How long does a Dayshape implementation take?

Dayshape puts a project at 2 to 7 months, depending on size and complexity. It runs under a method the vendor calls Sprint & Shape Up, which sets a target go-live date and works towards it in time-boxed sprints: workshops gather the requirements and show the configuration options, the team migrates data and builds the integrations that feed Dayshape, and implementation consultants advise on setup, support user acceptance testing and manage the cutover to production. A dedicated customer success representative stays with the firm through it and afterwards.

What does Dayshape support cover?

Standard support runs from 9:00 to 17:30 in the customer's own timezone, with critical incidents covered 24/7 through automated alerts to engineers outside those hours. A premium option extends this to 24/5 support from specialists, reaching from integration support to IT steering committee participation. Around it sit monthly reports against the firm's success plan criteria, quarterly reviews of progress against its objectives, discovery sessions aimed at adoption, and a customer webinar with detailed release notes for each release. Dayshape also takes suggestions for new and improved features from customers.

Who counts as a licensed resource?

Anyone with projects assigned to their Dayshape schedule during the licence year, or anyone specifically requested to be booked on projects in Dayshape during that year, whether or not those bookings are assigned. Resource managers who schedule work but are not billable resources incur no fee, and neither do users who only need to see reports. Add-ons ordered mid-term are priced pro rata and co-terminate with the first contract anniversary.

Dayshape

AI scheduling for professional services firms, built around who is suitable rather than who is free.

AI features

The scheduling engine, called Advise, uses combinatorial optimisation to weigh resourcing combinations across the whole portfolio at once, and an agent layer answers questions about the schedule from inside Microsoft Teams and Copilot.

Starting price: Quote-based
Free trial: Demo on request
API: Yes, an API is offered for feeding in data such as staff skill matrices, alongside prebuilt integrations

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Overview

Dayshape is resource management software from the Edinburgh vendor of the same name, aimed at professional services firms and in particular at accounting and audit practices. Its scheduling engine treats staffing as an optimisation problem rather than a calendar: it evaluates resourcing combinations across the whole portfolio at once and scores how suitable each person is by skills, availability, location and experience. Alongside that sit a drag-and-drop Gantt scheduler and real-time project financials. Audit-specific governance is part of the product, with audit trails and assignment restrictions that enforce independence.

Our take

This is a specialist buy, and it earns that in one place: a firm whose scheduling problem is genuinely combinatorial, hundreds of people against hundreds of engagements with skills and independence rules in the way, gets an answer a spreadsheet cannot produce. Nearly half the top twenty accounting firms in the US and UK are cited as customers, which says who the product was shaped around. Anyone whose real question is simply who is free on Thursday is paying for machinery they will not use, and the missing pieces confirm the fit: hours and tasks are expected to live in systems Dayshape reads from, so it belongs in a stack rather than replacing one.

Key Facts

Category	Resource Planning
Starting price	Quote-based Licences are priced per resource managed in the platform, plus a one-off implementation fee. Dayshape publishes no amounts; quotes come from sales.
Free trial	Demo on request
API	Yes, an API is offered for feeding in data such as staff skill matrices, alongside prebuilt integrations
Hosting	Cloud, hosted on Microsoft Azure within a private network behind a web application firewall, with access via single sign-on
Made in	United Kingdom (Dayshape, Edinburgh)

Features

Resource planning: Yes, an optimisation engine that scores suitability by skills, availability, location and experience across the whole portfolio, plus a drag-and-drop Gantt scheduler and forward-looking capacity forecasts
Task planning: No, planning stops at assigning people to work; task detail stays elsewhere
Time tracking: No time entry of its own; timesheet data is integrated from other systems to compare billed against budgeted resource time
Reporting and controlling: Yes, customisable dashboards and a drag-and-drop report builder over past, present and forecast data, plus real-time project financials

Integrations

Workday
SAP
SAP HANA
Oracle
Salesforce
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Deltek
IRIS
CCH
OpenHR
CatalystOne
Flowcase

Deployment and Support

Deployment: Cloud (SaaS)
Browser-based
Onboarding: Guided onboarding
Live online demos and webinars
Personal consulting
Company size: Enterprise

Suitability

Industry	Freelancers	Small and mid-sized	Enterprise
Agencies	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
Architecture & Engineering	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
Consulting	Not stated	Not stated	Stated as a fit
Media & Creative	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
Technology	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated

The table combines the industries the vendor addresses with the company sizes the tool is aimed at. An empty cell means the combination is not stated, not that it is ruled out.

Pros and Cons

Strengths

Suitability scoring by skills, availability, location and experience, weighed across the portfolio rather than project by project
Resource plans and budgets are built in the same step, so financial overruns show up as the schedule changes
Audit trails and assignment restrictions that enforce independence, supporting ISQM1 and QC1000

Limitations

No task planning and no time entry of its own; both have to come from the systems it connects to
No published prices, so every quote comes from sales
Aimed squarely at professional services firms, and the audit and independence features carry little weight outside them

Pricing

Quote-based

Not stated

Priced per managed resource, plus a one-off implementation fee. No amounts are published.

Best For

Consulting

Alternatives and Comparisons

FAQ

How long does a Dayshape implementation take?: Dayshape puts a project at 2 to 7 months, depending on size and complexity. It runs under a method the vendor calls Sprint & Shape Up, which sets a target go-live date and works towards it in time-boxed sprints: workshops gather the requirements and show the configuration options, the team migrates data and builds the integrations that feed Dayshape, and implementation consultants advise on setup, support user acceptance testing and manage the cutover to production. A dedicated customer success representative stays with the firm through it and afterwards.
What does Dayshape support cover?: Standard support runs from 9:00 to 17:30 in the customer's own timezone, with critical incidents covered 24/7 through automated alerts to engineers outside those hours. A premium option extends this to 24/5 support from specialists, reaching from integration support to IT steering committee participation. Around it sit monthly reports against the firm's success plan criteria, quarterly reviews of progress against its objectives, discovery sessions aimed at adoption, and a customer webinar with detailed release notes for each release. Dayshape also takes suggestions for new and improved features from customers.
Who counts as a licensed resource?: Anyone with projects assigned to their Dayshape schedule during the licence year, or anyone specifically requested to be booked on projects in Dayshape during that year, whether or not those bookings are assigned. Resource managers who schedule work but are not billable resources incur no fee, and neither do users who only need to see reports. Add-ons ordered mid-term are priced pro rata and co-terminate with the first contract anniversary.

Last verified: 2026-09-30

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