Utilisation

Utilisation measures how much of your available time is spent on billable work. It’s a key efficiency metric that shows whether you’re making good use of capacity.

The Formula

Utilisation is a simple ratio expressed as a percentage:

The Formula

Utilisation % = (Billable Minutes ÷ Available Minutes) × 100

Billable Minutes: Time logged to client work that will be charged
Available Minutes: Working time available after leave and holidays

What Counts as Billable?

Time is considered billable when it’s logged to:

Client Tasks

Work on client tasks and subtasks marked as billable

Help Desk Tickets

Client support and troubleshooting

Scheduled Work

Any client-facing work that will be charged

Billable Projects

Project work tied to client contracts

Only time entries with isBillable = true count toward utilisation. Non-billable time (meetings, admin, internal projects) is tracked but doesn’t count toward this metric.

What Counts as Available?

Available time is your productive capacity—the time you have available for work:

Available Time

Available Minutes = (Working Days - Leave Days) × Daily Capacity

Working Days

A working day is any weekday (Monday-Friday) that is not:

A weekend (Saturday/Sunday)
A UK bank holiday
A day you’re on approved leave

Daily Capacity

Your daily capacity is the productive minutes available per day:

Type	Minutes	Hours	Purpose
Default Capacity	390 minutes	6.5 hours	Schedule allocation, utilisation
Billing Day	450 minutes	7.5 hours	Day rate calculations only

Why 6.5 hours and not 7.5?The 6.5-hour default is realistic productive time. It accounts for:

Meetings and standups
Context switching
Email and admin work
Breaks and downtime

The 7.5-hour “billing day” is used for day rate calculations but isn’t realistic for daily capacity planning.

Role-Based Capacity

Different roles may have different daily capacities:

Role	Typical Capacity	Reason
Developer	6.5 hours	Standard productive time
Designer	6.5 hours	Standard productive time
PM/CSM	5 hours	More meetings and coordination
Leadership	4 hours	Strategic work, meetings

These can be configured per person or per role in the system.

Worked Example: Individual Utilisation

Scenario: Sarah’s February performance

Step	Calculation	Result
1. Calculate Working Days
Days in February		28 days
Weekends (Sat/Sun)		8 days
Working days	28 - 8	20 days
UK bank holidays in Feb		0 days
Net working days	20 - 0	20 days
2. Subtract Leave
Leave taken		2 days
Net available days	20 - 2	18 days
3. Calculate Available Time
Daily capacity		390 mins (6.5h)
Available minutes	18 × 390	7,020 mins
Available hours	7,020 ÷ 60	117 hours
4. Get Billable Time
Billable minutes logged		5,265 mins
Billable hours	5,265 ÷ 60	87.75 hours
5. Calculate Utilisation
Utilisation %	5,265 ÷ 7,020 × 100	75% ✅

Sarah hit the target utilisation of 75%!

Target: 75%

The goal is 75% utilisation, not 100%. Here’s why:

Why Not 100%?

Aiming for 100% utilisation means:

❌ No time for training and development
❌ No buffer for urgent work or emergencies
❌ High risk of burnout
❌ No time for internal improvements
❌ No flexibility for planning and thinking

100% utilisation is unsustainable and unhealthy.

What About the Other 25%?

The remaining 25% of time is for valuable non-billable work:

✅ Internal projects - Tools, processes, documentation
✅ Training - Learning new skills and technologies
✅ Meetings - Standups, planning, reviews
✅ Admin - Timesheets, expenses, communication
✅ Innovation - Exploring new approaches
✅ Business development - Proposals, pitches

This work has real value even though it’s not directly billable.

Different Roles, Different Targets

Not everyone should target 75%:

Role	Target	Why
ICs (devs, designers)	75%	Most time can be billable
PMs/CSMs	60-70%	More meetings and coordination
Managers	50-60%	Team support, 1-on-1s, planning
Leadership	40-50%	Strategic work, business development

Utilisation Levels

CharleOS uses bands to categorize utilisation:

Level	Range	Badge	What It Means
Over-utilised	Greater than 90%	● Red	Burnout risk, no buffer for urgent work
On Track	80-90%	● Green	Slightly above target, still healthy
Target	70-80%	● Green	Ideal range, good balance
Below Target	50-69%	● Amber	Below target but normal for some periods
Low	Less than 50%	● Red	Under-utilised, may indicate issues

Over-Utilised (Greater than 90%)
On Track (80-90%)
Target (70-80%)
Below Target (50-69%)
Low (Less than 50%)

What it means:

Very little buffer for non-billable work
High risk of burnout
No time for improvement or learning

Common causes:

Tight deadlines across multiple projects
Under-staffing
Over-commitment

Actions:

Consider hiring or redistributing work
Review and adjust schedules
Ensure proper time off is taken

Department & Agency Utilisation

Utilisation can be aggregated across teams and the entire agency:

Department Utilisation

Department Formula

Dept Utilisation = (Total Billable Minutes ÷ Total Available Minutes) × 100

Worked Example - Design Department in February:

Team Member	Available Mins	Billable Mins	Individual %
Sarah	7,020	5,265	75%
Mike	7,020	4,914	70%
Emma	5,850	4,680	80%
Department Total	19,890	14,859	74.7% ✅

The department as a whole is just under the 75% target.

Agency Utilisation

Same calculation across all billable staff in the agency:

Agency Formula

Agency Utilisation = (All Billable Minutes ÷ All Available Minutes) × 100

Only staff with hasBillableCapacity = true are included in agency utilisation. This excludes admin, leadership, and other non-billable roles.

Where to See Utilisation

Utilisation metrics appear throughout CharleOS:

Your Dashboard (IC)

See your personal utilisation for:

Last 7 days
Last 30 days
Current month
Custom date ranges

Includes a comparison to the previous period.

Manager Dashboard

See utilisation for:

Each team member
Your department as a whole
Trends over time

Helps identify who has capacity and who might be over-loaded.

Agency Dashboard

Admin users see agency-wide utilisation:

Current utilisation percentage
Month-over-month trends
Department comparisons

Helps with high-level capacity planning.

Capacity Views

Utilisation is shown alongside capacity in:

PM capacity views
Schedule planning
Resource allocation tools

What Affects Utilisation

Understanding what drives utilisation helps you improve it:

Things That Lower Utilisation

Factor	Impact	How to Address
Annual Leave	Reduces available time	Plan around leave, ensure coverage
Internal Projects	Time not billed to clients	Balance internal vs client work
Between-Project Gaps	No billable work available	Improve pipeline, schedule better
Meetings & Admin	Necessary but not billable	Keep efficient, consider whether all are needed
Training	Investment in skills	Important for long-term, schedule strategically
Client Blockers	Waiting for feedback/approvals	Follow up proactively, have backup work

Things That Raise Utilisation

Factor	Impact	Consideration
Full Client Pipeline	More billable work available	Ensure quality doesn’t suffer
Efficient Processes	Less time on non-billable	Good, but don’t eliminate necessary work
Good Scheduling	Minimal gaps between tasks	Balance with realistic timelines
Reduced Internal Work	More time for clients	Don’t neglect process improvements

Don’t optimise for utilisation alone!High utilisation at the expense of:

Team wellbeing
Quality of work
Process improvements
Learning and development

…is counterproductive. Aim for sustainable high utilisation, not maximum utilisation.

Common Misconceptions

Misconception: 100% is the goal

Reality: 75% is the target for healthy, sustainable productivity.100% utilisation means:

No time for growth
No buffer for problems
High burnout risk
Declining quality over time

Misconception: Non-billable time is wasted

Reality: The 25% non-billable time drives long-term value.Internal work includes:

Process improvements that save time later
Tool development that increases efficiency
Training that improves skills
Planning that prevents problems

These investments pay dividends.

Misconception: Low utilisation means someone is lazy

Reality: Low utilisation can have many legitimate causes:

New starters ramping up
Between projects (pipeline issue, not individual)
Waiting on client approvals (blocker, not laziness)
Seasonal quiet periods
Heavy internal project work
Training and development

Always investigate the cause before jumping to conclusions.

How It’s Calculated in the System

CharleOS calculates utilisation at multiple levels:

Individual Calculation

For each user with hasBillableCapacity = true:

Get daily capacity (role-based or default 390 mins)
Calculate working days (exclude weekends and bank holidays)
Subtract approved leave (including half-days)
Multiply by daily capacity = available minutes
Sum billable time entries where isBillable = true
Calculate: utilizationPercent = (billable / available) × 100

Department Aggregation

For each department:

Sum billable minutes for all department members
Sum available minutes for all department members
Calculate: deptUtilization = (totalBillable / totalAvailable) × 100

Agency Aggregation

For the entire agency:

Sum billable minutes for all users with hasBillableCapacity = true
Sum available minutes for all billable users
Calculate: agencyUtilization = (allBillable / allAvailable) × 100

Daily Snapshots

Every night at 1 AM UTC, utilisation is captured in metricSnapshot table:

Stores cumulative month-to-date values
Enables historical trend analysis
Used for charts and reports

Tips for Healthy Utilisation

Monitor Trends, Not Single Points

One week at 60% or 85% isn’t concerning. Look at trends over 4-6 weeks to identify patterns.

Plan Around Leave

Leave reduces available time (denominator), which increases utilisation percentage. If someone takes 2 weeks off, their utilisation that month will naturally be higher.

Balance Internal vs Client Work

Internal projects are valuable but should be balanced with billable work. If utilisation drops significantly, review internal project priorities.

Schedule Strategically

Good scheduling minimizes gaps between projects and ensures smooth transitions. Poor scheduling creates idle time that lowers utilisation.

Address Blockers Quickly

Client approvals, feedback delays, and external dependencies can kill utilisation. Follow up proactively and have backup work ready.

Don't Sacrifice Wellbeing

Sustainable 75% is better than burnout-inducing 95%. Protect team capacity and mental health.

Capacity

Utilisation measures billable vs available time—capacity defines available time

Day Rates

High utilisation helps day rates, but efficiency matters more for profitability

Efficiency

Utilisation shows how much time is billable, efficiency shows how well that time is used

Time Tracking

Learn how to log time entries that feed into utilisation calculations

Financial Metrics

Billing & Pricing

Estimation

The Formula

What Counts as Billable?

Client Tasks

Help Desk Tickets

Scheduled Work

Billable Projects

What Counts as Available?

Working Days

Daily Capacity

Role-Based Capacity

Worked Example: Individual Utilisation

Target: 75%

Utilisation Levels

Department & Agency Utilisation

Department Utilisation

Agency Utilisation

Where to See Utilisation

What Affects Utilisation

Things That Lower Utilisation

Things That Raise Utilisation

Common Misconceptions

How It’s Calculated in the System

Tips for Healthy Utilisation

Capacity

Day Rates

Efficiency

Time Tracking

​The Formula

​What Counts as Billable?

Client Tasks

Help Desk Tickets

Scheduled Work

Billable Projects

​What Counts as Available?

​Working Days

​Daily Capacity

​Role-Based Capacity

​Worked Example: Individual Utilisation

​Target: 75%

​Utilisation Levels

​Department & Agency Utilisation

​Department Utilisation

​Agency Utilisation

​Where to See Utilisation

​What Affects Utilisation

​Things That Lower Utilisation

​Things That Raise Utilisation

​Common Misconceptions

​How It’s Calculated in the System

​Tips for Healthy Utilisation

​Related Concepts

Capacity

Day Rates

Efficiency

Time Tracking

The Formula

What Counts as Billable?

What Counts as Available?

Working Days

Daily Capacity

Role-Based Capacity

Worked Example: Individual Utilisation

Target: 75%

Utilisation Levels

Department & Agency Utilisation

Department Utilisation

Agency Utilisation

Where to See Utilisation

What Affects Utilisation

Things That Lower Utilisation

Things That Raise Utilisation

Common Misconceptions

How It’s Calculated in the System

Tips for Healthy Utilisation

Related Concepts