Harvest
Time Tracking
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Time Tracking Software for Engineering Firms

Harvest is your go-to time tracking tool that helps engineering firms recover 20-30% more billable hours, ensuring more accurate project billing and resource management.

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How much revenue is your team leaving on the table?

Most agencies run at 55-60% utilization. Even a small improvement means significant revenue. See what closing the gap looks like for your team.

Number of people who track billable time
$
Blended rate across roles (junior, senior, lead)
55%
Percentage of total hours that are billable. Industry average is 55-60%.
75%
A realistic target for service businesses is 70-80%.
Monthly revenue gap $0
Revenue at current utilization $0/mo
Revenue at target utilization $0/mo
Extra billable hours needed per person/day 0h
Annual revenue opportunity $0

Start tracking team utilization

Walk through the entire flow below. Start a timer, check your reports, and create a real invoice — all in three clicks.

Go ahead — start tracking!

One click and you're timing. Try it right here: start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Harvest.

  • One-click timer from browser, desktop & mobile
  • Works inside Jira, Asana, Trello, GitHub & 50+ tools
  • Duration or start/end — your call
  • Day, week & calendar views to stay on top of it all
  • Friendly reminders so no hour gets left behind
Acme Corp
Website Redesign
Homepage layout revisions
1:24:09
Content Strategy
Blog calendar planning
1:30:00
SEO Audit
Technical audit report
0:45:00
Brand Guidelines
Color system documentation
2:15:00
Logo Concepts
Initial sketches round 1
1:00:00
Today's total 6:54:09

The Strategic Imperative of Time Tracking for Engineering Firms

Accurate time tracking is crucial for engineering firms aiming to maximize profitability and streamline project delivery. Firms that transition from manual logs to intelligent systems can recover 20-30% more billable hours monthly, significantly enhancing cash flow and team morale. Furthermore, efficient tracking can expedite billing processes by up to 50%, directly benefiting financial operations. However, poor time tracking can lead to underbilling, missed hours, and inaccurate project estimates, undermining project success and financial stability.

Harvest offers a comprehensive solution tailored to the complexities of engineering projects, ensuring teams can log time precisely by phase, department, or task. Unlike generic time tracking tools, Harvest provides the context needed for engineering workflows, supporting phase-based tracking and project-specific billing models. This detailed approach not only aids in capturing every billable hour but also enables more accurate project forecasting and resource allocation.

Core Features for Engineering-Specific Time Tracking Software

For engineering firms, specialized time tracking software must offer features that address their unique operational needs. Key capabilities include phase-based and task-level tracking, which allows detailed insights into project phases and task-specific time allocation. This granularity supports accurate budget alignment and resource management. Additionally, Harvest facilitates project billing through automated invoicing and real-time budget-versus-actual reporting, accommodating complex billing models like fixed-fee and milestone-based contracts.

Resource management is another critical area where Harvest excels. The platform provides dashboards for real-time visibility into team capacity and utilization rates, helping prevent over-commitment and optimize workloads. Moreover, automation features such as AI-assisted entry and mobile/GPS tracking reduce manual effort and enhance accuracy, ensuring that every billable hour is captured seamlessly.

Compliance, Integrations, and Industry Standards

Engineering firms must navigate a complex landscape of regulatory compliance, especially when engaged in government contracts requiring DCAA-compliant timesheets. Harvest supports these needs by ensuring adherence to labor laws, union agreements, and federal standards. This compliance is crucial for firms to maintain operational integrity and avoid legal pitfalls.

Seamless integration with existing systems is also vital. Harvest connects with popular accounting platforms like QuickBooks and project management tools such as Jira and Asana, streamlining workflows and reducing data duplication. Additionally, robust data security measures ensure audit trails are maintained, providing clear records for compliance checks and safeguarding data integrity.

Implementing Time Tracking: Best Practices for Adoption and Success

Successful implementation of time tracking software requires a strategic approach. Begin by reviewing active projects and team work patterns to identify potential pressure points. Harvest's intuitive interface simplifies daily time entry for all roles, ensuring consistency and accuracy. Regular reviews and approvals throughout the week prevent end-of-period bottlenecks and ensure timely payroll processing.

Change management is crucial to overcoming employee resistance. Providing thorough training and communicating the benefits of accurate time tracking fosters a positive culture and improves adoption rates. Emphasizing the role of time tracking in achieving fair workloads and enhancing project planning can motivate teams to participate actively. Continuous improvement through regular audits of time-tracking data helps refine processes and optimize future project estimates.

Explore Harvest for Engineering Firms

Discover how Harvest streamlines time tracking for engineering firms, enhancing project billing and resource management.

Screenshot of Harvest time tracking for engineering firms showing project billing and resource management features.

Time Tracking Software for Engineering Firms FAQs

  • Specialized time tracking is crucial for engineering firms as generic tools often lack the project and budget context needed for engineering work. Harvest provides phase-based tracking, which captures detailed time data for each project phase, ensuring accurate billing and resource management.

  • Time tracking enhances project profitability by capturing every billable hour and comparing planned vs. actual hours. Harvest allows engineering firms to forecast project timelines accurately, improve staffing decisions, and identify unprofitable scopes early on.

  • Engineering firms should seek time tracking software with phase-based tracking, automated invoicing, and real-time budget reporting. Harvest offers these features along with dashboards for resource management and AI-assisted time entry, catering specifically to engineering needs.

  • Harvest ensures compliance with labor laws and union agreements, crucial for engineering firms. It supports DCAA-compliant timesheets for government contracts, helping firms adhere to federal standards and maintain operational integrity.

  • Harvest integrates seamlessly with accounting platforms like QuickBooks and project management tools such as Jira and Asana. These integrations streamline workflows and prevent data duplication, enhancing overall efficiency for engineering firms.

  • Harvest provides real-time dashboards showing team capacity and utilization rates, helping engineering firms manage workloads effectively. This visibility prevents over-commitment and optimizes resource allocation, ensuring project success.

  • Yes, Harvest uses one-click timers to automate time capture once started, ensuring accurate billing for fieldwork in engineering projects. This feature reduces manual effort and improves data accuracy.