Trackline for marketing & creative agencies

See the retainer burning before the month ends, not when the invoice bounces

An agency retainer is a fixed fee for a fluid amount of work, and the amount only becomes visible when someone reconciles timesheets against the invoice — usually the account manager, usually too late. Trackline gives every retainer a period, every period an agreed number of hours, and reads the hours from what the team logged as they worked, so the burn is visible on the 12th, not the 31st.

Talk to us Everything Trackline does

Included in every plan. No per-seat charge, no per-tool upsell.

In practice

What Trackline does for marketing & creative agencies

Retainer periods with agreed hours and live burn

Each client retainer is a project with recurring monthly periods. The agreed hours sit on the period; hours logged in AMS against that client accumulate against them, so over-servicing shows as it happens rather than at the reconciliation meeting.

Campaign and project work as fixed-price milestones

A rebrand, a launch or a website is a fixed-price project with milestones carrying schedule and effort health. The same team’s hours split between retainer and project work without a second timesheet.

Margin per client from real rates

Cost is hours multiplied by each person’s rate from their pay profile, computed when you look. A senior strategist’s hour costs what it costs, so the margin on a retainer reflects who actually did the work.

Who is free for the pitch next week

Staffing suggestions read logged hours, leave and current engagements to show who has capacity, so the new business team stops asking around in chat and starts from the numbers.

One platform

Where Trackline hands off for a agency team

Trackline owns the client list; AMS logs time against it and Cadence mirrors it for campaign boards. When an account executive clocks in and picks the client, that hour reaches the retainer burn, the margin and the utilisation view with no export, and Ledgr costs it for payroll from the same record.

Agencies · Trackline

Questions agency teams ask about Trackline

How do we handle a retainer that rolls unused hours forward?

Each period shows agreed hours against logged hours, so a shortfall or overrun per month is visible. Rolling hours forward is a commercial term you agree with the client; Trackline records what was agreed and what was used per period rather than enforcing a rollover rule, so any arrangement can be read off the history.

Can freelancers log time to a client retainer?

Yes. A freelancer is invited as a member with a narrow role, clocks time in AMS against the client like anyone else, and is costed at the rate on their profile. There is no per-seat charge, so a roster of occasional freelancers costs nothing to keep on the platform.

Does Trackline invoice the client?

No. It tells you what to invoice — hours, burn and margin per client and period — and exports it. Invoicing stays in your accounting tool, which Orbiz deliberately does not try to replace.

Want Trackline set up for your agency team?

It comes with every plan, alongside the other tools. Tell us your team size and we set up a working organisation for you to try.