Time Entry Management In Timesheet 5.5

 Help Contents
Journyx Timesheet provides a straightforward web interface for logging time against specific projects, with each entry containing pertinent information such as what task was being performed and whether or not that particular entry is billable to a customer. The types of additional information are customizable to meet your organization's needs. Customization is discussed in more detail below. This section focusses on configuring Timesheet for time entry and the actual time entry process.

Time Periods

Before users can begin to take advantage of Journyx Timesheet, the system admin must create and assign the Time Periods that your organization will be using for time tracking. A Time Period may be thought of as the equivalent to a pay period. Although these do not necessarily need to match exactly, admins and users typically find it most intuitive if they do. Timesheet ships with one default Time Period: Weekly. This Time Period covers 7 days that run from Sunday through Saturday. If your organization needs to use different Time Periods, Timesheet allows you to create any number of Time Periods to meet those needs.

Time Period Definition

The Time Periods that will be used by your organization must be defined before they can be assigned to users. The Time Period Creation and Deletion Screen is available from the main admin screen via the Time Period Definition link. Timesheet ships with only one default Time Period - the standard Sunday through Saturday weekly period. There is No limit to the number of Time Periods that can be defined and used in Timesheet, however most organizations find that only four or five periods are needed at most. The process of creating a new Time Period is outlined below:
  1. Enter a name for the new Time Period
    Choose a name that provides some description of the time period in question. Example names include:
  2. Choose a type for the new Time Period
  3. Click the Create New Time Period button.
The Time Period Creation and Deletion Screen will refresh and display a green text message confirming the creation of the new Time Period. Additionally, the newly created Time Period will be displayed in the list of currently existing time periods near the top of this screen.

Time Period Deletion

In the event that you need to delete an existing Time Period, simply select the Time Period in question and click the delete button. Timesheet will display a popup window asking you to confirm that you wish to delete the selected Time Period. Please Note: If the time period in question is assigned to any Time Entry Screen, you will receive a red text message that states that the time period could not be removed because it is in use.

Time Entry Screens

Once the Time Periods that your organization will use for time tracking have been created, you can then modify the existing Time Entry Screens to use these time periods or create new screens that will coincide with the time periods. Timesheet ships with ten default Time Entry Screens: Each of these screens is, by default, based on the Weekly time period that ships with Timesheet. All of these Time Entry Screens can be modified to change a large number of options as well as the Time Period associated with them.

Modifying Time Entry Screens

There are a large number of customizable options related to each Time Entry Screen. Each of these is discussed below in greater detail.

General Options    
Option Value Results
Should all new groups have access to this entry screen? Yes

 Selecting "Yes" for this setting will cause this Time Entry Screen to be made available by default to any newly created groups. If you are creating a Time Entry Screen that will be used by a majority of your organization, this setting is recommended.
  No Selecting "No" for this setting will create a Time Entry Screen that must be added manually to any group that will be required to access it. If you are creating a Time Entry Screen that will be used by a minority of your organization, this setting is recommended.
     
Should each entry have its own row, or should a grid of dates vs. entry types be displayed? Grid Format A Grid Format Time Entry Screen presents the user with a grid of dates and spaces to enter time for the dates that are displayed. Multiple entries for a given day are possible in this format.
  Entry Format An Entry Format Time Entry Screen presents users with a short list of dropdown menus that allow that user to select the parameters for a specific entry. In this format, each entry is unique and does not appear as part of a day's work. Instead, each entry appears unique.
     
If using Grid Format, exchange rows and columns? No The rows and columns remain in the default configuration.
  Yes Rows and columns are exchanged for this Time Entry Screen. Please Note: If you select Yes for this option, all references to rows and columns should be considered exchanged for the rest of the Time Entry Screen configuration.
     
Should arrows for moving forward and backward in time be displayed? Yes A set of arrows will be displayed that allow users to move between previous and future time periods. Please Note: These arrows move in the same direction that dates are displayed on this screen.
  No  
     
If using Grid Format, should row and column totals be displayed? Both Totals for daily hours worked as well as for each unique combination of Project/Task/Pay Type/Bill Type will be displayed at the bottom and far right of the entry area, respectively.
  Column Totals for daily hours worked will be displayed at the bottom of the entry area
  Row Totals for each unique combination of Project/Task/Pay Type/Bill Type will be displayed at the far right of the entry area
  None Totals will not be displayed
     
Should project descriptions be shown in dropdowns? Yes The Project dropdown menu will display both the project name as well as its description.
  No The Project dropdown menu will display project names only
     
Enable automatic totaling (total hours as they are entered)? Yes Any totals that were selected to be displayed for this screen will update automatically as hours are entered
  No Any totals that were selected to be displayed for this screen will update only after the Save Changes button has been clicked
     
Should the Project Tree with hierarchy be shown in the Project column Yes - Full Expanding Tree in Popup Timesheet will display a Tree link just above all Project selection boxes on the Time Entry Screen. This link will open a popup window that contains a navigable version of the complete Project hierarchy that can be used for searching for and selecting a Project to use as part of the Time entry.
  Yes - Expanding Tree in Dropdown Timesheet will allow direct navigation of the Project hierarchy within the Project selection boxes on the Time Entry Screen.
  No Your organization's Project hierarchy will not be represented graphically in any way on the Time Entry Screen. Projects will be displayed alphabetically in the Project selection boxes with no regard to parent/child relationships.
     
Use Diary Notes? Yes Timesheet will display the Diary Note icon to the right of existing Time Entries on this screen. The Diary Note icon is used to access the Diary Note interface, which is discussed in the Journals portion of this documentation. This setting effectively enables Diary Notes in Timesheet.
  No Timesheet will not display the Diary Note icon to the right of existing Time Entries on this screen. The Diary Note icon is used to access the Diary Note interface, which is discussed in the Journals portion of this documentation. This setting effectively disables Diary Notes in Timesheet.

Time Entry Options    
Option Value Results
Choose a default time period Varies This option is used to define which Time Period this time entry screen will use. By default, the standard Sun-Sat weekly time period that ships with Timesheet is selected. If you have created different time periods for your organization to use, they will also be available in this dropdown select box.
     
Should time be entered as a number of hours or as start and stop times? Hours Worked Requires users to enter their time as an amount of actual hours worked, i.e., 5:15 or 5.25 (see below for information on entering time as hours and minutes and/or decimal numbers)
  Start/Stop Requires users to use the start/stop button so that Timesheet's internal clock determines the actual hours worked for a specific project. Please Note: For this feature to work properly, the admin must enable the Start/Stop button in the Global Preferences portion of Timesheet, which is discussed in detail below.
     
Should time be entered in a decimal, HH:MM or percent format? Either Allows users to enter time in either HH:MM format or as a decimal string.
  HH:MM Requires users to enter time in HH:MM format (i.e., 5:15 for five hours and fifteen minutes)
  Decimal Requires users to enter time as a decimal string (i.e., 5.25 for five hours and fifteen minutes). Please Note: Timesheet rounds all decimal entries to the closest whole minute; therefore, an entry of 4.13 (4 hours and 7.8 minutes) will translate to 4 hours and 8 minutes.
  Percent Requires users to enter time as a percentage of the entire day. Setting the number of hours represented by 100% of a day is discussed in the Global Preferences portion of this documentation.
     
Use drop downs or text boxes for time entry? (used for start/stop screens only) Drop Downs Timesheet uses drop down menus for time entry on start/stop style Time Entry Screens.
  Text Boxes Timesheet uses free-form text boxes and comments fields for time entry on start/stop Time Entry Screens.
     
Minute Increment (for drop down time entry on start/stop screens) Varies (number) Specifies the number of minutes used to establish the increment used in the drop down menu for drop down time entry on start/stop screens. The default value for this option i s5. The default value produces an increment of 5/10/15/20/etc. minutes. A smaller or larger number may be used if needed by your organization.
     
Should the range of days be displayed back from the present, or forward to the present? Forward Displays the time period for this Time Entry Screen as a range of dates that runs from the start of the period to the end (left to right), i.e., a weekly time period that begins on the 3rd of the month will be displayed as running from the 3rd through the 9th. Please Note: The direction you chose here will affect the behavior of the forward and backward arrows if they are present on this screen.
  Back Displays the time period for this Time Entry Screen as a range of dates that runs from the end of the period to the beginning (left to right), i.e., a weekly time period that begins on the 3rd of the month will be displayed as running from the 9th through the 3rd. Please Note: The direction you chose here will affect the behavior of the forward and backward arrows if they are present on this screen.

Row Options    
Option Value Results
How many Blank rows should be displayed? User Preference Displays the number of blank rows for time entry that each user has set in his individual preferences
  Number 1 - 20 Displays a set number (from 1 to 20) of blank rows for time entry
     
Should Memorized Entry rows for the user and group be displayed? Yes Allows memorized time entries to be displayed on this Time Entry Screen
  No Prevents all memorized time entries from being displayed on this time entry screen
     
In what order should time rows be displayed? Current/Memorized/New This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a small number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  2. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  3. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
  New/Current/Memorized This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a mid-range number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
  2. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  3. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  New/Memorized/Current This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a mid-range number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type as well a as selection of Memorized Time Entries
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
  2. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  3. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  Current/New/Memorized This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a small number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type as well as a selection of Memorized Time Entries
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  2. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
  3. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  Memorized/New/Current This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a selection of Memorized Time Entries as well as a mid-range number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  2. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
  3. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  Memorized/Current/New This layout is recommended for organizations that will be using a selection of Memorized Time Entries as well as a small number of specific unique combinations of Project/Task/Pay Type and Bill Type
Causes Timesheet to show entry rows in the following order:
  1. Memorized Entries - these are Memorized Time Entries that have been defined by either the individual user or by the administrator and then assigned to particular groups
  2. Current Entries - these are entries that have been entered already
  3. New Entries - these are "blank" entry rows that have not been modified in any way
     
Should the shortcut link to expenses appear on each row of the time entry screen? Yes Enables the dollar sign ( $ ) shortcut link to Expense Entry to the right of each time entry. Please Note: If your organization is not using the expense entry functions of Timesheet, this option should be set to "No"
  No Disables the dollar sign ( $ ) shortcut link to the right of each time entry.

Column Options
Timesheet allows the admin to control certain aspects of the time entry columns for any given Time Entry Screen. The attributes that may be modified are Priority and Default Value. Additionally, the comments column can be set to have a lower maximum number of characters than the default maximum of 252 characters.

Priority

Each column must be assigned a Priority. This Priority defines the order of columns on the Time Entry Screen. A column may be assigned a Priority of zero, which will hide it on the Time Entry screen. A column with a Priority of zero must have a default value assigned. Each Priority other than zero can only be assigned to one column.

Default Value

A default value may be assigned for each column. The default value is only important for a column that has a priority of zero. The default value assigned to a hidden column will be associated with every time entry made from this Time Entry screen. Please Note: The default value for a column does not appear as the default choice for a column that has a priority other than zero. Column options are displayed in alphabetical order and the default choice for a non-hidden column will always be the first alphabetical choice.

Maximum Characters

By default, Timesheet allows a maximum of 252 characters for the comments column for any particular Time Entry Screen. You may choose to specify a lower number of characters as the maximum for any Time Entry screen, but you may not specify a higher number, as 252 is the maximum number of characters that the Timesheet database is designed to hold for this field.

HTML Options Timesheet allows you to define text to be displayed immediately above and below the time entry columns and rows. These fields accept plain text, HTML tags, and a selection of "tricky tags" that pull information directly from the Timesheet database.

You may enter up to 250 characters worth of text, HTML tags or tricky tags in each of the two boxes at the bottom of this screen. The tricky tags available and the information they display are:

<Name> Displays the login ID of the active user
<Authorization> This tag is specifically for use by the Journyx Professional Services team .
<Reserved> This tag is specifically for use by the Journyx Professional Services team .
<Number of Input Records> Displays the number of blank rows that appear on this time entry screen for the active user. This number may be set globally for the Time Entry screen or may be left to the individual user to specify for himself.
<Number of Output Records> This tag is specifically for use by the Journyx Professional Services team .
<Number of Dates> Displays the number of days contained in the time period upon which this time entry screen is based
<Full Name> Displays the full User Name of the active user
<Default Comment> Displays the default comment that the active user has defined under his preferences tab
<Other Options> This tag is specifically for use by the Journyx Professional Services team .
<Expense Entry GUI in Use> Displays the name of the Expense Entry screen assigned to the active user
<Time Entry GUI in Use> Displays the name of the Time Entry screen assigned to the active user
<Domain ID> Displays the name of the Domain that contains the active user
<Mileage Entry GUI in Use> Displays the name of the Mileage Entry screen assigned to the active user