Set up retainer periods and allocations by department

A retainer period is the contract for one billing cycle: an amount, a start, and an end. Department allocations split that amount so each team knows its slice and directors see their own pacing. This article sets both up.

Open a retainer period

1. Go to Clients & projects, then Clients, and open the client.
2. In the retainer section click New retainer period. Pick the project it bills, the Retainer amount, Start date, and End date. Most agencies use calendar months.
3. Save. The period's bar shows today's position and burn against the cap.
4. Each month, click Close and start next. Set the next amount (defaults to the same) and optionally carry unused dollars forward as a credit. The old period snapshots to history.

Add department allocations

1. Go to Clients & projects, then Allocations, and switch to the By client view.
2. Find the client and project and click Add allocation.
3. Pick the department, then a cap in dollars or hours.
4. Choose Monthly (resets each month) or Total (runs for the life of the project).
5. Set alert thresholds. 80% is the default; add 50% and 100% if you want more warning.
6. Switch on Hard cap only if the team should be blocked at 100%.
7. Save. Click any row in the Flat view later to change cap, department, period, thresholds, or hard cap.

How is pacing read?

The summary bar counts clients, budgets tracked, over cap, hard-capped, and to watch. Click Needs attention to filter to rows that need action. Directors see the same page read-only, scoped to their departments.

Who is alerted?

The account team on the client and the directors of the allocated departments, in-app, by email, and on Slack according to each person's preferences. Personal thresholds under Settings, then Notifications, replace the allocation's cadence for that person only.

Notes

Extending a period, logging a pre-paid overage, and the credit ledger are covered in Handle overages and read pacing.