--- title: "Professional Services Software Development Company | Arbocode" description: "We build software for consulting firms and agencies, with engagement management, time tracking, client portals and Xero billing integration." url: https://arbocode.com/industries/professional-services --- 1. [Home](https://arbocode.com/) 2. [Industries](https://arbocode.com/industries) 3. Professional Services Industry # Professional Services Software Development Engagement management, time tracking and client portals designed around how consulting and advisory firms bill for their time. [Get a free estimate](https://arbocode.com/get-a-quote) [Speak with an engineer](https://arbocode.com/contact) NDA on request · Free, no-obligation estimate · Reply within one business day NDA signed before we start Full IP ownership on payment Your repository from the first commit Live demo at the end of every sprint Built by senior engineers [How we work](https://arbocode.com/process) Consulting firms, agencies and advisory practices sell hours and expertise, so the distance between time worked and time billed is the one number that decides whether an engagement paid off. Professional services software development largely means closing that distance by capturing time accurately, tying it to the correct engagement and client, and producing an invoice without anyone retyping the figures into a separate billing tool. We build the systems that sit around a firm's client work, engagement and matter tracking that holds scope, budget, and deliverables per client, document management wired into NetDocuments or SharePoint so the current version of a contract is never in question, and client portals that let a customer see engagement status and invoices without a status-update email. None of this replaces the tools a firm already trusts for accounting. Time and expense data flows into Xero or QuickBooks as a finished invoice, and a resourcing view sits on top of whatever project and calendar tools the team already uses, rather than asking a firm to abandon its accounting system for a new one. The problem ## The hard parts of professional services software - ### Utilization tracking that doesn't reach billing Time gets logged in one tool, reviewed in a spreadsheet, and re-entered into Xero or QuickBooks by someone who has to reconcile all three, and every hand-off is a place where billable hours quietly become unbilled ones. - ### Engagement scope creep with no early warning A consulting engagement that started at forty hours can drift to sixty without anyone noticing until the final invoice, because budget-to-actual tracking lives in a spreadsheet nobody updates in real time. - ### Document version control across engagements A contract, deliverable, or working file gets emailed back and forth until nobody is confident which copy in NetDocuments or SharePoint is the one the client actually signed. - ### PSA tools that don't reach the firm's own systems Kantata, Deltek, and Accelo cover resourcing and time tracking well on their own, but a firm running a proprietary intake process or a client system those platforms were never built to reach ends up maintaining a parallel manual process anyway. - ### Client portals that leak across accounts A multi-contact client account, common with enterprise clients that have several stakeholders on one engagement, needs access rules that keep one client's documents and invoices away from another's logins, enforced at the data layer rather than trusted to the interface. - ### Resourcing decisions made from memory instead of data Staffing the next engagement often comes down to a manager's memory of who is free, rather than a real view of utilization and capacity across every consultant currently billing time. What we build ## Professional Services systems we build - ### Engagement and matter management Scope, budget, deliverables, and staffing for each client engagement live in one record, so budget-to-actual tracking updates as time gets logged rather than at month end. - ### Time tracking tied directly to billing Logged hours flow into an invoice in Xero or QuickBooks without manual re-entry, closing the gap between utilization and realized revenue. - ### Client portals with per-contact access Clients log in to see engagement status, deliverables, and invoices, with access rules that respect a company account's multiple contacts and their different roles. - ### Document management integration Contracts and deliverables sync with NetDocuments or SharePoint, with version history and access permissions scoped to the engagement rather than the whole firm. - ### Billing system integration Time and expense data reconciles automatically against Xero or QuickBooks, so an invoice reflects what was actually logged rather than a manually rebuilt summary. - ### Resource and capacity planning A real-time view of who is billing time against which engagement, so staffing the next project comes from data rather than a manager's memory. - ### Profitability dashboards Utilization and realization rates roll up by consultant, practice area, or client, giving partners a live view of which engagements are actually making money. - ### Resourcing without extra PSA licensing Firms already paying for Kantata, Deltek, or Accelo get a system that reaches into their proprietary intake or client systems instead of running a second disconnected tool alongside it. ## Regulations and standards we design for - GDPR and UK GDPR for firms holding personal or engagement data belonging to clients or staff based in the EU and UK. - CCPA and CPRA for firms processing personal information belonging to California residents through client or employee records. - PIPEDA for firms handling personal information about individuals in Canada, including client contact records held in a portal. - Access controls and audit logging built to support the evidence a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 audit asks a firm's technology vendors to produce. - Conflict-of-interest walls between engagements handling competing clients, enforced through access permissions rather than trusted to policy alone. ## Platforms we integrate with - NetDocuments - Microsoft SharePoint - Xero - QuickBooks - DocuSign for engagement letters and signatures - Salesforce and HubSpot for client relationship data ## Turning tracked time into an invoice without re-entry The most common billing failure in a professional services firm happens in the hand-off between a time tracking tool, a project manager's review, and whoever assembles the actual invoice in Xero or QuickBooks. Each hand-off is a place where hours quietly disappear or get billed at the wrong rate. We build the time entry and approval workflow to feed the billing system directly, so an approved timesheet becomes a draft invoice rather than a spreadsheet someone has to translate by hand. Utilization and realization rates get tracked separately, since a consultant can be fully utilized and still unprofitable if realized rates lag standard rates. - Approved time entries generate draft invoices automatically - Utilization and realization rates tracked as separate metrics - Rate cards and exceptions handled per client or engagement ## Client portals that hold documents without exposing other clients' data A portal built for a firm with enterprise accounts needs a company-level account with several contacts underneath it, each with a role that controls what they see, and row-level access rules that make it structurally impossible for one client's engagement data to appear in another's session. Document access follows the same model. A contract stored in NetDocuments or SharePoint gets exposed to the portal through a permission check tied to the engagement, not a blanket sync that mirrors an entire document library into the portal. ## Engagement management beyond a generic project tracker A generic project management tool tracks tasks and deadlines. An engagement management system additionally tracks the budget the client agreed to, the scope that was signed, and how actual hours are tracking against both, so scope creep shows up as a number weeks before it shows up on an invoice the client didn't expect. Services ## How we serve professional services companies - [Professional Services CRM SoftwareA CRM organized around referral sources, proposals, and engagement pipelines, showing partners which relationships generate work.](https://arbocode.com/services/crm-development/professional-services) - [Professional Services SaaS DevelopmentMulti-tenant practice management platforms with time and billing, client portals, and support for the trust-account rules that differ by profession and jurisdiction.](https://arbocode.com/services/saas-development/professional-services) - [Professional Services Website DevelopmentCase study, expertise, and lead-capture pages for a buyer who is comparing consultants and has no interest in browsing a catalog.](https://arbocode.com/services/web-development/professional-services) - [Custom Software DevelopmentWe build software around the processes your business already runs on, so operations no longer depend on spreadsheets, workarounds and tools never built for your workflow.](https://arbocode.com/services/custom-software-development) - [API DevelopmentWe design, build, document and version REST and GraphQL APIs so partners can integrate without asking your engineers for help.](https://arbocode.com/services/api-development) Solutions ## Professional Services solutions we deliver - [Customer Portal DevelopmentA login area where your customers see their own orders, invoices and support cases, connected to the systems that already store that data.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/customer-portal) - [Document Processing AutomationAutomatic extraction of structured data from invoices, contracts and forms, with a defined review step for anything the extraction is unsure about.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/document-automation) - [BI & Reporting DashboardsReporting on a single data model in place of five spreadsheets, with dashboards that stay quick against years of history.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/bi-dashboards) - [Subscription Billing SystemsRecurring billing that handles proration, failed payment retries and tax calculation correctly, using an existing billing platform as the base.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/subscription-billing) - [Internal Tools & Admin DashboardsBack-office software where your team can look up, edit and act on production data safely, replacing the spreadsheet or the direct database query.](https://arbocode.com/solutions/internal-tools) Technology ## Technologies we typically use - [Next.js](https://arbocode.com/technologies/nextjs) - [Node.js](https://arbocode.com/technologies/nodejs) - [PostgreSQL](https://arbocode.com/technologies/postgresql) - [Salesforce](https://arbocode.com/technologies/salesforce) - [HubSpot](https://arbocode.com/technologies/hubspot) FAQ ## Professional Services software FAQs Can you integrate time tracking with Xero or QuickBooks for invoicing? Yes. Time and expense entries flow into a draft invoice in Xero or QuickBooks once approved, so the finance team reconciles a pre-built invoice rather than rebuilding one from a separate time tracking export. What is the difference between a PSA tool and a custom engagement management system? A PSA tool like Kantata or Deltek covers standard resourcing, time tracking, and billing well on its own. A custom system makes sense when the firm needs that same functionality connected to a proprietary intake process, a client system, or a billing setup those platforms were not built to reach. How do you handle document version control across NetDocuments and SharePoint? The portal and internal tools read the current version directly from NetDocuments or SharePoint through their APIs, rather than copying files into a separate store, so there is never a question of which copy is authoritative. Can a client portal show engagement status without exposing other clients' data? Yes. Access rules are enforced at the data layer using row-level permissions tied to the client account, so even a bug in the portal's interface cannot surface one client's documents or invoices to another. How do you track utilization and realization rates separately? Utilization measures how much of a consultant's available time is billed to a client. Realization measures how much of that billed time is actually collected at the standard rate. We track both as distinct metrics, since a fully utilized team can still be unprofitable if realized rates consistently lag standard rates. Can the system handle conflicts of interest between client engagements? Yes. Access permissions can wall off specific engagements from specific staff, so a consultant working for one client in a competitive matter has no visibility into a competing client's engagement data. Insights ## Further reading - [6 min readWhat Custom CRM Development Cost Looks LikeCustom CRM development cost starts near $40,000 for a focused pipeline tool and reaches $250,000+ for a multi-team platform with automation and reporting.](https://arbocode.com/blog/crm-development-cost) - [8 min readHow to Build an MVP and Skip the Wrong FeaturesA practical guide on how to build an MVP: scope the smallest viable version, validate demand, pick an engagement model, and avoid the usual mistakes.](https://arbocode.com/blog/how-to-build-an-mvp) - [7 min readWhat MVP Development CostsMVP development cost runs $15,000 to $60,000 for a single-workflow product, and $60,000-$150,000+ once billing or integrations come into play.](https://arbocode.com/blog/mvp-development-cost) ## Talk to us about your professional services project Send a short description of the project. A senior engineer reads each request and answers with questions, next steps and an early budget range. [Get a free estimate](https://arbocode.com/get-a-quote) [Speak with an engineer](https://arbocode.com/contact)