-up, mark-down, and written-off with net position |
Aged WIP by Ageing Category (table) | Aged WIP Evolution | Upgraded | Visual evolution chart; all bands 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, 121+ |
Aged Debtors by Ageing Category (table) | Aged Debtors Evolution | Upgraded | Same age bands with monthly evolution chart |
WIP Total / Debtors Total KPIs | Finance Overview | Refreshed | Opening dashboard; also shows daily invoicing tracking and draft totals |
— | Invoicing Progress | New | PM-level view: WIP, forecast, draft, and finalised in one row per project |
— | Prebill Analysis | New | Outstanding unbilled WIP on active projects with no invoice raised |
— | Rates Analysis | New | Charge rates by staff member, role, and office. No equivalent in Analytics Plus |
Projects
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
Agreed Fee/Cap by Client / PM | Projects Overview | Upgraded | Active projects, residual, invoiced %, recovery, and GP% in one view |
Project-level profit table | Projects Snapshot | Upgraded | Recovery %, costs, GP%, and WIP 60+ days visible per project |
Total Charge / Invoiced Revenue / Costs chart | Monthly Financials | Refreshed | Recovery % overlaid as secondary axis; monthly breakdown available |
Revenue Forecasting by Month | Projects Forecast | Upgraded | Horizon extended from 6 to 14 months; aligned with Sales and Planning |
Project stage table (fee, residual) | Projects Resourcing | Upgraded | Stage-level detail inline; resourced vs. actual hours by rate |
Project Fee by Office (map view) | Projects Map | Refreshed | Requires System Administrator to enable Azure Maps in Security Matrix |
— | Portfolio Summary | New | High-level portfolio view: fees, residuals, and forecast across all active projects |
— | Project Summary | New | Single-project deep-dive: fee, WIP, costs, GP%, debtors, and stage breakdown |
— | Data Quality Flags | New | Flags missing fee caps, expired end dates with residual, and stages with no budget |
Sales
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
Weighted Fee/Cap for Proposals | Ongoing Proposals | Refreshed | Weighted and unweighted toggle; monthly breakdown by stage start date |
Projects Won / Lost / Decision Pending | Wins & Losses | Upgraded | Current and next month pending value shown prominently by office |
Win Ratio % (count and value) | Conversion Analysis | Renamed | Now shown as a time series by office, discipline, and project type |
Fee/Cap by Discipline / Cost Centre | Pipeline Forecast | Upgraded | Aligned with Planning and Projects forecast; weighted and unweighted views |
Proposals Fee/Cap by Primary Contact | Clients Overview | Upgraded | Revenue, GP%, growth %, active projects, proposals, and conversion per client |
— | Sales Overview | New | Won, lost, conversion %, Book to Burn ratio, and pending value in one view |
— | Book to Burn | New | Won fee/cap as a multiple of invoiced revenue; 3-month rolling average by office |
Resources
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
Hours & Utilisation % by Transaction Date | Utilisation Trend | Upgraded | FYTD alongside monthly; prior-year comparison on opening page |
Utilisation % per Office / Team Member | Utilisation Detail | Refreshed | Each team member's monthly utilisation in a single table |
FTE by Office per Month | Headcount Trend | Refreshed | FTE and headcount toggle; joiners and leavers included |
Internal Hours by Stage / Task | Time Analysis | Upgraded | Chargeable, non-chargeable, internal, and leave hours in a single staff row |
Hours by Project (weekly table) | Timesheet Detail | Upgraded | Day-by-day breakdown by project and task per staff member |
— | Resources Overview | New | Utilisation %, leave hours, missing hours, headcount, and FTE in one view |
— | Utilisation Heatmap | New | Staff utilisation by week displayed as a colour-coded heatmap |
— | Timesheet Compliance | New | Percentage of expected hours entered; compliance tracking by office and team |
Planning
Analytics Plus Feature | Insights Pro Dashboard | Status | Notes |
Resourced vs. Actual Charge by Month | Resource Plan vs Actuals | Upgraded | Shown as hours and charge; broken down by rate name, office, and staff member |
Resourced Charge per Office by Month | Capacity Planning | Upgraded | Shows % of installed capacity that is resourced, not raw dollar value |
Forecast vs. Invoiced Revenue by Office | Forecast Accuracy | Refreshed | Forecast vs. actuals over time; snapshot view added for period comparison |
Invoiced Revenue per Office by Month | Forecast Evolution | Refreshed | Actuals and forecast on the same axis; monthly evolution visible |
Weighted/Unweighted toggle | Forecast Analysis | Refreshed | Proposed rename: Capacity Forecast. Applies across forecast, backlog, and FTE views |
— | Planning Overview | New | Forward Loading, backlog, capacity, and Forecast vs. Resourcing in one view |
— | Resourcing Overview | New | Resourced FTE vs. installed capacity by office and month |
— | Forward Loading | New | Months of work in pipeline at current capacity; gross and at-target-utilisation |
— | Backlog Evolution | New | Active residual and weighted forecast by office, tracked monthly |
Day One Checklist
Validation checklist
Confirm the following in Insights Pro:
FYTD revenue in Business module matches known year-to-date invoiced revenue
WIP total in Finance module matches WIP in Total Synergy
Active project count in Projects module aligns with your expected active portfolio
Headcount in Resources module matches current staff list
Open proposals visible in Sales module pipeline
Forward Loading in Planning module is showing data (requires active resourced stages)
Slice By office filter returns only your office data when selected
Data quality flags reviewed and actioned or logged with your PM team
Custom Analytics Plus reports assessed - equivalent found in Insights Pro or flagged with our support team
Role based Checklist
Confirm the following in Insights Pro on Day 1.
Directors and principals
01 | Open Business Overview Check the FYTD revenue card, recovery %, and prior-year growth. Three numbers. If they look right, move on. |
02 | Check Planning - Forward Loading Look at Forward Loading by office. Below 2.0 months means the pipeline covers less than two months of capacity at current run rate. |
03 | Review Sales - Book2Burn Won fee/cap vs. invoiced revenue. A healthy ratio is typically above 1.5 on the three-month rolling average. This is your pipeline health check. |
04 | Try Slice By Every module lets you slice by office, discipline, or cost centre. Set it to your primary office and confirm the numbers before sharing with your team. |
Project managers
01 | Open Projects - Project summary table Find your active projects. Confirm fee/cap, invoiced %, and residual figures. Any project showing no fee cap needs actioning before anything else. |
02 | Check data quality flags Open the Data Quality page. Review major flags on your projects. Expired end dates with residual outstanding are the most common issue. |
03 | Review your WIP in Finance Open Finance, then WIP Value by Project. Note anything in the 61–90-day bucket that hasn't been invoiced. |
Finance managers
01 | Open Finance - opening dashboard Confirm total WIP, debtors, and 60+ day buckets. Check draft invoices outstanding. The daily revenue chart shows this month's invoicing pace against the prior month. |
02 | Review the PM Invoice View WIP, forecast, draft, and finalised invoices in one row per project per PM. This replaces the manual compilation most Finance teams were running outside the system. |
03 | Check Prebill Outstanding unbilled WIP on projects with no invoice raised. The best early indicator of upcoming invoicing opportunity. |
Recommended Phased Rollout
With 52 dashboards available, starting broad can work against you. The practices we've seen build strong reporting habits almost always start narrow and add depth once the rhythm is established.
Considerations for each role are listed below.
Role | Recommended starting point |
Assistant Project Manager | The focus is on project status and data quality, not financial performance. Finance and Business data isn't in scope at this stage. If your Assistant PMs carry more responsibility than this suggests, phase two can be adjusted accordingly. |
Project Manager | Start with a clear picture of their projects. Fee tracking, residuals, data quality, revenue forecast, WIP, and invoicing progress, alongside their team's utilisation and timesheet data. Gradually introduce dashboards like Sales Overview, aligned with your team's responsibilities, to give your team pipeline visibility for forecasting and project planning, if you decide to share that information. |
Directors | Leaders who get the most out of Insights Pro tend to start with three views: Business Overview, Planning Forward Loading, and Sales Book2Burn. Those three cover the questions that most often come up in a morning check-in: overall business health, capacity, and pipeline. |
Custom Access Levels | If your firm uses custom access levels in Total Synergy, these will appear alongside the standard access levels in the Insights Pro permissions screen. |
The table below organises access across three phases. Adjust it to suit your structure and the level of data openness across your firm.
P1 Day one P2 Month 2 P3 Month 3+
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I lose my data Analytics Plus?
Insights Pro accesses the same data source which resides in Synergy so no data is lost. While the dashboards may look different, the underlying data remains the same.
Can I run both Analytics Plus and Insights Pro at the same time?
Insights Pro will completely replace Analytics Plus, and it will no longer be available in Synergy. The upgrade will be automatic. We recommend recording any Security Matrix selections (Enterprise users) and user-specific filters before the release date on Monday 15th of June 2026 6am AEST. Use the Day One Validation Checklist in Appendix to confirm key figures immediately upon release.
Why is Forward Loading showing no data?
Forward Loading requires active projects with resourced stages in Total Synergy. If your firm hasn't been using the resourcing module, this view will be empty.
The Book2Burn ratio looks unusually high. Is that a problem?
A high ratio, above 3-4x, can reflect strong forward work or won projects that haven't yet started invoicing. Check the underlying won fee/cap figure. If the number seems implausible, check the date range filter.
Why does the Projects map show a configuration message?
The map view uses Azure Maps, which requires permissions enabled by a System Administrator within the Security Matrix. Refer to this help article: https://intercom.help/total-synergy/en/articles/6798389-special-security-consideration-for-synergy-analytics-maps
Who should I contact for more help?
For any questions about Insights Pro, contact Total Synergy Support as your first point of call via the Total Synergy Knowledge Base, or through the in-product Help menu. Additional configuration guides, dashboard walkthroughs, and release notes are available on the Knowledge Base. If your question relates to your rollout or access settings, contact your Customer Success Manager.
Is there a cost increase associated with the upgrade?
Insights Pro is included as part of your existing Total Synergy subscription at no additional cost. The upgrade from Analytics Plus to Insights Pro is automatic and does not require a new licence or plan change. If you have questions about your subscription, contact subscriptions@totalsynergy.com
I'm on the Business Plan. Will I have access to the security matrix?
The Insights Pro permissions screen is available on the Business plan. Navigate to Organisation Settings > Organisation > Insights > Permissions to configure access by role. The full set of 52 dashboards is available across all plans; however, some plan tiers may restrict certain modules. If a dashboard is not accessible for your plan, it will appear greyed out in the permissions screen. Refer to the subscription guide for role-specific suggested configurations, and contact Support via in-app widget if you are unsure which dashboards are included in your plan.