Overview
Projects are the backbone of time tracking and billing in Invup. Every time entry belongs to a project, and every project can be linked to a client — so when it's time to invoice, you have a clear record of what work was done, for whom, and at what rate.
Whether you run an architecture firm tracking hours across multiple building engagements, a law firm billing per client matter, or a marketing agency managing campaigns, projects give you a structured way to organize and bill your team's work.
What Is a Project?
A project in Invup is a container that groups time entries together. At its simplest, a project has a name, an optional client, and an optional hourly rate. Team members log time against projects, and each entry's rate is resolved based on a configurable rate hierarchy.
Core properties of a project
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive name (e.g., "Acme Corp Annual Audit", "Riverside Condo Design") |
| Description | Optional notes about the project scope |
| Client | The client this project is for (optional — projects can exist without a client) |
| Hourly Rate | A default rate for time logged to this project |
| Start / End Date | Optional date range for the project timeline |
| Lock Entries Until | A date that prevents team members from creating, editing, or deleting time entries on or before that date |
| Enable Services | Whether the project uses services to categorize work |
How Projects Connect to Other Features
Clients
Each project can be linked to a client. This connection lets you organize projects by client and provides context when generating invoices. A client can have multiple projects — for example, an accounting firm might have separate projects for a client's tax filing, bookkeeping, and advisory work.
Projects can also exist without a client, which is useful for internal work like "Staff Training" or "Office Administration".
Services
Projects can optionally use services to categorize the types of work being performed. When services are enabled on a project, team members must select a service when logging time (e.g., "Design", "Research", "Consultation"). This enables more granular rate control and better reporting.
When services are disabled, time is logged directly against the project with no service breakdown.
For details on adding services to projects, see Managing Project Services & Rates.
Team Members
Team members are assigned to projects so they can log time. How assignment works depends on whether the project uses services:
- Without services: Team members are assigned directly to the project. Each can optionally have a custom project-member rate.
- With services: Team members are assigned to specific services within the project. Each can have a custom rate per service on that project.
Time Entries
Every time entry belongs to a project. The project determines which rate hierarchy is used to calculate the entry's hourly rate, and the project's lock date controls whether entries can be modified. See Time Tracking Overview for more.
Invoicing
Projects connect to invoicing through clients. A project's client determines which invoices the work can be billed to. Time entries logged against a project provide the data — duration, rate, and service — that you reference when building invoice line items.
Key Concepts
Project Rates
Every project can have a default hourly rate. This rate is used as a fallback in the rate hierarchy when no more specific rate is set (e.g., no project-member rate, no service rate). You can also set custom rates at the team member level and the service level within a project.
Member Assignment
Team members must be assigned to a project before they can log time to it. On non-service projects, members are assigned directly. On service-based projects, members are assigned to individual services within the project — a team member might be assigned to "Design" and "Consultation" but not "Research".
Lock Dates
The "Lock entries until" date prevents non-admin team members from creating, editing, or deleting time entries dated on or before that date. This is useful for closing off billing periods after invoices have been sent. Admins and owners can still modify locked entries.
For details, see Rate Locking — Project Lock Date.
Deleting Projects
Projects can be permanently deleted when they're no longer needed. Deleting a project removes it and all its associated time entries. This action cannot be undone, so use it with care — consider whether you may need the historical data before deleting.
You can delete multiple projects at once using the bulk delete action on the project list.
What's in This Book
| Page | Description |
|---|---|
| Managing Project Services & Rates | How to add services to a project, set project-service rates, and assign team members to services within a project. |