Orbit PM for agencies: manage your creative teams across multiple client projects

Short projects, versatile teams

In a digital agency, a web project rarely runs longer than three to six months. Phases follow each other quickly — scoping, design, development, testing, go-live — and each phase requires different skills. The same developer or designer can be in production on one project, in the design phase on a second, and in bug-fix support on a third, all simultaneously.

This versatility is a commercial strength for the agency, but a permanent planning constraint. Without a dedicated team workload management tool, allocation overlaps go unnoticed until a team member announces they cannot honour their commitments on one of the projects. Orbit PM gives an immediate view of who is doing what, on which period, and at what allocation rate, for every project in the agency.

Managing creative availability

Creative roles — graphic design, UX/UI, art direction, motion design — have a particularity that planners often underestimate: cognitive load. An art director who must produce strong creative concepts for three different clients in parallel is not in the same situation as a developer switching between several code tickets. The quality of creative work depends directly on the ability to focus on one brief at a time.

When workload is poorly calibrated for creative profiles, the first visible signs are declining deliverable quality, followed by lengthening client validation cycles, then burnout risk if the situation persists for weeks. Orbit PM lets you set realistic allocation rates and detect — at the planning stage — when a creative profile exceeds their sustainable capacity, before it affects quality or wellbeing.

Seasonal peaks and troughs

Digital agencies experience pronounced seasonality. The September back-to-school period concentrates project launches for clients who signed in the spring. November and December see an accumulation of deliveries for clients who want to finalise projects before year-end budget close. January and August, by contrast, are often quiet, with underutilised team members and inter-project gaps that are difficult to justify.

Anticipating these cycles is essential: deciding the right moment to hire or bring in a freelancer, spreading contract signings to avoid peaks, and scheduling team leave during quiet periods without compromising live projects. With Orbit PM's capacity planning and a rolling horizon, the production director can visualise the forecast workload over the next 3–6 months and make structured decisions well before tensions arise.

Typical agency roles, all supported

Orbit PM models the full range of profiles in a digital agency: art director, front-end developer, back-end developer, UX designer, project manager, account manager, integrator, motion designer, copywriter, SEO consultant. Each team member has a profile with their actual daily capacity, day rate for cost calculation, and allocation history. Roles let you filter views to see only developer workload or only designers, making it easier to arbitrate when new projects are signed.

Per-profile and per-project workload views: both levels you need

A production director needs two simultaneous readings: the per-team-member view (who is overloaded this week? who has bandwidth next month?) and the per-project view (where are we on day budget consumption for each client?). These two views are complementary and must be coherent in real time. Orbit PM offers both reading levels in the same interface, without double entry or manual synchronisation. Any allocation change is immediately reflected in the individual view and in the project view.

Studio planning: leave, public holidays and real capacity

A team's capacity is never simply the number of people multiplied by five days. Leave, public holidays, training, part-time schedules and unplanned absences permanently reduce real available capacity. Orbit PM integrates these parameters directly into workload calculations: allocations are compared against each team member's net capacity, accounting for declared absences. The utilisation rate displayed reflects the studio's reality, not a theoretical capacity that ignores ground-level constraints.

Is Orbit PM suitable for small agencies of 5 to 20 people?

Yes, Orbit PM is designed to be operational from 5 team members. Small agencies benefit from the same workload management and overload detection features as larger organisations, with rapid onboarding and no infrastructure cost. The interface stays readable even with few projects and can scale with agency growth. Many 8–15 person agencies use Orbit PM as their first structured planning tool after reaching the limits of their spreadsheets.

Can freelancers and contractors be managed in Orbit PM?

Yes, freelancers and external contractors can be created in Orbit PM just like any team member, with their daily capacity and day rate for cost tracking. You can include their workload in the team view, track their day consumption per project, and calculate the real cost of their contributions in fixed-price or T&M projects. You can also restrict their visibility to their own projects via the roles and permissions system.

How do I manage fixed-price vs time-and-materials projects in Orbit PM?

Orbit PM supports both models. For fixed-price projects, you define a day budget and track consumption as allocations are made: Orbit PM alerts you when the budget is at risk of being exceeded. For T&M projects, time tracked (days consumed) serves as the billing basis. In both cases, the project budget view gives you immediate visibility into financial progress, with a consumption rate indicator and a projected budget exhaustion date if the current pace continues.