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An agency has many clients, several people on each, and someone who has to know whether the work is still profitable. This is the setup Northwind Studio uses. It is built around one idea: delivery and money are two jobs, and they belong to two different people.
The example: Northwind Studio, 12 people, roughly 8 active clients. Maya Ellis (Owner) sets it up.

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Before you start

Plan requirement. An agency setup needs Pro. Approvals, budgets, invoicing, the client portal and exports are all Pro, and an agency uses every one of them. Free stops at 3 people. See Free vs Pro.

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The role split

The single most useful decision an agency makes in TimeTracker is separating Project Manager from Finance. They are siblings, not ranked. Priya approves the hours. Daniel bills them. Neither one can quietly do the other’s job, which is exactly the control you want when hours turn into money. → Roles and capabilities · Roles and permissions matrix

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Set it up

1

Maya sets the workspace basics

Name, URL slug, base currency (USD for Northwind) and timezone.→ Create a workspace · General settings
2

Maya turns off what an agency does not need

Leave on: Projects & tasks, Time tracking, Timesheets, Reports, Work schedules, Time off, Resource planner, Invoices, Expenses, Budgets, Client portal, Calendar.Turn off: Time Clock and Location rules. An agency measures project hours, not presence at a desk. Both are off by default anyway.→ Apps settings · Apps and modules
3

Maya invites the team with the right role first time

Give people the role they need, not the role that is easiest. A Member who is given Admin because “it was quicker” can change everyone’s rates.→ Invite a member · Change someone’s role
4

Tom builds groups that match your disciplines

Northwind has three: Design, Engineering, Delivery.Groups do two jobs. They make assigning people quick, and they feed supervision scope, which decides whose timesheets a manager can see. Priya supervises Delivery, and that is what puts Sarah’s and Jonas’s weeks in her approval queue.→ Groups · Supervision scope
A capability says you may approve time. Supervision scope says whose time. Priya needs both.
5

Maya sets a billable and a cost rate for every person

An agency without cost rates can see revenue and cannot see profit.→ Set a person rate · Cost rates
If one client has negotiated a different price list, set the rate at the client level instead of overriding it per project. The most specific rate wins: task, then project member, then person, then client, then workspace. See How rates are chosen.
6

Priya creates the clients, then the projects under them

One client, many projects. Keep every distinct engagement as its own project so you can tell them apart.→ Create a client · Create a project
7

Priya puts a budget on every project that has one

Fenwick’s Brand Refresh has no budget, and that is a decision, not an oversight. But it also means nobody is watching it. Only leave a project unbudgeted deliberately.→ Set a project budget · Budget alerts
8

Tom agrees the time policies once

How far back can people edit time? Is time billable by default? Decide it once, for everyone.→ Time policies
9

Priya invites the client contacts to the portal

The portal is what stops the weekly “how is it going” email. Ruth at Bluebird gets a login tied to Bluebird Coffee, and sees only what is shared with Bluebird.A Client role holds zero internal capabilities. Ruth cannot see your costs, your margin, your other clients or your team’s rates.→ Invite a client contact · What clients can see
A portal contact is a login, so they count toward your seats like anyone else. See Seats.
10

Daniel sets up invoicing

Fill in the sender block once, check the numbering, and set the tax and currency defaults.→ Invoice sender details · Invoice numbering · Taxes and currency

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The agency rhythm

→ Weekly timesheet routine · Month-end close · Monitor project profitability

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What agencies get wrong

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Capacity planning

An agency’s second question, after “is it profitable”, is “can we take this on”. The Resource Planner plans blocks of work per person per week, so you can see who is full before you promise a start date. Planned blocks are not tracked time – they are the plan, and the tracked hours are what happened. → Plan work blocks · Capacity and workload · Planner vs tracked time

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Common questions

In a small agency, often yes. Owner already holds every permission, so Maya can approve timesheets without a second role. As you pass about eight people, split it out – approvals are a real job and they need doing every week.
Yes. Give the Project Manager role to both, and make sure supervision scope covers the people each of them should review. See Supervision scope.
They already cannot. Seeing cost needs time.viewCost and rate.viewCost, and the Member role has neither. See Rate permissions.
Usually not. If one person needs one extra permission, change it on that person rather than building a role. See Per-person permissions and Custom roles.
Everyone with access – staff, contractors and client portal contacts – plus every outstanding invitation. See Seats and billing.

Set up a new workspace

The generic setup order.

Track work for a client

Run the first real job.

Month-end close

The agency’s monthly routine.

Setup for a remote team

If your agency is distributed.

Manage contractors

Freelancers alongside staff.