Professional services automation, PSA, is the category name for software that runs a services firm's engagements end to end: the pipeline and the proposal, the resourcing and the timesheets, the billing run and the revenue recognised, and the reporting over all of it. The name comes from the enterprise end of the market, where a firm of five hundred consultants needs every one of those modules. A firm of five needs two of them, the client record with its engagements and the documents written from it, and pays for the rest only in configuration time. This page says what each module does and which a small firm can leave out.
The modules, and what each one is for
Pipeline and proposals: the opportunities, the statement of work and the fee. Resourcing: who is assigned to which engagement and when. Time and expenses: the hours logged against the engagement and the costs billed at cost. Billing and revenue: the invoices raised from the time and the fee, and the revenue recognised by phase. Reporting: utilisation, margin per engagement, backlog. A full PSA suite does all five and charges per user for it, and the value of the last three rises with headcount.
What a small firm needs from it
A firm below about fifteen people needs the engagement as a record, the proposal that opens it and the reference or the case note that closes it, the signature or the decline recorded against the fee, and an export the accountant can read. It does not need resourcing software to know which of four people is free, and its time and billing already live in its accounts package. That is the reasoning behind the CRM for professional services firms on this site: the record and the documents, priced for the whole firm rather than per user.
Where the documents fit
Every module in a PSA suite exists to feed or to follow a document: the proposal with its statement of work at the start, the invoices in the middle, the reference or the case study at the end. The free proposal on this site prices the statement of work from the hours, the rate, the phases, the expenses, the contingency and the deposit; the free reference letter structures the closing document from the engagement's facts; Sowbird Pro keeps both against the client and the engagement, which is the part of automation a small firm feels every week.
Questions people ask about what is professional services automation
Is a CRM the same as professional services automation?
A CRM is the pipeline and client part of it; PSA adds resourcing, time, billing and reporting. For a small firm the CRM with engagements and documents is the part that pays; the rest arrives with headcount.
Does a small firm need a PSA suite?
Not usually. It needs the engagement as a record, the proposal and the closing document written from it, and an export. Sowbird Pro is that, for one flat price; a suite is worth its per-user fee when resourcing and utilisation are questions the firm cannot answer by looking around the room.
What does professional services automation cost?
Suites are priced per user per month and add an onboarding fee; the free documents on this site cost nothing and Sowbird Pro is $79 a month for the whole firm.