Operating

Overview

Operating is a purpose-built time tracking and invoicing platform designed for consulting and agency teams. It functions as a Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform that centralizes hours, invoicing, and project staffing to address the shortcomings of generic task management tools for billing and resource management workflows.

Key Features

• Project-level time tracking: Log hours against projects or workstreams rather than micro-tasks, ensuring entries are consistent and client-ready
• Automated invoice creation: Hours flow directly into invoices with flexible line item grouping
• Planned vs. actual visibility: Compare allocated hours with actuals to avoid budget overruns
• Multi-company invoicing: Bill from different entities without duplicating work
• Utilization reports: Track consultant workload and billability without manual exports
• PM tool integration: Connect with ClickUp, Asana, or other task management tools to keep them as data entry points while maintaining the PSA as the system of record

Use Cases

• Consulting firms seeking streamlined time-to-invoice workflows
• Agencies needing clear project budgets and utilization dashboards
• Teams looking to capture more billable hours by reducing admin overhead
• Organizations requiring planned vs. actual hour comparisons for project profitability

Business Impact

According to Operating's estimates, firms switching from task-management-based time tracking to a dedicated platform can capture approximately 5% more billable hours per month by reducing admin time and focusing consultants on billable work. For a company generating $20M in annual revenue, this translates to roughly $1M in additional captured revenue.

Methodology Promoted

Operating advocates keeping PM tools (ClickUp, Asana, Monday.com) as convenient data entry interfaces while routing all time data to a dedicated PSA system for invoicing, budgeting, and resource planning. This approach limits logging to high-level tasks, avoids ticket-level logging, and consolidates all reporting in the dedicated platform.