Projects & tracking

233 results found

1. Projects - Close or archive tasks

   Ability to close or archive tasks in Projects.

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   submitted  ·  32 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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2. Make projects better

   Projects - Make the entire Projects experience better. Today is May 17th 2024, there are currently 300+ ideas, suggestions, and requests here related to Projects, few of which have even been responded to by Xero. It seems clear that Projects is the red-headed step-child of the Xero platform, always the last to the table when the development team starts talking about updates.

   For those of us who run project-based businesses, the features requested on these pages are CRITICAL to our ability to understand how our business is doing. I'm calling on Xero to put more energy into building out Projects now, not "some time in the future," now. Many of the requests are simple - we need a field to add notes, we need a field to add an ID number, we need an address field. I know that making changes to any database can cause ripple effects through the whole system, but come on, I've been with Xero for 3 years know and as far as I can tell there have been zero improvements to Projects since we first came on board.

   Projects - Make the entire Projects experience better. Today is May 17th 2024, there are currently 300+ ideas, suggestions, and requests here related to Projects, few of which have even been responded to by Xero. It seems clear that Projects is the red-headed step-child of the Xero platform, always the last to the table when the development team starts talking about updates.

   For those of us who run project-based businesses, the features requested on these pages are CRITICAL to our ability to understand how our business is doing. I'm calling on Xero to put more energy into building out Projects… more

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   submitted  ·  6 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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3. Project - Import manual journal into Project

   I am needing to import my payroll expenses from another payroll platform in the form of a manual journal. I need those payroll expenses to be tracked by project. It would be handy to be able to have a column for projects instead of a tracking category.

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   submitted  ·  14 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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4. Tracking - Increase tracking options limit

   Hi there, we have been using tracking options for our projects and we have now reached the maximum number and reached the limit for it, but we don't want to delete the previous projects<. Just want to know, if we can increase options limit to numbers. Thank you.

   Limin Kaka Luo
   Thee Group

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   submitted  ·  12 comments  ·  Tracking categories  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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5. Projects Reporting - Include tracking

   Projects - ability to use tracking categories when using the project reporting. At present when project data is entered into xero there is no report that can be filtered using tracking categories

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   submitted  ·  10 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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6. Projects - User Options and Permissions

   In projects it would be most useful we there were more user permission options. A check box of permissions you could give all staff
   1- only have staff see the projects they are assigned to - To give staff privacy on work hours and expenses.
   2- give all staff regardless of their permission access to expenses
   3- give or withhold what financial information they can and can not see
   4- give or limit the options for invoices/quotes

   Blanket permissions don't work.

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   submitted  ·  19 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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7. Projects - Assign bills to closed Projects

   As an event company, we often receive bills months after the original project is "complete". I wish I could assign costs to "complete" projects the same way that I can assign invoices to "complete" projects.

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   4 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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   Not in pipeline  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded

   Hi everyone, apologies it's been so long since our last engagement here. We appreciate the additional feedback that's been shared.

   Right now, it's not possible to assign bills to projects that have a Closed/Completed status. Instead, the best option would be to update the status of the Project temporarily to be able to assign your bill/s and then re close it.

   Being upfront this isn't something we have any plans for enabling in the near term. If the position of this idea changes we will share an update here.

8. Projects – Progressive Billing for Fixed-Price Tasks

   Problem

   Fixed-price tasks in Xero Projects currently bill the entire fixed amount at once. Logging time or transferring the task to an invoice forces Xero to invoice the full value immediately.

   Many businesses complete fixed-price work through multiple time entries or stages over long periods. We need to bill the fixed price progressively while still tracking actual time for internal cost and efficiency.

   Impact

   Today, users must manually split one real task into many smaller tasks (“Stage 1”, “Stage 2”, “Stage 3”), or manually edit every invoice to avoid overbilling.

   This leads to inflated task lists, inconsistent reporting, and unnecessary admin — particularly on large projects with dozens or hundreds of tasks.

   We also need employees to continue logging time after the fixed-price limit is reached. That extra time should not bill the client or increase revenue/profit. It should show the real internal labour cost (similar to the current red over-budget bar).

   Outcome needed

   Fixed-price tasks should behave like a capped amount that can be billed progressively, with time entries drawing down on the fixed price until it is fully billed — while still recording actual hours for internal analysis.

   To achieve this, Xero could support either (or both) of these approaches:

   Option A — Fixed-price balance (partial drawdown)

   Each time entry contributes to billing up to the fixed-price limit.

   Additional time can still be logged but does not bill the client or inflate revenue.

   Internal labour cost is still visible.

   Option B — Fixed price with defined billable stages / time-entry groups

   Users can define the number of billable time-entry groups inside a fixed-price task.

   Example:

   Fixed price = $2,000

   Billable groups = 4

   Each group represents $500 of billable value.

   Important billing behaviour:

   If the time logged for that group is less than the allowed amount (e.g., 1 hour logged vs 2 hours allocated), the client is still billed the full group amount ($500).

   If more time is logged than allowed (e.g., 3 hours logged vs 2 hours allocated), the client is still only billed $500 — the extra time counts as internal labour cost.

   Actual hours logged must be retained for utilisation and efficiency tracking.

   This creates accurate billing while still giving visibility into actual effort.

   Efficiency Tracking (critical for large projects)

   Inside a fixed-price task with multiple billable groups/time-entry groups, Xero should allow comparison of:

   Actual time spent per group

   Planned/allocated time per group

   Variance

   Efficiency per employee or per visit/time period

   This avoids turning one real task into 8–12 artificial tasks just to analyse performance.

   It keeps project task lists manageable while providing meaningful insights.

   Why it matters

   This workflow applies broadly across many industries — consulting, tech, engineering, construction, surveying, accounting, creative services, maintenance, and more.

   It allows users to deliver fixed-price work in realistic stages while protecting billing accuracy and retaining detailed internal labour data.

   Progressive fixed-price billing with proper time tracking and efficiency analysis would make Xero Projects far more usable for long-duration or multi-stage fixed-price work.

   Problem

   Fixed-price tasks in Xero Projects currently bill the entire fixed amount at once. Logging time or transferring the task to an invoice forces Xero to invoice the full value immediately.

   Many businesses complete fixed-price work through multiple time entries or stages over long periods. We need to bill the fixed price progressively while still tracking actual time for internal cost and efficiency.

   Impact

   Today, users must manually split one real task into many smaller tasks (“Stage 1”, “Stage 2”, “Stage 3”), or manually edit every invoice to avoid overbilling.

   This leads to inflated task lists, inconsistent reporting, and unnecessary… more

   41 votes

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   6 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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   Gaining Support  ·  AdminAnis Anuar (Admin, Xero) responded

   Hi Cody, thanks for sharing such detailed feedback on progressive billing for fixed-price tasks. It’s really helpful to hear how this could support projects that run across multiple stages.

   We’ve reviewed your idea and moved it to Gaining support, so it’s now open for votes and comments from the wider community. If others have similar experiences with fixed-price project billing, we’d love for them to add their voice — it helps show how broad the need is and gives the product team clearer context.

   Thanks again for raising this, and we’ll keep you posted on any progress.

9. Projects - Add task categories and sub-tasks

   Title: Add the ability to allocate tasks under major project categories (e.g., Direct, Indirect) and create sub-tasks in Xero Projects for better project summary management

   Description: Currently, in Xero Projects, there is no option to allocate tasks under broader categories (such as Direct, Indirect) or create sub-tasks within a project. This limits the ability to organize and simplify project summaries, especially for larger projects with multiple facets.

   A more efficient way to manage complex projects would be to:

   Allocate tasks under major project categories like "Direct" (e.g., Manufacturing, Certification & Testing), "Indirect" (e.g., Design, Development), and Other" (e.g., Client Engagement, Trade Shows).

   Enable sub-task creation within each major task, so teams can break down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable components.

   This would allow for a more organized structure within the projects, making it easier to generate a comprehensive project summary and track progress across different task categories. The ability to view task allocations based on categories such as "Direct" or "Indirect" would simplify reporting and improve overall project management.

   Benefits:

   Better organization by categorizing tasks under overarching project themes (Direct, Indirect, etc.).

   Improved task breakdown with sub-tasks, leading to better project tracking and reporting.
   Simplified project summaries for large, complex projects.

   Enhanced flexibility in reporting, which allows teams to easily focus on specific categories of work.

   This feature would enhance Xero Projects’ usability, especially for businesses managing large-scale projects with diverse components.

   Title: Add the ability to allocate tasks under major project categories (e.g., Direct, Indirect) and create sub-tasks in Xero Projects for better project summary management

   Description: Currently, in Xero Projects, there is no option to allocate tasks under broader categories (such as Direct, Indirect) or create sub-tasks within a project. This limits the ability to organize and simplify project summaries, especially for larger projects with multiple facets.

   A more efficient way to manage complex projects would be to:

   Allocate tasks under major project categories like "Direct" (e.g., Manufacturing, Certification & Testing), "Indirect" (e.g., Design, Development), and Other" (e.g., Client Engagement,… more

   41 votes

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   3 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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   Gaining Support  ·  AdminGeorgia Clarke (Admin, Xero) responded

   Thanks for your detailed feature request to introduce task categories and sub-tasks in Xero Projects.

   We’ve reviewed your submission and have now moved it to the Gaining Support stage.

   This means the idea is live on the forum for other members of the Xero community to add their votes and comments. Our team keeps an eye on the ideas in this stage and uses the number of votes and the shared use cases to gauge demand for new features.

   Thanks again for taking the time to share your feedback and help us improve Xero.

10. Projects - Lock staff pay rates

    The ability to 'lock in' previous periods pay rates in Projects. Currently, when uploading any pay rate changes per member of staff, this cascades back to all hours worked on projects which skews figures.

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    submitted  ·  25 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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11. Projects - Visual Dashboard for Projects overview and at a glance review

    XERO Projects could do with a massive update!

    Similar to the main dashboard XERO Projects could also do with a dashboard where you can see a quick overview of what is due in the coming weeks, what is overdue, what is assigned to me, or what is assigned to staff I manage. What projects are in draft status and what projects are 'in progress'. Projects with amounts that need to be invoiced and projects where allocated hours to tasks have been exceeded or amounts allocated to estimated expenses have exceeded.

    In other words a dashboard that gives a nice visual that shows where all your projects are at and anything alarming is right there to see.

    Maybe a calendar view of projects, which could be clinked on to expand to see more dates/days. Or a Gantt Chart view of projects. Just more ways to view where all the projects are at in a short amount of time. Not just one big long list to look through.

    XERO Projects could do with a massive update!

    Similar to the main dashboard XERO Projects could also do with a dashboard where you can see a quick overview of what is due in the coming weeks, what is overdue, what is assigned to me, or what is assigned to staff I manage. What projects are in draft status and what projects are 'in progress'. Projects with amounts that need to be invoiced and projects where allocated hours to tasks have been exceeded or amounts allocated to estimated expenses have exceeded.

    In other words a dashboard that gives a nice visual… more

    41 votes

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    4 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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    submitted  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded

    Aaah I see, thanks for the clarification, Emma. Understand the difference between what you can get with the existing reports and what you're in need of. 

    I've shared with our Projects team. We're continuing to add Projects and while there's no plans at present I'll let you know if anything surrounding this is explored we'll share with you here. 🙂 

12. Projects - Add people/staff without giving access

    Adding staff working on a project without giving them access to Xero.

    There is absolutely not need for staff to have access to Xero for me to log that they have worked on a project for 8 hours at £xx rate per hour.

    I don't want to add this information to the ledger as the staff are payrolled so I cannot enter this as an expense but I would like to diarise time against the project so profitability can be calculated.

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    submitted  ·  16 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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13. Projects - Add Estimated expense in foreign currency

    We have projects in Xero that estimated expenses in USD and AUD, but at the moment we are not able to set up tracked expenses in just our general currency (AUD).

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    submitted  ·  8 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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14. Quote & Invoice lists - View Projects

    Projects - I would like to see the references for each invoice in the list of quotes and invoices on projects. It is difficult to tack what you have invoiced when you have to open each individual invoice.

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15. Projects - Task list templates

    Allow to create project templates to apply to task lists to newly created projects

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16. Projects - Bulk update all tasks in a project as invoiced

    Have an option to 'mark all items as invoiced' in a project. You can currently only do this if you invoice from 'project amount'.

    We re-order and combine tasks when invoicing and then have to manually go into the project and mark every task and expense as invoiced individually. It's very time consuming. I need an option to mark all items as invoiced at once.

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    Gaining Support  ·  AdminSonal Pamnani (Admin, Xero) responded

    Hi Nicole thanks for sharing your idea, and letting us know the changes that matter most for you.

    We've reviewed your idea and now it's up to the community to get behind and support it. We will continue monitoring this space for more traction.

17. Xero Projects - Standard mark-up on materials

    In Xero projects we would like to add standard mark-up to materials. We are currently adding markup to each individual expense item added which is time consuming.

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    submitted  ·  18 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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18. Projects - Ability to add Project Stages

    Ability to add additional stages for projects and also manual start and end dates that can be used in reports.

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    submitted  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded

    Hi Kevin, we'll get a sense of your idea for multiple project stages here, welcome to add another for start  & end dates that we can track too. 🙂

19. Projects - Suggestion for tracking time and costs for non-user contractors

    Feature request for better support of tracking time for non-Xero users in Projects. Need a solution for tracking self-employed labourer's (non-Xero users) hours worked across Projects. Time sheets for non-Xero Users across Projects.

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    Gaining Support  ·  AdminRidhwaan Uddin (Admin, Xero) responded

    Thanks for sharing your idea, and letting us know the changes that matter most for you.

    We've reviewed your idea and now it's up to the community to get behind and support it. Make sure you share your idea with any colleagues that this could benefit so they can add their vote too!

    Along with votes, other members can now comment to share additional detail about how your idea could improve their experience with Xero.

20. Projects - Sort Tasks and Expenses

    Please allow for a sort filter on tasks and expenses within a project to be able to sort alphabetically A-Z.

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    14 comments  ·  Projects  ·  delete…  ·  Admin →
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    submitted  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded

    Hi team, while we began work on developing the ability search and sort by tasks in Projects the teams focus had to shift to other priority work and we want to be open that this has been put down for now. 

    When there is the ability to pick this back up we'll return to share with you here.