Integrated Timesheets

Watch Video

Timesheets are fully integrated with the LiquidPlanner project management environment.  They allow your team to track actual hours worked against any task.  Each workspace member has a personal timesheet, while workspace managers can also review and export timesheet data for all members.  

Your Personal Timesheet

Click the My Timesheets link at the top of your workspace to view your current timesheet as well as your past timesheets.  Use the 'previous' and 'next' buttons to move backward or forward in time.  Each timesheet shows you the tasks that meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Upcoming tasks - start in this period OR in the first 3 days of the next period.
• Recently tracked tasks - progress logged in this period OR in the last 3 days of the previous period OR [when viewing a past timesheet] in the first 3 days of the next period.
• Recently done tasks - marked done in this period OR [when viewing a past timesheet] in the first 3 days of the next period.
• Timed tasks - there is a timer (running or stopped) with time accumulated for this task.
• Explicitly added tasks -  task manually added to the timesheet during the current browser session.  Task may have been added via the "add an active task"button or via right-click > log progress on timesheet.   
• Pinned Tasks - task was manually pinned to your timesheet so that it shows up on all subsequent timesheets until you unpin it. 

Timesheet Activities

Each time entry in LiquidPlanner must be associated to an activity.  Workspace owners can define a master list of activities that will provide useful data when billing or doing project analysis.   For example, you might create activities like 'design', 'marketing', and 'operations' as ways to categorize logged time.  Or, perhaps it would be helpful to capture job codes as activities. 

You create and edit activities at settings > data customization >activities: 

• Activities can be marked as billable or not.  By default, they are not billable.  This is a particularly useful way to classify activities if you are going to use timesheet data exports to prepare client billings.
• Activities can also be marked as shared or not.  By default they are shared, which means they can be used for time entries in any client or project.  If you want to restrict which activities can be used for a specific client or project, mark the activities as not shared.  Then go to the client or project edit pane, and in the activities tab you can check the specific activities that should be available for that client or project: 

Timesheet Review and Approval

Workspace managers can review and approve timesheets at settings > timesheet management > timesheet review: 

• Use the filter tools to find the timesheets you want to review and approve. If you are following a formal review process, that's typically just timesheets with the status ready for review. 

• Click the time period to open a specific timesheet. 
• Use the links in the 'actions' column to approve & lock or reject the timesheet.
• Timesheets still in not ready state can also be approved & locked; or you can request attention from the timesheet owner.    

A timesheet’s status depends on which stage it’s in: 

• When a team member is ready for his timesheet to be approved, he should click "submit timesheet".  The status for that timesheet will then change from not ready to ready for review.    
• Once the manager approves a timesheet, the status changes to locked, and the timesheet owner can no longer edit it.  
• A timesheet can be unlocked by the manager if additional edits need to be made.  The status will change back to ready for review when you unlock a timesheet.

Exporting Timesheet Data

Workspace managers can export timesheets at settings > timesheet management > timesheet export.  You can choose the export format you prefer (XML, CSV, or Quickbooks.) 

Check out our Exporting Time Tracking Data article for full detail.

Rate Sheets

The rate sheet feature allows workspace owners to load both bill rate and pay rate rules for combinations of clients, projects, activities, and members.  Those rates will be used on timesheet export to calculate totals suitable for billing or cost analysis.

Check out our Rate Sheets article to learn more.   

Reference Codes

To connect timesheet data with your accounting system, it can be helpful to use reference fields to record related information.   Just enter any text that would be useful to your accounting system. The data in the reference field is captured along with your timesheet exports. 

There are reference fields on team members, clients, projects, and tasks. 

• person_reference – this is the External ID box on the member profile.  Enter the ID your accounting system uses for that person.

• client_reference –  Find it in the description tab within the client edit pane

• project_reference – Find it in the description tab within the project edit pane

• task_reference – Find it in the description tab within the task edit pane

Logging Time

It goes without saying that to realize the benefits of professional time tracking, everybody needs to log progress faithfully as you work through your projects.   We've tried to make logging time as simple and painless as possible, with multiple points of entry and timers to help track time spent on your tasks. 

Check out our Logging Progress article for full detail.