Frequently Asked Questions
The answers to your questions
Getting Started & Onboarding
What is Agencydesk?
Agencydesk is project management software designed for agencies and project-based businesses that charge by the hour, combining task scheduling, billing, reporting, and profitability tracking.
Can I sign up and get started quickly?
Yes. Agencydesk offers a guided onboarding experience. Access is provided through a unique onboarding link after a short walkthrough with our team. Once activated, you can set up your company profile and begin working immediately with your first month free.
Can I migrate from my current project management tool?
Yes. You can migrate your data, but Agencydesk does not offer an automated migration tool. Because the platform is structured differently from typical PM systems, most teams choose to start fresh. If you use Xero, your clients can be imported with one click.
Can I onboard my team easily?
Yes. Agencydesk’s clean interface makes onboarding quick, and most teams get operational within a day or two. You can invite your team at any time and then complete core setup elements like Departments, Billing Tiers, and your Rate Card as you personalise your agency structure. Xero clients can be imported instantly.
Jobs, Tasks & Collaboration
Can I create and manage jobs in Agencydesk?
Yes. You can create a new job from the jobs tab or directly from any saved job templates under settings if you have created templates for recurring work. Once a job is created, you begin with an empty job costing, which forms the backbone of the entire project. Job costing is where you structure your work with groups acting as main sections, adding tasks and costs from your rate card. These groups flow into cost estimates, timelines, invoices, and central management for files, notes, task reviews, and meetings. Helpful information cards at the top show account executive details, time recon, task recon, and billable progress.
Can I create and manage tasks and costs in Agencydesk?
Yes. You define your task and cost types in the rate card, including their rates, currencies, and descriptions. After that, they appear in job costing and can be added to any job, where you can further customise deadlines, assigned users, and supporting notes or files.
Can I assign multiple team members to a task?
Yes. Tasks in Agencydesk can be assigned to multiple users. When more than one user is assigned, time is divided equally across all assignees by default. If a user no longer needs to work on the task, they can be deactivated, and the remaining time is automatically redistributed to the active users. Each user can mark their portion of the task as completed independently, even though they are collaborating on the same task. This allows teams to work together efficiently while keeping time, progress, and responsibility clearly allocated.
Does Agencydesk have a task review workflow?
Yes. Every task can have a dedicated reviewer assigned. The review system is designed for real agency workflows: Each assigned user can submit their work individually, even when multiple people collaborate on a single task. The reviewer manages approvals and reverts, allowing a clean back-and-forth review cycle until the work is signed off. When work is submitted, a dynamic review column automatically appears on the submitting user’s my desk, showing all tasks awaiting review. The reviewer receives a review item in their ‘for today’ column on my desk, keeping the review workflow centralised and easy to action. This ensures a clear, trackable approval process for all collaborative work.
Can I use job templates to create repeatable workflows?
Yes. Agencydesk allows you to create your own job templates once your billing tiers and rate card are set up. Because each agency’s pricing and structure are unique, templates are fully customizable and based on your own tasks, costs, and workflow requirements. These templates can then be used to streamline recurring or retainer jobs and maintain consistency across similar projects. Job templates can be created and used to set up recurring jobs for more seamless management of retainer projects.
Does Agencydesk support file sharing and comments?
Yes. You can attach files to briefs and amendments and add notes to tasks. All job notes, comments, and files can be accessed via Job Central.
Does Agencydesk improve team collaboration?
Yes. By centralising timelines, costs, and communication, Agencydesk provides all team members, account executives, users, managers, and finance users access to the same live data.
Time Tracking & Productivity
Does Agencydesk have time-tracking functionality?
Yes. Agencydesk includes built-in, intuitive time tracking through My Desk, where users can easily track time on tasks. Users can switch between tasks efficiently using parked timers, and committing time is quick and simple. Active and parked timers are also visible on the task schedule, giving account managers a clear view of who is currently working and who has worked on what.
Does Agencydesk keep timesheets for my team, and can I access them easily?
Yes. Users track their time against assigned tasks, and managers can view all scheduled and tracked time, as well as calculated productivity and workload scores, directly in the timesheets view.
What are timesheet workload and productivity scores?
In the timesheets view of the task schedule, users have scores assigned based on scheduled, available, and billed time: Workload score equals scheduled versus available time over the next 7 days. Productivity score equals tracked versus billable time over 30 days.
Billing Tiers, Rates & Multi-Currency
Can I manage different currencies in Agencydesk?
Yes. Agencydesk is fully multi-currency. While you set a home currency for reporting, the system automatically handles currency conversions across clients, suppliers, costs, and job costing. Templates also adapt dynamically based on the assigned client’s currency, and outsourced costs retain their original currencies, so you always bill using accurate, real-time conversions.
Can I set custom rates for different clients?
Yes. Agencydesk uses billing tiers to give each client their own customised rate structure. This allows you to assign unique hourly rates, role rates, or cost markups per client for accurate and flexible billing via the rate card.
Can I set up custom client rates in Agencydesk?
Yes. Agencydesk uses billing tiers to assign custom rates to each client. Billing tiers are created as labels and then applied to clients. Your rate card contains a list of task types, and each task type includes a table of billing tier rates. When you assign a billing tier to a client, all tasks automatically use the correct rate from the rate card during job costing. Costs work differently: They are supplier-based, fixed to their original currency, and include editable cost price and markup values. Because billing tiers, task types, and cost types all work together, every job automatically calculates accurate rates, currencies, and margins for each client. Task and cost rates can be set up in your rate card.
Can I generate invoices from jobs?
Yes. Invoices can be generated from the financial tab of any active job. Because each job is built from a task-and-cost-based job costing, you can invoice partially or in full, selecting exactly which tasks or costs to bill at any stage. This makes it easy to issue deposits, progress invoices, milestone billing, or final invoices, all directly from the job.
Does Agencydesk track profitability?
Yes. Because a project’s job costing, estimates, tasks, costs, and invoices are all integrated, Agencydesk provides detailed profitability reporting. You can measure profit at multiple levels, including the overall company, each account executive, each job (based on resource costs and cost-item margins), and even per user based on their billable contribution to invoices.
Xero Accounting Integration for Agencies
How does Agencydesk integrate with Xero for accounting?
Agencydesk provides a seamless integration with Xero, allowing for two-way synchronisation of clients, invoices, and financial data. This ensures that project details from Agencydesk flow directly into Xero for accurate accounting, reducing manual data entry and errors.
Can I sync clients between Agencydesk and Xero?
Yes, Agencydesk supports full two-way client sync with Xero. Account managers can add or update clients in Agencydesk, and these changes sync automatically to Xero, including contact details and billing preferences. Clients added in Xero can also be imported into Agencydesk with one click.
Does Agencydesk support Xero's multi-currency features?
Absolutely. Agencydesk is fully multi-currency enabled and integrates perfectly with Xero’s multi-currency capabilities. Invoices and job costings in Agencydesk adapt to client currencies, and during sync, Xero handles real-time conversions, tracking gains or losses for precise financial reporting.
How are invoices generated and synced from Agencydesk to Xero?
In Agencydesk, invoices are created from job costings in the Finance tab, supporting flexible billing like deposits, progress payments, or full billing. With one-click sync, these invoices transfer to Xero, including line items, currencies, taxes, and metadata, ensuring everything aligns in your Xero accounting records.
What metadata does Agencydesk send to Xero during syncing?
Agencydesk enhances Xero reporting by sending rich metadata such as job/service categories, task and cost types, and departments. This metadata maps to Xero’s tracking categories, allowing detailed analysis of profitability by department, task type, or category directly in Xero.
How does Agencydesk handle GL codes with Xero?
Agencydesk imports GL codes from Xero’s chart of accounts and assigns them to department-specific line items. When syncing invoices to Xero, this ensures accurate financial tracking and effortless reporting, with all billed items flowing correctly into Xero’s ledger.
Can I customise billing tiers and rates in Agencydesk for Xero integration?
Yes, Agencydesk allows custom billing tiers, currencies, and tax rates at the client-profile level. These settings apply automatically during invoicing and sync seamlessly to Xero, supporting unique client agreements while maintaining compliance in Xero.
How does tax handling work in Agencydesk with Xero for US agencies?
For US agencies, Agencydesk recommends letting Xero calculate taxes dynamically by omitting tax details in the sync process. This leverages Xero’s auto-calculation based on account defaults or integrated tools like Avalara, accommodating complex state and local sales tax rules for better accuracy and compliance.
Is there a way to view synced invoices between Agencydesk and Xero?
Yes, the Finance page in Agencydesk provides a central view of all company invoices, showing sync status with Xero. Synced items are highlighted, allowing quick identification of what has transferred successfully to Xero and what still needs action.
What if I need help setting up the Xero integration in Agencydesk?
Agencydesk offers guided setup for Xero integration, including tutorials and support. If you encounter issues, reach out via our Help Guide or email support for assistance in connecting Agencydesk to your Xero account.
Structure & Organisation
Can I use job categories and departments effectively in Agencydesk?
Yes. Job categories let you group jobs for clearer reporting and service insights. They help you understand which types of work are performing well and which service lines may need more focus. For example, Agencydesk’s work distribution report shows active jobs by category, giving you a quick view of where your agency’s workload is concentrated.
What are Departments in Agencydesk?
Departments are a core part of how you tailor Agencydesk to match your agency’s structure. All users, task types, and cost types belong to departments, which support several key functions: Intelligent task assignment, where Agencydesk can suggest suitable team members based on department skills. Reporting accuracy, with department-level insights to help you understand workload, performance, and service distribution. Xero integration, where if you use Xero, tasks on invoices sync with their department metadata for detailed financial reporting. Financial mapping, where departments determine how line items map to the correct ledger accounts inside Agencydesk. Departments ensure that your operational data, scheduling, financials, and reporting all align with the way your agency actually works.
Can I set permissions by role?
Yes. Agencydesk offers role-based access control with five permission levels: User, manager, finance, admin, and owner. Each role provides different visibility and access, allowing you to control who can see financial data, adjust billing or accounting settings, manage users, or access sensitive information.
Reporting & Insights for Agencies
What reports or dashboards are available in Agencydesk?
Agencydesk offers detailed reports, making profitability insights, forecasting, and financial tracking simple and effective. Available reports include active jobs (ideal for daily stand-ups with account executives), work distribution, forecasting, user time recon, manager time recon, and financial summary.
What is the active jobs report?
The active jobs report offers a real-time view of active jobs by account executive, including estimated versus tracked hours, billable amounts, progress, due dates, and line-item status (issued, active, activated). Ideal for daily stand-ups, AE check-ins, and workload planning.
What is the Active Work Distribution report?
The Active Work Distribution report shows active hours concentration with breakdowns by department (billed versus unbilled hours across areas like creative or development), job category (services like retainers or campaigns), account executive/team member (workload and capacity), and month (billed versus unbilled timeline for peaks/slows). Perfect for spotting hiring needs, pressure points, and sales opportunities.
What is the Forecasting dashboard?
The Forecasting dashboard displays upcoming revenue from active jobs, including total receivables by due date, billed versus unbilled values, receivables by client, and monthly revenue pipeline. Useful for financial planning, revenue predictability, and cash-flow management.
What is the User Time Recon report?
The User Time Recon report analyses user efficiency on completed tasks, showing used versus unused estimated time, overrun time, on-time versus overrun hours, efficiency percentages, yield/task adherence metrics, profit margin score, and bonus formulas (if enabled). Helps assess individual performance, efficiency, and profitability.
What is the Manager Time Recon report?
The Manager Time Recon report groups data by account manager, showing AE efficiency, estimated versus actual performance, overrun patterns, job delivery behaviour, and revenue impact per AE. Great for coaching AEs and identifying accounts needing intervention.
What is the Financial Summary report?
The Financial Summary Report focuses on revenue, displaying monthly totals, trend lines, 6-month averages, revenue per account executive, and company-wide trajectory. Essential for directors and finance teams tracking growth.
Trust & Security
Where is my data stored?
Agencydesk is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), using dedicated infrastructure in the Ireland (eu-west-1) region. Application data is stored in secure, encrypted MySQL databases, and uploaded files are stored on AWS S3, ensuring industry-leading reliability and performance.
How does Agencydesk protect my data?
Agencydesk uses multiple layers of security, including encrypted communication (TLS/HTTPS), encrypted database and file storage, Cloudflare web application firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection, role-based access control, firewalls and threat-detection rules, and regular server patching and monitoring. All platform traffic is routed through Cloudflare, adding an additional layer of security and improving global performance.
Does Agencydesk back up my data?
Yes. All data is written to redundant storage and is automatically backed up daily for point-in-time recovery. Encrypted backups are stored in geographically redundant AWS locations, and their integrity is continually monitored and tested.
Who owns my data, and can I control access?
Your agency retains full ownership of all data entered into Agencydesk. Access is controlled through authenticated logins, and role-based permissions let you manage who can access sensitive financial, operational, or user information.
Is Agencydesk GDPR/POPIA compliant?
Yes. Agencydesk complies with both GDPR and POPIA requirements, ensuring that personal and organisational data is handled securely and transparently.
Is the service reliable?
Yes. Agencydesk is built for high availability, operating on AWS infrastructure with Cloudflare’s global edge network. We target 99.9% uptime, supported by redundancy, active monitoring, and secure global routing.
Pricing, Scalability & Flexibility
Is Agencydesk only for agencies?
No. While purpose-built for agencies, it suits any project-based business billing by time, effort, or outsourced services. Its job costing model fits creative agencies, digital marketing firms, IT consultancies, software developers, event planners, architecture/engineering firms, production studios, and mixed-service operations like legal or financial project teams.
What if my team grows?
Agencydesk scales easily. You can add new users, departments, billing tiers, and rate card items as your business expands. The system is designed to support growing teams, increased workload, and multiple account executives without changing how you work.
Does Agencydesk work for freelancers or small teams?
Yes. While the platform is best suited for teams of three or more, small studios and growing micro-agencies benefit from its structured job costing, scheduling, and profitability tracking. Solo freelancers may find it more powerful than they need.
How much does Agencydesk cost?
Agencydesk follows simple, transparent pricing based on the number of users in your company. You only pay for your team size, and pricing remains consistent as you scale.
Is there a free trial?
No open free trial is available. Instead, new agencies receive a guided onboarding experience and a unique sign-up link after a short walkthrough with our team. Once your account is activated, your first month is free, giving you time to set up your structure and begin working with no risk.
Why choose Agencydesk over popular tools like ClickUp, Monday.com, or Wrike?
Unlike generic project management tools, Agencydesk is designed for resource-driven agency operations. It combines job costing (tasks plus costs plus groups), billing tiers and customised client rates, detailed department and category reporting, capacity and scheduling, time tracking and parked timers, profitability per job, user, account executive, and company, multi-currency with real-time conversions, and integrated estimates and invoicing from job costing. Other platforms require add-ons, complex workarounds, or external spreadsheets to achieve the same level of operational accuracy.
Ready to streamline your operations, boost team productivity, and finally use a system that actually thinks like your agency does?
Then schedule a call with our team.