How do I choose between different time tracking software options for a multi-project design consultancy?

To choose time tracking software for a multi-project design consultancy, focus less on “clocking hours” and more on whether the tool supports how your team actually sells, plans, and delivers work.

1) Start with your real use case

Ask what you need the software to do:

• Track time by client, project, phase, and task
• Handle multiple projects per person
• Support fixed-fee, hourly, retainers, or mixed billing
• Make it easy for creatives to log time without friction
• Connect time to budgeting, profitability, and utilization
• Produce client invoices or export cleanly to accounting
• Give managers visibility into scope creep and overruns

If the tool doesn’t help with your core workflow, it won’t get adopted.

2) Define your must-have requirements

For a design consultancy, these are often the biggest differentiators:

Project structure

• Can you track time at multiple levels?
  • client → project → phase → task
• Can you use custom fields or tags?

Billing and finance

• Billable vs non-billable time
• Different rates by role/person/project
• Fixed-fee tracking against budget
• Retainer management
• Invoice-ready reports
• Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, or your accounting system

Team usability

• Fast time entry
• Mobile app and desktop access
• Calendar or timer-based tracking
• Reminders and approval workflows
• Easy editing for forgotten time entries

Management reporting

• Utilization by person/team
• Budget burn vs plan
• Profitability by project/client
• Forecasting and capacity planning
• Timesheet approvals

Collaboration and permissions

• Multiple permission levels
• Client-facing reports if needed
• Different access for designers, PMs, principals, finance

3) Separate “nice to have” from “critical”

Examples of common nice-to-haves:

• Automatic activity tracking
• AI suggestions for time entry
• Kanban or task management
• Full resource scheduling
• Expense tracking
• Custom dashboards

These can be helpful, but don’t let them distract from core tracking and reporting.

4) Evaluate usability hard

In consultancies, adoption is everything. If logging time feels annoying, data quality suffers.

Look for:

• Can users log time in under 30 seconds?
• Is it easy to copy last week’s entries?
• Does it work well on phone and desktop?
• Can it infer projects from calendar or tasks?
• Are approvals simple?

Best practice: run a trial with 3–5 real team members from different roles.

5) Check reporting against your business model

A design consultancy typically needs reporting like:

• Time by project phase
• Budget remaining
• Hours by role
• Utilization by employee
• Actual vs estimated hours
• Unbilled time
• Write-offs and non-billable analysis

If the software can’t answer these questions easily, it may not be the right fit.

6) Make sure it integrates with your stack

Common integration points:

• Accounting: QuickBooks, Xero
• Project management: Asana, Trello, Monday, Jira, ClickUp
• Calendars: Google Calendar, Outlook
• Payroll/HR systems
• Invoicing tools
• Slack/Teams for reminders

A strong integration can reduce manual entry and errors.

7) Consider scalability and admin overhead

Ask:

• Can it handle growth from 10 to 100+ users?
• How much admin setup is required?
• Can you create templates for recurring projects?
• Does it support multiple offices or remote teams?
• Is there audit history/versioning?

A tool that is great for a small team may become cumbersome later.

8) Compare pricing by total cost, not just subscription fee

Factor in:

• Per-user license cost
• Setup/implementation time
• Training time
• Cost of add-ons
• Reporting/automation limitations
• Hidden costs from poor adoption or missing features

Sometimes the “cheaper” tool is more expensive in practice if it creates manual work.

9) Run a short pilot with real scenarios

Use actual consultancy scenarios, such as:

• A fixed-fee brand project with phases
• A retainers-based client
• A project with a scope change midstream
• Multi-person time entry across overlapping projects

During the pilot, score each tool on:

• Ease of use
• Reporting quality
• Billing support
• Integrations
• Adoption likelihood
• Admin effort

10) Use a simple scorecard

Example criteria and weights:

• Ease of time entry — 25%
• Project/billing structure — 20%
• Reporting and profitability — 20%
• Integrations — 15%
• Team adoption — 10%
• Admin/setup effort — 10%

Score each vendor 1–5, multiply by weight, and compare totals.

Good fit vs poor fit

Good fit:

• Flexible project hierarchy
• Strong reporting
• Easy for designers to use
• Supports mixed billing models
• Integrates with accounting and PM tools

Poor fit:

• Built mainly for contractors or freelancers
• Weak reporting
• Hard to use daily
• No way to track budgets or phases
• Requires lots of manual cleanup

Recommendation

For a multi-project design consultancy, the best time tracking software is usually the one that:

1. Matches your billing model,
2. Makes time entry effortless,
3. Gives clear project profitability and utilization reporting,
4. Integrates with your accounting and project systems.

If you want, I can also help you build a vendor comparison checklist or recommend specific tools based on your team size and workflow.