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Management Hub

Overview

The Management Hub is a centralized administrative control center that provides managers and administrators with access to critical business operations, client management, time tracking oversight, request management, staff administration, and system configuration. This hub serves as the command center for day-to-day operations management, enabling efficient oversight and control of the organization's core business functions.

Navigation: From the main navigation menu, select "Management" to access the hub. The page is accessible at /Management/Default.aspx and is typically available to users with management-level permissions.

The Management Hub organizes functionality into five logical sections:

  • Clients - Client relationship and invoicing management
  • Time Tracking - Employee time oversight and rate configuration
  • Requests - Creative and supplier request management
  • Staff - Employee time-off and benefits administration
  • Misc - System configuration and approval workflows

Business Value

The Management Hub delivers strategic value to the organization by:

Centralized Operations Control

Instead of navigating through multiple disconnected systems, managers access all administrative functions from a single location. This reduces administrative overhead and ensures consistent management practices across the organization.

Financial Accuracy and Compliance

By providing direct access to client billing configurations, invoice groups, and purchase orders, the hub ensures that billing relationships are properly configured, reducing revenue leakage and billing disputes.

Workforce Visibility

Real-time access to timesheets, PTO tracking, and activity management enables managers to maintain accurate workforce utilization data, essential for project planning and resource allocation.

Request Pipeline Management

Core requests and supplier requests are tracked from submission through delivery, ensuring creative assets move efficiently through the production pipeline without getting lost or delayed.

Business Benefits

For Finance Teams

  • Accurate Billing Configuration - Properly configured invoice groups and recipients ensure invoices reach the right contacts with correct terms
  • Purchase Order Tracking - Complete visibility into PO status, amounts, and utilization prevents over-billing and budget overruns
  • Activity Rate Management - Centralized rate configuration ensures consistent billing across all client engagements

For Operations Managers

  • Timesheet Oversight - Review, approve, and finalize employee timesheets with full visibility into hours logged per project
  • Resource Planning - PTO tracking provides advance notice of employee availability for project scheduling
  • Request Status Visibility - Track creative and supplier requests to identify bottlenecks and ensure timely delivery

For HR and Administration

  • PTO Administration - Manage employee time-off accruals, approvals, and balances
  • Staff Activity Tracking - Monitor work-from-home arrangements and absence requests
  • Employee Onboarding - Configure activity rates and permissions for new staff members

For Account Managers

  • Client Configuration - Set up and maintain client hierarchies, billing contacts, and invoice preferences
  • Approval Group Management - Configure client-specific approval workflows for creative reviews

Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: New Client Onboarding

Situation: A new corporate client is coming onboard with multiple business units requiring separate invoicing.

How to Use:

  1. Navigate to Management Hub > Manage Clients to create client records for each business unit
  2. Create an Invoice Recipient in Add Invoice Recipient with the accounts payable contact information
  3. Set up Invoice Groups in Manage Invoice Groups to organize the business units for billing
  4. Associate clients with the appropriate invoice groups
  5. Configure Approval Groups if the client requires creative approval workflows
  6. Set up a Purchase Order for the initial engagement budget

Scenario 2: Bi-Weekly Timesheet Review

Situation: The office manager needs to review and finalize all employee timesheets for the pay period.

How to Use:

  1. Access Management Hub > Timesheets to see all submitted timesheets
  2. Filter by week to see the current pay period
  3. Review each employee's entries for accuracy and completeness
  4. Flag any entries with errors for employee correction
  5. Finalize approved timesheets for billing and payroll processing
  6. Return incomplete timesheets to employees with notes for revision

Scenario 3: Creative Asset Request Tracking

Situation: A project manager needs to track the status of core creative requests sent to the design team.

How to Use:

  1. Navigate to Management Hub > Core Requests
  2. View the list of pending requests with their current status
  3. Identify requests approaching their need-by date
  4. Mark requests as delivered when creative assets are completed
  5. For supplier-sourced materials, check Supplier Requests for external vendor status

Scenario 4: Year-End PTO Reconciliation

Situation: HR needs to verify employee PTO balances before the year-end carryover calculation.

How to Use:

  1. Access Management Hub > PTO Tracker for the complete employee PTO status
  2. Review accrual history and usage for each employee
  3. Use PTO Month Accrual for detailed monthly breakdowns
  4. Approve pending accruals and correct any discrepancies
  5. Verify work-from-home hours are properly recorded

Scenario 5: Billing Rate Updates

Situation: Management has approved new hourly rates for the upcoming fiscal year.

How to Use:

  1. Navigate to Management Hub > Activity Rates
  2. Review current rates for all billable activities
  3. Update rates for each activity category (creative, production, management)
  4. For per-piece pricing, use Per-Piece Rates to update packaging complexity rates
  5. Changes take effect for new time entries and estimates

Industry Context

Creative Agency Operations

In the creative and marketing services industry, managing client relationships, tracking billable time, and processing creative requests are fundamental operations. The Management Hub addresses the specific needs of agencies that:

  • Handle multiple clients with complex billing hierarchies (corporations > business units > divisions > teams)
  • Bill time against purchase orders with strict budget constraints
  • Process high volumes of creative requests requiring approval workflows
  • Need visibility into resource utilization for capacity planning

Standard Practices Supported

The Management Hub aligns with industry-standard practices including:

  • Client Hierarchy Management - Supporting enterprise clients with multiple cost centers and billing contacts
  • Purchase Order Workflows - Tracking spend against authorized purchase orders to prevent budget overruns
  • Time and Materials Billing - Capturing and reviewing billable hours before invoicing
  • Creative Brief Tracking - Managing the lifecycle of creative requests from submission to delivery
  • Benefits Administration - Tracking employee PTO in compliance with company policies and regulations

Competitive Advantage

Organizations using this system gain:

  • Reduced Administrative Burden - Centralized management reduces time spent navigating between systems
  • Improved Billing Accuracy - Proper configuration prevents billing disputes and revenue leakage
  • Enhanced Visibility - Real-time dashboards enable proactive management of requests and resources
  • Compliance Assurance - Structured workflows ensure consistent processes across the organization

Business Logic Details

Client Hierarchy Management

The system supports a flexible client hierarchy structure:

  • Corporation - The top-level corporate entity
  • Business Unit - Major divisions within the corporation
  • Division - Organizational units within business units
  • Business Team - Working groups within divisions
  • Contact Person - The primary client contact

This hierarchy enables:

  • Aggregated reporting at any level
  • Flexible billing configurations (some teams may share invoice groups)
  • Client-specific rate agreements at appropriate levels

Invoice Group Logic

Invoice Groups serve as the billing entity that:

  • Associates multiple clients that share billing terms
  • Links to an Invoice Recipient (the "bill to" address)
  • Specifies payment terms (Net 30, Net 45, etc.)
  • Assigns Account Managers responsible for the relationship
  • Configures CC email addresses for invoice distribution
  • Supports special invoice date requirements (for clients requiring specific billing cycles)

Timesheet Workflow States

Timesheets progress through defined states:

  1. In Process - Employee is actively entering time
  2. Complete - Employee has submitted for review
  3. Finalized - Manager has approved for billing
  4. Returned - Manager has returned with corrections needed
  5. Billed - Time has been invoiced to client

The system tracks billing status at the day level, supporting partial billing scenarios where some days from a week are billed before others.

PTO Accrual Calculation

PTO accrual is calculated based on employee tenure:

  • 1-5 years of service - 160 hours annual accrual
  • 6-15 years of service - 200 hours annual accrual
  • 15+ years of service - 240 hours annual accrual

Monthly accruals are tracked and require manager approval. Carryover balances from prior years are maintained separately for audit purposes.

Core Request Lifecycle

Core requests (creative briefs for new or revised artwork) follow a structured workflow:

  1. Request submitted with need-by date
  2. Assigned to creative team
  3. Tracked through production status changes
  4. Marked as delivered when complete
  5. Uploaded to client-facing systems

Purchase Order Management

Purchase orders track authorized spending and include:

  • PO number assigned by client
  • Authorized amount and remaining balance
  • Assignment to invoice groups
  • Grouping capabilities for related POs
  • Status tracking (open, in use, closed)

Key Features

Clients Section

Manage Clients

  • Browse and search all client records
  • Filter by active/inactive status
  • Sort by corporation, business unit, division, business team, or contact
  • Quick navigation with text highlighting for search matches
  • Direct access to edit client details

Manage Invoice Groups

  • Create new invoice groups with billing terms
  • Associate clients with invoice groups
  • Configure account managers (primary and secondary)
  • Set up CC email addresses for invoice distribution
  • Manage special invoice date requirements
  • View and manage users associated with invoice groups

Add Invoice Recipient

  • Create billing contact records with full address information
  • Store customer name, bill-to details, and contact information
  • Manage email, phone, and fax for invoice delivery
  • Edit existing recipients from searchable dropdown

Invoice Recipients Report

  • View all invoice recipients with their associated invoice groups
  • See client associations for each recipient
  • Navigate directly to edit recipient or invoice group details
  • Cross-reference billing relationships

Purchase Orders

  • View all purchase orders with status and amounts
  • Create new POs with client and amount details
  • Group related purchase orders together
  • Track remaining balance against authorized amount
  • Assign account managers to POs

Time Tracking Section

Timesheets

  • View submitted timesheets by week
  • See employee status (in process, complete, finalized, returned)
  • Track billing status (not billed, partially billed, fully billed)
  • Review detailed time entries by project and activity
  • Edit, finalize, return, or revert timesheet status
  • Copy timesheets to new weeks for recurring entries
  • Flag entries with errors for correction
  • Track work-from-home status

Activities

  • View and manage all billable activities
  • Configure activity categories
  • Set activity fees and billing rates
  • Filter by activity category and active status
  • Add new activities with appropriate classifications
  • View rate breakdowns by client tier (MarcommRate, LegacyMMMRate, etc.)

Activity Rates

  • View rate matrix for all activities
  • Edit rates through data grid interface
  • Track rate history with timestamps

Requests Section

Core Requests

  • View all creative request submissions
  • Filter by project, artwork number, or status
  • Track request date and need-by date
  • Update delivery status when complete
  • View detailed request information including reference artwork
  • Navigate to project details from request list

Supplier Requests

  • Track external supplier orders
  • View request status (requested, sent, retrieved)
  • Upload artwork files when received from suppliers
  • Track need-by dates for timely delivery
  • Download received artwork files

Requesters

  • Manage the registry of people who submit requests
  • Add new requesters with name, title, and organizational assignment
  • Edit existing requester information
  • Delete obsolete requester records
  • Associate requesters with divisions and business teams

Staff Section

PTO Tracker

  • View comprehensive PTO status for all employees
  • See hire date and months of employment
  • Track annual accrual amounts based on tenure
  • View monthly accrual history with approval status
  • Track work-from-home hours separately
  • Calculate remaining PTO balance
  • Submit monthly accrual approvals

PTO Month Accrual

  • Detailed per-employee PTO management
  • View and edit monthly accrual values
  • Add or modify PTO promotion dates
  • Track approved vs pending accruals
  • Manage annual accrual rate changes

Misc Section

Per-Piece Rates

  • Configure pricing for packaging-based creative work
  • Set rates by packaging level and complexity
  • Manage category-specific pricing
  • View rate history with effective dates
  • Add new rate combinations

Create/Edit Approval Groups

  • Configure client approval workflows
  • Create groups associated with invoice groups
  • Add team members to approval groups
  • Edit existing group configurations
  • Delete obsolete groups

Relationship to Other System Components

Connection to Dashboard

The Dashboard provides quick access to key management metrics, while the Management Hub provides detailed administrative functions. Managers typically use the Dashboard for daily monitoring and the Management Hub for configuration and detailed oversight.

Connection to Project Details

Client and invoice group configurations from the Management Hub determine how projects are billed and which approval workflows apply. Purchase orders managed here are assigned to projects for budget tracking.

Connection to Time Tracker

Individual employees use the Time Tracker to enter hours, while managers use the Management Hub's Timesheet report to review and finalize those entries.

Connection to Billing and Invoicing

Invoice groups, recipients, and purchase orders configured in the Management Hub are used throughout the billing process. Properly configured billing relationships ensure accurate invoice generation.

Connection to Approvals

Approval groups created in the Management Hub define who participates in client approval workflows managed through the approvals system.

Connection to Reports Hub

Many reports rely on data configured in the Management Hub, including client hierarchies, invoice groups, and activity rates for financial reporting.

Summary

The Management Hub serves as the administrative backbone of the organization's project management system. By centralizing client management, time tracking oversight, request tracking, staff administration, and system configuration, it enables efficient operations management while ensuring data accuracy and consistency across all business processes.

Key capabilities include:

  • Client relationship management with flexible hierarchies and billing configurations
  • Time and attendance oversight with multi-state workflow and billing integration
  • Request lifecycle tracking for both internal creative and external supplier requests
  • Employee benefits administration with tenure-based PTO accrual calculations
  • System configuration for rates, approval workflows, and organizational structures

The hub is designed for users with management and administrative responsibilities who need comprehensive visibility into operational data and the ability to configure system behavior to match business requirements.