IT and Software Agency Software: Projects, Timesheets and a Sales Pipeline

Running an IT or software agency means selling, building and billing at once, often with the same eight people. A fixed-price website quietly grows by a third, a support client sends "small changes" that nobody logs, and the developer you promised to a new client is still finishing last month's project. Meanwhile, warm leads sit in someone's inbox.

Most agencies patch this together with a task tool, a spreadsheet of hours and an invoice template. This guide covers what an agency actually needs, how Saauzi's apps handle it, and what Saauzi deliberately does not do for a development team.

What software an IT or software agency actually needs

An agency has four business jobs:

• Sales: which prospects are warm, what each deal is worth and who is following up.
• Delivery: a project per client, with tasks that have owners and due dates.
• Time: billable and non-billable hours, so you know whether a fixed-price build made money and what to bill on hourly work.
• Money and people: invoices that go out on time, a cash book that matches the bank, and staff, leave and hiring.

Notice what is missing: the code. Your repository and issue tracker are developer tools, and your team already has favourites. The business layer around them is where agencies lose money. Our plain-English guide to ERP for small businesses explains how one system can handle that layer.

How Saauzi covers it: Projects, CRM, HRM and Cashbook

When you sign up and choose IT and software agency as your industry, Saauzi switches on four apps on one platform. You can install other apps from the hub later.

CRM for the sales pipeline

Each lead holds the contact, company, source, deal value, owner and expected close date, and moves through stages you define, such as Discovery call, Proposal sent and Negotiation, then Won or Lost. Calls, meetings, notes and follow-up tasks sit on the lead, and the board view shows the whole pipeline. Our guide to Saauzi CRM covers it in detail.

Projects for delivery and time

Once a deal is won, set up a project for the client: fixed-price for a build, or hourly with a rate for support and change requests, plus a budget and start and due dates. Tasks move across a board (to do, in progress, done), assigned to your team with due dates.

Timesheets record hours per project and task, marked billable or non-billable, so time spent on your own website doesn't inflate a client's numbers. To bill, raise a numbered invoice from the project, with discount and taxes, and track it from draft to sent to paid. The Saauzi Projects guide walks through the flow.

HRM for the team

Set up departments such as Development, Design and QA. Profiles record job title, join date and employment type (full-time, part-time, contract or intern), which suits the mix of staff and contractors agencies carry. Managers approve or reject leave requests, so you know who is away before you promise a launch date. Openings go on a public careers page, and applicants move through applied, screening, interview and offer to hired or rejected.

Cashbook for the money

Cashbook tracks client payments, expenses such as hosting and software subscriptions, and transfers between bank, cash and wallet accounts like eSewa or Khalti, reconciled daily.

A hypothetical week at an eight-person agency

• Monday: the board for a fixed-price booking website (NPR 600,000, budgeted at 240 hours) shows checkout in progress.
• Tuesday: a hotel on an hourly support project at NPR 2,000 an hour sends three change requests. They become tasks, and a developer logs 5.5 billable hours.
• Wednesday: a school's mobile-app lead moves to Proposal sent at NPR 1,200,000, with a follow-up call set for Friday.
• Thursday: timesheets show 190 of the 240 hours used with three weeks to go, so you raise scope with the client now, not at handover.
• Friday: you invoice the hotel from its project, VAT included, approve a QA engineer's leave and move two applicants to interview.

A checklist for choosing agency software

1. Does it handle both fixed-price and hourly projects?
2. Can every hour be marked billable or non-billable?
3. Does the pipeline show deal value, owner and expected close date?
4. Are invoices raised from the project, with your taxes and PAN/VAT printed?
5. Can the team start in a browser without an implementation project?

Where Saauzi fits and where it doesn't

Saauzi fits agencies of a few people to a few dozen that want the business side in one place. What it does not do:

• No bug tracking or sprints. No backlogs, story points or releases; keep your issue tracker.
• No Git or developer-tool integrations. Saauzi doesn't connect to other software.
• No helpdesk or client portal. Clients can't raise tickets or log in; tasks are for your own team.
• No email or calendar sync, automations or estimates. Write proposals where you do today.
• No payroll or attendance. Salary sits on the profile, but staff are paid outside Saauzi.
• Cashbook is not full accounting. Your accountant keeps the books and files VAT returns.

What it costs

Your first app is free forever, so you can start with Projects and get timesheets in order. One flat subscription then unlocks every Saauzi app: NPR 1,500 per user per month or NPR 12,000 per user per year (US$20 or US$200 internationally). Eight users on the annual plan would come to NPR 96,000 (US$1,600) a year. See the pricing page.

FAQ

Can Saauzi replace our issue tracker?

No. Saauzi runs the business side of the agency. Bugs, sprints and code reviews stay in your developer tools.

Can we bill some clients hourly and others a fixed price?

Yes. Billing type is set per project, so a fixed-price build and an hourly support arrangement run side by side.

Does Saauzi run payroll?

No. HRM keeps salary on record but does not pay staff. You can record salary payments as expenses in Cashbook.

If your pipeline, hours and invoices live in four different places, bring them into one. See what Saauzi switches on for IT and software agencies, or start with one app free.