New: Project controlling, capacity planning and the vemix app for Android

In Project management, vemix now answers two questions that used to need a spreadsheet next to the system: are we making money on this project? And who on the team still has time over the next few weeks? That’s what the new project controlling and capacity planning are for. vemix is also available as an app for Android, starting as a closed beta.

Why both belong in vemix

The numbers behind both questions are already in vemix: hours booked in time tracking, approved leave and sick notes, the planned effort per task and person, invoices, travel and material costs. Until now you had to export them and combine them in a spreadsheet. Now vemix does the maths itself, using the same data your team already works with.

Project controlling: contribution margin per project, customer and employee

Every project has a new “Controlling” tab, for a chosen period or cumulative. Under Project Management → Controlling you see the same figures across all projects, grouped by project, customer, employee or function. Clicking a row takes you down to the individual time entry. You export the analysis as a CSV or Excel file, or print it.

Find out more about projects, budgets and reports on the Project Management module page.

The calculation works in stages:

• Service value: billable hours times the selling rate. Of that, the part in finalised invoices counts as billed; the rest is still open (WIP).
• Revenue: either the invoices issued (the default; credit notes and cancellations reduce it) or the service value. For fixed prices, revenue only counts once the invoice is issued.
• Personnel costs: all booked hours times the internal cost rate.
• Contribution margin I to III: revenue minus personnel costs, then minus travel and material costs, then minus an overhead surcharge on personnel costs that you set once for your company.

On top of that come the realisation rate (invoiced relative to service value) and utilisation (billable relative to all hours). Travel costs come straight from the Travel & Expenses module, and you see how much of them has already been passed on to the customer.

vemix doesn’t paper over missing rates. Billable hours without a selling rate count at €0 and are listed as “without selling rate” in the analysis, and the same goes for hours without a cost rate. That way you see straight away where a figure is too low and which rate is still missing.

Where the rates come from

Selling rates are tied to the function, such as consultant, manager or partner: per project, or through a standard rate card for all projects without their own rates, and where needed overridden on the task or on the individual time entry. You maintain internal cost rates per employee, with a validity period, in the settings under Team. A costing helper suggests a rate from annual gross salary, employer contributions and overhead surcharge; only the rate is stored, never the salary.

vemix fixes the rates of each time entry when the period is closed, at the latest when it is invoiced. A later rate change therefore doesn’t alter old figures.

Budgets with pots, change records and warning thresholds

You split the project budget into pots: fees (as an amount, in hours or both), travel costs and other material costs. Individual tasks can carry their own budget too. For each pot you see consumption and a linear forecast to the project end. When the budget changes, you add a change record with date, amount and reason. It appears in the project history and is never deleted.

When an active project reaches a warning threshold, 80 and 100 % by default, the project lead gets an email.

Who sees what

By default, PM admins and PM managers see the tab and the analysis, each for the projects they can see anyway. Costs and contribution margin per employee require the permission “View cost rates per employee”, which by default only PM admins have. Without it, the totals per project, customer and function remain visible.

If you prefer to analyse in Power BI, you can read project controlling as a table through the public API.

Capacity planning: who still has time in the coming weeks?

Under Project Management → Capacity, vemix compares each employee’s available time per calendar week with the remaining effort on their open tasks. The heatmap shows 4, 12 or 26 weeks: light blue still has room, green is well utilised, orange is tight and red is overloaded.

More on the Project Management and Time Tracking module pages.

• Available time: the target hours from the working-time model in time tracking, with the public holidays of the person’s region, minus approved leave and sick notes. Only the plannable share counts, 80 % by default, because nobody spends the whole week on project tasks alone. You set the share for the company and per employee. Anyone without a working-time model, a freelancer for example, gets an availability in hours per week on their team member record.
• Remaining effort: the planned hours per assignee minus the hours that person has already booked on the task. Tasks without a due date and overdue tasks have their own columns.

You choose between two views. Demand spreads the remaining effort up to the due date across the days the person is available; overload shows up as utilisation above 100 %. Forward loading fills a person’s free time by priority and due date; here overload shows up as a delay, meaning an expected finish after the due date. Both views only calculate and never change your task dates. If you like, you can include tasks still in planning and requested leave; they appear hatched.

Clicking a person shows their weeks in detail: planned hours per project against available time, the tasks with remaining effort, and a note when a task falls into a period of leave.

Utilisation where you plan

Capacity doesn’t only live on its own page. When you pick assignees for a task, vemix shows their utilisation over the task period as a hint, without blocking the choice. A project’s Members tab has a “Utilization (4 weeks)” column, and the dashboard has the cards “My workload” and “Overloads (next 4 weeks)”.

In the Gantt chart you can also switch on the critical path: the chain of dependent tasks that determines the project end. Critical tasks get a red outline, and the tooltip shows each task’s float in working days.

Planning, not performance monitoring

Capacity planning is based on working-time models, absences and planned hours, and not on the booked time of individual people. If your company has a works council, that’s an important point.

Visibility is clearly defined too. Everyone sees themselves, managers see their team. By default PM admins and PM managers see all employees; project leads see everyone involved in their project when they filter by it. Tasks from projects someone isn’t allowed to see only appear as a combined “Other projects” row. Whether someone is on leave or off sick is only visible to those who may see it in time tracking. Everyone else sees “absent”.

The vemix app for Android (beta)

When a contact or company from your CRM calls, the vemix app for Android shows their name and company, even without an internet connection. The app matches the number on the device. After the call you create a phone note or a task for the contact right away. You can also search contacts, see their notes and open tasks, and tick off tasks.

The vemix mobile website is included in the app: time tracking, leave, sick notes, receipts and QM reports, without signing in again. You sign in with Microsoft, with Google or with email and password.

More on caller ID on the CRM module page, on mobile time tracking under Time Tracking, and on all connections under Integrations.

How to join the beta

The app runs as a closed beta on Google Play and isn’t publicly listed in the Play Store yet. In vemix, the settings have a page called “vemix app for Android (beta)”. There you request activation by email and name the Google account you use for the Play Store. You can also write to support@vemix.io directly. Once you are activated, you join the test through the beta link and install the app from the Play Store. Updates then arrive through Google Play like any other app.

Requirements: Android 10 or later; there is no iPhone app yet. Your workspace needs at least one of the modules CRM, Time Management, Travel & Expenses or Quality management. The app hides areas your workspace doesn’t use; caller ID requires the CRM.

Availability

Project controlling and capacity planning are part of Project management and available to every workspace that uses the module. For the figures to be right, two things are worth checking first: functions and rates in Team and in your projects for controlling, and working-time models and planned effort per assignee for capacity planning.

The quickest way to get to know the new features is a live demo or the free trial. And if anything is still missing from controlling or planning, tell us.