Retainer Management

Retainer management software that stops over-servicing

Every logged hour is deducted from the client's retainer automatically, so you always know how many hours are left — before the margin is gone, not after.

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The problem

Retainers quietly bleed profit when nobody watches the balance

The client on the 20-hour retainer who absorbs 34 hours. The "profitable" account that's actually paying for your team's time at a loss. In most agencies, nobody notices until month-end — after the work is done and the invoice is sent. Dashtrack makes retainer tracking automatic, so over-servicing becomes visible the day it happens.

How it works

Three steps. Zero spreadsheets.

Set the retainer on the project

Give every client project a monthly retainer — hours allocated, start date, and billing type. The project dashboard shows the balance immediately.

Your team logs time as usual

Start a timer or log hours against tasks. Every entry is tied to the project, so retainer hours are deducted automatically — no manual reconciliation.

Watch the balance in real time

The dashboard shows hours remaining, hours burned vs. allowance, and utilisation per client. Spot a client at 80% before they hit 140%.

What you get

Everything it takes to run this properly

Real-time retainer balances

Every client's remaining hours update live as work is logged. No end-of-month spreadsheets, no guessing how much runway is left.

Over-servicing alerts before the invoice

See which clients are burning through their allowance mid-month, not after the fact. Decide on overage billing or scope changes while you still can.

Hours burned vs. allowance

The dashboard shows exactly how much of each retainer has been used. If a client is consistently overshooting, the retainer is sized wrong — and now you can see it.

Utilisation by client

Know which clients are actually profitable. Team workload and client utilisation sit side by side, so resourcing decisions are backed by real numbers.

Capacity against commitments

The allocation matrix shows team availability against retainer commitments, so you never over-promise work you don't have the hours for.

Meeting notes with the context attached

Scope changes and client decisions live in meeting notes on the project — next to the time and retainer data they affect.

See it in action

Watch it do the work

The Dashtrack dashboard — tasks grouped by overdue, due today and upcoming, with hours logged per client.

Frequently asked questions

What is retainer management?+

Retainer management is the process of tracking how many hours or deliverables a client has used against their agreed monthly retainer — so the agency knows exactly when a client's allowance is running low and can bill for overage, renew, or adjust scope before profitability is eroded.

How do you track retainer hours in Dashtrack?+

Every time entry is tied to a project, and every project carries a retainer allowance. Logged hours are deducted from the balance automatically, and the dashboard shows each client's remaining hours in real time — account managers never have to guess.

What happens when a client exceeds their retainer?+

The agency decides — billing the overage at an agreed rate, converting it into a larger retainer, or absorbing it as goodwill. The key is knowing it's happening before the end of the month, which is exactly what real-time balance tracking gives you.

Can I see retainer health across all clients at once?+

Yes. Every project dashboard shows hours remaining, and the wider dashboard surfaces hours logged per client — so you can scan the whole portfolio and spot the clients quietly eating unbilled time.

From the blog

How agencies actually do this

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Retainers

Retainer Management for Agencies: How to Stop Over-Serving Clients

14 August 2026 · 3 min read

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