How to Integrate with Harvest

Integrating requires Administrator permissions in Harvest and View-Edit permissions in Forecast.

Forecast integrates with Harvest, our time tracking and invoicing app. Here’s how to set up the integration:

  1. If you haven’t already, open a free 30-day Forecast trial. (Note: In order to connect Harvest and Forecast, you’ll need to use the same email address for your Forecast account that you use to sign in to Harvest.)
  2. Once you’re signed in to Forecast, head to your Settings (upper right corner).
  3. In the Harvest Integration section, click Connect to Harvest.
  4. You’ll be presented with a list of your Harvest accounts. Choose the account you’d like to connect to your Forecast account.
  5. Next, you’ll be prompted to import clients and projects. Just check off what you’d like to import, then click Import and Continue. You can also choose to import later. Note that importing projects doesn’t import the people included on them—you’ll import your team separately in the next step. link to harvest
  6. Now for importing people. Select the people you’d like to import, then click Import and Finish. link to harvest

That’s it. You’ve linked Harvest to Forecast and imported your clients, projects, and team. Some things to note:

  • Importing people won’t invite them to join Forecast. You should invite your team to Forecast next. It also doesn’t assign them to Forecast projects—you’ll need to create assignments for them.
  • If you currently have sample data enabled in your Harvest trial account, you’ll have the option to import sample people and projects into your Forecast account. If you do import them, removing the sample data in Harvest won’t automatically remove it in Forecast—you’ll need to manually delete those items there, as well.
  • You can link any new clients, projects, and team members between Harvest and Forecast by following the instructions here.
  • A single Harvest account can only be linked to a single Forecast account at any given time, and vice versa.
  • You can disconnect from Harvest at any time.

What the Integration Offers

Once connected, remaining budgeted hours in Harvest projects will appear in Forecast, so you can easily compare your remaining budget to remaining scheduled time. You’re also able to go directly to a project analysis page in Harvest from Forecast, either by clicking the remaining budget hour total or using the View Report in Harvest option from a project’s Actions menu.

In addition, your team’s scheduled time is sent over to Harvest, allowing more insight when analyzing projects.

Below is an example of project health. Notice how this project’s tracked time isn’t over budget yet, but based on the scheduled time from Forecast, it might go over by the next week. We also let you know how much you’ll exceed the budget by so you can better plan your time or make other arrangements.

Screenshot of the Project Progress graph on the project analysis page for a Harvest project connected to a Forecast project, where the hours scheduled in Forecast will make the project go over budget

Learn more about how Harvest and Forecast work together to save you time and help you plan future projects more intelligently.


Syncing New Clients, Projects, and People

Even after the initial integration and importing process, you have a few different options for linking new clients, projects, and people between the two apps.

If both Harvest and Forecast already have versions of the same client, project, or person, but they aren’t linked, using any of the methods below will link the Harvest and Forecast versions without creating a duplicate. The client or project name must be an exact match between Harvest and Forecast for this to work. Also, when syncing people, the name and email address must be a character-for-character match between Harvest and Forecast. Project codes do not have to match, but note that the Harvest project code will overwrite the Forecast one in this case.

Importing Data from Harvest to Forecast Later

After you integrate, if you add new information to your Harvest account, or didn’t import when you first integrated the accounts, you can import that data into Forecast later on. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Head to Manage and go to your Clients, Projects, or Team section, depending on what you want to import.
  2. Click the Import from Harvest button in the top right. project graph
  3. Select the items you want to import, then click the green Import… button.

Pushing Projects from Harvest to Forecast

Once the integration is set up, you’ll see a new option when creating or editing a project in Harvest. Check the Create this project in Forecast so you can plan your team’s time box to do just that.

Create this project in Forecast

Pushing Projects from Forecast to Harvest

You don’t need to always create projects in Harvest first. Once the integration is set up, you’ll see a new project action after creating a project in Forecast. Click a project’s Actions menu and select Create Project in Harvest. You’ll most likely want to then follow the link to continue setting up the project in Harvest so you can choose a billing method, set a budget, and add or remove tasks and people.

If people are already scheduled to the Forecast project, they’ll automatically be assigned to the new Harvest project, as long as they’re already in Harvest and their profiles are linked between the accounts.

Create Project in Harvest


Disconnecting from Harvest

If you no longer want your Harvest and Forecast accounts linked, use the Disconnect link on your Settings page.

harvest integration

If you disconnect, the data you’ve imported into Forecast will stay right where it is. However, the link between your Harvest data and your Forecast data will be permanently severed.

If you re-integrate Harvest with Forecast later, you can re-link clients, projects, and people from your Harvest and Forecast accounts by importing them again, but this will only work if the project and client names, or person’s name and email address, are a character-for-character match between Harvest and Forecast.

Closing One Account

If your Harvest and Forecast accounts are connected and you close one of them, you will no longer benefit from the integration features. The remaining account will remain active, however, and you and your team will continue to have access to it.

If you close your Harvest account, any Harvest data you’ve imported into Forecast, such as clients, projects, and teammates, will stay in Forecast.

Still have questions? We’re happy to help!

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