How Nexus Software Finally Got Accurate Project Costing
A 24-engineer SaaS company couldn't tell which projects were profitable because developers refused to log time. Automatic In-Out solved the adoption problem.
The Company
Nexus Software builds a B2B analytics platform used by mid-market companies. Their 24-person engineering team is split across platform, mobile, API, and DevOps squads, running 2-week sprints.
VP of Engineering Daniel Chen needed to understand where engineering time was actually going. Without project-level time data, capacity planning was guesswork and project costing was impossible.
"Our engineers hated every time tracking tool we tried. They just wouldn't use them."
Daniel had tried three time tracking tools over two years. Each time, adoption peaked at 40% in week one and dropped to near-zero by month two. Engineers saw time tracking as surveillance and busywork.
Without data, Daniel couldn't answer basic questions: How much did the mobile app rewrite actually cost? Is the API team overloaded? Are we staffed correctly for next quarter's roadmap?
"40% of our engineering time was unaccounted for. I was making million-dollar staffing decisions based on gut feeling and Jira ticket counts. That's not engineering management. That's guessing."
40%
Of engineering time unaccounted for
~15%
Adoption rate of previous time tracking tools
$0
Project cost data available for planning
Why they chose Timedox
Daniel chose Timedox because of one feature: Automatic In-Out. The Desktop App detects when engineers open their laptops and clocks them in. When they close up, it clocks them out. Zero manual input.
"I told my team: you don't have to do anything. Just work the way you already work. The app handles the rest. That's when I knew we'd finally get adoption."
Project-based tracking let Daniel map hours to sprints and epics. Engineers could optionally tag time to specific projects, but even without tagging, the baseline hours were captured automatically.
Automatic In-Out
Presence-based detection. Engineers clock in by sitting down. Zero friction.
Sprint Mapping
Map hours to projects, sprints, and epics. See where time actually goes.
Capacity Planning
Real-time utilization data for better sprint and quarterly planning.
What Nexus Software sees every day
The same Timedox dashboard every customer uses. No custom build, just clear data.
Dashboard
Team Overview
Active now
18
+3 from yesterday
Total hours
142h
On break
2
Sites
4
Sarah Miller
Headquarters
James Chen
Downtown Office
Maria Lopez
Remote
David Kim
Field Site A
From signup to full adoption
Desktop App deployed to 24 engineers
IT pushed the Timedox Desktop App to all engineering machines. No configuration needed. Engineers were told: 'It just runs in the background.'
100% adoption achieved
Because there was nothing to adopt. The app ran silently. Every engineer's hours were captured automatically. Zero complaints, zero pushback.
First project cost analysis
Daniel pulled the first month's data broken down by squad and project. The mobile app rewrite had consumed 40% more engineering time than estimated. He adjusted the roadmap.
Capacity planning transformed
With three months of real data, Daniel could accurately predict squad capacity for the next quarter. Sprint planning became data-driven instead of estimation-based.
Engineering ROI proven to leadership
Daniel presented a full engineering cost analysis to the CEO. For the first time, leadership could see exactly how engineering resources mapped to product outcomes.
Inside Nexus Software
The numbers after one year
100%
engineer adoption (up from ~15%)
40%
of previously invisible time now tracked
0
manual time entries required from engineers
3x
improvement in project cost estimation accuracy
"Our engineers actually use it because they don't have to do anything. We finally have accurate project costing for the first time in the company's history. I can tell you exactly what any project costs in engineering hours."
Daniel Chen
VP of Engineering, Nexus Software
Need time data your engineers will actually produce?
Timedox's Automatic In-Out runs silently. Zero input from your team, complete data for yours. Start a free trial.