Overview
| Non-Billable Actuals Visibility |
Some Timesheet integrations will allow Parallax to absorb Billable and Non-Billable Actuals separately - check out this section to see how we've updated the Shaper and Assignments View to reflect that! |
| Productive Utilization |
Productive Utilization represents a new concept that helps bridge the gap between time that's billable and time that's productive towards new or existing business. In this section, find out how we define Productive Utilization and here to see how settings are managed! |
| Improved Utilization Breakdown Report |
Coinciding with Productive Utilization, we're releasing our new and improved Utilization > Breakdown Report! Check out this section to for more info, or jump to this article! |
| Holiday Actuals |
Actuals for Holidays can now be recorded via Timesheet independently from Time Off Actuals. See this section for the details! |
(New!) Non-Billable Actuals Visibility
As you're probably aware, each cell within the Project Measurements has sets of numbers - Plans (top number) and Actuals (bottom number). Historically, in order to save space, only the Actuals recorded by your Timesheet as Billable were visible within the Shaper or Assignments View even if your Timesheet Integration supports both Billable and Non-Billable hours. While, Billable and Non-Billable Hours would still be differentiated on the Project Overview Page, the Shaper has always shown the combined total, leading to the potential for confusion.
As of now, we've now added the ability to switch the Actuals number in the Shaper/Assignments View from All Hours (default)...
...to only hours entered in Timesheets as Billable Hours...
...or even only time that has been entered as Non-Billable!
This will allow you to more easily match what you're looking at on the Project Overview page, and helps avoid any unnecessary confusion!
(New!) Productive Utilization
New Concept - Productive Utilization
Productive Utilization is a new concept that we're launching, as affected by your Customization Settings and surfaced through our updated Utilization Breakdown Report (see here). Productive Utilization is defined as the time you're spending on Projects that are tied to an impact on your company's revenue, whether or not they are directly billable. It includes as:
- Billable Offerings (T&M, Fixed Bid, Fixed Retainer) on Client Projects.
- Non-Billable Offerings on Client Projects (editable - see below).
- Investment Offerings on Internal Projects.
It does not include:
- Holidays Planned or Actual.
- Time Off Planned or Actual.
- Admin Offerings on Internal Projects.
Like Billable Utilization, Productive Utilization is expressed as a percentage of Available Capacity. Check out the Utilization Breakdown report below for how this will be used!
New Setting - Billable Utilization Configuration
Our default assumption that Non-Billable Client work is still considered to be Billable for the purposes of tracking Billable Utilization - essentially functioning as Billable Time with a Rate of $0 for each Person. This is a big part of what separates the work in these Offerings from Internal work, since it is time you are spending on active work for the Client, it's just work you've opted not to bill the Client for.
While this is the intended use of the Non-Billable Client work, we do want Parallax to be flexible enough to accommodate different use-cases for our Customers - to that end, this Setting allows you to strip out Client Non-Billable hours from Billable Utilization and treat it as only Productive time.
(New!) Improved Utilization Breakdown Report
To make use of our new Utilization settings, we're launching the newly redesigned Utilization > Breakdown Report! Check out this article for more info about how it works and how to use it:
(Updated) Holiday Actuals
This is the final step in our current iteration of Time Off and Holidays! Holiday Actuals allows you to track Holiday and Time Off Actuals on separate Timesheets - effectively differentiate historical Holidays and PTO.
When we originally introduced Time Off in 2022, both Holidays and Time Off simultaneously represented both Plans and Actuals - meaning that they needed to be manually updated retroactively anytime one of your workers didn't complete requested Time Off (or worked on a Holiday).
Earlier this year, we released Time Off Actuals, allowing you to add a Timesheet to Settings > Time Off in order to track Actuals for both Time Off and Holidays that were being completed - however, there was no easy way to distinguish between the two. With this final change, you can now specify whether a Timesheet you connect in Settings > Time Off is intended to track Time Off Actuals or Holiday Actuals - at last allowing you to effectively manage and differentiate both Plans and Actuals separately through timesheets!
How does it work?
Adding a Timesheet for Holiday Actuals couldn't be easier - simply visit Settings > Time Off, and select the "Connect Timesheet" button. Next to the field for entering Project ID, there will be a toggle for Type; select "Holiday Hours" for Parallax to interpret the Actuals on that Timesheet as Holiday Actuals*.
Parallax Tip - What about the Timesheets I've already connected?
Timesheets already connected as of this release will be considered Time Off Hours by Default, but you can disconnect/reconnect a sheet in order to change it to Holidays.