Project management tied to client contracts
In Mono every project board belongs to a client contract. Tasks inherit the contract's deadline, and the board shows how much of the agreed effort the work has already used — before the overrun, not after it.
Most task boards have no idea what the client is paying for.
General-purpose project tools treat a board as a free-floating list. The contract — the scope, the end date, the number of days the client agreed to — lives in a different file, and nobody compares the two until the work is already late or over budget.
Mono starts from the contract. A board cannot exist without one, so the commercial context is on screen while the work is being planned, not reconstructed at the end of the month.
A full project board, with the contract built in
Kanban or scrum, per board
Choose kanban (move cards across columns) or scrum (plan work in sprints) when you create a board. Every board starts with a Backlog and To Do, In Progress and Done columns. Add your own columns and limit how many tasks each one can hold.
Contract effort on every board
The Board overview shows Contract effort: the days planned and worked on finished tasks, against the days the contract allows. It counts every board on that contract, not just the one you are looking at.
Deadlines the contract enforces
Task dates must fall within the contract's start and expiration dates. When you enter an estimate, Mono suggests a due date based on the board's working days and hours.
Epics, stories, tasks and sub-tasks
Break work down four levels deep. Each task gets a short number like ACME-121, a priority, one or more people assigned, and files or links attached.
Sprints, backlog and timeline
On scrum boards, plan sprints from the backlog and move unfinished work into the next sprint when one closes. Every board also has a Timeline view.
Automation and discussion on the task
Automation rules can assign a task, change its priority or notify the assignee when it moves into a column. Comments and @mentions stay on the task, where the history belongs.
A 20-day website project, tracked as you go
Say your agency signs a contract for a website redesign: 20 days of work between March and May. You record the contract in Mono with those dates and the 20 agreed days, create a scrum board for it, and break the work into epics such as Design, Build and Launch.
Each task gets an estimate. When a designer enters 16 hours on a task, Mono suggests a due date from the board's working days and hours, and it will not accept a date after the contract ends in May.
As tasks are finished, the Board overview adds them up. Mono counts a day as 8 hours, so finished tasks estimated at 96 hours show as 12 planned days against the 20 agreed, next to the days actually worked on them.
Halfway through the project you can see whether the finished work is on track against the 20 days, instead of finding out when the last invoice goes out.
How the contract and the board work together
How contract effort is counted
Contract effort only counts finished tasks. For each one, Mono adds up two numbers: the days planned, from the task's estimate, and the days worked, from the time logged on it. A day is 8 hours.
The figures cover every board on the contract, so a project split into several boards, for example one per workstream, still has one total. The days left, and the warning when you go over, are based on the planned days; the worked days sit next to them, so a task that took longer than estimated is easy to spot.
Kanban or scrum: which to pick
Kanban suits continuous work such as a monthly retainer. Tasks flow across the columns, and you can limit how many tasks a column holds so work does not pile up in progress.
Scrum suits projects with milestones. You plan a sprint from the backlog, and when the sprint closes, unfinished work moves into the next one. Sprints exist only on scrum boards, so choose the type when you create the board.
Keeping the plan inside the contract
Task dates must fall within the contract's start and expiration dates. That rule stops a plan from quietly stretching past what the client signed, and it brings the conversation forward: if the work no longer fits, it is the contract that needs to change.
Automation rules keep the board moving: when a task enters a column, a rule can assign it, change its priority or notify the assignee.
From signed contract to a board your team can work from
Record the contract
Add the client contract with its start and end dates and the number of days agreed.
Create a board on it
Pick kanban or scrum. The board is attached to that contract from the first minute.
Plan and deliver
Break the scope into tickets, run sprints or a continuous flow, and watch planned and worked days against the allowance as you go.
Part of one workspace
Each piece reads the same client, contract and task records, so delivery and billing never drift into separate systems.
Time tracking
A timer and weekly timesheet where every hour is logged against a task — and so against a client contract.
Client management
Client records with contacts, notes, reminders and contracts — and an early warning before a contract expires.
Invoicing and finance
Invoices linked to the client and contract, PDF downloads, payment tracking and a finance dashboard with per-client ROI.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. A contract can have several boards — for example one per workstream — and the contract effort figures count the work on all of them together.
For client work, it can be. Mono has the board features those tools are used for (columns, sprints, a backlog, epics and sub-tasks, automation), with one difference: every board belongs to a client contract.
Boards, tasks and sprints are included on every plan, including the free trial, which has limits on boards, tasks and sprints. The board Reports tab is part of the Pro plan. See the pricing page for details.
A day is 8 hours. Contract effort adds up the estimates and the logged time of finished tasks on all of the contract's boards, and shows them in days.
No. Kanban boards have no sprints; work simply moves across the columns. Sprints are there when you choose scrum for a board.
Put your next client project on a board that knows the contract.
Create a contract and a board in a few minutes. The trial is free and needs no card.