Every client meeting, email, payroll run, tax calculation, review, phone call, and piece of advisory work consumes time. Yet many firms struggle to capture that effort accurately, which often results in under-recovery, inaccurate profitability reporting, and unnecessary revenue leakage.

The Time Logging features in DataGrows were designed to make time capture simple, accurate, and integrated into your daily workflow.

The goal is simple: if work was done, it should be visible, measurable, and available for billing and profitability analysis.

Many firms only think about timesheets when it is time to invoice.

The most successful firms think about timesheets differently.

Time tracking helps firms:

✅ Understand profitability

✅ Price services correctly

✅ Measure team utilisation

✅ Review workloads

✅ Support retainer discussions

✅ Improve resource planning

✅ Recover work that would otherwise be forgotten

Even where a service is fixed or value-based fee, understanding the time spent remains critical for measuring profitability.

DataGrows encourages users to log time directly against the task they are working on.

This creates a powerful connection between:

Client

⬇

Task

⬇

Time

⬇

Billing

⬇

Profitability

Rather than entering timesheets separately at the end of the day or week, users can capture time as they work.

The answer is simple:

Whenever possible, log time directly on the task you're working on.

Examples include:

This gives management much better visibility into where effort is being spent.

A typical day should look something like:

Open:

All Tasks Due

Identify the next task to work on.

Open the task.

Start timing.

Complete the work.

Add notes and progress updates.

Stop timing.

Move to the next task.

By keeping time logging connected to task management, your timesheets remain up to date almost automatically.

All tasks in DataGrows include a timer button.

When beginning work:

The timer tracks the time spent against that specific client and service.

When you finish:

Your timesheet is updated automatically.

One of the most exciting recent additions to DataGrows is:

This feature removes much of the manual timer management process.

When enabled:

✅ Opening a task automatically starts the timer.

✅ Opening another task automatically stops the previous timer.

✅ DataGrows transfers the timer to the newly opened task.

✅ No manual start/stop process is required.

This encourages far more consistent time tracking.

Auto Timer is configured on the user record.

Navigate to:

Setup & Integrations → Setup → Accountants

Open the user record.

Enable:

Auto Timer

Save the record.

NB: PLEASE REFRESH YOUR BROWSER FOR THE CHANGE TO TAKE EFFECT.

Many users forget to:

Auto Log Time significantly reduces these issues.

The result is:

✅ Better timesheet accuracy

✅ More complete records

✅ Improved profitability reporting

✅ Less missed time

The best timesheets tell a story.

When working on a task, always consider adding notes such as:

Examples:

✅ Bank reconciliations completed

✅ Awaiting signed financial statements

✅ Client requested payroll adjustments

These notes become valuable during billing, reviews, and client discussions.

Not every activity belongs to a compliance service.

For example:

These should typically be logged through:

or

This ensures all effort is captured consistently.

Time logging is a core part of the Profit Precision framework.

As time is recorded, DataGrows can help answer important questions such as:

Without accurate time data, these insights become much less reliable.

After time has been logged, managers can review and authorise it before billing.

Typical statuses include:

Work completed and reviewed.

Ready to be billed.

Not yet ready for billing.

Internal non-client work.

Work that will not be billed.

This process is covered in more detail in the Profit Precision training series.

This often leads to inaccurate timesheets.

Try to record time while you work.

Every activity should be linked to a task where possible.

Notes help explain the value of the work completed.

Avoid maintaining separate spreadsheets or notebooks.

DataGrows should be your primary source of time recording.

Emails, calls, follow-ups, and advisory discussions can add up significantly over time.

Users should regularly review their time entries to ensure:

✅ Time has been captured accurately

✅ Notes are sufficient

✅ Work has been assigned correctly

✅ No large timing errors exist

Managers can also review team activity through reporting and billing workflows.

Understand the true cost of servicing clients.

Support fee reviews with real data.

Understand team workload and utilisation.

Recover work that may otherwise be forgotten.

Provide evidence when discussing retainers and scope changes.

Don't wait until later.

Where appropriate, enable automatic timer management.

Use DataGrows as your daily work queue.

Don't rely on memory later.

Small corrections are easier than major month-end cleanups.

Even fixed-fee work provides valuable profitability information.

✅ Time should be logged directly against the task being performed.

✅ The timer can be started manually or automatically using Auto Log Time.

✅ Opening a new task can automatically stop and transfer timing when Auto Log Time is enabled.

✅ Notes provide valuable context for billing and profitability analysis.

✅ Firm & Ad Hoc Tasks should be used for non-standard work.

✅ Accurate time tracking supports billing, pricing, profitability, and resource planning.

✅ DataGrows works best when it becomes your primary system for managing both tasks and time.

Remember:

You can't improve what you don't measure. Time logging is not simply about billing clients. It's about understanding where your team invests effort, identifying opportunities for improvement, and ensuring that the value your firm creates is recognised, measured, and recovered. ⏱️📈✅