Time Tracking for Consulting Firms

Run your consulting firm.
Track time, rates,
and approvals.

TrackingTime gives consultants a structured, auditable record of time by client, engagement, and seniority. Your team records time with the required billing context already attached. Approval workflows, structured reporting, and invoice-ready data are ready before month-end, without chasing entries.

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Used by firms worldwide

THE PROBLEM

The gap between delivery and invoice.

12 billable hours on a client engagement can become eight on the invoice. The work was done. The time data lacked the structure, context, and approvals that billing requires.

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Hours that don't reach the invoice

Consulting firms bill by the hour. Every entry needs to be attributed to the right client, matter, and person. Time logged from memory at the end of the week is incomplete.
Hours that were worked don't reach the invoice.

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Entries that can't be used for billing

An entry without client name, engagement phase, or service type can't be invoiced as-is. Clients dispute hours that can't be explained. Invoicing stalls waiting for corrections that should have been made at the source.

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Unnecessary month-end reconciliation

Approvals handled over email leave no audit trail. Two days before month-end, someone is still matching incomplete entries to engagements before the billing cycle can close.
The invoice goes out late.

WHAT TO TRACK

Billable time structured for consulting.

Consulting firms need more than hours worked. They need time data that’s structured, attributable, and ready for billing without reconciliation.

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Client and engagement hierarchy

In consulting, time belongs to a client, an engagement, and a phase. Structuring time the same way eliminates attribution work at the end of every billing cycle.

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Billing rates by role and service

Different people bill at different rates within the same engagement. TrackingTime applies the right rate automatically by seniority, engagement, or service type. No manual calculations at invoice time.

Required billing fields

Entries missing client, engagement, or description can’t be invoiced without follow-up. Required fields enforce the right context at the moment of entry, before the data reaches billing.

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Historical billing accuracy

Rates change over time. Work tracked in previous periods stays tied to the rate that was active then. Past invoices remain accurate as the team grows and rates are updated.

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Approval workflows before invoicing

Time entries can be reviewed, approved, rejected, and locked before billing closes. Approved entries can’t be edited retroactively. The review cycle has a complete record of every action.

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Full audit trail

Every approval, rejection, and edit is recorded automatically. The firm has a complete, timestamped record of billing activity for compliance, internal review, and client accountability.

APPROVAL WORKFLOWS

Structured approvals before every invoice.

Time reporting built for consulting firms

TrackingTime structures your time data from the moment it's recorded. Billing, utilization, approvals, and client reporting all work from the same dataset. Each part of your firm accesses the level of detail relevant to their work.

Your team logs time with billing context already attached at the source. The same structured dataset feeds your invoice preparation, utilization reporting, and client-facing reports without additional reconciliation. Less time spent assembling data before billing closes.

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Billing-ready timesheets

Filter your time entries by client, engagement, billing status, consultant, or reporting period. Billable hours are grouped by engagement and service type, so invoice preparation starts from structured, sorted data. You close the billing cycle faster because reconciliation is already done at the source.

Utilization across the firm

See billable utilization, internal work, business development time, and delivery capacity across your team by seniority level.
Spot capacity gaps and workload distribution issues before they affect delivery or profitability.

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Client-ready reporting

Give clients a shared report showing their hours by engagement phase, consultant, or deliverable category. No login required, no workspace access needed. Billing disputes decrease when clients can see their data before the invoice arrives.
You control how much detail each client can see.

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Controlled reporting workflows

Review, approve, and export reporting data before billing closes. Every exported report reflects approved, audit-ready time entries. The review cycle runs inside TrackingTime, so you don’t need a separate process for sign-off or manual assembly before reports go out.

Give everyone who needs time data access to the same source. Billing, utilization, and client-facing reports all reflect the same approved dataset.

BEFORE AND AFTER

From scattered hours to billing-ready records.

See how consulting firms move from retroactive time tracking and email approvals to structured billing workflows with clean, reportable data before billing closes.

Before TrackingTime

  • Weekly reminder emails go out asking the team to submit missing time entries.
  • Consultants reconstruct hours from memory days later, often without the billing detail needed for invoicing.
  • Someone manually reconciles spreadsheets, engagement codes, and notes before month-end closes.
  • Exported reports go through email for review and corrections come back manually.
  • Invoices go out late, followed by client questions about unclear or unsupported entries.

After TrackingTime

  • Consultants log time with required client, engagement, and description fields already attached.
  • Approval workflows route entries to the right reviewer before billing closes.
  • Approved, structured time records are exported directly from the reporting layer.
  • Billing reviews happen on audit-ready data instead of reconciled spreadsheets.
  • Clients see their hours before the invoice arrives, reducing disputes and delays.

Standardize approvals, billing workflows, and reporting across every engagement.

CONSULTING OPERATIONS

Full control over billing rates and approvals.

TrackingTime gives your firm the billing structure, approval workflows, and utilization reporting needed to run every engagement accurately. Your team records time with billing context already attached. You get real-time visibility into delivery, approvals, and engagement performance.

Multi-level billing rates

Apply billing rates by seniority, engagement, or service type. Every entry resolves to the right rate automatically. Teams can work on the same engagement with independent billing structures, without spreadsheets or calculations.

Approval workflows with audit trails

Review, approve, reject, and lock time entries before invoicing.
Every approval action is recorded automatically, creating a complete audit trail that keeps billing data consistent before the billing cycle closes.

Plans that scale with operations

Most firms start with Pro for billing rates, invoicing, and structured reporting. As approvals, audit controls, and client-facing visibility become part of daily operations, Pro Plus adds the controls needed for larger teams and complex engagements.

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FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Get answers to all your questions about our service and plans.

Will consultants actually track time if we implement TrackingTime?

The biggest failure in time tracking implementations is adding friction to a workflow that’s already busy. TrackingTime gives consultants multiple entry points — a timer in the browser, a mobile app, calendar integration for logging time blocks, and AutoTrack to suggest entries based on what was open on screen. The team doesn’t need to adopt a new daily habit. They can log time the way that fits how they already work, and TrackingTime’s required fields ensure billing context gets captured at the source without a separate follow-up step.

Is TrackingTime an employee surveillance software?

No. TrackingTime does not record screenshots, keystrokes, GPS location, or continuous screen activity. Consultants track their own time voluntarily, while managers get visibility into hours logged by project and engagement — not surveillance of how people work during the day. This distinction matters for professional services cultures where autonomy is part of the work environment.

Can different consultants bill at different rates on the same engagement?

Yes. TrackingTime sets billing rates at three levels: by user, by project, and by task. The most specific level takes priority. A senior consultant working on a general engagement uses their user rate. When they work on a task with a specific rate defined, that rate applies automatically. Different people on the same engagement can have completely independent billing structures without manual calculation.

What happens to billing rates when a consultant’s rate changes?

TrackingTime locks historical rates to the period they were active. If a rate changes in July, all hours tracked before that date still reflect the previous rate. Past billing periods stay accurate as the team grows and rates are updated over time.

We run fixed-fee and hourly engagements at the same time. Does that work?

Yes. In TrackingTime, each engagement has its own billing type. Fixed-fee engagements track hours against the estimated budget and show utilization in real time. Hourly engagements accumulate billable time for invoicing. Both can run simultaneously across different clients without any conflict.

Can time be reviewed and approved before it goes to billing?

Yes. TrackingTime’s approval workflow lets designated reviewers see all entries by consultant and period, approve or reject in bulk, and add comments to specific entries. Approved entries are locked immediately — no retroactive edits are possible after approval. The entire cycle has a timestamped record of every action.

What happens to entries that get rejected?

Rejected entries go back to the consultant with a comment explaining what needs to be corrected. Once the consultant updates the entry, it goes back into the review queue in TrackingTime. The rejection and correction are both recorded in the audit trail.

Can consultants log time retroactively?

Yes, within the policy window your firm configures in TrackingTime. Consultants can log time for any date within that window. Once a period is approved and locked, no retroactive changes are possible — the record is final.

Can clients see their hours before the invoice arrives?

Yes. TrackingTime’s Shared Reports give clients a link to a live view of their engagement hours by phase, consultant, or deliverable category. No login required. Your firm controls exactly what each client can see — they don’t access internal rates, other engagements, or anything beyond what’s been shared.

We bill by engagement phase, not by individual task. Does that work?

Yes. Tasks in TrackingTime can represent phases — Discovery, Analysis, Implementation, Review — rather than individual deliverables. Consultants track time against the phase and TrackingTime aggregates hours by phase automatically in reporting.

Can we export approved time records directly for invoicing?

Yes. Once a period is approved and locked in TrackingTime, the structured dataset can be exported filtered by client, engagement, billing status, and period. Entries are already grouped by engagement and service type with billing rates applied — ready for import into your invoicing system or direct use in invoice preparation.