A different way to think about time tracking

Plan your day first.
Track actuals second.

Spreadsheets are the only time tracking tool that lets you map out your week before it happens — then measure how close you got.

The core difference

Timesheets record. Spreadsheets plan.

Traditional timesheet software is built around a single question: "What did you do today?" Spreadsheets let you ask a better one first: "What do you plan to do today?"

Traditional timesheet app

  • ✕ You can only fill it in after the work is done
  • ✕ No way to set intended hours by project before you start
  • ✕ Priorities live in your head or a separate to-do list
  • ✕ No column to compare planned vs actual time
  • ✕ Logging becomes a chore you do at the end of the day from memory

Spreadsheet + Time On It

  • ✓ Add a "Planned" column alongside "Actual" — see the gap instantly
  • ✓ Block out your week on Monday morning, then track against it
  • ✓ Priorities, tasks, and time all live in one document
  • ✓ Formulas show overtime, remaining budget, or % complete automatically
  • ✓ One click to push actuals into QuickBooks via Time On It

Why it works

The benefits of planning before you track

When you write down what you intend to do before you do it, you make better decisions about where your time goes — and you end up with better data when the week is over.

Intentional scheduling

Blocking time by project or client at the start of the week forces you to think about what actually matters — before distractions decide for you.

Planned vs actual visibility

A simple formula column shows whether a project is running over or under. You get this for free in a spreadsheet — no extra reporting module needed.

Team coordination

Sharing a planned spreadsheet across a team gives everyone visibility into who is doing what — without a project management tool subscription.

Accurate client billing

Tracking time against a pre-set budget makes it far harder to under-bill. You can see exactly when you've hit the allocated hours for a project.

No extra tool to learn

Your team already knows Excel or Google Sheets. There's no onboarding, no per-seat subscription just for the planning layer, and no new interface to remember.

Straight into QuickBooks

When actuals are finalised, Time On It pushes them directly into QuickBooks Online — employees, hours, customers, and service items — without manual re-entry.

The workflow

From weekly plan to QuickBooks in four steps

The plan-first approach works best as a simple weekly ritual. Here's what that looks like in practice.

1

Monday morning: plan the week

Open your spreadsheet and add a row for each task you plan to work on this week. Set a "Planned Hours" value for each one. This takes 5–10 minutes and forces you to prioritise before the week gets away from you.

The big insight A timesheet app can't do this step. You can't enter time for something that hasn't happened yet — there's no field for intent, only completion.
2

During the week: fill in actuals as you go

Add an "Actual Hours" column alongside Planned. Update it throughout the week — or at the end of each day. A formula like =Actual-Planned instantly shows which projects are running over.

3

Friday: review and finalise

Check actuals against the plan. Move anything incomplete to next week's rows. Adjust hours if the job ran longer. You now have a complete, accurate record — and a view of how well you estimated.

4

Import to QuickBooks with Time On It

Upload the completed spreadsheet to Time On It. It maps your employees, customers, and service items to your QuickBooks data and creates the time entries — no copy-paste, no manual entry, no mistakes.

Start planning smarter. Import in seconds.

Connect QuickBooks, download the pre-filled template, and see how the plan-first workflow fits your team.

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