Project time and support effort are not the same thing
Feature work can be planned; incidents cannot. MetronHR keeps the two apart, so that maintenance contracts do not eat the project margin.
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- Project and support hours kept apart per client
- Onboarding a new developer runs by itself
- Recording from home works as it does in the office
In shortSince the Federal Labour Court order of 13 September 2022, IT and software companies, too, have to record all working time, including trust-based working time and work from home. No form is prescribed today. MetronHR records working time and project time in one step, in the app, the browser or the desktop app, and books overtime to a time account.
- Made in GermanyDeveloped and hosted in Germany
- Certified data centreISO 27001, located in Germany
- Web, app and terminalBrowser, iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows
- GDPR compliantServers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein
Duties at a glance
The key duties and how they are met day to day
| Duty | Source | With paper or Excel | With MetronHR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record all working time, also when working from home | Section 3(2) no. 1 ArbSchG, Federal Labour Court 1 ABR 22/21 | self-reported at month end | browser, app or desktop app, past days can be added later |
| Record time beyond 8 hours, keep for 2 years | Section 16(2) ArbZG | binders in the office | stored as long as the account exists |
| Prove data processing on behalf | Article 28 GDPR | collect the evidence for each tool yourself | Data processing agreement, servers in Germany, Trust Center |
Record all working time, also when working from home
- Source
- Section 3(2) no. 1 ArbSchG, Federal Labour Court 1 ABR 22/21
- With paper or Excel
- self-reported at month end
- With MetronHR
- browser, app or desktop app, past days can be added later
Record time beyond 8 hours, keep for 2 years
- Source
- Section 16(2) ArbZG
- With paper or Excel
- binders in the office
- With MetronHR
- stored as long as the account exists
Prove data processing on behalf
- Source
- Article 28 GDPR
- With paper or Excel
- collect the evidence for each tool yourself
- With MetronHR
- Data processing agreement, servers in Germany, Trust Center
In detail, with examples: Time tracking in IT companies: what applies to on-call duty and night call-outs
As at: November 2026. This is not legal advice; for a specific case in your business it is better to ask someone with a licence to practise.
Support eats the project margin, unnoticed
In software teams, planned development and unplanned incidents run side by side. When both book into the same pot, the project costing looks fine until the maintenance contract is invoiced.
- Problem
Support does not get assigned
Half an hour of debugging between two tickets lands on the project instead of on the maintenance contract.
- Problem
Onboarding hangs on individuals
Accounts, hardware and the introduction are handed out by word of mouth, from scratch for every new developer.
- Problem
Distributed teams, scattered hours
Anyone working from home often enters hours days later, and by then they are estimates.
Project, support and onboarding in one system
Every client gets its own projects and services, with support as a service of its own. You create onboarding processes once, and after that they hand themselves out.
Project and support reportable separatelyFor every client it is clear how much effort went into development and how much into support.
From the task to the report
Three steps that keep development and support apart.
Model the processes once
Create onboarding, offboarding and approvals as a workflow, with the tasks, the order and the owners set out.
The next developer starts without chaos by word of mouth.
Model the process The process as a list
Every step with a role and a deadline relative to the key date. Applies to every future departure.
Extend without coding
Add a step and see it at the end of the process at once.
Edit workflowOffboarding- Check remaining leaveHR · 14 days before
- Write the referencePractice manager · 7 days before
- Lock accountsHR · on the last day
- Archive documentsHR · 3 days after
Tasks run through by themselves
On the start date the tasks are handed to IT, HR and the team lead and ticked off. Nothing hangs on one individual any more.
Accounts and hardware are ready when the developer arrives.
Tasks get worked through Onboarding runningOle Jansen · starts 2 NovemberProgress2 of 4 done- Employment contract uploadedPractice manager · 27 Oct, 10:12
- Account and card createdHR · 29 Oct, 15:40
- Hygiene instructionSophie Braun · today
- Review meeting after four weeksDr. Lindner · 30 Nov
Report project against support
Hours per client, project and service, with a target-against-actual traffic light per project. As Excel or CSV for the invoice and the costing.
The maintenance contract becomes visible rather than merely felt.
A traffic light per project Traffic light accountgreen up to +10h, amber up to +20h, red above
Mara Wolf+13:45hamber
Lena Hoffmann+2:30hgreen
Sophie Braun+2:15hgreen
Tobias Krüger−1:30hgreen
What IT and software teams need
Project against support, distributed teams and onboarding that keeps coming round.
- Projects
Separate services per client
Development, support and maintenance as separate services under the same client.
Reportable separately, the basis for the maintenance invoice and the project margin.
- Automation
Onboarding and offboarding as a process
Modelled once, and handed out and followed up automatically after that.
Accounts, hardware and the introduction as tasks with an owner and a deadline.
- Billing
A project budget with a target-against-actual traffic light
Hours and an hourly rate per project, with the usage colour-coded.
Green up to 80 per cent, then at risk, over budget beyond 100 per cent.
- Time
Recording from home works as it does in the office
Browser or app, with no extra hardware and no compulsory VPN.
Hours for past days can be added later.
- Reports
Effort per client and period
Filter by client, project, service and person.
Download as Excel or CSV.
- Documents
Digital employee file
Contracts, agreements and deadlines in one place.
With reminders about the end of probation and contract deadlines, on the Professional plan.
- Security
Client data in Germany
Servers in Germany, encrypted, GDPR compliant.
It matters when your clients audit data processing.
- Simplicity
No rollout, no onboarding workshop
Runs in the browser and as an app, with no package for software distribution.
Invite external developers by email and deactivate them afterwards.
For management, project leads and development
Four roles, four reasons, from the maintenance invoice to the first working day.
- IT manager
Knows what support really costs
- The maintenance contract looks profitable because incidents get booked to the project.
- Hours per client and service, with development and support kept apart.
- Project manager
Sees the budget before it tips
- The overrun shows up while the invoice is being written.
- A target-against-actual traffic light per project and utilisation per developer on one page.
- Developer
Books without switching context
- Time tracking interrupts the work and therefore gets put off.
- Pick the client, the project and the service, at the computer or on the phone.
- Team lead
Onboarding runs without anybody having to ask
- With every new starter, accounts and hardware are organised by word of mouth.
- The process modelled once, and the tasks hand themselves out.
Data processing your clients are allowed to audit
Software providers process data for their clients, and are therefore audited themselves. MetronHR runs in Germany and provides the evidence that gets asked for.
- Servers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein, no data transfer to third countries, no CLOUD Act
- TLS encrypted transfer, encrypted storage, GDPR compliant
- A data processing agreement and a record of processing for client audits
- Two-factor authentication and passkeys available to every user
Servers in Germany, operated by AMNAU GmbH in Hanover
Frequent questions from IT and software
Project against support, onboarding and distributed teams, answered briefly.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageCan I report support and project hours separately?
Yes. Every client gets projects, and under them services such as development, support or maintenance. Every entry goes to a service, and in the report you filter by client, project and service, as Excel or CSV.
How do I automate the onboarding of new developers?
You model the process once: create the accounts, order the hardware, the introduction, the probation review. On the start date the tasks are handed automatically to IT, HR and the team lead and followed up. Workflows belong to the Professional plan.
Does recording work from home and for remote teams?
Yes. MetronHR runs in the browser and as an app for iOS and Android, with no extra hardware and no compulsory VPN. Hours can be added for past days when nothing was booked in the middle of focused work.
Can I see whether a project is still within budget?
Yes. Per project you set hours and an hourly rate, and every entry draws on them. The position is shown as a traffic light: green, at risk from 80 per cent, over budget beyond 100 per cent. There is no automatic notification.
Is there an API to connect MetronHR?
Yes, from the Professional plan up. REST API v1 hands out people, departments, clients, services, projects, time entries, absences and published shifts; clients, services, projects, time entries and absences can be changed. A key carries exactly the rights you give it and can be rotated and revoked. On top of that there are outgoing webhooks for hours, absences, people and shifts, and an MCP server for AI assistants that is off out of the box; writing there is a separate release by the business. The overview is on the page "REST API, webhooks and MCP server" at /api.
What security features are there for the team?
Two-factor authentication and passkeys are available to every user, whatever the plan. Roles and departments control who sees which clients, projects and reports.
Finally keep project and support apart?
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