Counted when it happens, not when it is entered
Vendor commitments, subcontractor days and delayed timesheets are the line items that turn a healthy forecast into a bad close. Each one hits margin on the day it is incurred.
Platform / Time & Cost
Ambient time tracking, and every other cost as it lands.
Every input to margin, captured when it happens rather than when someone remembers.
Ambient time tracking No timer was started. Nothing was typed.
Miles Chen · Thu 21 May The day Octayne observed 4.50h attributed · 4 sources
08:0010:0012:0014:0016:0018:00
What it read
- Outlook calendar 09:00 – 11:30 Gridline CFO — integration scope review Accepted, attended, five attendees from the client side.2.50h
- Outlook mail 11:40 – 12:05 3 threads · RE: revised cutover date Same matter, same counterparties, inside the engagement.0.40h
- Excel · desktop 13:15 – 14:35 Gridline_Budget_v4.xlsx Active editing, not idle. Matched to the engagement folder.1.30h
- Jira · browser 15:10 – 15:28 GRD-412 · Re-baseline reporting workstream Ticket linked to the Phase I workstream.0.30h
Attributed to one engagement 4.50h
The entry it drafted
Update entry Draft · awaiting confirmation
Assembled from Outlook calendar, Outlook mail, Excel and
Jira. Every source is listed on the entry.
✓ Confirm entry Edit Miles confirms. Miles does not compose.
6.50h drafted across 3 engagements today · Nothing is submitted until he confirms it
No timer was started and nothing was typed. The week arrives already written.
In the product
How Octayne handles it.
- Time capture and timesheets
- Expense management
- Vendor and subcontractor cost
- Desktop, Outlook and browser capture
- Approval workflows
Ambient capture
Calendar, mail, desktop and browser, with no timer started.
Desktop timer
A menu-bar app on macOS and Windows for the people who want one.
Outlook and Office add-in
Log against the message or document already open.
Browser extension
Web work attributed to the engagement it belongs to.
Expenses and receipts
Card feeds and reimbursables, matched to the engagement.
Vendor and subcontractor cost
Counted as commitment when incurred, not when invoiced.
Approval workflows
Thresholds, delegation and bulk actions for approvers.
Billable against internal
Task types and rate cards decide it, not the person entering.
Capture is opt-in, per person
Desktop and browser capture are switched on by the professional, not by an administrator, and can be switched off. Ambient tracking nobody consented to is surveillance, and it does not survive a works council.
They confirm; they do not compose
The draft arrives written in their own voice from their own prior entries. Nothing is ever submitted on anyone's behalf.
Every cost, as it lands
Including the part that has no invoice yet.
A month-end close reports what has been billed to you. It cannot report the vendor work you have already authorized or the subcontractor days already worked, because no invoice exists. Those are counted here the day they are committed.
Cost position Gridline Advisory — Phase I
as of today · week 14 of 22 | Cost | Invoiced | Committed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Approved time · 1,613h | $186,400 | — | $186,400 |
| Expenses Card feed and reimbursables | $12,850 | $2,100 | $14,950 |
| Vendor — Trellis Data Purchase order · 3 of 4 milestones | $6,250 | $18,750 authorized, not yet invoiced | $25,000 |
| Subcontractor — Ridgeway 40 days at day rate | — | $34,000 worked, invoices in arrears | $34,000 |
| Total | $205,500 | $54,850 | $260,350 |
What a month-end close would have shown you Invoiced cost only — everything else arrives later.
✦
$54,850 of this engagement's cost is authorized or worked and has no invoice against it yet — 21% of the position. Octayne counts it against margin the day it is committed, so the forecast does not improve for a month and then collapse.
Approval
A queue a partner can actually clear.
Review Agent corrects what is mechanical and escalates only what needs judgement, so approval is a decision rather than an inspection.
Agent review · cycle 18–24 May
01 Auto-approved — every rule passed
17
60.7%
02 Nudged — 3 awaiting reply, 2 already fixed
5
17.9%
03 Pending submission
2
7.1%
04 Needs your call
4
14.3%
I reviewed 22 timesheets and 6 expense reports. 4 need your call.
$142k cleared for invoicing $18.4k held for your decision 18% faster than last cycle
Inputs and outputs
What it uses, and what you get.
What it uses The systems and records it reads from.
- Calendar
- Desktop timer
- Browser activity
- Tickets and issues
- Receipts and invoices
What you get out What a partner can act on Monday morning.
- Timesheets that reconcile
- Cost by workstream
- Committed spend, not just spent
- A short approval queue
- Billable against internal
The agentic layer
Agents that work here.
Capture Time Agent Ambient time tracking across calendar, mail, desktop and browser. Hours flow in from where the work already happens, written in each professional's own voice — so labour cost never lags the work. Compliance Review Agent Reads every entry against engagement rules, rate cards and narrative standards — and escalates only what a partner actually needs to see.
Next step
See it run against one of your live engagements.
Bring an engagement that worried you. We will show you where the margin went, and the week Octayne would have told you.