A "time and materials" project is a type of project in which billing is based on the actual time spent on the project by tracking hours, as well as any direct expenses incurred during the project's execution.
How to create time and materials project?
Go to Projects section (left bar) or use +New button in upper right corner
+ New project
Enter the Project name
Choose the Project type Time and materials
Input the start and expected end dates of your project
Choose the Project category or create a new one
Choose the Billing category (whether is billable or non-billable)
In the Note section, you can add internal notes for your team, whether it's a note for finance managers, account managers, or anything else that needs to be kept in mind.
Pick the Brand under which you want to create a new project. If the brand is not on the list you can easily create a new one directly in this step
Select the rate card that should be applied to the project (if the Brand is already selected, Allfred will offer you rate cards created for the chosen brand. Otherwise you can select one of the Default rate cards)
Set the Contact person on the client side (not mandatory in this step. Contact person si required for invoicing process)
Select the Team to which the project belongs
Set the Project Manager (the main PM who will be responsible for budgets, preparing invoicing documents, assigning expenses, monitoring project reports, and adjusting time tracking and tasks created by other team members)
Set Other project managers (other PMs involved in the project with same permissions as main PM)
Click on “Create project”
Managing Time and Materials Projects
Project Overview
Allfred provides detailed insights into various aspects of your T&M projects, including the time spent, received expenses, and project billings. Here’s how you can manage each component:
a) Work:
Summary: Allfred offers a complete overview of the work done on your project. The summary includes the total time spent (in hours) and the corresponding monetary value, calculated as the number of tracked hours multiplied by the used client hourly rate.
Work items:
For every T&M project, Allfred automatically creates a budget item with the same name as the project. This default setup ensures you have a clear starting point for creating tasks and tracking your time
To better structure your project, you can create additional budget items by clicking the “New Budget Item” button.
Under each budget item, you can create tasks and track time. Allfred will provide a comprehensive view of the work completed, the time spent on tasks, and invoicing information.
b) Expenses:
Summary: here you can find the total amount of received expenses
Expense Items:
In each expense type tab (Production, Media, Royalties), Allfred pre-creates an expense item for assigning received costs.
You can also create new budget items within these tabs for a clearer structure of project costs.
Based on the invoiced amount and the amount of received expenses, Allfred calculates the actual profit for each budget item.
c) Billing Info:
Total: Represents the total spending on the project, including both work spent and expenses received.
Invoiced: This is the sum of all invoiced amounts on the project. By clicking “Invoiced,” Allfred opens a modal with detailed invoice information.
Uninvoiced: This figure represents the amount yet to be invoiced, which includes work spent and expenses received that have not been covered by outgoing invoices.
From Prepayments: Shows the used credit from prepayments (credit accounts).
Billing Plan: Opens a modal with the planned invoicing schedule, allowing you to evaluate plan vs. reality.
How to change the rate card or hourly rates in Time and Materials project?
Navigate to "Settings" in project detail
Select the Rate card from the list and click on "Apply" or change the hourly rate for the required position
Only the active default and brand rate cards are displayed
if you need to add new positon in the rate card, it is necessary to edit the original rate card (by clicking on "Edit this rate card in settings) and then go back to the project, re-select the updated rate card and confirm it by clicking on "Apply" button
Invoicing of Time and Materials Projects
Invoicing T&M projects in Allfred is flexible, with multiple ways to initiate the invoicing process:
Invoicing Options:
From Navigation Bar: Click on the “+New” button in the upper right corner -> Invoice.
Project Detail: Navigate to the project detail page -> Actions -> Invoice.
List of Projects: From the list of projects, click on the actions button (three dots) next to a project -> Invoice.
Finance Section: Go to Finance -> Outgoing Invoices -> Add New.
Budget Item: Click on the invoiced amount within the budget item you want to invoice -> Invoice.
Step-by-Step Invoicing Process:
Step 1: Invoice Creation
If you start from the project detail page, all the relevant data (brand, billing address, project, contact person, etc.) will be automatically pre-filled.
If starting from scratch, you’ll need to fill in the required fields: brand, billing address, project, contact person, owner, team, legal entity (if multiple exist in your workspace), and bank account.
Step 2: Define What to Invoice
Work category: All created work budget items are listed here. When expanded, you can see a summary of tracked hours.
Select the time range to display tracked hours for the given period.
You can choose to group time entries within each budget item by Date, Month, Position, Task, User, or Week.
Use filters (User, Work Budget Item, Task, or Position) to narrow down the work spent that you want to invoice.
By checking the checkboxes, select the tracked hours you wish to invoice, or select all at once by checking the checkbox of the main light blue row representing all work budget items.
Allfred automatically calculates the total amount. You can edit this amount if needed, and the original amount will be displayed in brackets next to the edited field.
Expenses: All budget items are listed (including default ones like Production, Media & Royalties, and those you’ve manually created).
Mark the expenses you want to invoice by checking the checkboxes.
You can add a commission in % that will be added to the price of received expenses.
Step 3: Invoice Finalization
Specify details like dates, VAT, or attach a purchase order (these fields are displayed based on your role in Allfred)
Insert the text on the invoice.
Click on “Generate from” to transfer all selected items from Step 2. Depending on what you chose in the “Group by” option, Allfred will offer options to generate data from Budget Items or another criterion.
In case you edited the amount in Work items, only "generate from budget items" is available
You can add new rows or change amounts, but the total amount must match the total from Step 2.
Click on "Create" if you are Admin or CFO, or on "Submit for invoicing" for users with lower roles
