excede: The Monograph alternative built by engineers, exclusively for AEC firms
excede is a Monograph alternative for architecture and engineering firms that want to see profit by phase while the phase is still open. It reads the QuickBooks or Zoho Books you already use, and a dedicated team builds it around how your firm works.
Schedule a consultationProject
Harbor Street Mixed-Use
Multiplier
- Schematic design3.4x100% fee used
- Design development2.9x82% fee used
- Construction documentsWatch2.1x64% fee used
Who built it
Built by engineers who ran the firm
Jonathan Sharp, PE and Rafael Figueroa, PE, PMP got tired of finding out a project was underwater in month four. So they built excede for their own MEP firm, and that firm still runs on it. Every screen had a real user before it had a customer.
The multiplier on every phase, while it's still open
Each phase shows planned labor, logged labor, what's been invoiced, and the multiplier those add up to. You see a phase slipping while there's still time to change staffing or talk to the client about scope.
Numbers that stay where they happened
Hours stay in the month they were worked. Revenue goes in the month it was billed. Written-off time and invoices stay visible as a loss instead of disappearing into a good month.
One project, from proposal to closeout
Growth, Execution, and Finance read from the same project. The proposal's fee and staffing plan become the project's budget, and invoices land on the phase they belong to.
Comparison
excede vs. Monograph
Both excede and Monograph track time against phases and show how a project's fee is being used. The difference is what happens after the hours are logged. excede puts the multiplier on each phase, keeps write-offs in the numbers, and connects the project back to the proposal it came from and the books it ends up in.
What we've heard about Monograph
Monograph is a project tool for architecture firms that can be used to plan phases, track time, and create invoices. It is built around a phase timeline, and it leaves the firm's financial picture to QuickBooks Online and to whoever reconciles the two.
Consequently, firms that use Monograph mention that profitability by phase is hard to get out of the system, and that projects billed before the switch can be difficult to bring over. As a result, firms using Monograph may still keep a spreadsheet next to it to see whether a project is actually making money.
Why stop at planned, logged, and invoiced?
A phase bar that fills as time is logged tells you how busy a phase is. It doesn't tell you whether the phase is making money. excede shows the fourth number, the multiplier, next to the other three, on every phase of every project.
With excede, your firm can:
- See which phases are losing money while they are still open
- Write off what won't be collected, and keep it visible
- Bring in projects already billed in QuickBooks or Zoho Books
- Keep its books, timesheets, and calendars where they are
Questions
Frequently asked questions
See your own phases in excede
We scope your firm on a discovery call, then our engineers build the platform around how you work.
Schedule a consultationLast reviewed October 2026. What we say about other products comes from their public websites and public user reviews.