Effortlessly track hours, leave, invoices and absence – wherever and whenever you want. Try TimeWriter free for 2 months and experience the convenience yourself…
Billable utilisation tracking that rests on real records
Utilisation is the figure professional services firms steer on and the figure they trust least. That is rarely because the arithmetic is wrong. It is because the hours underneath it are incomplete, and an incomplete denominator produces a rate that looks precise and means very little.
The rate is only as good as the recording
A utilisation rate divides billable hours by available hours. Both halves have to be right. If people only record the work they expect to bill, the numerator is roughly correct and the denominator is fiction, and the rate comes out flattering.
So the first requirement is not a dashboard but a habit: everything gets written down, billable or not. Internal meetings, proposal writing, training, admin. Only then does the non-billable side become visible as something you can actually manage.
This is also why a rate should never be introduced as a personal target before the recording is complete. People respond to the measure, the recording bends to fit it, and the number stops describing anything.
What you need in place to measure it
The requirements are modest, but all of them have to hold.
billable and non-billable marked at the moment of entry
an availability figure per person that reflects contract hours
leave and absence deducted from availability, not ignored
hours attributable to a client and a project, not just a week
a period that can be closed so the rate stops moving
The availability side is where most of the error lives. Because leave and absence sit in the same administration as the hours, a month with two weeks of holiday is measured against the hours that were genuinely available rather than a nominal working month.
Reading it per person, team and client
A single firm-wide percentage hides more than it shows. The same 68 per cent can mean a balanced team or two people at 90 and three at 50, and those situations call for opposite responses.
Splitting by client adds the other half of the picture. Non-billable time concentrated on one account is not a utilisation problem at all; it is a scoping problem with that client, and it is fixed in the contract rather than in the schedule.
What to do with a rate that is too low
The instinct is to push for more billable hours. Usually the better first move is to look at what the non-billable time consists of. Firms that split it properly often find a large share in rework, in proposals that never converted, or in internal reporting that nobody reads.
Recording against budgets makes the rework visible while it is happening rather than afterwards, which is the only point at which anything can still be done about it.
The measure needs a stable period
A rate calculated over an open period moves every time someone enters a forgotten hour, which is enough to make people stop trusting it. Reporting on closed periods only, even at the cost of a few days’ delay, does more for the credibility of the figure than any refinement of the formula.
And a rate that looks too high
A very high utilisation rate is not automatically good news. Sustained above roughly 85 per cent it usually means development, proposal work and slack have quietly been squeezed out, and the effect shows up two quarters later in the pipeline rather than in this month’s figures.
Which is the argument for tracking the rate at all: not to push it up, but to notice early when it moves and to know from the underlying records exactly what moved it.
AT A GLANCE
Manage your time tracking efficiently and without errors
Clear time tracking is indispensable for every business. It provides insight into the performance of employees, the progress of projects and the total costs. With our software you easily keep an overview, prevent errors and save time. That way your records are always up to date and reliable.
Whether you work with permanent employees, freelancers or temporary staff: everyone can easily record their hours worked. The user-friendly interface and mobile app make it possible to log hours anywhere, both in the office and on the go. That way you always have current and correct data for invoicing and planning.
In addition to time tracking, you can also keep track of leave, sickness and other absences. Reports give a clear overview of the available capacity per week, month or project. That way you keep a grip on your organisation, avoid surprises and ensure an efficient use of time and staff.
Record your employees' hours accurately and effortlessly — per project, client or internal task. TimeWriter always gives you real-time insight into the hours worked, so you know exactly what time is being spent on. That way you prevent budget overruns and always invoice in full.
Track time quickly and without errors
With TimeWriter you track time in the way that suits you: automatically between two points in time or manually as a total. That way you record the time spent per task quickly and without errors — and you get the management information to structurally improve your planning.
Mobile and flexible working
With the TimeWriter app, employees log their hours anytime, anywhere — at home, in the office or on the go. All data is synchronised in real time, so as a manager you have immediate access to current and reliable hour data. No delays, no manual transfers, no errors.
Calculate and analyse hours
Want to know how much time a project really costs and what the return is? TimeWriter automatically calculates the hours spent per project — including the correct conversion of hours and minutes. That way you always have a grip on your project profitability and can adjust before it is too late.
Overviews per month and per project
TimeWriter gives you immediate insight into hours worked — per project, per employee or per month. See at a glance how many hours have been spent and how many are still available within your budget or planning. That way you monitor your capacity proactively and prevent costly overruns.
Keep professional time records
The system is ideal for time tracking within any organisation. Whether you have a small team or a large business: our solution makes tracking hours easy and reliable.
Example: a 40-hour working week
Does your team work a standard 40 hours per week? With TimeWriter you see exactly how those hours are distributed across projects, tasks and departments — accurate to the minute. No more unexplained hours, no more discussions about how time is spent. Just full transparency and a grip on your organisation.
Ideaal programma voor registratie van klanten op uurbasis, superpraktisch, intuitief, kortom, een kind kan de was doen. Mijn felicitaties voor de ontwerpers van dit onmisbare programma.
Heel gebruiksvriendelijk programma. Het bezit bijna alles wat ik nodig heb. Registreren van uren, klanten en activiteiten is super eenvoudig en overzichtelijk.
