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Video · 1:19

Retainer Burn & Capacity Planner walkthrough

Walkthrough, 1:19: one demo row goes into the Hours Log, then the retainer's projected run-out and overage, next month's capacity and the checks. Captioned, no sound needed.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Which retainers run out of hours
  2. 0:10The color key
  3. 0:19Type one Hours Log row
  4. 0:36Burn this month, capacity next month
  5. 0:51Checks and status
  6. 0:56Clear the sample data
  7. 1:06Where to get help

Transcript

The video has no sound. This is what it shows, in order: each caption, then what is on screen.

  1. See which retainers will run out of hours, and who is overbooked next month. On screen: the Dashboard list of retainers with the least projected hours left in Aug 2026. Harbor Retail -28.5 (Over), Aurora Dental -10.2 (Runs out early, 24 Aug 2026), Greenfield SaaS -1.1 (Runs out early, 27 Aug 2026), Sample Studio 1.7 (Close to limit), Beacon Legal 4.3 (On track), Copper & Co 11.6 (Under-used). Below it, two term end dates: Beacon Legal in 17 days and Harbor Retail in 32 days.
  2. In this fictional demo, Aurora Dental runs out on 24 August. The Aurora Dental row is outlined: 36.0 hours available, 22.0 used to date, -10.2 projected hours left at month end.
  3. Yellow cells: you type. Leave every other cell to the workbook. On screen: Start Here, row 3. The key sentence and the yellow swatch, "Yellow: you type here", are outlined.
  4. White cells calculate. Grey cells hold lists and reference values. The white swatch reads "White: calculated, don't type here" and the grey swatch "Grey: lists and reference values".
  5. On Hours Log, add the hours used so far, one row at a time. On screen: the Hours Log, with rows of hours used, rolled over, added, time off and project work. The empty row 28 is outlined.
  6. Type left to right. Five of these eight cells are dropdowns. Row 28 is typed cell by cell: EX-008, Aurora Dental, SEO retainer, Aug 2026, Hours used. The view then moves right to the Person, Hours, Notes and check columns.
  7. Each row checks itself. Without hours, it reads Missing hours. Dev is typed as the person. The row's Required check reads Missing hours.
  8. Type the hours, 6.0, and it reads OK. Now the row counts. 6.0 is typed in Hours, and the Required check turns OK.
  9. On Retainers, Aurora Dental's SEO retainer has used 22.0 of 36.0 hours. On screen: Retainers. Aurora Dental's SEO retainer: 36.0 hours available, 22.0 used to date, 14.0 left now, 10 of 21 working days gone.
  10. At this pace it reaches 46.2 hours: 10.2 over, or 1,224.00 USD to bill. Projected hours at month end 46.2, projected overage 10.2 hours, overage to bill 1,224.00 (USD), run-out date 24 Aug 2026, burn status Runs out early.
  11. Next month, Dev is overbooked: 138.0 hours committed, headroom -3.6. On screen: Team, next month (Sep 2026). Dev: 138.0 hours committed, headroom -3.6, planned load 102.7%, Overbooked. Maya has 28.0 hours of headroom, Sara 5.0 (Full), Theo 75.2 and Lena 44.0.
  12. The status sums up ten checks. Only Sample data is flagged. On screen: the Dashboard. Status SAMPLE. Key figures: 3 retainers running out or over, -22.3 projected hours left, 1,367.00 USD projected overage to bill, 1 term ending within 30 days, 1 person overbooked, 148.6 hours of team headroom. Nine checks read OK; check 10, Sample data, reads SAMPLE with a count of 34.
  13. Ready for your own retainers? Clear the sample data in four steps. On screen: Start Here, the four steps: choose MV_Clear_Retainers in the Name Box and press Delete; do the same for MV_Clear_HoursLog and MV_Clear_Team; delete "Hours counted up to"; check the Dashboard.
  14. After clearing, the status reads OK and every check count is 0. On screen: the Dashboard after the four steps. Status OK; every check count is 0 and every result OK. With "Hours counted up to" deleted, the plan month is the current month (Oct 2026 on the day this was recorded).
  15. The Guide sheet explains every input, calculation and check. On screen: the Guide sheet, setup steps with the time each takes.
  16. Email [email protected]. Support replies within 1 business day. On screen: the Guide's Support section: "Email [email protected]. Support replies within 1 business day (Monday to Friday, Australian Eastern time)."
  17. Get the planner at metricvalley.com. End card: Retainer Burn & Capacity Planner, Excel 365 · Google Sheets edition when it ships · metricvalley.com, above the Dashboard key figures. One Hours Log row was removed before this video, then typed back in. Every sheet shown is the v1.0.0 worked-example file in Excel 365.