Account lead
Sees retainer use, out-of-scope work, client acceptance, disputes, and the next commercial conversation.
Should we reprioritize, absorb, or request a change?Agency delivery time
Agency time tracking software for scope and margin
Relate every hour to the account, project, role, scope, retainer, approval, and delivery outcome that explains agency margin.
Agency time should help account, delivery, and operations leaders make different decisions from the same client, project, assignment, and time records.
- Client and project scope linked to team assignments and time
- Billable mix, utilization, write-offs, and retainer pressure visible
- Account and delivery exceptions routed to the right owner
Give each agency role the decision it owns
The same time line has a different meaning to the account lead, delivery lead, and operations owner.
Delivery lead
Sees planned versus actual effort, rework, blockers, overloaded roles, and unapproved time.
What must change in the work or staffing?Operations lead
Sees utilization, billable mix, margin risk, write-offs, capacity, and approval age across accounts.
Which pattern needs a business-level response?Team member
Selects the right client, project, work type, and billable state with the fewest necessary fields.
Can time be recorded accurately without slowing delivery?Connect commercial context to delivery work
Margin becomes explainable when the account, scope, assignment, time, and adjustment remain linked.
Account and agreement
Client, owner, service, commercial model, retainer or budget, dates, and acceptance rules.
What did the client buy and who owns the relationship?Project and scope
Deliverables, planned roles and hours, due dates, dependencies, status, and changes.
What work is inside the current commitment?Assignment and time
Person, role, project, work type, hours, billable state, cost context, and approval.
Is the right capacity doing the right work?Scope or margin exception
Cause, value, write-off, client response, corrective action, owner, and status.
Absorb, replan, reprice, or change scope?Use time to find the cause, not just the margin
Each measure should open the clients, projects, roles, or records behind it.
Billable utilization
Approved billable hours relative to available or planned capacity.
Retainer consumed
Approved client effort or value used within the current service period.
Write-off exposure
Work proposed or accepted as nonbillable, discounted, or disputed.
Scope variance
Actual effort beyond the current project or deliverable plan.
Adapt the record when the service model changes
New retainers, work types, role rates, review rules, and client evidence should not require a new system.
The team adds custom spreadsheets and manual reports when a new service does not fit the product model.
A trained administrator can add the service, scope field, rate source, approval threshold, account queue, or margin view around the same client and delivery records.
- Add a new retainer service
- Require creative-director review for rework
- Track client-caused delay separately
- Create margin views by service line
Questions about utilization, scope, and trust
Should agencies optimize for utilization alone?
No. Utilization is one capacity signal. Review it with scope, quality, rework, client value, team sustainability, pricing, and margin rather than using it as a standalone performance score.
How do we make over-servicing visible?
Relate time to the current scope, deliverable plan, retainer or budget, and client change decisions. Show work beyond those boundaries without automatically blaming the person recording it.
Who approves agency time?
Use the owner who can judge the relevant question: delivery completeness, account scope, or commercial treatment. These may be different decisions and should not be collapsed without reason.
When should an agency choose a dedicated suite?
Choose a dedicated agency or PSA platform when pipeline, resourcing, delivery, financials, billing, and performance must operate in its standard model. Choose Jodoo when the service workflow and records need more business-owned variation.
Test one account from assignment to margin decision
Use a retainer, fixed-fee project, planned assignments, out-of-scope work, rework, approval, write-off, and client-ready batch. Every metric should open the records behind the agency decision.