Harvest is a web-based time-tracking tool for companies paid hourly for their services. More than just a glorified stopwatch, Harvest has many different features to track everything pertaining to each particular customer throughout the process.
Before you even get the job, Harvest is useful, helping you create an estimate that looks professional. If your offer is accepted, the estimate is turned into the basis of an invoice. Throughout the job, your employees (and you) use the time-tracker to keep a log of not only hours worked, but also on what. The time-tracker includes stopwatches for every task at the click of a button, or a user may enter the time he/she worked manually. Hours reported on the time-tracker are automatically integrated into their respective invoices, and reports are sent to the manager or entrepreneur. Any other expenses that arise (materials, equipment, etc.) can also be reported and added to invoices.
Invoices can be sent manually or set up to be recurring, and are paid by the customer through Harvest, with an estimated 16 less days between the work and the corresponding payment. Throughout all of these transactions, Harvest collects data on a variety of items, such as billable hours, revenue, invoiced hours, and uninvoiced hours. This data is able to be exported into Excel, CSV, Google Docs, and even Quickbooks.
Harvest gives the entrepreneur a powerful customer-relations tool, wrapped up in a management tool, combined with a statistical analysis tool.
For more information, check out www.getharvest.com.
I really like this concept of invoices to customers and the ease at which Harvest makes that aspect of business. I am a little unclear as to what it does before the job, but I think this would be awesome for small business owners or even businesses who have to manage a lot of employees, yet don’t want to spend money on people managing the payroll!
That sounds like an incredibly useful tool to solve some complicated processes. Keeping track of all the moving parts in a paid by the hour business leads to great potential for things falling through the cracks, an unprofessional hectic atmosphere and untrustworthy bills. This would definitely help!