Why it matters
- 66.4%
- Billable utilization at professional-services firms in 2025, the lowest on record, against a 75% target.
- 9.9%
- Firm profitability (EBITDA), well below the 13.8% five-year average.
- 47%
- Accuracy of timesheets filled in weekly. Daily logging only reaches 66%.
Source: SPI Research, 2026 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark
Source: SPI Research, 2026 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark
Source: Accelo, Time IS Money study of 500+ professional-services workers
What good team visibility looks like
Status
What got done, and where every project stands
“What did the team work on last week, and is it the right work?”
Capacity
Who's stretched, and who has room
“Who's overloaded, and who can take more?”
Fires
What needs attention now
“Which client or project is about to go over? What's blocked?”
Upcoming
What's landing next, before it lands
“What's coming up soon?”
Step 1: Decide what matters
Start with the questions you want answered.
- Know your outcomes. What do you need to see every week?
- Start simple. Track only what answers those questions.
- Less is more. Focus on what's important, or you'll drown in information.
I run a [type of firm] with [number] people. Most of our work is [fixed fee / retainer / hourly]. Help me write the 3 to 5 questions I need answered about my team's time every week, grouped under Status, Capacity, Fires and Upcoming. Then recommend the simplest tracking setup (clients, projects, tasks or labels) that answers them. Simpler is better: less admin, more accuracy.
Step 2: Set up before you invite
Tracking starts the moment your team joins, so get it ready first.
- Add your clients and projects. Import them from your project tool or a list.
- Set team defaults. Everyone starts from the same settings, and can adjust their own.
- Give it context. Tell the workspace and agent about your firm, your clients and what matters.
Here's context about our firm. We're a [type] firm with [number] people. Our main clients are [list]. Most work is [fixed fee / retainer / hourly], and each client has a monthly budget of roughly [hours]. Team roles are [roles]. Each week we want to know: [your questions from Step 1]. Use this context in every report and answer.
Step 3: Message and invite the team
Talk to the team first, then send the invites.
- Hold the team meeting. Explain the why, what's in it for them, and how privacy works.
- Send the script. Follow up in writing.
- Invite and start tracking. Time rolls in right away. People review and approve their own.
I'm introducing automatic time tracking to my team at a professional-services firm. Draft 20-minute meeting talking points covering: why we're doing this, what data is captured (metadata only, no screenshots or keystrokes), who sees what (time by client and project, not what's on screen), how it will and won't be used, and what's in it for the team (no timesheets, credit for all their client work, avoiding overload). Keep it honest and leave room for questions.
Hi team,
As we discussed, we're starting to use Rize to get a clearer picture of where our client time goes, so we can stop doing timesheets and cut down on status check-ins.
How it works
- No timesheets. It runs in the background and organizes time by client and project automatically. There's nothing to start, stop, or log.
- Privacy first. It captures metadata only: no screenshots and no keystrokes. You control your own privacy settings, and you review and approve your own time.
- What I see. Time by client and project, not what's on your screen.
Why we're doing it
- To spot overload early and rebalance before anyone burns out
- To catch clients and projects going over before it's a problem
- To make sure all the client work you do gets counted
What happens next
- Invites go out on [date]
- We'll review the first team report together in two weeks, and I want your feedback on what's useful and what's not
Questions or concerns? Reply here or grab me anytime. I'd rather hear them now.
Step 4: Time rolls in
No timesheets. Just a quick review.
- Captured automatically. Time is tracked and sorted to clients and projects as people work.
- Reviewed by your team. Each person checks and approves their own time.
- Helped by a routine. A daily routine catches anything unassigned or off.
What this looks like with Rize
- 85%
- Client classification accuracy
- 95%
- Label accuracy, consistently
- 1 to 2 min
- Review time per day, max
- 72 min
- Saved per team member, per week
Surveyed from Rize customers.
Every weekday morning, review yesterday's time entries for the team. List any time that's unassigned, looks misclassified, or is unusual (very long or very short days), with a one-line reason and the client or project it most likely belongs to. Group by person. Don't change any entries. This is a list for people to review.
Step 5: From data to insight
Turn your time data into a report that answers your questions.
- Dashboards for a quick look.
- AI reports for the story: trends, analysis and what needs attention, written for you.
- Built from your questions: Status, Capacity, Fires, Upcoming.
Write last week's team report for our firm with four sections: 1. Status: how much time each client and project got last week, and whether it was the right work. 2. Capacity: who's over-allocated and who has room. 3. Fires: clients or projects using more hours than the fee or budget covers, work that's taking longer than expected, and small requests adding up. 4. Upcoming: what's landing next week and where we might be short. End with 1 to 3 suggested actions. Keep it readable in two minutes. Compare to the week before where it helps.
Tip: including Rize MCP tools in the prompt (for example get_team_time_allocation, list_team_time_entries, list_projects) makes reports more precise, but more brittle if tools change. We recommend including them for now.
Put the report to work:
- Dig deeper: ask follow-up questions with the Rize Agent, or pull the report into Claude or ChatGPT through the Rize MCP and combine it with your other systems.
- Pull in the team: walk through the report together, show how it's helping you plan better and spread the workload, and ask what's useful and what's missing.
Prompts: ask your data
Which clients used more hours than their fee covers this month, and what drove it?
Who's over capacity this week, and what's driving it?
What small requests added up on [client] this month?
Step 6: From insight to action
The data only matters if it changes a decision.
| You see | It means | You do |
|---|---|---|
| A client using more hours than the fee covers | Fires | Rescope, push back on extra asks, or reprice at renewal |
| Small requests adding up | Fires | Flag it to the client early, with the hours behind it |
| Someone stretched, someone with room | Capacity | Rebalance the work before anyone burns out |
| A crunch coming next week | Upcoming | Move a deadline or bring in help now, not later |
| Work that isn't moving | Status | Ask what's blocking it, then clear the path |
One decision a week is enough. Small, consistent changes beat big quarterly resets.
Step 7: Routines are your SOPs
Reports tell you what's happening. Routines do something about it.
Run them as a routine in Rize, or as a shared skill in Claude with the Rize MCP.
Every weekday at 6pm, find team members with unassigned or unapproved time today. Send each a short, friendly Slack message listing what needs a look, with a link to review. Never share one person's time with anyone else.
Every Monday at 8am, combine last week's team time, open tasks, and this week's calendar into a team meeting agenda: what got done, who's stretched, what's at risk, and what's coming up. Keep it to one page.
Every Friday, for each active client, pull this week's time plus the related tasks and email threads, and draft a short client update: what we worked on, what's next, and anything we need from them. Send the drafts to the account lead to review. Never send to the client directly.
Every Thursday, check each fixed-fee client for small requests and extra work adding up this month. If a client is trending over the hours the fee covers, alert the project lead with the hours used, the likely cause, and a suggested next step.
Write every routine like an SOP: when it runs, what it does, and who gets it.
Step 8: When something looks off
This is where trust is built, or broken.
- Check the data first. Most anomalies are setup, not people.
- Assume good intent. Give the benefit of the doubt before anything else.
- Ask privately, with curiosity. “I noticed this, is that right?” Never call someone out publicly.
- Fix the system, not the person. If tracking or setup is off, fix it for everyone.
Look at [person]'s time for [period] compared to their usual weeks. What changed: different clients or projects, more unassigned time, longer or shorter days? List ordinary explanations first (setup, classification, time off, a new project), then anything I should ask them about. Keep it neutral.
Common pushback and how to respond:
| They say | You respond |
|---|---|
| “Is this surveillance?” | No. It captures metadata only, with no screenshots or keystrokes. I see time by client and project, not what's on your screen. |
| “Will this be used against me?” | It's for spotting overload, budgets and scope, not for judging individuals. We'll review it together, and you approve your own time first. |
| “Don't you trust us?” | I do. This replaces timesheets and check-ins I'd otherwise ask you for. It should mean fewer interruptions, not more. |
| “What about my privacy?” | You control your own privacy settings and review your time before anyone else relies on it. |
| “It got my time wrong.” | Good catch. Fix it in your review, and tell me if it keeps happening so we can fix the setup. |
| “Isn't this more admin?” | It should be less. No timesheets, just a quick review of what's already captured. If it feels like more, tell me. |