We have Timeblocks (service level agreements) with our clients where they take X amount of time from us and use over a period of time.
In our old CRM, I was able to set up an automation where I was able to set up a Contract with the amount of time in it and then set up a workflow where, once the task is completed, the amount of time it took was deducted from the Contract.
I am looking to do the same again in Asana.
I have set up two custom fields, one called Estimated Hours and one called Actual Hours where we enter the values of how long we think something should take and then measure that and put in the actual hours which is what finally comes off the Contract.
If actual hours is a numeric custom field, you can enter the client’s total allotment as a positive number, say 40, in one task. Then each work task can enter its actual hours as a negative number, say 2 hours in one and 3 in another. An automatic tally will appear at the bottom; 35 hours left in this case.
I agree with @lpb This is an easy way to do this. A more advanced way is to use an integration called Everhour. Their integration in asana is the best and you can manage your reporting, timeblock budget and invoice all from their website. But to do the timetracking you do not need to leave Asana.
They also use the custom field called “estimate” to pull in your estimated time and then record your actual time via the push of a button. here are some links with more info:
Everhour can let you compare actual time vs. estimated time on a task level and on a project level. If you estimate your time on a task level, you can create a field called “Estimate” and then use Everhour that will let you track hours on tasks and compare them with values from that field by making reports on our end.
Or, you can set an hourly budget on the entire project and see the progress as time spent on all project tasks. Feel free to book a demo with us to find out more.