Cost Management

Prova FM cost lines on a work order: a purchase pending approval and a posted vendor invoice

Every euro attributed, and a changed number that leaves a trace.

Costs attach to the work order as lines: invoices, labour and materials, approved, posted, and rolled up by building and by trade. Labour is valued at the rate in force when the hours were logged and is never re-priced afterwards, and when somebody changes a recorded cost, Prova logs an official correction instead of overwriting the original entry. Spending limits are defined at multiple levels and across different currencies, with approvals climbing the requester’s reporting line and falling back to the designated approver above the building, then to the owner. Consolidated expenditure reports can be pulled by site or by period with the invoices still attached.

A number that can be changed without trace is a number nobody trusts. Correction logging is what allows a finance team to accept operational cost data without re-keying it, and it is the difference between a spend report and an auditable one. On the control side, delegated authority written into a policy document is not enforced, while delegated authority built into the approval path is. The escalation fallback is the practical part, because most approval systems fail on absence rather than on policy, and a request stuck behind one manager on leave is how people learn to work around the system.

Prova FM cost lines register with the kind, amount, status, work order and building of each line
Every cost line across the estate, with its status, work order and building.

How it works

Cost lines

Invoices, labour and materials against the work order. Approved, posted, and rolled up by building and trade.

Correction logging

A changed cost is logged as an official correction, never an overwrite of the original entry.

Labour

Hours logged on work orders, valued at the rate in force when logged.

Approvals

Spend and completion sign-off, climbing the requester's reporting line with a fallback above the building, then the owner.

Spending limits

Multi-level limits and approval workflows across different currencies.

Accounts

Ledger accounts per building, asset, vendor or job. Balances computed from the rows, never stored.

In practice

A repair quoted at 2,400 euro invoices at 3,150, and the site manager cannot approve the difference.

  1. The Berlin AHU repair is quoted at 2,400 euro. The quote attaches to the job as a cost line and is approved.
  2. The contractor’s final invoice is 3,150 euro, for additional parts.
  3. The recorded cost is updated. Prova writes an official correction; the original 2,400 stays visible, with who changed it and when.
  4. The site manager’s limit is 2,500 euro, so the increase escalates to the country manager, who is on leave. It falls back to the designated approver above the building rather than stalling.
  5. 3.5 hours of labour are valued at the rate in force on the day they were logged, and are not re-priced when rates change in April.
  6. At quarter end, finance pulls consolidated expenditure for the German sites, with the invoices attached to the lines.

Finance accepts the figures without re-keying them, because every number can be traced and every change left a mark. The pattern is visible too: three of five air handling repairs this year came in above quote, all from the same contractor. One invoice at a time, that looks like nothing.

Illustrative walkthrough. Not a customer record.

What we will show you in a demo

  • A recorded cost changed, with the correction logged and the original still visible.
  • Consolidated expenditure by site and by period, with the invoices still attached.
  • An approval escalating past a manager on leave instead of stalling behind them.
  • Out-of-scope contractor charges that look entirely normal one invoice at a time.
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Questions buyers ask

Will our finance team accept this data?

Corrections are logged rather than overwritten and balances are computed from the rows rather than stored. That is what makes it auditable rather than merely reported.

We operate in several currencies.

Spending limits and approval workflows are defined across currencies, which is where a euro-denominated limit usually stops constraining anything.

Does it replace our finance system?

No. It attributes operational spend to the job, the asset and the building, with the invoice attached, so what reaches finance can be trusted without re-keying.

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Next step

See how to optimise your workflow and save money.

Thirty minutes on your own estate: your buildings, your obligations and your numbers. We will show you where the time and the money are going.

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