Generic project tools track tasks. Synergist runs commercial agency projects end-to-end. Estimates connect to plans, plans to resourcing, time to budgets, budgets to invoices. So you always know if a project is on track, on budget and on margin.
You can look at loads of project management systems but they need to work in an agency with a unique business model.
Every project starts with a brief. Synergist stores briefs, statements of work, scopes and supporting documents against the job, so nothing gets lost in someone's inbox.
Use document templates to capture the right information every time. Standard briefs, SoWs and scoping questionnaires keep your team consistent from day one.
Most agencies run the same project types repeatedly. Brand identities, website builds, PR retainers, campaign launches.
Project templates let you set up a repeatable structure once and use it every time. Estimates, phases, tasks, billing plans and activities, all pre-built. Duplicate past projects with one click.
Less time setting up. More time delivering.
Accurate estimating is at the heart of every profitable project. Build estimates from templates or past project data, break projects down into phases and tasks, and see profit margins before you quote.
Generate client-facing quotes from your estimates or use value-based pricing. Set up approval workflows so quotes get signed off before they reach the client.
The more projects you run, the more accurate your estimating gets.
Create visual project timelines using the drag-and-drop Gantt chart tool. Build complex multi-phase projects with clear critical paths. Add tasks, milestones and dependencies, and share a client-friendly version of the plan as a PDF or image, showing only what you want them to see.
Dates pull straight through into capacity forecasts and resource booking, so your plans and resourcing stay in sync. When dates move, the knock-on effect is visible straight away.
See your team's availability at a glance, then book time straight into the schedule with drag-and-drop, or through a work request process. Synergist shows estimated vs remaining time on every job, so you don't overbook and overruns get flagged early.
Team members view all their bookings in their own calendar, update progress and record time directly from their schedule or the mobile app. Bookings can also sync with Outlook or iCal for a single view of their day.
"Synergist provides us visibility and control on resource scheduling and job allocation. We've improved our utilisation and productivity across the company, which in turn has improved our on-time delivery of client work, effectively reducing and meeting deadlines far more consistently."
Customisable Kanban boards help your team organise, prioritise and collaborate on tasks at a job, client or team level. Assign tasks with deadlines, set priorities, and track progress with alerts when things slip.
Tasks sit against clients, jobs or project phases, so nothing gets missed. All project communication stays in context too. Emails, briefs, checklists and updates are stored against the job, not scattered across inboxes.
Team members can access tasks, briefs and timesheets wherever they're working, via browser or the Synergist mobile app.
One-click timesheets let your team record time against the right jobs and charge codes, in the browser or on the mobile app.
Purchase orders, supplier invoices and expenses are recorded against the job too, with mark-ups and approvals built in.
So you always know the true cost of a project, not just the time spent on it.
Get a live picture of project performance while the work is happening. Job dashboards use traffic light visuals to show where each phase stands: time booked, time remaining, percentage complete and budget health.
Email alerts flag issues early, so account managers and project leads can step in before margin disappears. Overruns get caught while there's still time to fix them, not at the month-end review.
"Keeping on top of time is extremely important, and now we can open up a dashboard at job or phase level and see how it's doing. We can see if we risk overrunning and solve problems before they happen."
For fixed fees, staged payments or ongoing retainers, billing plans let you set invoices by date, milestone or work completed. Revenue and profit forecasts update automatically.
Advanced revenue recognition lets you invoice in advance and accrue or defer revenue in line with work in progress.
Synergist integrates with leading accounting systems, including Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks, so invoices flow through without double-entry.
Once projects close, the data works harder. Project reports show where jobs went over budget or off-plan, so you can take the learnings into future estimates and quotes.
Client dashboards show each client's financial performance over time, tracking revenue vs targets, profit, investment and forecasts. See where you're over or under-recovering across all their jobs, so you can shape better commercial conversations.
Build custom reports with a drag-and-drop interface, export them, or schedule them to land in the right inbox automatically.
Agency project management software is a system built for the way agencies and consultancies actually work. Unlike generic project tools, it handles the full commercial life of a project: briefs, estimates, plans, resourcing, timesheets, costs, billing and profit. The best agency project management software gives you a live view of whether a project is on track, on budget and on margin, not just whether tasks are ticked off.
At a minimum: project briefs and document storage, estimates and quotes, project templates, Gantt and Kanban planning, resource scheduling, task and activity management, timesheets, purchase tracking, live profitability dashboards, billing plans and integrated reporting. Synergist includes all of these in one customisable system.
Generic tools are built for tasks. Synergist is built for commercial agency projects. Estimates connect to plans, plans to resourcing, time to budgets, and budgets to invoices. So project managers, account handlers and agency leaders all work from the same live data, and you know whether a job is profitable while there's still time to do something about it.
Synergist is used by creative agencies, marketing agencies, digital agencies, PR agencies, B2B agencies, advertising agencies, branding agencies, design studios and professional services consultancies.
Any agency running a mix of client projects, retainers and time-based work will find Synergist fits how they operate, because it's configured to match the way your agency actually works rather than forcing you into a generic project management template.
Synergist is used by over 500 agencies and consultancies, typically from 25 to 300 people. It suits agencies that have outgrown spreadsheets and disconnected tools and need one system to run projects, people and finances together.
Yes. Synergist manages fixed-fee projects, time and materials, and ongoing retainers in the same system. Retainer dashboards flag overservicing and underservicing month by month, and client-level reporting shows combined profitability across every type of work you do for each client.
Synergist integrates with leading accounting software including Sage (Business Cloud, 50, 300 and Intacct), Xero, QuickBooks, Access, KashFlow, Microsoft Dynamics, Iplicit, AccountsIQ and Pegasus Opera 3.
It connects with Microsoft 365 for email, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox for file sharing and resource bookings sync with Outlook, Google Calendar and iCal.
Synergist also integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce, syncing contacts, companies and opportunities so your team can nurture leads in your chosen CRM and pull them into Synergist for forecasting and capacity planning.
An open API lets you connect Synergist to anything else in your stack.
Have more questions? Drop us an email enquires@synergist.co.uk
