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Projects and time: tracking hours, budgets, and billing

Category Features Plans Pro, Growth & Care By Invio
Contents

Track time on jobs, run timers across devices, review and approve team timesheets, and turn approved hours into clean invoices with a click. Projects Pro adds job budgets, profit margins, cashflow tracking, and contractor logins.

Projects and time on Pro and Growth

Organise work by client, set up tasks, and keep every job on track.

Organise by client
Create projects linked directly to your clients. Each project receives an automatic, permanent project number (such as #201) and workflow stages: To start, In progress, On hold, and Done.
Tasks and bill rates
Break projects into tasks with their own hourly bill-rate overrides and item codes. Set default project rates or allow specific tasks to override them.
From accepted quote to project
When a client accepts a quote, convert it into an active project with one click. Tasks and quotes stay linked so you never retype job scope.
Configurable round-up increments
Choose how logged minutes round up at approval: 1, 5, 6, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Rates and billable minutes freeze upon approval.

Logging hours and running timers

Flexible time tracking built for desktops, laptops, and mobile phones on site.

Manual time entries
Log time by typing duration (such as 1h 30m, 1.5, or 90m) or clock start and end times. Add notes, select tasks, and toggle whether hours are billable.
Server-side live timer
Start a live timer with one tap. Because timers run on the server, they keep ticking if you close your browser tab, lose internet on site, or switch between your computer and mobile phone.
Regional calendar tracking
Hours are recorded against the calendar day in your business time zone, with sensible limits preventing accidental future dates or double-logging over 24 hours per person per day.

Timesheets and approvals

Review submitted hours, catch missing rates, and approve with confidence.

Weekly timesheet view
A clean grid showing hours logged across projects and days for the week. Team members can review their entries and submit the entire week in one tap.
Approvals inbox
Owners and admins see all submitted entries grouped by team member and project. Review unrated warnings before approving, bulk approve, or send entries back with a rejection note.
Self-approval for owners
Owners and admins can enable self-approval in settings, allowing their own logged hours to be approved automatically without extra review clicks.
Rate freezing on approval
Approving an entry freezes the bill rate and cost rate at that moment. Subsequent price changes in your item library or project settings will not alter past approved entries.

Billing hours straight to an invoice

Turn approved time into professional invoices without double data entry.

1

Check unbilled time

Open Projects and review your unbilled dashboard. See approved hours and dollar amounts waiting to be invoiced across all clients and projects.

2

Select what to bill

Pick a client and choose whether to bill all unbilled projects or select specific projects and date ranges.

3

Choose line detail

Choose how lines appear on the invoice: group by project, by task, by team member, or show individual time entries with dates and notes.

4

Generate draft invoice

Click Create invoice. A draft invoice is generated with all line items, rates, and tax calculations pre-filled. Hours are locked to the invoice so they cannot be billed twice.

Projects Pro: budgets, profit, and contractors

Advanced job costing, cashflow forecasting, and contractor management.

Projects Pro add-on

Included in Growth and Care plans. Available as an add-on module on Pro for A$9/month.

Project budgets
Set dated budgets for hours, fees, or both. Monitor real-time progress against budget limits and handle rollover across project milestones.
Profit by job & job costing
Compare billable revenue against cost rates (default cost rate per person plus project overrides) and project-tagged expenses to see net margins and profit per job.
Cashflow & reports
Forecast cashflow from work in progress, review unbilled versus invoiced amounts, and reconcile project earnings against client payments.
Contractor logins and payouts
Invite external contractors (up to 5 contractor logins included with Projects Pro). Contractors see only their assigned projects and log hours on their own statement. Track payout statuses from unpaid to claimed and paid.
Capacity & resourcing
Set capacity hours per cycle (weekly, fortnightly, or monthly), monitor team availability versus actual hours, and send reminder nudges to submit time.

Questions about Projects and time

Which plans include Projects and time?
Projects and time tracking are included on Pro and Growth plans. Projects Pro is included at no extra cost in Growth and Care plans, or can be added to Pro as a monthly add-on.
How does the timer work if I close my browser or switch to my phone?
Timers run on the server, not in your browser tab. When you start a timer, its start time is recorded in your account. You can close your laptop, open Invio on your phone, and the timer is still running with the exact elapsed time.
Can external contractors see my invoice rates or other clients?
No. Contractors hold a dedicated contractor role. They see only the specific projects they are assigned to, log their own hours, and view their own approved hours statement. They cannot view client invoices, billing rates, expenses, or business settings.
What happens when I bill hours to an invoice?
Approved billable hours are grouped and transferred onto a draft invoice. Invio locks those hours to the invoice so they cannot be billed twice. If you ever delete or void the draft invoice before sending, the hours return to your unbilled pool automatically.
How do project budgets work with job costing?
With Projects Pro, you can set hourly or dollar budgets for a project. As team members log approved hours and tag project expenses, Invio tracks actual spend against the budget and calculates live profit margins based on your cost rates.

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Projects and time: tracking hours, budgets, and billing | Invio