SeeGlanceRun a small studio without surprises: budgets, timesheets and workload
A team of three makes new problems: projects that quietly burn through their hours, edited timesheets after the invoice went out, and one person always overloaded. Four habits handle most of it.
What changes when you go from one person to a small team
With three people on a handful of projects, four problems show up fast: a project quietly burns its hours, someone edits last month’s timesheet after the invoice went out, the same person is always overloaded, and nobody knows what is due this week. Each has a simple habit as its fix.
1. Give every project a budget — and an early warning
Set two numbers on each project: a budget of hours and a budget of cost. Hours are every tracked entry. Cost is contractor payments plus expenses plus team time valued at each person’s internal cost rate.
Then warn at 80% and again at 100%. At 80% you still have options: send a change order, cut scope or re-plan. At 100% the damage is done.
In SeeGlance, admins set budgets from the project’s cost panel. The first time a project crosses 80% and again at 100%, the workspace’s owners and admins get a notification; it only fires on crossing, so it doesn’t nag.
2. Lock timesheets once they’re billed
Hours that were invoiced shouldn’t change quietly. A lock date stops that: nobody can add, edit or delete time entries on or before it. In SeeGlance a workspace owner or admin sets “locked up to” a date; members can’t change time on or before that date, while admins can still fix genuine mistakes. Members can also only edit their own hours.
Set the lock after each invoicing run — the end of last month works for most studios.
3. Look at workload every week
Utilisation is simply logged hours ÷ capacity. A 40-hour week with 30 logged hours is 75%. Billable share is billable hours ÷ logged hours, which shows whether the time is paid time.
| Utilisation | Read it as |
|---|---|
| Below ~60% | Spare capacity — or time isn’t being logged. Sell, or check. |
| ~70–85% | Healthy for a team that also sells, plans and learns. |
| Above ~95% for weeks | Burnout and quality risk; hire, defer or say no. |
These ranges are rules of thumb, not standards; your own targets depend on how much of the week is billable. Set each person’s weekly capacity (the default is 40 hours; part-timers get less), and SeeGlance shows the last four weeks per person. For the current week it only counts the working days that have already passed, so a Monday morning doesn’t look empty.
4. Make tasks visible: who, what, when
Assign tasks on a project to a specific teammate with a due date. Each person sees their own open tasks, gets a reminder when one is due, and the task goes in their notifications. A task can only be assigned to someone who can actually work on that project.
5. A Monday summary
Once a week, owners and admins get one email covering the last 7 days: billed, collected, profit after costs, hours logged (with the top contributors), plus warnings for overdue invoices, overdue tasks and projects at 80%+ of budget. It goes out on Mondays (UTC), skips weeks with nothing to report, and can be switched off in the team settings.
Roles: who can do what
- Owner/admin: sets budgets, locks timesheets, manages members and sees the reports.
- Member: works on projects, logs their own time, completes assigned tasks.
- Viewer: read-only access for people who only need to look.
Keep admin rights to as few people as possible; they are the ones who can change locked history.
What it costs
The Team plan is $29 per month with 3 seats included; extra seats are $7 per month each. Pro is $9 per month for one person.
A weekly 20-minute team ritual
- Open the workload view: anyone over 95% or under 60%?
- Check projects above 80% of budget.
- Review overdue tasks.
- After invoicing, move the timesheet lock forward.
FAQ
What is a good project budget alert threshold?
80 percent gives you time to act: renegotiate, send a change order or re-plan. 100 percent means the budget is gone. Alerting only at 100 percent is too late.
Why lock timesheets?
Once hours are invoiced or paid, changes cause disputes and wrong profit numbers. Locking up to a date stops members from editing history while admins can still correct genuine mistakes.
How is utilisation calculated?
Logged hours divided by the person’s weekly capacity. A 40-hour week with 30 logged hours is 75 percent. Billable utilisation looks only at billable hours.
How many people does the Team plan include?
Three seats are included; extra seats cost $7/month each.
Run this whole workflow in one place?
Team plan: $29/month with 3 seats included. Budgets with alerts, timesheet lock, workload report, assigned tasks and a Monday digest.
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