Project budgets

Always know where your project budget stands

Book hours to projects, see live how much budget is left, and keep the budget status in view at any time.

  • No more overrunning budgets by accident
  • A target-against-actual traffic light per project: on plan, at risk, over budget
  • GDPR compliant, hosted in Germany

An end to flying blind on budgets

Do you only notice at the month end that a project went over budget long ago? Many owners know the feeling, and it costs real money.

Problem

Budget surprises at the month end

You only find out at invoicing that a project ate far more hours than planned.

Problem

Tracking hour packages in Excel

Which client still has how many hours left? The Excel sheet is out of date again.

Problem

No overview of project costs

Which projects are profitable, which eat the margin? Without a report you do not know.

Solution

Project budgets that update themselves

Every time entry updates the project budget automatically. You see at a glance how much is left, and the traffic light tells you at once when it gets tight.

Projects, plan against actualPlanActual
Practice refurbishment, Praxis Dr. Lindner33:30h left
Aktenumzug, Kanzlei Ruhrmann9:00h left
Warenwirtschaft, Apotheke am Markt57:00h left
On-call rota, Tierklinik Nordstadt3:30h over
Terminal rollout, Physio Wiesengrund21:00h left
Röntgenraum, Zahnarzt Brinkmann26:30h left
Lagerumbau, Sanitätshaus Kley15:00h left
Practice website, Logopädie Steinweg12:30h left

Result

Fewer surprises, better margins

With MetronHR you no longer overrun a budget by accident: every time entry updates the remaining budget automatically.

Client hour packages1 running low
Dr Lindner practice17:30h remaining
Ruhrmann law firm6:30h remaining
Apotheke am Markt46:00h remaining
Tierklinik Nordstadt0:45h remaining
Physio Wiesengrund14:30h remaining
Zahnarzt Brinkmann7:30h remaining
Sanitätshaus Kley27:45h remaining
Logopädie Steinweg7:30h remaining
Augenzentrum Süd15:00h remaining

This is how you keep your project budgets under control

From budget planning to invoicing, in three simple steps.

Step1

Set the budget and the hourly rates

Set an hour allowance per project or client and store the agreed hourly rates.

Set it up once, from then on it runs by itself
Practice refurbishmentDr Lindner practice
Booked so far 46:30h, that is58 per cent of the new budget
80:00h0h60h120h
When the warning threshold is reachedA message to the project lead

Step2

Book hours, the budget updates live

Your team records hours as usual, the remaining budget updates itself. From 80% the budget status turns amber (at risk).

You do not have to recalculate anything by hand
Practice refurbishmentDr Lindner practice1:42:07
46:30h von 80:00h33:30h frei
15:00h
13:30h
10:00h
8:00h

Step3

Reporting and invoicing

Create reports per project or client, as the basis for invoices or for internal reporting.

Invoicing in the open, which clients trust
Abrechnung September
ProjectErfasstBillable
Practice refurbishment46:30h44:00h
Aktenumzug31:00h31:00h
Warenwirtschaft63:00h58:30h
On-call rota28:30h25:00h
Terminal rollout11:00h11:00h
Röntgenraum33:30h31:00h
Lagerumbau33:00h31:30h
Practice website7:30h7:30h
Total254:00h239:30h

What project budgets can do in MetronHR

Everything you need to keep projects profitable, without over-engineering.

Budgets

Flexible budget models

Fixed price or hours based, depending on the client project

Decide per project whether it is billed by the hour or at a fixed price

Cost tracking

Automatic cost calculation

Actual costs against budget, always current, with every time entry

No more recalculating by hand, the figures always add up

Billing

Margin per project

Hours, revenue and margin in one table, the basis for your next quote

Export as Excel or CSV for the invoice and for after-the-fact costing

Budget status

Budget status at a glance

The traffic light shows at once how much budget is left

Green on plan, amber from 80% (at risk), red above 100%, per project

Hourly rates

Individual hourly rates

Different prices per service and client

Flexible pricing for different activities

Analytics

Project reports

See at a glance which projects are profitable

Filter and export reports by client, project and period

Clients

Client assignment

Every budget is assigned directly to a client

Store hourly rates and terms per client

Billing

Keep billable and internal apart

Billable and internal hours are separated automatically

Mark hours as billable or internal, calculated separately

Who gets something out of project budgets?

For everyone who wants to run client projects profitably, whether that is an agency, a consultancy or an IT service provider.

Owner or director

Profitability in view

You do not know which projects make money and which cost margin

See at a glance how profitable each project is, and step in while there is still time

Team lead

Put people where they are needed

The team works on projects without knowing how much budget is left

Your team sees the remaining budget and can judge the effort better

Employee

Working in the open

No certainty whether your own work still fits the client's allowance

While you book hours you see directly how much of the allowance is left

Accountant

Clean project reports

Incomplete or faulty records of hours for invoicing

Export complete project reports, ready to work on further

Your project data is safe

Sensitive budget and cost figures deserve particular protection.

  • Encrypted storage of all project data
  • Role-based access rights, not everyone sees everything
  • GDPR compliant, hosted on German servers

Trust Center

Made in Germany

Developed and hosted in Germany
Trust Center

Frequent questions about project budgets

The essentials on budget control and after-the-fact costing in MetronHR.

You can choose between fixed price budgets, hour allowances or open projects, depending on what you agreed with your client.

MetronHR shows the budget status as a traffic light: green (on plan), amber from 80% (at risk) and red above 100% (over budget). The project overview shows you at a glance which projects are heading for the limit.

Project budgets steer a single project against hours and an hourly rate, for fixed price and project work. Client allowances are fixed hour packages per client with a period, a usage display and carry-over of unused hours, for retainers and framework agreements. You can use both side by side.

Yes, you can set different hourly rates per activity and client. The calculation runs by itself.

Yes, budgets can be adjusted at any time. The hours already booked stay as they are, and from the change onwards the traffic light measures against the new amount.

You can filter reports by client, project and period and export them as CSV or Excel, ready to work on further or to invoice the client.

Project budgets are part of the Professional plan. During the trial you can try them out with no obligation.

Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.

Ready to make your projects profitable?

Try MetronHR free for 14 days. No credit card, no tricks.

Questions? Send us a message