Getting Started with Time Tracking

This getting started article will help Admins to implement time tracking using TDAdmin and TDNext. The user must have TDAdmin access and access to the Time & Expenses app in TDNext.

Overview

Time types are used to categorize tracked time. These Time Types can help technicians, project managers and team members amongst other TDNext users track their actual time for resource management purposes. An individual user would indicate what type of time they are tracking.

Tracking your time can also be used to track time off such as PTO time which also feeds into resource management, helping resource pool manager check on their employee’s availability to work on tickets or projects.

Tracking time can help anyone with access to the Analysis app report on actual hours. This will further help resource pool managers understand availability and allow project managers to better be able to do resource forecasting.

Anyone with access to the Time & Expense app in TDNext can track time. Depending on project settings, time may be approved by the individual’s manager or by a project manager.

Features

• Categorize tracked time
• Report on time types using flags such as billable and capitalized
• Limit the amount of time that technicians can track against a specific type (e.g., time off)
• Report on actual hours vs forecasted (scheduled) hours

Where to Find This

This feature appears in the TDAdmin and TDNext interfaces.

TDAdmin is where Admins can configure expense types and report on expenses and TDNext is where Technicians can log time.

Navigate to Time following these paths:

• TDAdmin
  • Applications / [Ticketing application] / Types
  • Projects > Types
  • Time & Expense
  • Users & Roles / Users
• TDNext
  • Analysis
  • My Work
  • Projects
  • [Ticketing applications]
  • Time & Expense

Where to Start

Entering Time for Hours Worked

Users may add time against projects, workspaces, tasks, issues, or tickets. Typically time for tasks, issues, or tickets is added as they are updated. Time against projects and workspaces is tracked more generally and is less granular.

To add time, access to the TDNext and the Time & Expense applications are needed. Furthermore, the user must be a member of projects or workspaces and/or have work items like tasks, tickets or issues assigned to them.

Time can be added in several places, such as:

• The Time & Expense application in TDNext.
• The My Timecard section of the My Work application in TDNext. This section requires you to also have access to the My Work application.
• Items, like tickets, tasks and issues have Work or Actual Hours pages accessible through their detail pages. Time can be added there.
• Items, like ticket, tasks and issues have Update pages where time can be entered.

To add time to an item, the project to which the item belongs must have at least one active time type assigned to it. The same goes for ticket or ticket items. The ticket or ticket to which the item belongs must have at least one active time type assigned to it.

To add time for a Project, Workspace, or tasks:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Click the Add Time button in the toolbar.
3. In the Add Time Entry popup window, click the Project/Workspace tab.
4. Select a project or workspace from the Project/Workspace dropdown.
5. If you need to add time to a specific task:
   1. Click the task Lookup button to view a list of plans for the specified project.
   2. Select a task.
   3. Click a plan name link to view a list of tasks for the specified plan.
6. Select a Time Type from the dropdown.
7. Enter any hours spent in the appropriate day's Hours field and enter a description of the work done in the day's Description box.
8. Click the Save button.

To add time for issues:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Click the Add Time button in the toolbar.
3. In the Add Time Entry popup window, click the Issue tab.
4. Select a project or workspace from the Project/Workspace/Portfolio dropdown.
5. Use the issue lookup to select an issue.
6. Select a Time Type from the dropdown.
7. Enter any hours spent in the appropriate day's Hours field and enter a description of the work done in the day's Description box.
8. Click the Save button.

To add time for tickets:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Click the Add Time button in the toolbar.
3. In the Add Time Entry popup window, click the Ticket tab.
4. Click the ticket Lookup button to open a ticket lookup window.
5. Modify the search criteria and click the Search button if needed.
6. Select the appropriate ticket title link from the ticket list.
7. Select a Time Type from the dropdown.
8. Enter any hours spent in the appropriate day's Hours field and enter a description of the work done in the day's Description box.
9. Click the Save button.

Reporting Time Off

Time off can be reported when adding time to a week through the Time & Expense application in TDNext, or the My Timecard section of the My Work application in TDNext. The user will also need to have access to the My Work application.

To add time off, the project must have at least one active time type on it which is marked as a Time Off type.

Note that time off can only be added from a project or workspace. Time off cannot be added to tickets, and thus time off time types are not available for ticket types or individual tickets.

To report time off for a week:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Click the Add Time button in the toolbar.
3. Click the Time Off tab in the Add Time Entry popup window.
4. Select a project or workspace from the Project/Workspace dropdown.
5. Select a Time Type from the dropdown.
6. Enter the number of hours off in the appropriate day's Hours field.
7. Enter a Description of the work done.
8. Click the Save button.

Submitting a Time Report for Approval

When you are satisfied that your time report is correct, you may submit the report for managerial approval. Once the time report is submitted, you may not edit or delete time entries for that week.

To submit a time report as final:

1. TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.

2. Navigate to the week for which you are ready to submit a final report using the blue left and right arrows.
3. Click the Submit as Final button.
4. In the confirmation window, enter a Comment, and select which Manager(s) to notify.
5. Click the Submit as Final button.

Resubmitting a Rejected Time Report

When a time report gets rejected, it is routed back to you for editing and resubmission. You may be notified through email that you need to edit and resubmit your rejected time report. The rejected report will only show the time entries that were rejected.

To edit a rejected time report:

1. TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.

2. Navigate to the time you need to edit.
3. Modify the rejected time entries as needed.
4. When finished editing all rejected time entries, click the Resubmit button.
5. Enter any Comments if desired.
6. Choose which Manager(s) to notify.
7. Click the Resubmit button.

The time entries that have been resubmitted will be sent to your manager.

Editing a Time Entry

As long as a time report has not been submitted, time entries can be edited.

To edit a time entry in a time report:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Open the time report page of the week with the time entry you’d like to edit.
3. Click the Amount link for the item then click the Edit link.
4. Make any desired changes in the time entry area.
5. Click the Save button.

Deleting a Time Entry

If a time report has not been submitted, time entries can be deleted. 

To delete a time entry in a time report:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > Time & Expenses > Time Entry.
2. Open the time report page of the week with the time entry you’d like to delete.
3. Click the amount link for the time entry to delete and click the Delete link for the appropriate item.
4. Click OK to confirm deletion.

Entering Time for Another User

It is possible to add time for other users on project tasks, tickets, and ticket tasks.

Users with the security role permission Task, Add time against tasks for other team members and the TDNext, Time & Expense and Projects applications can add time to tasks for other users.

To add time for another user through a project:

1. TDNext, navigate to Applications > Projects / Workspaces
2. Select the project you’re wanting to add time to, and navigate to Plans
3. Open the plan containing the task you’re wanting to add time to, and select the task.

4. In the task detail window, click to the Work tab.
5. In the Person dropdown, select another user.
6. In the Time Type dropdown, select the type.
7. Add the time and description, if applicable.
8. Select Save.

Users with the security role permission Ticket > Add time for another resource and the TDNext​, Time & Expense and Tickets applications can add time to tickets or ticket tasks for other users.

To add time to a ticket for another user:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > [Ticketing application]
2. Find the ticket you’re wanting to add time to.
3. Click the Time & Expense tab, then click the Add Time button.
4. Look up another user in the Person look up field.
5. In the Time Type dropdown, select the type.
6. Add the time and description, if applicable.
7. Select Save

To add time to a ticket task for another user:

1. In TDNext, navigate to Applications > [Ticketing application]
2. Find the ticket with the task you’re wanting to add time to.
3. Click the Time & Expense tab, then click the Add Time button.
4. Look up another user in the Person look up field.
5. In the Person dropdown, select another user.
6. In the Time Type dropdown, select the type.
7. Add the time and description, if applicable.
8. From the Task/Activity dropdown, select the task.
9. Select Save

Creating and Modifying Lock Periods

Lock periods are used to define date ranges in the system where users cannot add or edit time entries.

To create a new lock period:

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Time & Expense > Lock Periods.
2. In the Lock Periods Display window, click the +New button.
3. In the New Lock Period popup window, enter a Start date and End date to define the range of your lock period.
   To define just one day, enter the same date in the Start and End date fields.
4. Click the Save button.

To edit an existing lock period:

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Time & Expense > Lock Periods.
2. Click the Edit link next to the lock period you’d like to edit.
3. Modify the Date range as desired.
4. Click the Save button.

To delete a lock period:

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Time & Expense > Lock Periods.
2. Click the Delete link next to the lock period you’d like to delete.
3. Click the OK button in the confirmation popup.

Adding User Time Off Limits

User time off limits are used to limit the time off a person can log. For example, if a company only allows its employees to take 120 hours off per year, they would limit the time off type to 120 hours.

To add user time off limits:

1. In TDAdmin, navigate to Users & Roles > Users.
2. Click the Name link of a user.
3. In the left navigation of the User Detail window, click the Limits link.
4. Click the Add button at the top.
5. Click the Time Type dropdown list to find all Time Types that have been marked as Limited.
6. If the type has a Limit Default configured already, the default will appear automatically in the Limit field. You can set the user limit as a value higher or lower than the default.
7. Configure the Date Range for which this limited number of time off hours will be available to that user.
8. Add Comment(s) if desired.
9. Click the Save button.

Gotchas & Pitfalls

Why Am I Unable to Add Time to a Project, Ticket, Task, or Issue?

To add time to a project, a project-related work item, a ticket or a ticket-related work item, the project and/or ticket must have at least one time type associated with it. If the project and/or ticket has no time types, you will be unable to add time against them.

For projects and their related items, have the project manager or a user with access to the Admin application add time types to the project(s) in question. Also ensure that the user in question has been added as a resource on the project(s). This is a key step to ensuring they can add time to it or them.

For tickets, have a ticketing user who can edit the ticket(s) in question add a time type to the ticket(s).

Creating Value When Implementing Time Tracking

When first implementing time tracking, make your technicians see the value and why it is beneficial to them to enter time. Time tracking is typically a culture shift and tends to be unpopular, but the key to adoption is creating value and explaining how it will be useful. For example, will tracking how much time they spend on tasks help make the business case to hire more people?

We also recommend that you start out simple and get more complex as you mature. Making your process overly complex from the onset decreases likelihood of adoption.

Examples

Common time types include vacation, holiday, project time, ticket time, administrative, travel, meeting, professional development.

This University of Iowa Time Tracking [Video] Article shows how University of Iowa implemented Time Tracking successfully.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I report on actual hours?

A. Use the Analysis application. There are a couple of report sources you may want to consider, such as Actual Hours, and Scheduled vs Actual Hours by Project. Keep in mind that there may be many rows for one ticket, project or task.

Q. How do I compare actuals to estimates?

A. In Analysis, the Scheduled vs Actual Hours by Project report or Scheduled vs Actual Hours report will do this. Additionally, there is a report source called Scheduled vs Actual Hours by Project Report.

Q. How do I make it easier to track time?

A. TeamDynamix provides many ways to track time as employees work, e.g. as part of a task or ticket update. Submitting a timecard at the end of the week is then a way to confirm that the tracked time is accurate.

Q. What if I don't want to use timecards?

A. You don't have to use timecards. However, timecards are the way that time records change status. For example, when someone creates a time record it's in an unsubmitted status. When the timecard is submitted, the time records change to be submitted. Then, when it's approved, the time records change again to be approved. Depending on what you're doing with these records, you may be totally fine to report on unsubmitted time hours.

Q. What are key outcomes for a successful time tracking process?

A. Ideally, two different people in your organization performing the same activity would track it in the same way. Beyond that, the overhead of time tracking is ideally kept small (e.g. 15 minutes per week), the data is used to support decision-making, and the ways the data is used are communicated back to people inputting the data to help people understand why they are tracking time.

Q. How do I charge units back for people's time?

A. Time types have a billable option, so that you can report only on billable time. Depending on your goals, you may need to populate people's billable rates as well. You can then run Analysis reports using the Actual Hours Report source.

Q. I'm the manager of a project and the project is set to "time and expenses are approved by the project manager," but when I submit an expense to the project it's being sent to my functional manager. Why?

A. If the person submitting the expense is the project manager, then the "time and expenses are approved by the project manager" setting is ignored for their expenses. The expenses instead go to their Reports To person. If the Reports To value is different than the user, all the user's expenses will be approved by someone other than them.