TopLeft vs BrightGauge: a board you work from, not a screen you watch

BrightGauge shows your numbers. TopLeft is where the work gets done. Techs pull their next ticket, managers move work between people, and the PSA updates.

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BrightGauge is good at measuring an MSP (ConnectWise now sells it as Reports and Dashboards, but everyone still calls it BrightGauge). It ships pre-built gauges and dashboards for each PSA, refreshes close to real time, and turns the data into client reports for quarterly business reviews (QBRs).

What a dashboard can't do is move the work. A gauge can show that a tech has twelve open tickets or that three tickets are close to breaching their SLA. Somebody still has to open the PSA, find those tickets and reassign them.

TopLeft puts the tickets and project tasks themselves on Kanban boards, synced both ways with ConnectWise, Autotask or HaloPSA. The team sees the work, limits how much is in progress, and pulls the next job from the board. The two work side by side: BrightGauge for the numbers, TopLeft for the day.

How TopLeft and BrightGauge compare

Features	TopLeft	BrightGauge
What it is	Kanban boards, Gantt charts and capacity planning for the work itself. Drag a card to reassign or move a ticket.	KPI dashboards and reports, near real time. Read-only; nobody moves a ticket from a gauge.
PSA integration	Two-way sync with ConnectWise, Autotask and HaloPSA. Changes on the board write back to the PSA.	Reads PSA data for gauges and reports. Work is still updated in the PSA.
Capacity	Project hours per engineer, week by week, against each engineer's available hours.	Utilization gauges and trends.
Who uses it every day	Technicians, coordinators, project managers and service managers, to run the day's work.	Owners, managers and account managers, to measure performance and report it.
Priorities	The board shows what to work on next, and technicians pull it instead of cherry-picking.	Gauges show ticket age and volume. Deciding what to work on next happens elsewhere.
Setup	Connects to your PSA in about 15 minutes; boards are set up with you during onboarding.	Pre-built gauges and dashboards per PSA. Custom gauges take configuration.
Clients	Client portals show a client its own tickets and projects (ConnectWise and Autotask today; $10 a portal).	Automated client reports and embeddable public gauges. No live view of a client's own tickets and projects.
Daily workflow	One board for service tickets and project tasks, with time entry from the card.	Not what it is for. Assigning tickets and logging time happen in the PSA.
SLAs	Tickets near their SLA stand out on the board, and you reassign them with a drag.	SLA gauges and trends. Reassigning a ticket happens back in the PSA.

What it is

TopLeft

Kanban boards, Gantt charts and capacity planning for the work itself. Drag a card to reassign or move a ticket.

BrightGauge

KPI dashboards and reports, near real time. Read-only; nobody moves a ticket from a gauge.

PSA integration

TopLeft

Two-way sync with ConnectWise, Autotask and HaloPSA. Changes on the board write back to the PSA.

BrightGauge

Reads PSA data for gauges and reports. Work is still updated in the PSA.

Capacity

TopLeft

Project hours per engineer, week by week, against each engineer's available hours.

BrightGauge

Utilization gauges and trends.

Who uses it every day

TopLeft

Technicians, coordinators, project managers and service managers, to run the day's work.

BrightGauge

Owners, managers and account managers, to measure performance and report it.

Priorities

TopLeft

The board shows what to work on next, and technicians pull it instead of cherry-picking.

BrightGauge

Gauges show ticket age and volume. Deciding what to work on next happens elsewhere.

Setup

TopLeft

Connects to your PSA in about 15 minutes; boards are set up with you during onboarding.

BrightGauge

Pre-built gauges and dashboards per PSA. Custom gauges take configuration.

Clients

TopLeft

Client portals show a client its own tickets and projects (ConnectWise and Autotask today; $10 a portal).

BrightGauge

Automated client reports and embeddable public gauges. No live view of a client's own tickets and projects.

Daily workflow

TopLeft

One board for service tickets and project tasks, with time entry from the card.

BrightGauge

Not what it is for. Assigning tickets and logging time happen in the PSA.

SLAs

TopLeft

Tickets near their SLA stand out on the board, and you reassign them with a drag.

BrightGauge

SLA gauges and trends. Reassigning a ticket happens back in the PSA.

Which one fits your situation

When TopLeft is the right fit

TopLeft is the right fit when your problem is getting the work done.

Your techs work from PSA lists and nobody can see who is actually busy. Work falls through the cracks because there is no shared view of the queue. A senior engineer is buried while two others wait to be told what is next.

TopLeft puts every ticket and project task on one board, synced with ConnectWise, Autotask or HaloPSA. Technicians pull their next priority without waiting for someone to assign it, and managers see an overload while there is still time to move work.

TopLeft is the right fit when you commit to project work you can't deliver.

Sales closes a new project and you say yes. Then somebody realizes the team is already committed to three other projects that week.

Capacity planning shows each engineer's project hours week by week against the hours they have, before you commit to a start date.

When BrightGauge is the right fit

BrightGauge is the right fit when your problem is measuring.

You need polished QBR reports, automated monthly charts of SLA trends, utilization and ticket volume, and gauges on a wall screen. Your leadership team needs to measure the business and show clients the value they get.

BrightGauge does that well, and it does it close to real time. It doesn't move the work itself. That happens in the PSA, or on a board like TopLeft's.

MSPs on projects delivered and SLAs met

★★★★★

“We manage a lot of Projects (40 - 60 at a time) and TopLeft has proven to improve focus and save time capturing critical information needed to keep projects on schedule!”

Frank Hannaford

Solutions Architect, CoreTech

★★★★★

“We transitioned from ConnectWise Manage to TopLeft for better ticket management. And we have improved SLA adherence from 60% to 90% within six months.”

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Chase Effler

Engineering Manager, Appalachian Network Services

★★★★★

“We were able to move our average project delivery from negative efficiency to positive 58% efficiency. So we finish projects now with an average of 1/3 time left over!”

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