6 Best Agency Scheduling Software in 2025 | Workamajig

Most agency (or even project) management software includes staff scheduling tools because it’s part of the natural project planning and monitoring workflow. You can differentiate and compare these systems’ scheduling tools by looking at the complementary features.

A high-quality agency management tool will support basic scheduling features with:

• Resource utilization dashboards where you can view all staff members, their total availability, and current schedules.

• Time tracking features to log labor hours in the same system you use to schedule staff and manage projects. Then, you can see how much time team members are actually clocking on projects, compare actual vs. estimated hours, and improve future project planning.

• Productivity reports to see what type of activities team members are scheduled for and which projects, services, clients, (etc.) require the most resources.

If your agency management tool doesn’t check those boxes, it’s time for a switch.

Our guide covers six of the most top-rated agency management systems with native staff scheduling and robust resource management.

To learn more about Workamajig, keep reading or request a free demo.

1. Workamajig

All-in-one operating system to unify, organize & automate agency workflows

Workamajig is an all-in-one software solution to manage your agency’s (many) moving parts. It includes:

• A full project management software with project planning tools, templates, project intake forms, task management, and project monitoring (including timeline and budget tracking, plus real-time notifications).

• A comprehensive resource management module with staff scheduling tools, dashboards to monitor bandwidth and schedules, native time tracking, and productivity reports to assess and optimize resource utilization. We’ll talk more about these below.

• User-friendly collaboration tools to connect all project stakeholders (internal and external users) — these include file sharing, commenting, internal proofing, version history, and file comparisons.

• Native CRM to store client information and manage your opportunities pipeline. The CRM also comes with a variety of sales performance reports to measure earned vs. lost leads and improve acquisition strategies.

• Client and vendor management tools to simplify client communications and assign work to external talent. Then, you can manage those relationships and conversations in the same system you manage internal staff.

• Full GL-ready accounting software (competitive with tools like QuickBooks and Xero) to support accounting workflows like client invoicing, vendor invoice management, expense reporting, reimbursements, payment processes, and financial reporting.

• Financial reporting dashboard with profit & loss reports (across various categories), metrics monitors, general ledger reports, revenue forecasting, project budget drill-downs, and custom reporting tools.

Workamajig supports various creative professionals, such as advertising teams, marketers, public relations firms, media agencies, and graphic design studios.

Our team has over 30 years of experience working with agencies to understand their processes, needs, and goals (and where the other systems they use fall short). We’ve fine-tuned Workamajig over the years, so it’s highly flexible and configurable to support agencies of all sizes and growth stages. We offer:

• Packages by agency size, so you can choose the number of seats you require and pay per user. Our system supports both small teams of 10 and scaling agencies with thousands of employees.

• Personalized onboarding and training. You’re paired with an account manager before implementation, and they work with you to set up Workamajig to best support your processes.

• Ongoing support to ensure you’re making the most of Workamajig. Your account manager not only answers questions and assists during set-up, but they’re with you every step of the way. They show you the “Workamajig way” to improve agency efficiencies and can provide guidance on process or resource optimization and other agency challenges.

We also offer free demos for all customers interested in Workamajig. Our customer experience team will walk you through the full feature set, explain how Workamajig can support your specific needs and goals, and answer questions.

In the following sections, we’ll review Workamajig’s agency scheduling tools, including features to:

• Schedule staff with task cards while making project plans

• View your agency roster and everybody’s current work schedules and bandwidth

• Track project hours (at the task level) with real-time visibility as the project runs its natural courses start to finish

• Measure where staff members spend time, dissect billable vs. nonbillable hours, and improve resource utilization and realization
  
  

Task Management & Templates

As with any standard project management software, you can assign staff members to tasks as you build project plans. We offer templates so you can predefine workflows and resources and shave time off project planning, or you can build new project plans from scratch.

What differentiates and makes our task management tools more convenient is the ability to add time allocations.

When building templates or adding details to task cards, you’ll specify a budgeted number of hours per task. Not only can you specify the total number of hours, but you can also break it down to schedule hours for first rounds, revisions, and so forth.

Then, when you assign a person to the task, those hours are automatically calculated into their schedule. This makes it easy to assign work by task and monitor hours as you make assignments.

Workamajig Staff Scheduling Dashboard

Workamajig also includes a dedicated staff scheduling dashboard where you can see:

• All Staff
• Total scheduled
• Percentage of time utilized
• Total remaining/available hours

Users can easily share their availability by connecting their calendar accounts (Google, Outlook, iCal) to Workamajig. Managers can easily see when employees are in meetings or out of the office, preventing scheduling conflicts.

Then, below your roster, we list any unassigned work so you can finalize scheduling and ensure all project activities are covered.

This dashboard makes it easy to zoom out and get a bird’s-eye-view of everybody’s workload. This view helps managers effectively balance workloads and assign tasks based on individual team member capabilities and availability to prevent employee burnout. You can:

• See if you’ve overloaded one person vs. another and reassign work.

• Check individuals aren’t overburdened with too many hours assigned on any given day.

• View the total number of hours left to schedule and adjust to ensure staff have consistently busy but balanced schedules.

Our dashboard goes beyond the basic scheduling functions and offers an extra layer for double-checking staff schedules, making strategic schedule changes, and maximizing resource utilization.

This way, you’re not just assigning staff on task cards and hoping you’re hitting the right number of hours or scheduling people when they’re available. You can assign by task and then review assignments to ensure schedules are realistic (i.e., you’re not overloading anyone or scheduling too much at once) and you’ve scheduled people when they’re available.

Workamajig Time Tracking

Setting schedules is one thing, but you also want to monitor staff progress and determine whether they’re on schedule, behind schedule, or ahead.

The way to do this is with built-in time tracking, where users can log project hours on task assignments. Tracking project hours within the workflow has several advantages; for example, it:

• Makes the time tracking process more convenient for employees because they are prompted for time entry from their own dashboard view within each of their task cards.

• Allows project stakeholders to view progress as users work on tasks. Managers can see if staff members have started on a task and how many hours they’ve worked. They can also see if staff are at risk of exceeding budgeted time allotments and step in before projects go off schedule.

• Lets managers view hours by task and project, which is hugely helpful for future project planning.
  
  Tracking project hours in a separate system or spreadsheet creates an extra chore for staff members, restricts visibility into staff productivity and project progress, and makes it impossible to tie work hours back to specific project activities. These solutions show how many hours employees work each day or week, but they don’t show what employees actually work on.
  

Workamajig provides three convenient ways for users to submit time. They can:

• Use timers to easily and accurately monitor hours. Users can pause timers to take breaks or toggle between tasks, keep multiple open tasks, and resume time as they return.

• Input time from calendar events, like meetings, to accurately account for all project-related work hours.

• Manually input hours in a timesheet, the “old fashioned” way.

Our time tracking module also includes a commenting box where users can provide more context for managers about the time they submit.

We talk more about the importance of tracking time within project workflows and our time-tracking best practices in our guide: How to Track Creative Project Management Hours.

You can also compare more agency time-tracking software here.

Workamajig Staff Productivity Reports

Our system also supports scheduling processes, resource optimization, and future project planning with an Agency Insights dashboard where you can access various productivity reports.

These reports break down employee hours by client, service, project, department, and more.

You can examine reports to measure billable vs. non-billable hours and determine ways to shift resources toward more profitable projects. We even have tools to measure utilization vs. realization and increase project success and agency profits with more strategic scheduling.

You can read more about those tools and tips here: 10 Steps to Optimize Resources in Agency Project Management.

Workamajig Project & Agency Management

As mentioned above, Workamajig is a complete agency management system offering far more than just staff scheduling. Our system centralizes people and processes to connect, support, and streamline agency operations.

Agencies see countless benefits after bringing operations under one roof — for example, Workamajig:

• Improves project management workflows and makes it easier to assemble the best project teams.

• Enhances resource management and staff scheduling. Workamajig's resource management dashboard allows managers to allocate resources efficiently, balance workloads, and prevent over- or under-utilization.

• Lets managers track employee schedules, work hours, and utilization/realization rates to optimize resource use and create more accurate project plans.

• Simplifies collaboration and provides a clear history for project stakeholders to review the details of tasks and projects.

• Ties in agency financial management so you can manage budgets and project expenses in real-time and the project workflow. This results in more accurate budget tracking and greater project profitability.

• Provides reporting tools — sales performance reports, project budget analyses, financial reports, productivity reports, etc. — to manage all areas of agency operations and pinpoint improvement opportunities.

• Reduces software costs and the confusion of managing different project phases in disparate systems.

Our software also integrates with various systems — media buying software, credit card connectors, digital payment solutions, tax compliance solutions, email and calendar systems, and third-party reporting tools — to support and streamline processes, improve data accuracy, and eliminate manual data entry.

Take a moment to check out a brief demo of Workamajig below:

You can learn about Workamajig’s many other benefits by requesting a free demo with our team.

2. Advantage

Advantage is another all-in-one agency management software with a feature set comparable to Workamajig. It combines project management, resource management, time tracking, client relationship management (CRM), financial management, accounting software, and reporting tools.

This solution is primarily popular with full-service, advertising, and media agencies because of its partnership with Simpli.fi, which allows Advantage to offer a native media planning module. This module lets agencies plan and buy media directly within the Advantage platform and incorporate those costs into project plans and invoices.

Advantage offers comprehensive resource management tools, including:

• Scheduling tools on task cards to assign work and assemble project teams as you plan.

• A staff scheduling dashboard to view workloads, hours by day, current utilization percentage, and how many hours employees have left over.

• Native time tracking (via manual time entry or timers).

• Powerful reporting dashboard with preset hourly reports and custom reporting options. Advantage can also generate visual reports to summarize how time is spent and provide insights into how teams can work more efficiently.

While Advantage touts a robust toolset and earns positive user reviews, it’s worth noting:

• Advantage charges expensive rates. Small agencies are often priced out in early conversations, and Advantage typically works with larger agencies and enterprises.

• Some users complain about Advantage's interface and user experience, describing it as outdated, difficult to understand, and hard to navigate. They explain that accessing different features requires jumping between different interfaces, making staff scheduling and resource management more difficult.

• Advantage has a steep learning curve and requires longer implementation times (but the Advantage team offers guided onboarding and training to get you started).
  
  

Notable Features

• Project management features — including project intake and project monitoring

• Task management

• Resource management

• Collaborative tools like proofing and reviews

• Time tracking

• Media planning and buying — including broadcast buying, digital buying and media reporting

• Risk analysis and burn rate tracking

• Media accounting software

• Billing and invoicing

• Estimates

• Budget Monitoring

• Financial reporting

• Revenue forecasting

• CRM

• Client management

• Reporting dashboard (to analyze project performance, financials, staff hours, etc.)

• Mobile app (for Android)
  
  

Pricing

Advantage offers custom quotes per agency. Contact their team to learn more.

Read more: Best Advantage Software Alternatives for Creative Teams

3. Productive

Productive (along with the options below) is less robust than Workamajig and Advantage because it lacks full accounting software. However, these options still provide top-rated agency management solutions.

Productive is an easy-to-use and affordable agency management system typically suitable for smaller and mid-size agencies. They work with the creative industry, supporting advertising agencies, marketers, designers, and more.

The Productive platform features many of the expected agency management tools: project management, resource planning, budget tracking, CRM, time tracking, financial reporting, client billing, and collaboration tools. Its resource management module includes:

• Staff scheduling tools

• Dashboards to visualize team member availability and workloads

• Time off requests and approvals management

• Capacity planning

• Resource utilization reports

• Integrations with human resources (HR) software

What differentiates Productive from the all-in-one systems is its integration capabilities. Productive integrates with many business applications, such as Quickbooks, Xero, Sage, SAP, Justworks, ADP, Slack, HubSpot, Google, Microsoft, and Jira.

However, this could be a pro or a con. Yes, it’s nice that Productive integrations allow teams to synchronize their tech stack. They can stay in the systems they’re currently using and push data back and forth between software. But Productive relies on integrations to fully support project workflows, so agencies still need to purchase, use, and integrate dozens of software to cover their bases. There’s no condensing the tech stack or reducing software costs.

As mentioned, Productive is generally easy to use and doesn’t require lengthy training times. Users describe the platform as "intuitive" and "easy to get your head around."

That said, some users say Productive's reporting tools can be challenging to navigate, and its collaborative features are limited.

Notable Features

• Project intake and sales CRM

• Project management

• Resource management

• Time tracking and timesheets

• Documents (to create shared docs and enable team collaboration)

• Financial management

• Billing and invoicing

• Budget and expense management

• Real-time profitability tracking

• Reporting

• Integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, SAP, Justworks, ADP, Slack, HubSpot, Google, Microsoft and Jira

• Open API

• Mobile app (for iOS and Android)
  
  

Pricing

Productive offers three packages and custom enterprise plans:

• The Essential plan — $11/month/user — offers access to basic versions of Productive’s staff scheduling tools, time off management, and time tracking.

• The Professional plan — $28/month/user — provides more advanced versions of its tools but does not clarify the difference between standard and advanced tools.

• The Ultimate plan provides access to all of Productive’s features and integrations, but Productive does not share pricing for this plan. You must contact them for more information.

If you’re interested in Productive, we suggest contacting its customer support team for more information on its packages and the differences between available features before choosing a subscription plan.

4. Teamwork

Teamwork is a work management tool that helps agencies, in-house, and remote teams improve collaboration, visibility, accountability, and overall results. Its feature set is similar to Productive above, with tools to support projects from intake through invoicing.

Teamwork is described as easy to use, having usable, straightforward navigation and features that require virtually no training. It’s easy to bring project teams and clients on board (and users like that Teamwork lets you add client collaborators for free). While they offer packages for all team sizes, they’re mostly popular among growing agencies and larger businesses.

Teamwork offers several convenient staff scheduling + resource management tools, including:

• A Workload feature that provides a comprehensive overview of the team’s capacity. This tool promotes effective resource management and helps keep the team on track.

• A staff scheduling dashboard to visualize team member availability and workloads. This dashboard allows managers to maximize capacity and utilization by viewing team member schedules, remaining availability, and unassigned tasks.

• Built-in time-tracking to log hours spent working on tasks and track billable hours.

Teamwork also offers a comprehensive suite of reporting tools designed to provide insights into various aspects of project and team performance, including resource allocation and utilization.

For example, it uses time-tracking data to generate profitability reports. These reports allow users to track financial performance by project or team member and compare it against the client's budget. These profitability reports are a form of utilization report, as they provide insight into how effectively employee hours are being used and which projects are most profitable.

Teamwork’s combination of resource management tools lets managers balance workloads, optimize resource allocation, and strategically schedule work to prevent overbooking and ensure projects are delivered on time.

While users like Teamwork for its ease of use, they warn of confusing and restrictive packages. Most teams must opt for the most expensive plan to access all required features.

They also note that Teamwork’s reliance on integrations to unify project workflows necessitates investment in external software and integration efforts (which can be time-consuming and potentially lead to technical issues).

Notable Features

• Project intake forms and project planning

• Project management

• Project monitoring

• Resource and workload management

• Time tracking

• Internal proofing and collaborative tools

• Workflow automation tools

• Client management

• Expense management

• Budget tracking

• Invoicing

• Reporting

• Integrations and API

• Mobile apps for iOS and Android
  
  

Pricing

Teamwork offers three packages:

• The starter plan, Deliver — $13.99/user/month (three user minimum) — is the most basic package with limited feature access. For example, it includes time tracking but not workload or capacity management — which are essential to agency scheduling.

• The next step up, Grow — $25.99/user/month (five user minimum) — includes more advanced tools, such as workload and capacity management, but still misses some advanced tools, like timesheet approvals.

• The top-tier plan, Scale — $69.99/user/month (five user minimum) — is Teamwork’s recommended package because it grants full platform access. We also recommend this package because it provides adequate resource management tools, while the packages below lack important functionality.

Teamwork also offers custom packages for enterprises or fast-growing agencies.

5. Scoro

Scoro is another comprehensive work management tool with a wide range of features to streamline processes, boost profitability, and standardize operations. The brand works with both agencies and in-house teams. While Scoro is especially popular among creative agencies, it supports other service businesses such as IT and software developers, construction companies, architects, and engineering firms.

Scoro includes end-to-end project lifecycle management, resource planning, collaboration tools, budget tracking, time tracking, CRM, financial management, billing and invoicing, and real-time insights and reporting.

Scoro's staff scheduling dashboard provides a visual overview of team member schedules, availability, and workloads to facilitate resource allocation and management. The dashboard enables managers to:

• Plan and forecast resources.

• Spot potential resource shortages in advance and make proactive decisions regarding hiring or outsourcing.

• Balance team workloads to prevent burnout and ensure even distribution of work.

• Assign tasks strategically based on individual skill sets and availability.

• Gain insights into team productivity and utilization rates through reports.

Scoro earns good reviews for its user-friendly design, extensive features, and robust reporting capabilities. However (as with Teamwork above), users mention Scoro’s packages are restrictive, requiring them to choose a top-tier plan or custom enterprise package to access all the features they need.

Notable Features

• Project management

• Resource planning

• Time tracking

• Collaboration tools

• Quoting & budgeting tools

• Invoicing

• Cost management

• Retainers

• Sales CRM

• Reporting
  
  

Pricing

Scoro offers three packages and custom enterprise solutions:

• The Essential plan — $28/user/month — is the most basic and excludes many essential features. We do not recommend this plan.

• The Standard plan — $42/user/month — grants access to a few other features but still misses the mark a bit.

• The Pro plan — $71/user/month — is the only one we recommend here, as it includes staff scheduling, timesheets, tracking of billable hours, labor costs, and utilization reports. Scoro also notes this as the recommended option.
  
  

6. Kantata

Kantata is an agency management system with features to support everything from client acquisition to resource planning, project tracking, and profitability reporting.

The platform combines project, resource, and financial management, team collaboration tools, time tracking, client management, billing and invoicing, and reporting. It’s highly customizable to suit different agency requirements and accommodate a broad spectrum of team sizes.

Kantata boasts uniqueness with its professional services cloud, including features to support creative agency operations, improve team productivity, and help agencies effectively scale. By streamlining workflows and providing transparency throughout the project lifecycle, it can improve resource utilization, team efficiency, and project profitability.

Kantata's staff scheduling and resource management tools are designed to help agencies optimize their workforce and ensure projects are staffed effectively. The platform includes several key features to facilitate staff scheduling:

• Resource scheduling

• Resource forecasting and capacity planning

• Skills inventory to match team members with the specific skills required for a project

• Vendor management to source external talent

Kantata also offers a staff scheduling dashboard that provides a visual representation of team member schedules and availability. The dashboard offers insight into current workloads, total bandwidth, utilization percentage, and remaining hours. It also displays unassigned services by category so you can finish scheduling work.

However, Kantata is similar to Teamwork and Productive above, where it’s reliant on integrations to support the entire project lifecycle. It integrates with various business applications, including CRM, HCM, and financial software, and offers several pre-built integrations with tools like Expensify, G Suite, Xero, Salesforce, NetSuite, Jira, HubSpot, Slack, Concur, Dynamics 365, Qualtrics, QuickBooks, and Sage Intacct.

Overall, Kantata has a 4.2-star rating and receives positive feedback. Its comprehensive features, data-driven insights, staff scheduling, and resource management tools make it a valuable investment for agencies seeking to streamline operations, maximize resource utilization, and drive profitability.

Still, Kantata can be complex and challenging to learn. Users mention the platform's complexity could lead to improper use and mistakes during set-up. Learning Kantata — setting up the software and integrating outside systems — requires ample guidance and training from the Kantata team, so you should expect a longer time to launch.

Users also note limitations with certain features, like reporting and invoicing, and say the platform can be glitchy and sluggish.

Notable Features

• Project planning tools, like project estimation and forecasting

• Project monitoring

• Automated project management insights — to guide next steps and prevent overruns

• Portfolio management

• Resource scheduling

• Resource forecasting and capacity planning

• Resource management tools like skills inventory and vendor management to source the best talent for projects

• Time tracking

• Budget tracking

• Project accounting — to track project costs, monitor project burn, and set financial goals

• Automated invoicing

• Revenue forecasting

• Feedback surveys for project teams and clients to report on satisfaction and overall project success

• Team collaboration and feedback tools, like file sharing and commenting

• Business intelligence reports, with 60+ service-centric reports

• Integrations
  
  

Pricing

Kantata does not list pricing or packages. Instead, they provide a contact form where you can fill in a few details about your agency and team size and receive a custom quote.

Getting Started

Workamajig combines everything agencies need to work strategically, reduce inefficiencies, and achieve greater success. It’s highly configurable and scalable to support your unique needs and evolve with you as you grow.

Our native staff scheduling solution makes life easier for project managers, enables agencies to optimize resource allocation and utilization, and boosts employee satisfaction.

Contact us for a free demo to see how Workamajig can work for you.

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