Managing Project Services & Rates

Projects in Invup can optionally use services to categorize the types of work being tracked — for example, "Design", "Development", or "Consulting". When services are enabled on a project, each time entry must specify which service the work falls under. This page covers how to add and remove services on a project, how to set custom rates at the project-service level, and what happens when a project doesn't use services at all.

Enabling Services on a Project

Every project has an Enable Services toggle. When you create or edit a project, this toggle controls whether the project uses services.

Enabled: Team members must select a service when logging time. The rate chain includes service-level rates.
Disabled: Time entries are logged directly against the project with no service breakdown. The rate chain uses project and team member rates only.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Screenshot of the project form showing the "Enable Services" toggle in its enabled state, with the services section visible below it]

Once services are enabled and you've added at least one service to the project, you cannot disable the toggle. To switch back to a service-free project, you must first remove all services.

Adding Services to a Project

When services are enabled, you can assign services from your organization's service library to the project. Only services that haven't already been added to this project appear in the selection list.

To add a service:

Open the project (create or edit).
Ensure Enable Services is toggled on.
Click the button to add a service and select one from the dropdown.
Optionally set a custom rate for this service on this project (see below).
Assign team members to the service and optionally set per-member rates.
Save the project.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Screenshot of the project form with services enabled, showing two or three service cards — each with a service name, billable/non-billable badge, rate override input, and assigned members with their rate inputs]

You can add multiple services to a single project. Each service appears as a card showing the service name, a billable or non-billable badge, and fields for rate overrides.

Removing Services from a Project

To remove a service from a project, click the remove button on the service card and save the project.

When you remove a service:

All team member assignments specific to that service on this project are removed.
Any existing time entries that referenced the removed service will have their service cleared — the entries themselves are not deleted, but they will no longer be tagged with that service.

A confirmation dialog appears if the service has team members assigned, warning you about the impact.

Setting Project-Service Rates

Each service card on the project has a Service Rate (/hr) input. This lets you set a custom hourly rate for this specific service on this specific project — overriding the service's base rate.

For example, if your organization's "Development" service has a base rate of $150/hr, you could set it to $175/hr on a particular project to reflect a different client agreement.

[IMAGE PLACEHOLDER: Screenshot of a single service card on the project form, with the "Service Rate (/hr)" input filled in with a custom rate value, and the placeholder text showing the default service rate]

If you leave the rate blank, Invup falls back to the service's base rate (or lower levels in the rate chain) when resolving time entry rates.

Per-Member Rates on a Service

Within each service card, you can also set individual rates for specific team members. This is the most granular level of rate configuration — a rate for a specific team member on a specific service within a specific project.

Each assigned team member shows a rate input. If left blank, the rate cascades through the rate chain to find the next available rate.

How Project-Service Rates Fit into the Rate Chain

When a team member logs time on a service-based project, Invup resolves the hourly rate by checking a prioritized chain of rate sources. Project-service rates sit in the middle of this chain:

Priority	Source	Description
1	Non-billable check	If the service is marked non-billable, the rate is $0.00
2	Project-service-member rate	Rate set for this team member on this service within this project
3	Member-service rate	Rate set for this team member on this service (organization-wide)
4	Project-service rate	Rate set for this service within this project
5	Service base rate	The service's default hourly rate
6	Project rate	The project's base hourly rate
7	Member base rate	The team member's organization-level base rate

The first non-null rate in the chain wins. A rate of $0.00 is a valid rate and does not fall through to the next level.

For a full explanation of how rate resolution works, see Rate Locking — How Rate Resolution Works.

Service-Free Projects

When the Enable Services toggle is off, the project operates without services. In this mode:

Time entries are logged directly against the project — there is no service field.
Team members are assigned directly to the project (not through services).
The rate chain is simpler, using only project-member, project, and member base rates.

Priority	Source	Description
1	Project-member rate	Rate set for this team member on this project
2	Project rate	The project's base hourly rate
3	Member base rate	The team member's organization-level base rate

Service-free projects are a good fit when you don't need to break down time by activity type — for example, a fixed-scope project where all work is billed at the same rate.

Summary

Mode	Services required on time entries	Rate chain levels	Team member assignment
Services enabled	Yes — each entry must specify a service	7 levels (includes service-specific rates)	Through services — members are assigned to specific services on the project
Services disabled	No — entries tracked directly against the project	3 levels (project and member rates only)	Direct — members are assigned to the project