If you have clients, such as managers, CEOs, or financial personnel, who need real-time visibility into time entries and projects in progress, you can grant them access to selected budgets and timesheets in Productive.
This feature eliminates the need to send timesheets manually, as clients can log in and stay updated on project progress and financials.
Consider Time Approval
Before granting access, decide whether to use the Time approval feature:
With Time Approval
The designated time entry approver must approve each time entry before it becomes visible to clients.
Without Time Approval
All tracked time entries are immediately visible to clients.
Setting Permissions for Clients
Invite Clients to Productive
Send an invitation to your clients and have them sign up.
Add Clients to a Project (Optional)
Assign them to the relevant project where they need access.
Set Permissions
Find the client in your CRM.
Open their profile and select Edit Permissions.
Select the Client Lead permission and update their profile.
Note: At this stage, clients have permission but do not yet have access to specific budgets.
If your organization was created before mid-August 2026, this permission is named Client Manager instead of Client Lead.
👉 See Why Your Permission Set List May Look Different for the full breakdown.
Give Budget Access
Select the specific budget you want the client to access.
In the Budget sidebar, switch the Client Access toggle to "Enabled."
Viewing as a Client
To see exactly what your client sees, use the "View as a client" feature in the Budget sidebar.
This allows you to preview the budget page from the client’s perspective, ensuring that everything is displayed correctly.
Below is a preview of the client view. A client lead will be able to switch between the Services, Time, and Expenses tab easily.
👉 Check out this article to learn what a client can see after being added to a budget in greater detail.
Set the Default
Go to Settings > Budget and toggle the Client access option on or off to set its default state for all newly created budgets.
