Retainers that do not surprise you at the month end
Fixed hour packages per client are the business model, and the most common source of losses. MetronHR shows the usage per retainer while the month is running.
- Hour packages per client with usage as it happens
- Unused hours carried over automatically
- Hours billable per client, project and task
In short
Retainers are the business model and the most common source of losses. Consumption per hour package visible while the month is still running.
The retainer is used up before you notice
Agencies sell hour packages but work in tickets and chat messages. Between the hours sold and the hours worked sits the margin, and it usually only becomes visible after the month has ended.
Usage is recalculated, not followed
Adding up at the month end means the extra work is long done and no longer negotiable.
Unused hours lapse quietly
Without a carry-over it is unclear whether the client still has hours left, and that costs either trust or revenue.
Small jobs end up nowhere
Twenty minutes of corrections between two meetings never get booked and are therefore never invoiced.
Hour packages that carry themselves forward
Create an allowance per client, pick the period and decide whether unused hours carry over. Every entry draws on it, and you see where it stands while you can still act.
Usage per retainer visible at any time
For every client it is clear how much of the package has been used and what was carried over.
From the retainer to the invoice
Three steps that bring the hours sold and the hours worked together.
Step1
Create an hour package per client
Set the client, the number of hours and the period, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Plus the rule on whether unused hours carry over.
Step2
Book hours, the package draws down
Every entry goes to a client, a project and a task and draws straight on the allowance. Including the twenty minutes in between.
Step3
Check the balance and invoice
Usage per client in view, with the renewal running by itself at the turn of the period. For the invoice you export the hours as Excel or CSV.
What agencies need from time tracking
Retainers, project effort and workload, without cobbling spreadsheets together.
Hour packages per client
Allowances with a period, a usage display and automatic renewal.
Unused hours can be carried into the next period.
Client, project and task on every entry
Effort can be assigned right down to the task.
The basis for costing afterwards and for honest quotes.
Billable kept apart from internal
New business, internal coordination and client work kept cleanly apart.
You book internal hours without a client; they count as working time but not against the retainer.
Workload per person
Target, actual and the difference, with a daily breakdown.
Shows who is running over plan before overtime builds up.
Who is working on what right now
Attendance and the team's running entries on one page.
Helps with replanning at short notice when a client pushes something in.
Booking between two meetings
iOS and Android, on the way to a client meeting too.
Recordable on a train or at a client with no signal, and transferred afterwards.
Client data in Germany
Servers in Germany, encrypted, GDPR compliant.
It matters when your clients check data processing themselves.
No rollout, no training
Runs in the browser and as an app, with no rollout by an IT department.
Invite freelancers by email and deactivate them again afterwards.
For owners, project leads and the team
Four roles, four reasons, from the retainer to the payroll.
Knows which client pays for itself
The biggest client feels profitable, but it cannot be shown.
Hours per client against the package sold, with usage and carry-over.
Sees the need to sell more before it gets awkward
The package is empty on the 20th, and the requests keep coming.
Usage per retainer during the month, in time for a level-headed conversation.
Books without friction
Time tracking feels like being watched, so it gets avoided.
Pick the client and the task, done, at the computer or on the phone.
Gets the hours without having to ask
Hours from three tools that have to be merged before payroll.
One file per month, broken down by client and person.
Client data your clients are allowed to audit
Agencies process data for their clients, and are therefore audited themselves. MetronHR runs in Germany and provides the evidence that gets asked for.
- Servers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, so your clients' data stays in Germany
- Encrypted transfer and storage, documented in line with the GDPR
- A data processing agreement included, the document clients ask for during onboarding
- Roles control the access: not everybody on the team sees every client
Trust Center
Processing agreement and record included
Frequent questions from agencies
Retainers, carry-over and invoicing, answered briefly.
You create an hour allowance per client with a period, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Every entry draws on it, and at the turn of the period the package renews itself. You see the usage while the month is running.
When you create the allowance you decide whether unused hours carry into the next period. That way it can always be shown how much the client still has, with no side calculation in Excel.
Yes. Entries with a client go against that client's allowance, and internal time such as new business or team coordination you book without a client. Both count as working time, but only client hours draw on the retainer.
There is no automatic notification. MetronHR shows the usage per allowance with a status, active or used up, in the overview. Looking at it replaces the recalculation, but nobody wakes you with an email.
Freelancers are invited by email like employees and by default see only their own hours. Roles and departments control which clients and projects they see beyond that, and you deactivate the access after the project.
Customer quotas and project budgets are part of the Professional plan at 10 € per user per month. Time tracking with customer and project assignment, absences, overtime and Excel/CSV export are already included in the Team plan at 5 €.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
See retainer usage while the month is running?
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Questions about allowances and carry-over? Write to us: an answer within 24 hours, within 8 hours on the Professional plan.