Harvest project management: how to use Harvest and Breeze together

Harvest project management gives you visibility into how your team spends time and where work is going. When you combine it with Breeze, you get a complete view of your projects—tasks, timelines, and billable hours all in one place.

In this guide, you'll learn how the Breeze and Harvest integration works, why it's useful, and how to set it up in just a few minutes. Whether you're billing clients or just trying to understand how your team spends time, this setup helps you stay organized and informed without extra effort.

1. Why use Harvest for project management

Harvest is a popular time tracking and invoicing tool that many teams rely on for managing billable projects. It works especially well when used as part of a project management workflow.

When you integrate Harvest with Breeze, you get the best of both worlds: clear project organization and accurate time tracking. You can see what needs to be done, track time as you work on tasks, and have all the data you need for client invoices without switching between different systems.

Here's what this combination gives you:

• Track time directly from tasks - Start a timer on any task without leaving your project board
• Keep project data organized - All your tasks, time, and project information in one clear view
• Generate accurate invoices - Use Harvest's reporting to create detailed invoices based on tracked time
• Improve project visibility - See exactly how much time different types of work actually take

2. Harvest project management in action

By connecting Breeze and Harvest, you create a workflow that handles both project organization and time tracking naturally. This integration eliminates the need to switch between platforms, which saves time and reduces the chance of forgetting to track hours on important tasks.

Breeze organizes your work into visual boards that make it easy to see what's happening with each project. You can break down large projects into specific tasks, assign them to team members, and track progress as work moves through different stages.

What makes Breeze particularly useful is its flexibility. You can set up your boards to match how your team actually works. Whether you're running marketing campaigns, handling client projects, or managing internal operations, you can organize the work in a way that makes sense for your specific needs.

When you add Harvest time tracking to this setup, you get automatic time recording tied to specific tasks and projects. The time data flows seamlessly between both systems, so you have detailed records for billing and project analysis without extra administrative work.

3. How to set up Breeze and Harvest integration

Setting up the integration between Breeze and Harvest is straightforward. You'll need accounts with both services, but the connection process only takes a few minutes.

1. Go to your profile page in Breeze

In the top right corner of Breeze, click on your name and select "Personal settings & password" from the dropdown menu. This is where you'll find all the integration options.

2. Sign in to your Harvest account

If you don't already have a Harvest account, sign up for Harvest first. Make sure you're logged in to your Harvest account before proceeding with the integration setup.

3. Enable Harvest integration

On the Personal settings page, click on the "Integrations" tab. Scroll to the bottom and click the button marked "Enable Harvest time tracking." This will connect your Breeze and Harvest accounts.

4. Start tracking time

Once the integration is enabled, you'll see a Harvest button on each task in your Breeze projects. Click this button to start tracking time for that specific task. The timer will run in the background while you work, and the time will automatically sync to both Breeze and Harvest.

4. Real-world benefits of the integration

The Breeze and Harvest integration works particularly well for teams that need to track billable hours or want better insights into how long different types of work actually take.

Client service teams

If you're running a consulting business, design agency, or any service-based company, you need accurate time tracking for billing. The integration lets you organize client work in Breeze while automatically capturing billable hours in Harvest.

You can set up separate projects for each client, break down the work into specific tasks, and track time as you go. When it's time to invoice, you have detailed records of exactly what was done and how long it took.

Internal project teams

Even if you're not billing external clients, understanding how time is spent on internal projects can help you plan better and allocate resources more effectively. You might discover that certain types of tasks consistently take longer than expected, or that some team members are more efficient at specific kinds of work.

Budget management

When you can see how much time different projects actually require, you can create more accurate budgets and timelines for future work. This is especially valuable for teams that work on similar projects regularly and want to improve their estimation accuracy over time.

5. Getting the most value from your setup

To get the most benefit from the Breeze and Harvest integration, there are some simple practices that will make your time tracking more useful and your project management more effective.

Break down projects into specific tasks

Instead of tracking time against large, general project categories, create specific tasks in Breeze for different types of work. This gives you much more useful data about where time is actually spent and helps team members know exactly what they should be working on.

Set up consistent project structures

If you work on similar types of projects regularly, create templates or standard structures in Breeze. This makes it easier to set up new projects quickly and ensures you're tracking time consistently across different jobs.

Review time data regularly

The time tracking data in Harvest becomes most valuable when you look at it regularly and use it to improve your planning. You might notice patterns in when your team is most productive, which types of tasks take longer than expected, or which clients require more revision cycles.

Use time data for better estimates

Over time, your Harvest data becomes a valuable resource for estimating new projects. You can look at similar past work to get realistic timeframes and budgets for future projects, which helps with both planning and pricing.

6. Try Breeze and Harvest together

Managing projects and tracking time doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. The Breeze and Harvest integration gives you a simple way to stay organized while capturing the time data you need for accurate billing and project insights.

The setup is quick, and you'll see the benefits immediately. You'll have better visibility into your projects, more accurate time records, and the information you need to make better decisions about pricing and resource allocation.

Whether you're billing clients by the hour or just want to understand how your team spends their time, this combination gives you the tools to stay organized and productive.