Agency Multi-Client Management | Capacity, Billing
Manage multiple agency clients with capacity allocation, time tracking, and context switching reduction. Balance work across clients in GitScrum.
6 min read
Agencies juggle competing priorities across multiple client accounts, each with unique requirements and expectations. GitScrum's multi-project organization, client-level permissions, and capacity planning tools help agencies maintain visibility across all accounts while delivering quality work and keeping clients satisfied.
Agency Project Organization
| Model | Best For | Consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Project per client | Clear separation | Many projects to manage |
| Workspace per client | Large clients | Higher overhead |
| Single project + labels | Few small clients | Less isolation |
| Hybrid | Mixed client sizes | Complexity |
Multi-Client Organization
AGENCY PROJECT STRUCTURE
WORKSPACE ORGANIZATION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Agency Workspace │
│ │
│ ├── 📁 Acme Corp │
│ │ ├── Project: Acme Website Redesign │
│ │ ├── Project: Acme Mobile App │
│ │ └── Project: Acme Maintenance │
│ │ │
│ ├── 📁 TechStart Inc │
│ │ ├── Project: TechStart MVP │
│ │ └── Project: TechStart Phase 2 │
│ │ │
│ ├── 📁 GlobalRetail │
│ │ ├── Project: GlobalRetail E-commerce │
│ │ └── Project: GlobalRetail Support │
│ │ │
│ └── 📁 Internal │
│ ├── Project: Agency Website │
│ └── Project: Internal Tools │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
CLIENT PROJECT TEMPLATE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Project: [Client] [Project Name] │
│ │
│ Standard Labels: │
│ ├── [billable] / [non-billable] │
│ ├── [priority:high/medium/low] │
│ ├── [phase:discovery/design/dev/launch] │
│ └── [type:feature/bug/maintenance] │
│ │
│ Custom Fields: │
│ ├── Client contact │
│ ├── Contract type (fixed/hourly/retainer) │
│ ├── Budget hours │
│ └── Deadline │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Capacity Management
CAPACITY ALLOCATION
TEAM CAPACITY PLANNING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Team Size: 8 developers │
│ Available hours/week: 280 (35h × 8) │
│ │
│ This Week's Allocation: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Acme Corp 90h (32%) ████████ │ │
│ │ TechStart Inc 70h (25%) ██████ │ │
│ │ GlobalRetail 55h (20%) █████ │ │
│ │ Maintenance Pool 35h (12%) ███ │ │
│ │ Internal 20h (7%) ██ │ │
│ │ Buffer 10h (4%) █ │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ Legend: │
│ ████ Committed ░░░░ Available │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
DEVELOPER ASSIGNMENT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Developer Primary Client Secondary │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ @alex Acme Corp (80%) TechStart(20%) │
│ @jordan Acme Corp (100%) - │
│ @sam TechStart (100%) - │
│ @taylor GlobalRetail(80%) Maint (20%) │
│ @casey GlobalRetail(60%) TechStart(40%) │
│ @riley Maintenance Pool (100%) │
│ @morgan Internal (50%) Buffer (50%) │
│ @drew Acme Mobile (100%) - │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Client Dashboard
CLIENT PORTFOLIO VIEW
CLIENT HEALTH OVERVIEW:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Client Project Status Hours Rev │
│ ───────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ Acme Corp ✓ On Track 156/200 $24K │
│ TechStart Inc ⚠ At Risk 89/100 $14K │
│ GlobalRetail ✓ On Track 52/80 $8K │
│ Internal ✓ On Track 18/30 - │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
DEADLINE CALENDAR:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ This Week: │
│ ├── Wed: TechStart MVP Demo │
│ └── Fri: GlobalRetail Sprint Review │
│ │
│ Next Week: │
│ ├── Mon: Acme Website Phase 1 Launch │
│ └── Thu: TechStart Phase 2 Kickoff │
│ │
│ Month End: │
│ └── GlobalRetail E-commerce Go-Live │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
ATTENTION NEEDED:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🔴 TechStart: Scope creep risk - review backlog│
│ 🟡 Acme: Pending design approval - 3 days │
│ 🟡 GlobalRetail: Resource needed next week │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Time Tracking for Billing
TIME TRACKING STRUCTURE
BILLABLE TIME TRACKING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Task: Implement checkout flow │
│ Client: GlobalRetail │
│ Project: E-commerce │
│ │
│ Time entries: │
│ ├── Mon: 3h - API development │
│ ├── Tue: 4h - Frontend integration │
│ └── Wed: 2h - Testing and fixes │
│ │
│ Total: 9h @ $150/hr = $1,350 │
│ Contract type: Hourly │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
MONTHLY REPORT BY CLIENT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GlobalRetail - October 2024 │
│ │
│ Billable Hours: │
│ ├── Development: 86h │
│ ├── Design: 24h │
│ ├── Project Management: 12h │
│ └── Meetings: 8h │
│ ───────────────────────── │
│ Total Billable: 130h │
│ │
│ Non-Billable (included in fixed): │
│ ├── Internal planning: 6h │
│ └── Learning/research: 4h │
│ │
│ Invoice Amount: $19,500 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Context Switching Reduction
FOCUS TIME STRATEGIES
DAY BLOCKING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Monday: Acme Corp focus │
│ Tuesday: Acme Corp focus │
│ Wednesday: TechStart focus │
│ Thursday: GlobalRetail focus │
│ Friday: Maintenance + flex │
│ │
│ Rule: Only urgent issues interrupt focus day │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
HALF-DAY BLOCKING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ AM: Primary client (4h deep work) │
│ PM: Secondary client or meetings │
│ │
│ Example: │
│ Mon AM: Acme development │
│ Mon PM: TechStart code review + meetings │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
WIP LIMITS PER DEVELOPER:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Max active clients: 2 │
│ Max active tasks: 2 │
│ Max context switches/day: 2 │
│ │
│ Exceptions require team lead approval │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Best Practices
Anti-Patterns
✗ Developers on 5+ clients simultaneously
✗ No time tracking discipline
✗ Over-committing capacity
✗ No buffer for unexpected work
✗ Mixing client data carelessly
✗ Reactive scheduling only