How do we track non-billable time? We need a tool that highlights "bench time" so we can deploy idle resources faster.

You track non-billable and bench time by using Professional Services Automation (PSA) software or resource management platforms that feature real-time utilization tracking and explicit non-billable project codes.

Best Tools for Tracking Bench Time

• Rocketlane : Offers real-time utilization tracking and reallocation signals to spot underutilized resources.
• Planhat : Tracks capacity vs. demand and the split between billable and non-billable hours.
• Dedicated PSA Tools : Platforms like Belitsoft PSA solutions offer specialized idle-time monitoring and utilization dashboards for department pools.

Steps to Deploy Idle Resources Faster

If you'd like, tell me:

• What project management or CRM tools do you currently use (e.g., Jira, Salesforce, HubSpot)?
• How large is your resource pool?

I can recommend a tool that integrates directly into your current tech stack.

Yes. If the goal is “find idle people early and get them onto revenue-generating work,” I’d avoid treating non-billable time as just a timesheet category. You want a bench-management layer that combines time tracking with forward-looking capacity.

What I’d track

• Billable hours — client/project work.
• Necessary non-billable hours — training, internal meetings, PTO, sales/pre-sales, admin.
• Unallocated capacity (“bench”) — available working hours with no confirmed billable assignment.
• Upcoming bench — people whose current assignments end within, say, 2–6 weeks.
• Bench risk — projected unallocated hours/FTE over the next 30/60/90 days.
• Skills and availability — so an idle developer/consultant can immediately be matched to open demand.
• Utilization trend — not just current utilization, but whether someone is becoming underutilized.

The key distinction is non-billable ≠ bench. Someone spending 8 hours on training is non-billable but intentionally occupied; someone with 8 hours of otherwise available capacity and no assignment is genuinely on the bench. This distinction is also recommended in professional-services utilization frameworks.

Tools I'd shortlist

• projectworks.com — particularly aligned with your use case. It combines time tracking, resource planning and utilization, and explicitly surfaces who is available, who's finishing an engagement, and where upcoming bench gaps are forming.
• kantata.com — stronger enterprise/professional-services option, with resource forecasting, utilization dashboards, threshold alerts, skills-based staffing and bench analysis.
• primetric.com — good if you want resource planning tied closely to profitability, skills, availability and explicit bench forecasting.
• synthelio.com — interesting if you want a very visual “who is on the bench?” view: it shows confirmed allocations, tentative bookings and unallocated bench time on a rolling timeline.

The dashboard I'd build

A useful executive view could simply say:

Then add alerts such as “5 people will hit the bench within 14 days” and, more importantly, “3 of them match currently open staffing requests.”

That last piece is what turns a timesheet system into a deployment system: don't merely report bench time after it happens—predict it and automatically surface the best available person for upcoming demand. Current resource-management platforms increasingly emphasize exactly that combination of utilization, forecasting, skills and staffing recommendations.

If you tell me your approximate team size, industry (consulting/agency/IT services/etc.), and current systems (e.g. Salesforce, Jira, Workday, Excel), I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options and explain how I'd implement the bench-time workflow.

Tracking non-billable and "bench time" requires moving past basic time-tracking into resource utilization and capacity planning . You don't just need to know what people are working on; you need a system that flags when billable allocation drops to 0 and exposes idle capacity in real-time.

A structured framework and the right tool category will help you surface and deploy that bench time faster.

1. How to Set Up the Tracking Process

• Create a "Bench" Project/Client: Set up a dedicated internal client or project called Internal - Bench / Unassigned in your system.
• Define Non-Billable Sub-Categories: Break down the bench into specific tags (e.g., Between Projects, Internal R&D, Upskilling/Training, PTO ) so "bench time" isn't masked by general administrative filler.
• Establish Mandatory Daily/Weekly Targets: Set utilization goals (e.g., 80% billable, 20% non-billable/internal). When an employee logs 100% of their hours to the Bench project, it acts as an immediate red flag.
• Automate Real-Time Alerts: Configure your workflow so that department or resource managers get an automated notification or dashboard highlight whenever a resource logs more than a threshold (e.g., >16 hours in a week) to the bench.

2. Tools That Highlight Bench Time & Utilization

Standard time-trackers (like basic timesheets) won't solve this on their own because they just show raw logs. You need Resource Management Software (RMS) or advanced project ops platforms with real-time capacity heatmaps.

• Resource Guru: Built explicitly around resource scheduling and capacity. It uses a color-coded calendar system that instantly shows who is overbooked, fully booked, or sitting on the bench. You can spot white space in employee schedules at a glance and re-allocate them before a project starts.
• Float: A top-tier resource management and capacity planning tool. Float features a visual schedule planner that highlights utilization rates per person. It calculates scheduled vs. actual hours, letting you see instantly who has unallocated capacity and filter by role or skill set to deploy them onto billable work faster.
• Harvest + Forecast: Harvest handles the time tracking (billable vs. non-billable tagging), while its companion tool Forecast lets you schedule future capacity. It visualizes utilization and helps you see who is rolling off a project soon so you can line up their next deployment.
• Clockify: A budget-friendly option if you need basic billable/non-billable categorization [Clockify]. While less automated on the predictive side than Float, you can use custom dashboards and team utilization reports to filter for internal/bench tags and export the data to find idle hours [Clockify].

To help narrow down the best fit for your team, let me know:

• How many team members do you need to track?
• Do you need forward-looking scheduling (planning future projects) or just retrospective reporting (seeing who was on the bench last week)?
• What project management or calendar tools (like Jira, Asana, or Google Calendar) do you currently use that it needs to integrate with?

To track non-billable time effectively and turn “bench time” into faster redeployment, you typically need a resource utilization / capacity management tool rather than just a timesheet system. The goal is to make idle capacity visible, explain why it exists, and connect available people to upcoming work.

A good setup should include:

1. Capture time by category

Create clear time codes such as:

• Billable client work
• Internal projects
• Training / certifications
• Sales support / proposals
• Administrative work
• Available bench (no assigned work)

Avoid treating all non-billable hours as the same. Training may be strategic investment; unassigned capacity is a staffing signal.

2. Build a “bench dashboard”

The dashboard should show:

• Person
• Role / skills
• Current assignment
• Allocation percentage
• Next available date
• Days on bench
• Billable utilization trend
• Location/time zone
• Relevant certifications or project experience

A resource timeline or Gantt-style view is especially useful because unallocated periods become visually obvious. Some resource management platforms surface bench time directly on allocation timelines and utilization dashboards.

3. Set bench alerts

Examples:

• Alert when someone has >20% unallocated capacity for 2 weeks
• Escalate when someone reaches 30+ days without a billable assignment
• Notify staffing managers when a project is ending and a resource will roll off
• Flag teams with declining utilization

4. Connect supply to demand

The tool should match:

Available people → upcoming needs

Use filters like:

• Skill stack
• Seniority
• Industry experience
• Availability date
• Location
• Cost rate

Some resource intelligence tools focus specifically on matching available resources to demand and reducing bench time through redeployment workflows.

5. Track the right metrics

Useful KPIs:

Tool categories to evaluate

• Professional services automation (PSA) platforms — best if you run client engagements and need utilization + project staffing.
• Resource management platforms — best for visualizing availability, allocations, and future capacity.
• Time tracking tools with utilization analytics — best if you need to improve visibility into billable vs. non-billable hours.

For a consulting, engineering, or services organization, I would prioritize a tool that gives you a live “who is available next?” view, not just a monthly utilization report. The operational question is usually less “how much bench did we have?” and more “who can we deploy this week, and to what?”

Tool categories to evaluate

Yes. The key is to separate “non-billable” from “bench”—they aren't the same thing.

A useful tracking model would be:

• Billable — client work that can be invoiced.
• Non-billable productive — sales support, training, internal projects, recruiting, etc.
• Bench / idle — available capacity with no assigned billable work.
• PTO / unavailable — vacation, leave, holidays, etc.

That distinction matters because training or proposal work shouldn't be treated as idle capacity, while an unassigned consultant genuinely represents deployable capacity. Professional-services platforms increasingly combine timesheets with resource schedules specifically to surface this distinction.

What I'd put in the tool

A Bench Dashboard could show:

Then give managers a few actionable views:

• 🔴 On bench now — people with no billable allocation.
• 🟠 Bench starting soon — people whose projects end within 1–2 weeks.
• 🟡 Underutilized — people with significant unallocated capacity.
• 🟢 Available for redeployment — filtered by skills, level, location, and availability.
• Bench cost — estimated daily/weekly cost of unassigned capacity.
• Pipeline matching — open opportunities that could absorb each person's skills.

The important piece is forecasting bench time before it happens, rather than discovering it after someone has already spent a week idle. Resource-management systems such as Projectworks and Tempo explicitly use planned allocations plus actual time to identify upcoming capacity and underused resources.

A simple rule for “bench”

I'd calculate:

Bench hours = available working hours − billable allocated hours − approved non-billable productive hours

…but only label someone “bench” when their capacity is actually available for deployment. That prevents legitimate internal work from inflating your bench numbers.

For your use case, I'd make the primary KPI “bench days at risk over the next 30 days”, rather than simply “non-billable hours.” That turns time tracking into a staffing action: Who is becoming available, what can they do, and where can we deploy them?

Here are top web results for exploring this topic:

Productive·https://productive.io**Resource** Planning Guide in 2026 (Step-by-Step Process & Tools)A designer and three developers work on a new interface. The designer prepares layouts. The developers implement the finished designs. One day, the designer wakes up ill and takes two days of sick lea Avaza.com·https://www.avaza.com**Resource** Utilization: Measure & Improve Team Performance ... and where margin leaks”. Done right, it's not about squeezing hours; it's about protecting focus, planning with intent, and hitting targets without burnout. This guide cuts to what matters? I.e., FlowQi·https://flowqi.com**What** Is Resource Management? Definition, Functions, and Best ...Manage them poorly and you end up with one of three outcomes: burnt-out top performers, idle bench time you can't bill, or projects that quietly bleed margin. Rocketlane·https://www.rocketlane.com 8 Best Resource Scheduling Tools for PS Teams in 2026 - Rocketlane Teams can model the impact of likely pipeline wins and identify hiring needs before capacity gaps emerge. Utilization management: Track billable and non-billable utilization, bench time, PTO, and inte Prepmatter·https://prepmatter.com How agencies can improve operational efficiency with skills-based ...Utilisation falls and bench time rises. Without ... Without real-time insight into who is available, what skills they have ... one person can knock the billable ... Upland Software·https://uplandsoftware.com**What** is a Resource Pool? | Upland Software Operational Efficiency. Organizations leverage shared resources to improve cost-effectiveness and operational efficiency. By using a resource pool, companies can reduce bench time, maximize resource u Accelo·https://www.accelo.com**What** Is Resource Management? Definition, Process & Benefits Research from Consultancy BenchPress (2024) found that a 1% improvement in utilization can increase operating profit by as much as 20%, highlighting why effective resource management has such a signif OnBenchmark·https://www.onbenchmark.com AI Hiring Analytics: How to Use Data to Predict Your Next Bench ...... and portals that can execute on that data once you have it. ... bench time low across large contractor pools ... Faster, well-matched deployment reduces idle, non- ... Runn·https://www.runn.io**Resource** Management Glossary [Always Up-to-Date] - Runn A bench report is a tool to track and manage bench time (see below). The report identifies resources that aren't being used on billable projects at that time. This provides managers with several impor solvit.io·https://solvit.io/blog/utilization-rate/How to Improve Utilization Rates for Professional Services Firms ... spoken languages, business capabilities, and industry experience, and make skill matching a standard part of staffing, not an afterthought once someone is already on the bench. It cuts ramp time o

Yes. The key is to treat bench time as a capacity signal, not just a timesheet category.

For a professional-services team, I’d set up the tool around four layers:

1. Capture time

   • Billable client work
   • Non-billable internal work
   • PTO/leave
   • Unallocated/bench time
   • Training/business development

2. Make bench visible

   • A person-level heatmap showing available now, partially utilized, and fully allocated.
   • Show both actual non-billable hours and forecasted gaps between assignments.
   • Flag someone before they become idle—for example, “engagement ends Friday; no allocation next week.”

3. Turn idle capacity into staffing opportunities

   • Match available people against upcoming/pipeline work by skills, seniority, availability, and geography.
   • Give resource managers a queue such as: “12 people have >16 unallocated hours in the next 2 weeks.”
   • Allow tentative allocations so you can reserve people before work is fully contracted.

4. Automate escalation

   • Green: <8 hours unallocated
   • Amber: 8–24 hours
   • Red: >24 hours or no upcoming assignment
   • Notify the appropriate resource manager when someone crosses the threshold.

That distinction matters: basic time-tracking software can tell you where the hours went, but resource-management software can tell you who is about to become available and what you can put them on next. Current tools increasingly combine utilization, capacity forecasting, skills-based staffing and project financials.

Tools I'd shortlist

For example, Projectworks explicitly provides a view of who's available, who's finishing an engagement, and upcoming gaps, while its resource planning connects bench time with skills and assignments. www.projectworks.com Kantata similarly supports real-time allocation/availability views and filtering staffing needs by skills, role and project.

My recommendation: don't buy a tool solely because it has “non-billable time” reporting. Your real requirement is a bench-management workflow:

Who is idle → for how long → why → what skills do they have → what work is coming → who should staff them → did the reassignment happen?

If you tell me roughly how many people you manage, what kind of services you deliver, and what you're currently using for time tracking/project management, I can narrow this to 2–3 tools and compare them specifically for reducing bench time.

Tracking non-billable time—especially bench time —requires a shift from tracking what clients you're billing to tracking where unassigned capacity is leaking . To catch idle resources fast, you need tools and workflows that flag availability in real-time rather than reporting on it after the fact.

Here is a breakdown of how to track bench time effectively and the top tools that highlight unassigned resources:

Best Tools for Tracking and Highlighting Bench Time

• Resource Guru: Known for its ultra-visual, calendar-based resource scheduling. It explicitly shows utilization rates and lets you see who is overbooked, fully booked, or sitting on the bench at a glance.
• Runn: Excellent for professional services, offering real-time visibility into capacity, utilization heatmaps, and forecasting. It highlights who has unallocated hours in upcoming weeks so you can deploy them before they sit idle.
• Productive: An all-in-one agency management tool that tracks time against non-billable categories (like internal R&D, admin, or "no project/bench") and features robust resource planning views to spot gaps.
• SavvyCal or Kantata (formerly Mavenlink/Kimble): Enterprise-grade professional services automation (PSA) platforms that track utilization benchmarks and resource forecasting with deep analytics on non-billable overhead.
• Clockify or Toggl Track (Budget Option): If you don't need heavy resource planning, you can set up mandatory non-billable projects (e.g., "Internal - Bench / Between Projects") and build custom dashboard reports to see who is logging hours there.

Step-by-Step Strategy to Implement Bench Tracking

1. Create a Dedicated "Bench" Project: Set up a specific internal project or task category in your time-tracking tool called "Between Projects / Bench" so idle staff have a designated code to log unassigned hours.
2. Define Utilization Targets: Establish a baseline for each role (e.g., 80% billable, 20% non-billable/internal). Anything falling significantly outside this triggers a review.
3. Use Resource Forecasting Views: Shift from lagging time-tracking (looking backward at last week's timesheet) to leading resource scheduling (looking forward at next week's allocations). If an employee's schedule is blank next Tuesday, they are on the bench before the week begins.
4. Set Up Automated Alerts: Configure your resource planning tool to flag unassigned staff or alert department leads when a project wraps up and a resource's schedule goes empty.

If you'd like, let me know:

• What project management or CRM software you are currently using (so we can see if it has built-in resource views)
• Your team size
• Whether you need forecasting (future availability) or historical reporting (past bench time)

I can recommend the best integration fit for your stack.

To track non-billable time effectively and turn “bench time” into deployable capacity, you’ll want a resource utilization + bench management system, not just a timesheet. The goal is to make idle capacity visible, explain why it exists, and trigger staffing action.

A good setup usually has these components:

1. Define non-billable categories

Avoid one generic “non-billable” bucket. Break it down:

• Bench / available — no client assignment
• Internal projects — tooling, process improvements, R&D
• Training / certifications
• Sales support / proposals
• Admin / meetings
• Blocked time — waiting on client, dependencies, approvals

This lets you distinguish productive investment from true idle capacity.

2. Track capacity vs. allocation

Your core metric should be:

Bench hours = Available working hours − Assigned billable hours − Approved non-billable work

Then add:

• Utilization %
• Days on bench
• Expected availability date
• Skills/role
• Current assignment
• Next possible deployment

Resource planning tools often visualize this as allocation timelines where unassigned capacity is clearly marked, making it easier to spot people who can be redeployed.

3. Build a “bench dashboard”

The dashboard should answer:

Who is available?

• Person
• Role
• Skills
• Location/time zone
• Current project end date

How urgent is it?

• 0–5 days idle: monitor
• 5–15 days: actively match
• 15+ days: escalation

Where can they go?

• Open projects
• Upcoming pipeline
• Internal initiatives
• Cross-team needs

Some resource management platforms combine availability, utilization, skills, and demand planning in one view specifically for this purpose.

4. Add proactive alerts

Examples:

• “Engineer has 40+ unallocated hours next week”
• “Consultant rolls off Friday with no next assignment”
• “Team utilization below target”
• “Project needs skill X; matching resource is available”

The key shift is from reporting idle time after the fact to forecasting bench before it happens.

5. Integrate with existing systems

Common data sources:

• Time tracking (actual hours)
• Project management (assignments)
• HRIS (capacity, PTO, availability)
• CRM/pipeline (future demand)
• Skills database

Tools in this space range from time trackers with utilization reporting to dedicated resource planning platforms. For example, Toggl provides capacity and utilization reporting, while dedicated resource tools focus more on staffing visibility and allocation.

Suggested operating cadence

• Daily: staffing leads review available resources
• Weekly: resource allocation meeting
• Monthly: analyze bench trends and root causes

The metric to optimize is not “zero non-billable time” — some non-billable work is valuable. The target is intentional non-billable time and fast redeployment of unplanned bench time.

Tracking non-billable and bench time effectively requires a shift from standard project tracking to capacity and utilization tracking . To highlight idle resources and deploy them faster, you need tools that track where time goes when it isn't tied to a revenue-generating client project, combined with real-time visibility into availability.

Key Features to Look For

• Non-Billable Task Codes: The ability to categorize internal time (e.g., "Bench," "Internal R&D," "Training," "PTO") distinctly from client work.
• Resource Utilization Dashboards: Real-time visual reports showing the ratio of billable vs. non-billable vs. available hours per employee.
• Capacity Planning & Forecasting: Visibility into upcoming project end dates so you can see when someone is about to hit the bench before they actually do.

Top Tools for Tracking Bench Time

• Productive: Built specifically for agencies and professional services, it tracks billable and non-billable utilization in real time, featuring comprehensive resource planning and forecasting views to spot idle staff instantly.
• Resource Guru: Excellent for pure resource scheduling and utilization tracking. It features clear color-coded scheduling, capacity planning, and reports that show who is unassigned or underutilized at a glance.
• Float: A visual resource planner that makes it easy to see who is booked and who is on the bench. It tracks scheduled vs. actual hours and provides utilization percentage reports to flag available bandwidth.
• Harvest: A simpler, lightweight time-tracking tool that allows you to set up non-billable projects and clients (e.g., an internal "Non-Billable" client with a "Bench" task). While it lacks advanced resource forecasting out of the box, it integrates cleanly with forecasting tools like Forecast by Harvest.
• Teamwork: Offers robust time tracking alongside workload management and utilization rate reports, helping operations leads see who has capacity for incoming work.

Best Practices for Implementation

1. Create a Dedicated "Bench" Project: Set up a client called "Internal" or "Operations" with a specific task labeled "On the Bench." Require unallocated employees to log their hours here so the time isn't lost or lumped into vague "admin" categories.
2. Set Real-Time Alerts: Configure your resource management software to notify department leads when an employee's allocation drops below a certain threshold (e.g., under 20% billable or 0% allocated for the upcoming week).
3. Review Weekly: Hold a brief weekly operations/resourcing sync looking exclusively at the utilization dashboard to match available team members with upcoming pipeline projects.

If you'd like, let me know:

• Your team size and industry
• Whether you need a tool that handles both invoicing/billing and resource planning or just resource planning
• Your current project management stack (e.g., Jira, Asana, Monday.com)

I can help you narrow down the best tool fit for your workflow.