Job Templates
Stop rebuilding the same job structure from scratch — templates pre-load tasks, costs, and defaults so you start every engagement right
You’ve won a new piece of work that looks exactly like a project you finished last month. You know the margins were healthy on that previous job, but now you face the manual task of rebuilding the structure from scratch: setting up the same fifteen tasks, assigning the right billable rates, and ensuring the third-party costs are captured before someone forgets them. In the rush to get started, details slip through the cracks, and your commercial control begins to erode before the first hour is even logged.
Setting up jobs manually isn't just a time-sink—it’s a risk to your profitability. When you build every job from a blank slate, you rely on memory to protect your margin. Job Templates in AtomicSam allow you to codify your firm's "best version" of a project, ensuring that every time you kick off a specific service, the budget, task structure, and cost logic are already aligned with your commercial goals.
By using templates, you move away from guesswork and toward commercial integrity. You aren't just creating a task list; you are deploying a proven financial blueprint that helps your team stay within scope and captures revenue that might otherwise leak through forgotten expenses.
How to Build Your Template
Creating a template involves more than just listing tasks. It is about defining the default settings that will govern the job's lifecycle. Navigate to Settings > Job Templates and click New Template to begin.
1. Structural Defaults
In the General Tab, you define how the job identifies itself. You can use merge fields in the Title Format (such as [Client Name] - [Job Type]) so that every new project follows your firm’s naming convention automatically. This keeps your job list clean and makes reporting much simpler later on.
2. Task Presets and Resource Logic
The Tasks tab is where you bridge the gap between delivery and billing. For each task, you can pre-set the budgeted hours and the specific Rate Card to be used. This ensures that when a junior designer logs time against "Conceptual Iterations," the system uses the correct billable rate you've agreed upon with the client.
📸 [Screenshot: The Task Preset screen showing budgeted hours and rate selection]
3. Cost Presets and Margin Protection
One of the most common places for revenue leakage is third-party costs—printing, photography, or external contractors—that get paid by the firm but never billed to the client. In the Costs tab, you can pre-configure these expenses. You can set default quantities, suppliers, and—most importantly—your standard markup percentage.
Choosing the Right Template Strategy
Not every job needs a unique template. Use this table to decide how to structure your blueprints:
| Template Strategy | Use this when… |
|---|---|
| Service-Based | You sell repeatable packages, like a "Brand Identity Pack" or a "Monthly Compliance Audit." |
| Phase-Based | Your projects vary in size but always follow the same stages (Discovery, Design, Build, Launch). |
| Client-Specific | A major account has unique reporting tags, custom rates, or specific billing requirements that differ from your standard logic. |
Deploying a Template
When you create a new job, simply select your template from the Use Template dropdown. AtomicSam will instantly populate the task list, cost estimates, and reporting categories. From here, you can still make job-specific adjustments, but the commercial "safety net" is already in place.
📸 [Screenshot: The 'New Job' modal with the Template selection dropdown highlighted]
Pro Tips & Common Gotchas
- Review your margins quarterly: Don't let your templates go stale. If you find you are consistently over-budget on a specific task across multiple jobs, update the template's budgeted hours to reflect the reality of the work.
- Use Descriptive Templates: In the Description field of the template, add a checklist or "Definition of Done" for the project manager. This ensures that every person running this job type knows exactly what the commercial exit criteria are.
- Don't over-complicate: Start with the 80/20 rule. Create templates for the 20% of your job types that make up 80% of your revenue. This provides the most immediate gain in commercial control with the least setup effort.
- Watch your reporting tags: Ensure your templates include the correct Reporting Categories. This allows you to compare the profitability of "Web Development" vs. "Strategy" across your entire firm with confidence.