Time records describe effort already spent. Capacity planning describes work people can still accept. A studio may need both, but should not mistake a full calendar or a large time total for evidence that a subscription is sustainable.
Choose the decision you need to make
Are you trying to explain revision overruns, set an active-request limit or decide whether to accept another client? What skill is scarce? Can you separate making work from review, account support and rework without asking staff to maintain an impractical level of detail?
The capacity and profitability guide explains these distinctions. Start with a small set of effort categories that would change a decision.
Trial with realistic work types
- Record planned and actual effort separately for a sample request.
- Include internal review, revisions and client coordination rather than treating them as spare capacity.
- Represent leave and a skill bottleneck without assuming people are interchangeable.
- Check how corrections, missing entries and exports appear in a report.
Use the pricing and capacity worksheet to document the planning period, available people and reserves. Discuss the purpose and access rules for time data with the team; avoid turning rough estimates into individual performance rankings.
A spreadsheet may be enough
Do not buy resource-planning software before anyone owns the capacity review. A maintained worksheet can be enough for a small, stable service. Investigate specialist tooling when assignment conflicts or missing effort records prevent decisions, not merely because a dashboard looks more precise.