Time tracking built for client billing and capacity
A global stock media and creative content platform tracks time against client creative projects in Airtable. Weekly hours per project, role, and assignee are captured via forms and interfaces, roles and projects filter dynamically by department or current user, and monthly rollups give lead producers and Finance visibility into billable versus non-billable time.
The problem
Manual time entry was slow, and with too many project options to choose from, entry errors were common. Endless scrolling through long lists and no inline editing made the process worse for the people filling in hours every week.
Lead producers and Finance had no easy way to see where time was actually going, which made client billing, workload oversight, and headcount forecasting harder than it needed to be.
What they built
The team built weekly time entry via forms and interfaces with day-of-month columns, so a producer or team member enters hours against their project and role for the week in one pass. Dynamic filtering scopes the project and role lists by department, assignee, and current user, cutting the list down to only what is relevant.
User fields sync into linked team member records via automations, and a monthly rollup totals hours by project and team member. Every entry classifies as billable or non-billable, and estimated versus actual time feeds headcount forecasting.
The outcome
Client billing and project costing now run on accurate, structured time data instead of manual reconciliation. Lead producers get workload and capacity visibility across their teams without chasing spreadsheets.
Time entry is faster and less error-prone with the filtered lists, and the estimated-versus-actual comparison supports data-driven headcount and resource planning.
Inside the solution
Time Tracking and Resource Planning for Client Billing
Resource & Capacity Planning
- Weekly time entry per project and role via forms and interfaces
- Dynamic filtering by department, assignee, and current user
- Monthly rollup of hours by project and team member
- Billable versus non-billable classification and estimated versus actual tracking
- Time-consuming manual time entry
- Too many project options causing errors
- Endless scrolling and lack of inline editing
- Difficulty understanding where time is spent
- Accurate client billing and project costing
- Workload and capacity visibility for managers
- Faster, less error-prone time entry
- Data-driven headcount and resource planning
- Creative Production
- Finance
- Lead Producers
- Salesforce
Time Tracking and Resource Planning for Client Billing
Capture weekly hours against client creative projects with day-by-day entries, roles, and billable vs non-billable classification, then watch rollups turn them into billing-ready totals, estimated-vs-actual variances, and team capacity views. Built-in automations spin up a time entry for every new project, flag projects the moment fresh hours are submitted, and email a Monday digest of unsubmitted timesheets.
From manual entry to billing-ready time data
Copy the templates
Build the weekly entry form
Roll up and classify
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Project and role lists filter automatically by department, assignee, and the current logged-in user, so each person only sees the handful of options relevant to them instead of the full list.
Every weekly entry carries a billable or non-billable classification at the point of entry, so the monthly rollup already separates the two categories without a manual reclassification step.
Estimated versus actual time per project surfaces where teams are over or under capacity, giving lead producers the input they need for forecasting future headcount.
Client projects import upstream from Salesforce, so the time tracking base starts from the same project list Sales and account teams already use.
No. This is a structured forms and rollup workflow. The account explores AI features in other parts of its Airtable usage, separate from time tracking.