How agencies & service firms run projects, timesheets, and invoices

Every client project in CRMLeaf starts with a project record: client name, project type (fixed-fee, T&M, or retainer), budget or contracted hours, project team, start and end dates, and milestone schedule. Tasks are created within the project, each assigned to a team member with an estimated hours allocation. The project budget is set from the outset - and as time is logged against tasks, the system tracks budget consumed vs. remaining in real time.

Project managers see a live dashboard: tasks by status, team utilisation per project, budget burn rate, and days to deadline. They do not learn about a project running over budget at month-end. They see it when the project hits 70% of budget with 50% of scope remaining - in time to have the conversation with the client, raise a change order, or adjust the resourcing plan.

Time tracking in CRMLeaf is embedded in the task. A team member opens their assigned task, starts the built-in timer, works, stops the timer when done. The time entry is created automatically - linked to the task, the project, the client, and the billing type - with no manual transcription required. For team members who prefer manual entry, the daily timesheet view shows all their assigned tasks for the day with one-click entry fields.

Every time entry carries a billable flag - set automatically based on the project's billing rules. T&M projects mark all task time as billable by default. Fixed-fee projects mark time as non-billable (the fee covers everything). Retainer projects mark time as billable against the retainer cap, with automatic flagging when a client's included hours are exhausted and additional work tips into the overage billing tier.

Managers review and approve timesheets on a weekly basis - not at month-end. Weekly approval catches errors and missing hours within days of the work, not weeks. By the time month-end arrives, all time is already logged, categorised, and approved.

CRMLeaf's billing rules engine eliminates the grey areas that cause revenue leakage. For each project, the admin configures:

At the end of the billing period, finance navigates to the billing module and clicks Generate Invoices. CRMLeaf presents a list of all projects with approved unbilled hours for the period. For each project, it calculates the invoice amount automatically: T&M projects sum the approved billable hours by rate tier; fixed-fee projects generate a milestone-based invoice based on the project stage; retainer projects invoice the monthly retainer fee plus any overage hours.

Each invoice draft shows the line items, the time detail, and the total. Finance reviews, makes any adjustments, and approves. Invoices are sent to clients directly from CRMLeaf or exported to the connected accounting platform (Xero, QuickBooks). The entire process - for a 30-project agency - takes under 3 hours instead of four days.

CRMLeaf's project profitability report shows, for each active and completed project: total contracted value, hours logged vs. hours estimated, billable revenue generated, internal team cost (hours × internal rate), gross margin, and margin percentage. This data is available in real time - not just at project close.

For agency owners and finance leads, this report answers the questions that matter most: Which project types generate the healthiest margins? Which client accounts are profitable? Which project managers consistently deliver on budget? Which service lines are underpriced? These insights inform pricing decisions, resourcing models, and client relationship strategy - but only when the underlying time and billing data is accurate, complete, and linked to project scope.