How do my employees clock their working time?

The three routes compared

All three routes produce the same time entry. They can be mixed within the same business, and nobody has to settle on one.

The stopwatch runs on the server, not in the browser

The running state lives in the database, not in browser storage. Anyone who starts at their computer and checks on their phone sees the same running clock, and a dropped connection or a change of device does not lose the measurement.

At most one measurement runs per person. A second start is rejected with a note that a stopwatch is already running.

1. 1Start the measurement, optionally with client, project and service right away.
2. 2Pause during an interruption and resume afterwards. The measurement does not end in the process.
3. 3Add details while the measurement runs, if it was not yet clear at the start what it would be booked to.
4. 4Stop. That produces a regular time entry, which can then be edited like any other.
5. 5Cancelling instead of stopping discards the measurement outright; no entry is created.

• A measurement on behalf of another person is not provided for. Recording time for someone else runs through the manual entry.
• If the business is set to "app only", no measurement can be started or stopped in the browser.

Creating a manual entry

The booked duration is calculated, not entered. End minus start gives the time, and the break is deducted from it provided the working time model does not count breaks as working time. If the result is zero or less, the entry is rejected.

Client and service are pre-filled. Every business starts with its own company as the internal client and the system service "General". Anyone who only wants to document arrival and departure creates neither clients nor services nor projects; they are an addition, not a prerequisite.

1. 1Choose the date, the start time and the end time.
2. 2Enter the break in minutes, and if needed where it falls within the entry.
3. 3Only touch client, project and service when booking against a project. Otherwise the pre-filled values stay as they are.
4. 4Save. The system checks, in order, permission, permitted channel, lock period, whether the master data belongs to the business, the time logic and any overlap with existing entries.

• Two entries for the same person must not overlap.
• An entry running past midnight is not kept as a single entry without an end date.
• Breaches of occupational safety rules are reported, not prevented. The checks from the working time model produce notices; they do not abort the save.
• Below each day of the week view there is a line with the daily total, the target, the variance and the notes on breaks and rule breaches.

The business decides which routes are permitted

The time tracking settings hold a value with three options: all channels, app only, or web only. The interface then hides the blocked controls, and the restriction itself does not sit in the interface but at both system boundaries, in the browser and at the app API. A check that merely hides something would be no check at all.

The restriction applies to self-recording. It does not apply when someone enters time on another person's behalf, and management and HR are exempt. Otherwise corrections in the browser would be blocked.

The setting applies to the whole business, not per person, department or role.

Less typing: copying, quick access, suggestions

Anyone booking the same thing every day should not have to type it in every day. Three routes take the repetition away, plus a fourth for everyone working to a shift schedule.

• Copying from the previous day, from the same weekday of the previous week, or as a whole previous week. The application reports conflicts up front instead of failing on save.
• Recently used combinations of client, project and service are available as quick access.
• Pre-filling from previous booking behaviour, which can be switched on and off per person.
• Planned but unrecorded shifts turn into suggested bookings with the planned times. Confirming creates the entry, discarding removes the suggestion.

Correcting after the fact

Entries can be changed, deleted and split into two entries. On the Professional plan, every change to a time entry is recorded with the editor and the timestamp; that is the GoBD-compliant change history.

Two deadlines limit this. The editing lock makes an entry changeable only through a change request once it reaches a certain age; the closing lock prevents any change at all. Both act on the date of the entry and not on the moment it was recorded: an entry added today for the month before last is locked immediately.

A change request carries the desired values and a justification. Until the decision, the original entry stays unchanged and continues to count in the balance and in evaluations. Deletion can be requested as well.

1. 1Open the locked entry. Instead of the edit, the interface offers the change request.
2. 2Enter the desired values and explain why they differ.
3. 3Submit. The approver sees the old and the new values side by side.
4. 4On acceptance, the system writes the requested values into the entry and notifies the requester.

When time recording fails to happen

If recording is missing for past days, the system sends reminders in stages: first as a notice in the application, after a further threshold by email, and only then as a message to the direct line manager. Newly joined people are left out at first during a grace period.

The reminder forces nothing. It blocks no feature, holds back no payment and enters nothing itself. Each stage is sent at most once a day, and the reminder can be unsubscribed from for the whole business as well as personally.