Retainer burn check

Cadence: Weekly · Who: Managers and Owners

Situation

You want to know whether any retainer is running hot — burning hours faster than its monthly period can absorb — before you're past the point of renegotiating.

The worst retainer problem is one you discover at month-end. This play catches it at week one.

Example phrasings

• "retainer burn"
• "how are the retainers looking"
• "which retainers are behind pace"

What VERA returns

A table of every active retainer period:

| Client | Project | Hours budget | Hours used | % used | Days left | Status |

Sorted: critical first, then warning, then on-track.

Thresholds:

• Critical — already over 100% for this period
• Warning — pacing to finish over budget at current burn
• On-track — pacing at or under budget

For Owners, the table also shows contract value and projected margin for the period.

Who can run it

• Owners — full view including dollar amounts
• Managers — percentages and hours only, on their assigned retainers

Related plays

• Monday portfolio read — the broader weekly view
• Project health probe — deep dive on a single retainer
• Month-end margin review — what this rolls up into