Data Files samples / Consultancy or agency
Bramble Studio
Clients, projects, time sheets, expenses and invoices for a small studio or consultancy.
Download 145 KB13 tables, 17 queries, 8 reports, 5 print templates and 6,412 invented records, dated back from 2026-10-22.
The everyday tasks of Bramble Studio, a step at a time. Each step names the table, form, query, report or print template to open. Inside the database, the Start Here report holds the same steps. Every table has a form of the same name under Forms.
1. Quote for new work and send the proposal
- Open the Projects form and press New. Type the Name, choose the Client and the Contact the work is for, and set Kind to Fixed fee or Hourly. Leave Status as Proposal.
- Type the Work Type, the Budget Hours you have estimated, the Fee, Proposed On (today) and the Start Date and Due Date you could manage. Give it a Quote No in the next number of the year's run, such as QUO-2026-0064.
- In the Tasks below, add each part of the work with its Role and Estimated Hours. Their hours should add up to the Budget Hours.
- Open the print template Proposal from Print templates, choose the project, and press Print or Save as PDF to send it.
- Each week, run the query Proposals waiting to see which proposals have had no answer and how long they have waited.
2. Win the work and send the letter of engagement
- When the client says yes, open the project in the Projects form and change Status from Proposal to Active. If the client gave you a purchase order, type it in Client PO.
- Open the print template Letter of engagement, choose the project, and press Print or Save as PDF. Send it with the proposal for the client to sign and return.
- For a fixed fee, raise the first stage invoice on the day the work starts (see Invoice the month's work).
3. Log time and print the week's time sheet
- On Monday, open the Time Sheets form and press New for each person: choose the Staff, type Week Commencing (the Monday) and the next Number, such as TS-2026-0252. Status is Open.
- Each day, open the Time Entries form and press New for each stretch of work: Date, Staff, Project, Task, Hours (in quarters, such as 2.25), Billable, a Note, and the person's Time Sheet for the week.
- Time on the studio's own work goes to one of the internal projects (INT-1 New business and proposals, INT-2 Studio admin, INT-3 Training and development) with Billable set to No.
- On Friday, open the print template Weekly time sheet, choose the person's sheet, and print it for them to check and sign. Set Status to Submitted and type Submitted On.
- Once checked, the project manager sets Status to Approved and types Approved On. The report Time sheet shows the last 14 days for everyone at once.
4. Invoice the month's work
- In the first days of the month, run the query Unbilled time (or print the report Work in progress) to see the hourly time not yet invoiced, and Unbilled expenses for costs to pass on.
- Open the Invoices form and press New. Type the next Number of the year (INV-2026-0111), choose the Project and its Client, and type the Invoice Date and the Due Date (the invoice date plus the client's Payment Days).
- In the Invoice Lines below, add a line for each grade of person (such as "Designer time, September 2026", Quantity in hours, Unit Price their rate), a fee stage for fixed-fee work, and a line for each expense. Set Tax Rate to the client's VAT Rate.
- Type the invoice's Net (the lines added up), VAT (each line's VAT added up) and Total. Then put the invoice in the Invoice field of each time entry and expense it covers, so they drop out of the unbilled queries.
- Open the print template Invoice, choose the invoice, and press Print or Save as PDF.
5. Record a payment and chase what is owed
- When money arrives, open the Payments form and press New: choose the Invoice, type Received On, Amount, Method and the client's Reference.
- Open the invoice in the Invoices form and bring Paid up to what has been received, and Status to Part paid or Paid.
- Run the query Overdue invoices: it lists what is past due, the longest first, with the client's phone number.
- Open the print template Statement, choose the client, and send it: it lists every invoice with what is owing and the balance.
6. Keep projects on budget
- Before the weekly meeting, print the report Project budget report: each project in hand with its budget hours, hours used, fee and the cost of the time so far.
- For a project near its budget, run the query Task hours against estimate to see which part of the work is running over.
- Run Projects due for anything due in the next 30 days or already late.
- When a project is finished, set its Status to Completed and type Finished On. The report Project profit then shows its fee against the cost of its time.