Time tracking software for billable work: capture, approve and invoice

Define what the entry must explain

Choose the client, project, task, duration and level of narrative needed. A record that says work completed may be quick to enter but difficult to review when an invoice is questioned. Keep the detail proportionate to the engagement and avoid unnecessary sensitive information in notes.

For a fictional web agency, implementation, client-requested changes and internal rework may need different treatment. Decide how each is coded before the team starts recording time. The software cannot infer the commercial agreement from a timer alone, and a billable switch does not replace the project owner’s judgement.

Test the ordinary capture process

Ask staff to record a realistic day, switch between two projects and correct a forgotten entry. Inspect mobile entry if the team works away from a desk. The product should make the correct project and task easy to choose without forcing people to create ambiguous duplicates.

Check the time zone, date and rounding behaviour that apply to the selected configuration. Keep raw duration and billing treatment understandable. If the agency rounds invoice quantities under its client agreement, identify where that rule is applied rather than silently changing the underlying work record.

Separate approval from invoice readiness

Harvest’s timesheet guidance describes submission, approval and locking, with different permissions for managers and administrators. Inspect the scope of the approval in the actual plan and setup. A manager’s approval action can cover more than one individual entry.

Decide what the approver checks: coding, completeness, agreed scope or all of these. Then define the additional finance review before invoicing. A correct time entry can still be non-billable under the contract, already invoiced or awaiting a client decision. Keep those states distinguishable.

Inspect corrections and the review trail

Harvest’s approval FAQ explains scope and plan-dependent audit information. Ask the supplier to show who can unlock approved records and what evidence remains when they change. Do not assume every subscription includes the same activity history.

For the agency, deliberately correct an entry after approval in a test project. Inspect whether reports and uninvoiced totals reflect the change. If an invoice has already been issued, follow the organisation’s established correction process; changing a timesheet should not be assumed to rewrite a previously sent financial document.

Walk the record into the invoice

Ask how the proposed integration identifies entries already used in billing. Re-run the export or sync with harmless data and inspect whether it creates duplicates. Verify that a failed transfer is visible and recoverable. A connector listing does not prove that the exact invoice workflow is complete.

Compare the commercial model

Identify which people need to record time, approve it, administer projects or view reports. Check the chosen plan’s permissions and feature boundaries. Include the effort of maintaining project codes and rates, not only the seat fee. Avoid purchasing advanced reporting before agreeing the basic coding structure.

For the agency, create one ordinary hourly project and one fixed-fee project during the trial. The team may still want effort visibility on the fixed-fee work, but recorded hours do not automatically determine the client’s invoice amount. Ask the supplier to show those cases separately.

Make reporting useful to the next decision

Compare recorded effort with the estimate and investigate unexplained differences. Keep the period and entry state visible so draft, approved and invoiced hours are not mistaken for one another. Use the report to improve planning or billing review, rather than presenting a time total as a complete measure of performance.

Research the Harvest and Clockify profiles. The capacity and utilisation guide explains why scheduled and recorded time need separate definitions. Choose the process that makes a client-facing bill explainable and corrections manageable.

Frequently asked questions