CRM for Project Management — Budget, Time and Margin
The project «went fine» — and at the end of the quarter it turned out: 3.7% margin instead of the planned 30%? The team’s hours are in one time tracker, the budget in Excel, client invoices in accounting. By the time you bring it all together, the project is long closed and nothing can be fixed.
CRM for project management solves this differently: budget, costs, team time and invoicing — in one system, where the profitability of every project is visible in real time. Below — how it works and who needs it.
Why do you only find out about a loss at the end?
Studios, agencies, consultancies and engineering firms share a typical picture: team time in Toggl or Clockify, the estimate in Excel, invoices and payroll in accounting, tasks in Jira or Trello. Each system has its own data, and once a month someone merges it into a spreadsheet by hand.
The result is late diagnosis: margin is calculated a month after the costs, when nothing can be fixed anymore. Plus «invisible» costs (a subcontractor went through accounting but never made it into the project estimate) and time that quietly leaks into non-billable.
What does project accounting in the ERPJS CRM give you?
A project in the system is a separate card with a live link to all of the company’s accounting:
Project as a single card
Client, project type, phases and team in one place. Project types (development, support, marketing) are configured by you.
Budget vs actual
Plan and real costs side by side. Deviation from the budget is visible right away, not at the end of the quarter.
All costs per project
Salary, subcontracting, purchases — everything is tied to the project. No «invisible» costs slipping past the estimate.
Team time
Time sheets per project, split into billable and non-billable — you see where the resource actually goes.
Real-time profitability
Project margin is calculated now, not a month later. You see the problem while it can still be fixed.
Client invoices from the project
Invoicing (including hourly T&M) — from the same time and cost data, with no double entry or export.
Does it replace a task tracker?
No — it’s about something else. Jira, Asana or Trello answer the question «who does what and when». Project accounting in ERPJS answers «how much the project costs and how much it brings in». These are two different jobs: tasks are convenient to manage in a tracker, while a project’s money belongs in an accounting system, where it’s linked to clients, invoices and payroll.
We covered this in detail, with examples and figures, in the article Project accounting: budget, time sheets and margin in one system. And CRM system for small business is the general system that projects are part of.
Project accounting in ERPJS is budget, costs, time and invoices in one system with real-time profitability. You see a project’s margin while it’s still running, not a month after it closes.
Who is it for?
Project accounting is useful for businesses where money is counted by project, not by month:
- IT studios and digital agencies
- Consulting and professional services
- Engineering and design firms
- Any business that works to order
Frequently asked questions
What is project accounting in simple terms?
It’s when all of a project’s money — budget, costs, team time and client invoices — is brought into one card, and at any moment you see the project’s profitability. Unlike spreadsheets, you don’t have to merge data from different systems by hand.
How is it different from a task tracker like Jira?
A task tracker shows tasks and who works on them. Project accounting in ERPJS shows the money: how much was spent, how much was invoiced to the client, what the margin is. It complements a task tracker rather than replacing it — different jobs.
Is project profitability visible in real time?
Yes. Because costs, time and invoices are tied to the project in one system, margin is calculated immediately, not a month after merging spreadsheets. That lets you fix a problem while the project is still running.
How is project margin calculated?
As the difference between what’s invoiced to the client and all project costs — the team’s salary for hours worked, subcontracting, purchases. All of it is tied to the project, so previously «invisible» costs are included too.
Do I need to track team time?
For projects billed by the hour (T&M) — yes, time sheets are needed to see billable and non-billable time. For fixed-price projects time tracking isn’t mandatory, but it’s useful for understanding real cost.
What kind of business is it for?
Any business where work runs as projects: IT studios, agencies, consulting, engineering firms, work to order. If you count profit by project rather than only by month, project accounting is for you.