Time Tracking
Time is your agency’s inventory. Vantage makes tracking it effortless with one-click timers, quick manual entry, and weekly timesheets.
Three Ways to Track Time
1. Timers
Click to start, click to stop. The timer runs in your browser tab.
Start a timer
Click the play button or press T anywhere in Vantage.
Select project
Choose where this time goes.
Add description
What you’re working on (optional but recommended).
Stop when done
Timer saves automatically.
The browser tab shows your running timer. You’ll always know if you forgot to stop it.
2. Manual Entry
Log time after the fact:
- Go to Time → New Entry
- Select date, project, and duration
- Add description
- Save
Good for:
- Logging yesterday’s work
- Meetings you forgot to track
- Time from other tools
3. Timesheets
Weekly grid view for bulk entry:
| Day | Project A | Project B | Project C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 4h | 2h | 2h |
| Tue | 3h | 4h | 1h |
| Wed | 2h | 3h | 3h |
Best for:
- End-of-week reconciliation
- Teams who prefer batch entry
- Managers reviewing team time
Time Entry Fields
| Field | Required | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Yes | Where time is billed |
| Duration | Yes | How long |
| Date | Yes | When (defaults to today) |
| Description | No | What you did |
| Ticket | No | Specific work item |
| Billable | Yes | Include in invoices? |
Billable vs Non-Billable
Every entry is marked as one or the other:
Billable time:
- Included in invoices
- Counts toward project budget
- Affects profitability
Non-billable time:
- Not invoiced
- Still counts for utilization
- Internal meetings, admin, etc.
Default billable status comes from the project. Support projects might default to billable; internal projects to non-billable.
Descriptions
Good descriptions help with:
- Invoice line items
- Understanding where time went
- Client transparency
Bad: “Development” Good: “Built user authentication flow, integrated with OAuth provider”
Vantage can auto-generate descriptions from linked tickets. Enable this in Settings.
Approvals
Optional workflow for manager sign-off:
- Draft - Employee logs time
- Submitted - Ready for review
- Approved - Can be invoiced
- Rejected - Needs correction
Configure approvals in Settings → Time Tracking.
Approval Workflow
For teams that need oversight:
- Team members submit weekly timesheets
- Managers review and approve/reject
- Only approved time can be invoiced
Rejected time entries can be edited and resubmitted. Add rejection notes so employees know what to fix.
Rounding
Configure automatic rounding:
| Setting | Example |
|---|---|
| No rounding | 1h 23m → 1h 23m |
| 6 minutes | 1h 23m → 1h 24m |
| 15 minutes | 1h 23m → 1h 30m |
Rounding applies at entry or invoice level (your choice).
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
T | Start/stop timer |
Shift+T | New time entry |
G then T | Go to Time page |
Integrations
Calendar Sync
Import calendar events as time entries:
- Google Calendar
- Outlook Calendar
- Apple Calendar
Events become draft entries for review.
Browser Extension
Track time from any tab:
- Works with Jira, GitHub, Asana
- Auto-detects project from URL
- Timer persists across tabs
Reports
Time data powers multiple reports:
- Utilization - Billable % by person
- By Project - Where time is going
- By Client - Client-level summary
- Team - Who worked how much
See Reporting for details.
Common Issues
Forgot to Stop Timer
Timers running over 12 hours prompt a check. You can:
- Adjust the end time
- Split into multiple entries
- Discard the extra time
Duplicate Entries
The system warns if you try to log overlapping time. Review and merge or keep both.
Missing Time
Run the “Unbilled time” report to find approved time that hasn’t been invoiced yet.