Time management is crucial for productive and efficient project management.

The success and profitability of any project depend on how you utilize your time. If you dedicate all your time to one project to complete it weeks before the deadline, you may not get profit out of it. Similarly, if you don’t allocate reasonable time to complete the project on time, the client may not stay with you.

Therefore, you need a time management tool that’ll automatically help you manage your projects. In this article, we'll discuss how Harvest can manage time tracking, reporting, and invoicing.

What Is Harvest?

Harvest is a cloud-based billing and time management app that’s compatible with your Windows PC, macOS laptop, iPhone, or Android devices. It also supports Chromebooks through the Chrome extension.

The app supports both per-hour billing and invoicing by the project. So, it’s the perfect tool for freelancers, business owners of any size, and even for global enterprises. You don’t have to go through any learning curve to operate the app.

Free and Pro are the only two subscription plans for this app. If you need to manage your own timesheet and up to two projects at a time, you may choose the Free plan. However, if you want to manage a team, you can opt for the Pro plan for $12/mo/seat for unlimited projects.

Download: Harvest for iOS | Android | Windows | macOS (Subscription required, free trial available)

The following are the features of the app that should boost your project productivity:

1. Time Tracking & Reporting

Though your team members are responsible for filling their timesheets in real-time, you can also enter time for them in bulk. It helps in correcting the project course or complying with the client’s billing requirements.

The color-coding system of tasks and timesheets allows you to track which member is working on what task. You can also find out which team member is meeting the deadlines or lagging behind. Accordingly, you can further prioritize the project tasks to meet the overall client deadline.

The app categorizes time reporting under four basic categories, and these are:

  1. Tasks: A color-coded bar graph shows time spent based on tasks.
  2. Projects: You can compare project productivity by comparing project-wise time distribution.
  3. Teams: You can go as granular as possible by creating individual-level time reports.
  4. Clients: This time report shows time spent on tasks and projects for any specific client.

A time report from the Harvest app shows data like hours tracked, unbilled amount, billable hours, and billable amount.

2. Team and Projects Management

A visual showing the Harvest app's projects dashboard

It could be challenging for you if you need to work on timesheet management for your team members. The Harvest app helps you to manage remote or hybrid teams effortlessly without compromising your to-do list.

Harvest creates an easy-to-read dashboard. Hence, you can quickly understand what’s going at a glance. The dashboard reveals structured data like the following:

  • Who’s tracking their time, and who’s not?
  • What’s the billable hour tracking trend per resource?
  • Whether there are any differences between the tasks you allotted to them and the tasks showing completed?
  • Does your team properly utilize billable hours on productive work?

Within the bar graph for each team member, the light blue color represents capacity, and the dark blue color represents billable hours. If you see that the bars turning red, that means the team member is beyond capacity.

An image showing Harvest app projects dashboard for capacity

You can also become as granular as you want in managing project resources and billable hours. A detailed project-wise report tells you the following:

  • Total logged on time on a project per resource.
  • If you’re close enough to the time budget.
  • If you’re reaching the cost budget for the project.
  • Total hours not invoiced.
  • A department-wise project progress timeline.
  • Automatic alerts to warn you about possible behind-schedule issues.

Harvest lets you stay on top of your projects as well as make precise forecasts for future projects.

3. Timesheet

A visualization of Harvest app timesheets

The app’s user-friendly interface enables you to enter new tasks into the daily timesheet of a designated project. With the click of the time tracking button, you start the timekeeper that records the time as you work on the task. If you go for any break, you can pause the time tracking on this specific task.

Some projects may ask you to record breaks as well. You can start the timer for the tasks that are for breaks. This practice ensures efficient and accurate time tracking of your entire workday.

The Harvest app automatically calculates the cost to your client depending on the rate you feed while creating a project. It also gives you the option to enter an elaborate note on the tasks for future reference.

You can also create a weekly or monthly timesheet form for day-to-day time tracking. When you opt for such timesheets, Harvest adds up the hours you have worked on each task for the entire week or month and creates an invoice automatically.

4. Invoice Generation

You can convert timesheets into professional invoices using Harvest, which is one of the best free invoice apps. You can email the invoices to your clients as they are fully digital. The invoices show granular billable hours based on each task of the project in a structured way.

You can work for any client, as the app supports more than 180 currencies. Moreover, it automates the payment system through apps like Stripe or PayPal. The invoicing module of the app also has a reminder system to inform the client that the payment is due.

Moreover, the app lets you create insightful and professional revenue reports to reflect on your project profitability. You can apply filters to sort data based on any specific client or project.

5. Project Workflow Automation

You can automate your project’s time tracking and billing workflow with the Harvest app. The app integrates with more than 100 productivity apps. You can further create advanced automation scenarios by using tools like Zapier and IFTTT.

Related: Free Zapier Alternatives to Reduce Workload and Increase Productivity

The app can track time on other project management apps like Trello, Asana, Basecamp, etc., through integrations. You can also create timesheet entries or start the timer from Slack messages by using Slack integration.

If you manage your own taxes using apps like QuickBooks, FundBox, or Xero, you can import expenses and invoices data from Harvest. In a nutshell, Harvest becomes one source of truth for team and project management.

Start Tracking Your Time With Smart Apps

Now, you can deploy the right time management app for your projects after knowing the features of the Harvest app. You can use this app or any other time management app, as most advanced time tracking apps often offer somewhat similar basic features.

The critical part is that you need to enforce its usage in the right way to keep you and your team productive.