How to use Monitoring in Uku?
TL;DR: Monitoring compares your agreed service terms with actual work delivered, helping you identify scope creep and adjust pricing before it impacts profitability. Set up agreements, track hours or custom field volumes, and use color-coded indicators to stay on top of client work.
Who can do this
Company account administrators (to activate and configure Monitoring)
Any member with access to client records (to view monitoring results)
The Monitoring app must be activated in Settings & Apps
What Monitoring does
Monitoring compares what you agreed to deliver with what you actually delivered. This works for any measurable unit: hours tracked, accounting entries processed, documents reviewed, or any custom field volume you define. When actual work exceeds your agreement, Uku alerts you so you can adjust pricing or scope before losses accumulate.
Without Monitoring, scope creep is invisible until invoicing time. Monitoring shows:
Which clients need price adjustments
Where your team spends more time than expected
Which services consistently exceed estimates
When to renegotiate client agreements
Step 1: Activate Monitoring
Select Settings & Apps from the main menu.
Click the Monitoring app box.
In the window that opens, select Activate.
Go to Clients in the main menu.
Select the checkboxes for the clients you want to set up monitoring for.
Click Monitoring in the action bar.
Step 2: Set up client agreements
Before Monitoring can compare work, you need to define what you agreed to deliver based on your client service agreements or contracts.
Go to Clients in the main menu and select a client.
Select the client's checkbox, then click Monitoring.
For hour-based agreements
Enter the agreed hours for the period.
Optionally set an allowed fluctuation percentage (tolerance).
For volume-based agreements (entries, invoices, transactions)
Create a custom field for tracking volume: go to Settings & Apps, then Tasks, then Custom Fields.
Use the Number type for countable items.
Add this field to the relevant tasks.
In Monitoring, enter the agreed volume for comparison.
Save the changes.
Step 3: Monitor time by topic
Topic-based monitoring reveals which services drive scope creep.
Go to Settings & Apps, then Tasks, then Topic.
Click on the topic you want to monitor.
Enable the Monitoring checkbox for that topic.
Step 4: Understand what you can monitor
Monitoring compares these metrics:
Hours tracked
Total time team members log on client tasks
Most common monitoring method for service-based agreements
Automatically pulled from time tracking data
Custom field volumes
Accounting entries processed
Invoices reviewed
Tax returns completed
Documents processed
Any numerical custom field you create
By topic
Time spent on specific service types
Identifies which service causes overages
Useful when overall agreement looks fine but one service type exceeds expectations
Step 5: Interpret monitoring results
Monitoring displays progress visually with color-coded indicators.
Progress indicators
Green - within agreement and tolerance
Yellow - approaching tolerance limit
Red - exceeded agreement plus tolerance
Percentage shown - completion rate (e.g., 95%, 105%)
What the numbers mean
Balance - difference between agreed and actual
Completed amount - work actually delivered
Agreed amount - what the contract specifies
Percentage - completion rate (over 100% means the agreement was exceeded)
Step 6: Filter your monitoring view
Focus on relevant clients using filters.
Time period - this month, quarter, year, or custom range
Client groups - by service type, contract level, or your custom groupings
Topics - specific service types
Members - work by specific team members
Status - on track, over budget, or under budget
Step 7: Connect monitoring to task custom fields
Common monitoring custom fields
For tax preparation:
"Tax returns filed" - number field
Agreement: File 20 returns monthly
For bookkeeping:
"Entries processed" - number field
Agreement: Process 200 entries monthly
For document review:
"Documents reviewed" - number field
Agreement: Review 50 documents weekly
Setting up custom fields for monitoring
Go to Settings & Apps, then Tasks, then Task Fields.
Click + Add to create a new field.
Enter a Title and choose the Number type for countable items.
Enable the Monitoring checkbox for the field.
Add the field to relevant task templates so team members always see it.
Using monitoring data in client conversations
Export monitoring data to support pricing discussions.
Select clients in the Monitoring view.
Click the download icon to export as Excel or PDF.
Share the visual progress report with clients.
Use specific numbers in discussions, for example: "We agreed to 8 hours but delivered 12 hours for three consecutive months."
Troubleshooting
Monitoring shows no data for a client: Verify that the client has an agreement configured with agreed hours or volumes. Also check that team members are logging time or filling in the relevant custom fields on tasks for that client.
Custom field volumes are not appearing in monitoring: Make sure the custom field has the Monitoring checkbox enabled in Settings & Apps under Tasks and Task Fields. The field must be of type Number.
All clients show green even though work is exceeding agreements: Check that the tolerance percentage is not set too high. A high tolerance will delay when indicators change to yellow or red.
Topic-based monitoring is not tracking time: Confirm that the Monitoring checkbox is enabled for the specific topic under Settings & Apps, then Tasks, then Topic.
