Help Centre
How to get set up and get the most out of Costifys. If you cannot find what you need, get in touch and a person will answer you.
Getting started
What do I set up first?
Add your clients, then your projects, then invite your team. Everything else in Costifys hangs off a project, and a project needs a client before it can exist. Clients live under Clients, projects under Projects, and team invitations under Settings, Team.
How do I add my team?
Go to Settings, then Team, and send an invitation by email. Each person sets their own password from the link. Their role decides what they can see and do, and you can adjust roles any time under Settings, Roles.
Can I import my existing data?
Clients and projects can be added manually, and time entries can be typed in for past weeks so your reports cover the full year. If you have a large export from another system, email hello@costifys.com and we will help you load it.
Projects and budgets
How do I create a project?
Open Projects and click New Project. Give it a name, pick the client, choose the fee type and enter the total fee. If the client does not exist yet, pick + New client in the dropdown and add it without leaving the form.
What is the difference between fee types?
Fixed means an agreed lump sum for the whole scope. Hourly bills the time your team logs at their billing rates. Percent of construction derives the fee from the construction cost. Pick the one your contract uses, because it decides how billing and the budget reports behave.
How do phases work?
Split the total fee across phases such as concept, design development and construction administration. Each phase carries its own fee and budget, so you can see which stage is eating the money. Time is logged against a phase, which is what makes phase-level profit possible.
What does burn rate mean?
Burn rate compares the hours used against the hours you budgeted. Above 100 percent means the phase has consumed more effort than it was priced for, and the profit on it is already shrinking.
Time and expenses
How does my team log time?
Under Time Tracking there is a weekly grid for entering a whole week at once, and timesheets for reviewing and submitting. Each entry is attached to a project and a phase, and is marked billable or non-billable.
What happens when a timesheet is submitted?
It goes to whoever approves time in your firm. Approved time flows into the budget, realization and profitability reports, and becomes available to bill on an invoice.
How do I record an expense?
Time Tracking, then Expenses. Attach the receipt, pick the project, and mark it reimbursable or billable so it can be passed on to the client on the next invoice.
Invoicing and payments
How do I raise an invoice?
Invoicing, then Invoices, then New Invoice. Choose the project and the billing method: percent complete for fixed-fee work, or time and expenses for hourly work. Costifys pulls in the approved time and billable expenses so you are not retyping anything.
Can clients pay online?
Yes, once Stripe is connected under Settings, Billing. The invoice then carries a payment link and payments are matched back automatically.
What are retainers and recurring invoices?
A retainer holds money the client has paid in advance, which you then draw down as you work. A recurring invoice issues the same invoice on a schedule, which suits ongoing service agreements.
What is a write-off?
Time or fees you have decided not to bill. Recording it as a write-off instead of deleting it keeps the work visible in your realization report, so you can see what the decision actually cost.
Reports
Which report answers which question?
Utilization shows how much of your team's time is billable. Realization shows how much of the time you logged you actually collected. Profitability shows which projects and clients make money. Projected overrun flags projects heading past budget before they get there. AR aging shows who owes you and for how long.
Why is a report empty?
Most reports need approved time or issued invoices before they show anything. A new firm with no logged time will see zeros until the first timesheet is approved.
Can I export a report?
Yes, reports export so you can take the numbers into a spreadsheet or a board pack.
Staffing and planning
What does the resource planner do?
Staffing, then Planning, shows who is assigned to what and where you are over or under committed in the weeks ahead, so you can move people before a deadline becomes a problem.
How do forecasts work?
Forecasts take your current assignments and project budgets and project them forward, showing where capacity runs out and where you have room for new work.
Account and billing
How does the free trial work?
Every new firm gets 14 days with no credit card. When the trial ends you pick a plan under Settings, Billing. Your data stays exactly where it is.
How is Costifys priced?
Per user, per month, with a discount for paying annually. The current prices are on the pricing page.
How do I change or cancel my plan?
Settings, then Billing. You can move between plans or cancel at any time, and cancelling takes effect at the end of the period you have paid for.
Where is my data held and who can see it?
Your firm's data is isolated from every other firm on Costifys, and inside your firm what each person sees is controlled by their role. Our privacy policy sets out how we handle it.
Still stuck?
Email hello@costifys.com or send us a message. We answer every question ourselves.
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