Adding and editing time on a task

SECURITY  All users

NAVIGATION  My > Service Desk > Tasks & Tickets > click on a task number > Quick Add bar > select Time Entry (Alt+1)

NAVIGATION   > Projects > Search > Projects > click on the Project Name > Schedule > task context menu > General > View Detail > Accessory tabs > Activity > click the New Time Entry button

On tasks, you can enter time using either Project Time (decimal hours) or Start Stop Time.

• Project Time is the default time entry method if Start Stop Time is not explicitly required. It is identical to the way regular time is entered, and is simple and quick. It also allows you to enter time on multiple days at once. Refer to Time Entry Details when using decimal time (Project Time).
• Start Stop Time is identical to the way time is entered on tickets. You have access to additional fields that are not available with the Project Time Entry method. Refer to Time Entry Details when using Start/Stop Time.

Both time entry methods are available from context menus. On the Task page, clicking the Record button on the stopwatch will launch the Start Stop Time dialog box or page, clicking the Time Entry option on the Quick Add bar will launch the Project Time Entry page or dialog box.

You can make the Start Stop Time entry method required using:

• A timesheet system setting. Your administrator can make start/stop time required by enabling the Require users to enter start and stop time on project tasks system setting.
• A contract setting. When you create a contract, you can select theRequire users to enter start and stop time on project tasks setting.

If one of these settings applies, the Enter Time option on the task context menu is grayed out, and Project Time is not available on the Current Timesheet.

1. Open your current timesheet or another unsubmitted timesheet.
2. Select New > Start/Stop Time or New > Project Time. The New Task Time Entry page opens in task selection mode.
   
3. Complete the following fields:

4. Click OK. The New Task Time Entry page will open, with the current date selected.

Decimal time (Project Time) entry allows you to enter time on multiple days at once, and you have the option to use the same Summary and Internal Notes for all days. This feature is available when you apply a form template, as well. The Apply Form Template dialog box is triggered under the following circumstances:

• If the form template chosen contains a value for Hours Worked, you will need to select the days you want to apply the hours to.
  
• If the applied form template contains a value for Summary Notes or Internal Notes and the Use the same Summary and Internal Notes for all days checkbox is checked, the values will be applied to the Summary Notes and/or Internal Notes fields for all days. If it is not checked, the Apply Form Template dialog box will open.

Do the following:

1. Optionally, edit the Hours Worked, Summary Notes, and Internal Notes.
2. Select the days these values apply to.
3. Click OK.

By default, users can add, edit, and delete only their own time entries. Your Autotask administrator can enable timesheet approvers, or both timesheet approvers and administrators, to enter time and submit time off requests on other users' behalf. For users who have proxy time entry permission, the Proxy Time Entry section and the Resource selector field will appear on all time entry pages, so they can create a time entry for another user. They can also view users' unsubmitted timesheets.

Proxy time entry is enabled through a system setting. Refer to Proxy time entry.

IMPORTANT  To enter time, approvers must have permission to view the tasks and tickets in question.

To enter time on behalf of a different user or view their timesheet, click the Resource drop-down selector and select the user's name.

SECURITY  Permission to change billing settings on task time entries. These permissions are individually assigned to the security level, so you could have permission to change some selected settings, or none of them. You will only see the options that you are authorized to change. Refer to Time Entry Permissions.

Review the following settings:

On tasks, you can enter time using either Project Time (decimal hours) or Start Stop Time. Refer to About Project Time and Start Stop Time.

To enter decimal time (Project Time), do the following:

1. From the task's context menu, select Enter Time.
   
   Or, on the timesheet, select Project Time.
   
   The New Task Time Entry page will open. Only the Time Entry Details section will be different from the one used for start/ stop time entry.
   
2. Enter the number of hours in decimal time. You can enter time for multiple dates and either enter separate summary and internal notes, or apply the same summary notes and internal notes to all time entries.
3. The Require user to enter summary notes when entering project task time system setting determines if you must enter summary notes. If they are required, select an entry method:
   • If the Use the same Summary and Internal Notes for all days check box is selected, complete the combined Summary Notes and Internal Notes fields.
     
   • If the Use the same Summary and Internal Notes for all days is cleared, the combined Summary Notes and Internal Notes fields do not appear. Instead, a note icon appears for each date. Click on the icon to open the Enter Notes dialog box for each date. Hovering over the note icon will show the Summary Notes and Internal Notes that were entered, if any.
     
     
4. Enter or update the Hours Worked, Summary Notes and Internal Notes fields.
   
5. To go to a different day, click the Previous Day or Next Day buttons at the top of the dialog box.
6. To save the time entries and notes, click OK.
   • If you set the ticket status to Complete and entered summary notes for at least one day, the last day's summary notes will be saved as the reason for completion.
   • If you set the ticket status to Complete and did not enter any summary notes, a message bar will prompt you to enter summary notes for at least one day.
     

The Time Entry Details section contains both a visual timeline selector and date and time data fields. They both represent the same data, so updating one automatically updates the other.

On the New Task Time Entry page (using Start/Stop Time), the timeline selector and date buttons are disabled for all users.

Enabling and configuring the timeline selector and date buttons

To enable the timeline selector or date buttons, do the following:

1. Click the Time Entry Timeline Settings link.
   
2. In the Timeline Settings dialog box, select Display the Time Entry Timeline. The Start Point and End Point fields become enabled.
3. Select the earliest time you usually work on tickets as the Start Point, and the latest as the End Point of the timeline. To extend the timeline to the full 24 hours, select the same time in both fields.
   
4. Select Display date buttons if you want the date buttons to appear.
5. Click Save & Close. The timeline appears above the time entry fields. The current time is indicated by the yellow line, and your company's business hours, by dotted gray lines.
   
6. To re-open the Settings dialog box, click Time Entry Timeline Settings or the Settings icon on the right-most square of the date buttons.

To hide the timeline selector or date buttons, do the following:

1. Click Time Entry Timeline Settings or the Settings icon on the right-most square of the date buttons. The Timeline Settings dialog box will open.
   
2. To remove the date buttons, clear Display date buttons.
3. To remove the timeline selector entirely, clear Display the Time Entry Timeline. Note that if Display the Time Entry Timeline is cleared, the Display date buttons option will be cleared as well. The timeline selector must be enabled to select the Display date buttons option.
4. Click Save & Close.

Disabling the timeline selector and date buttons

To disable the timeline selector or date buttons, do the following:

1. Click Time Entry Timeline Settings or the Settings icon on the right-most square of the date buttons. The Timeline Settings dialog box will open.
   
2. To remove the date buttons, clear Display date buttons.
3. To remove the timeline selector entirely, clear Display the Time Entry Timeline. Note that if Display the Time Entry Timeline is cleared, the Display date buttons option will be cleared as well. The timeline selector must be enabled to select the Display date buttons option.
4. Click Save & Close.

Selecting a day

The time entry timeline displays today's date and the five preceding days on a series of large buttons. Today is selected by default. To enter time for a different day, do the following:

1. Click another square or, if the date is outside of the timeline, click the square with the calendar icon.
2. Use the calendar to navigate to the desired date. Use the -7d or -14d shortcuts if appropriate.
   
3. The calendar is closed and the calendar icon is replaced by the selected date.
   

NOTE  The date selected must be between two years before or after the current date. Time entries outside this time period can be created on tickets through an import. This option is not available for time entries on tasks. Refer to Importing or updating data.

Entering a time block on the timeline

All your existing task and ticket time entries on the selected day are shown as dark blue blocks on the timeline. A light blue block represents the current time entry. If the stopwatch is running on this dialog box or page, the selected area will expand accordingly in real time.

To enter time using the timeline do the following:

1. Click anywhere on the timeline. If you clicked a time in the past, this time will populate the Start Time field. If you clicked a time in the future, this time will populate the End Time field. You then drag the light blue line to the left or right to highlight an area on the timeline.
   
   As you drag, the Start Time, End Time, and Time Worked fields will update in 15-minute increments in real time. If you drag the left edge of the selected area into a section of the timeline that represents a different day, the Date field will be updated to that day’s date in real time as well.
2. Let go of the mouse key to finish your selection.
   

NOTE  If system settings or ticket category settings determine that ticket time must be rounded, rounding is applied as soon as an area is selected.

IMPORTANT  If the stopwatch has been stopped and restarted, Autotask cannot currently know where during the stopwatch’s runtime it was paused. Because of this, we will still select the full area representing the time between the stopwatch’s supplied Start Time and End Time. In this case, the Time Worked will not equal the difference between these two times.

Using the time entry fields

If the timeline is hidden, you don't want to use it, or you want to override it, you can manually populate the date and time fields along with the Summary Notes and Internal Notes fields. Any changes you make in the fields will immediately be reflected on the visual timeline.

Complete the following fields:

Field	Description
Date	The Date defaults to the current date, but you are able to select another date by entering it manually, clicking the calendar icon, or using the arrow keys. IMPORTANT  If one or more of your work dates are outside the contract period for a fixed price or recurring contract, the contract will still be applied! NOTE  The date selected must be between two years before or after the current date. Time entries outside this time period can be created on tickets through an import. This option is not available for time entries on tasks. Refer to Importing or updating data.
Start Time, End Time and Time Worked	Start Time, End Time, and Time Worked are interdependent. Default:Start Time and End Time default to the current time. You can adjust either field, and the Time Worked field is automatically calculated. You can enter hours and minutes or decimal values in these fields. If you enter hours and minutes into the Time Worked field, the current time is set as the End Time, and the Start Time is calculated. Time Worked is what appears on the resource's timesheet. For information on time entry shortcuts and formatting rules, refer to Date and time entry format rules. Special situations: If the start and end times include time outside your regular business hours and an After-Hours Work Type is set up for the time entry's current work type, the time entry will be split into multiple time entries. Refer to After-Hours Time. If you enter a decimal value in the Hours field or a value greater than 59 in the Minutes field, and the other field already has a value, the value in the other field will be discarded. Entering 1.5 in Hours will always result in 1 h 30 m, and entering 90 in Minutes will always result in 1 h 30 m. System Settings that impact time entries: If the Allow users to create time entries that cross midnight system setting is enabled and you enter a start time that is later than the end time, Autotask will assume that you started work on the start date and that the time entry crosses midnight. If the system setting is not enabled, you will not be allowed to enter a start time that is later than the end time. To round the billing time entry but not the time that is tracked on the timesheet, you must also enable the Do not round hours worked for task or ticket time entry system setting. If enabled, Round ticket time entries up to the nearest # minutes (timesheet and billing entries will be rounded) and Round project task time entries up to the nearest # minutes (timesheet and billing entries will be rounded) instruct Autotask to round, to the nearest number of minutes, the time that is tracked on the timesheet and the time that is used for billing.
Billing Offset	Time you want to bill to the customer can be more or less than the time worked. Click the plus or minus badge next to the Billing Offset field to toggle between addition and subtraction, and enter the hours and minutes. The translation to decimal hours occurs when the time entry is saved. You cannot have a billing offset that causes your Hours to Bill value to be negative or greater than 24 hours. Default: Defaults to negative (-). System Settings that impact billing offsets: If the system setting to Round ticket time entries to the nearest # minutes (timesheet and billing entries will be rounded) is enabled, the offset time cannot be greater than the rounded worked time.
Hours to Bill	This read-only field shows the amount of time that will appear on the Approve and Post page in decimal time. It is calculated from the Time Worked plus or minus the Billing Offset. The hours and minutes are shown in parentheses.
Time Remaining (task only)	The remaining hours on a task are calculated as (Estimated Hours - Actual Hours). If the original time estimate is too high or too low, you can manually update the estimate of remaining hours here. The difference between the original and the new estimate is accounted for in the Projected Variance field. For a detailed discussion, refer to Estimates and remaining hours. NOTE  This manual adjustment will not affect the original estimated hours, which remain unrevised to allow accurate reporting on the difference between the estimated hours and the actual hours.
Projected Variance (task only)	The difference between the original estimated hours and the manually updated Time Remaining. Refer to Estimates and remaining hours.
Summary Notes	The Summary Notes field appears on all types of time entries. You enter a description of the work that was performed. Rich Text is supported. Unlike internal notes, summary notes may be customer-facing and appear on invoices, notification emails, and in the Client Portal. Your Autotask administrator may have enabled system settings that make the Summary Notes field required. Refer to Require user to enter summary notes when entering ticket time, Require user to enter summary notes when entering project task time, and Require user to enter summary notes when entering regular time. If summary notes are required, you must enter at least one non-space character. NOTE  To view summary notes of a regular time entry, you must change to the Report view of the timesheet and select Report Type > All Days, then scroll to the date.
Internal Notes	The Internal Notes field appears on all types of time entries. Rich Text is supported. Unlike summary notes, internal notes are never exposed to customers, and are never required.
Internal Notes visible to Co-managed	This checkbox appears below the Internal Notes field of time entry pages. If checked, the internal notes are created with the Internal & Co-managed publish type. On the Time Entry form template, select one of the following: Keep current to keep the selected value on the time entry page Yes to create internal notes as an Internal & Co-managed type note. No to create the note as Internal Only
Append Summary Notes to Resolution (tickets only)	If selected, the text entered into the Summary Notes or Description field will be added to the end of the Resolution field of the ticket. If there is already text in the Resolution field, two line breaks will separate the existing text from the text added. Security: This check box is available even if users do not have permission to edit tickets. NOTE   If Knowledge Base is enabled and the ticket is used to create a Knowledge Base article, the contents of the Resolution field appear in the article. Refer to Creating Knowledge Base articles from tickets.
Append Summary Notes to Resolution on # incident(s) (tickets only)	This check box only appears for notes and time entries on problem tickets associated with one or more incidents. If selected, the text entered into the Summary Notes (on time entries) or Description field (on ticket notes) will be appended to the end of the Resolution field on all of the ticket’s incidents.
Create Note(s) /Attachment(s) on # incident(s) (tickets only)	This check box only appears for notes and time entries on problem tickets associated with one or more incidents. If selected, the note's Description or the time entry's Summary Notes, Internal Notes, and any new attachments are added to the ticket's incidents, as well. On the incidents, the Internal Notes are created as a reply to the Summary Notes. Security: This check box is available even if users do not have permission to edit tickets.

In the Quick Notification (Notify via "To") section, you can use check boxes to quickly add common role-based notification recipients to the note or time entry notification email. The selected recipients are added to the To: field; CC: and BCC: fields are not populated.

The check boxes are shortcuts to manually selecting or clearing role-based recipients on the Notification panel. If recipients are added or removed from the To: field on the Notification panel, the matching role-based check boxes will become selected or cleared.

The name of the user who is filling the role is added to the role name. If more than one person is added, +# is added to the first name. If the ticket does not have a value for a role, the check box for that recipient will still be enabled, because they can still be selected on the Notification panel. Adding or changing a value for a recipient via the Quick Ticket Edits section will cause the names next to that check box to be added or changed accordingly.

In this section, you add new attachments. They are saved as replies to the note or time entry they are added to.

The Add New Attachments section is always collapsed. When it is expanded on the New Note or New Time Entry form, the New Attachment dialog box will open automatically.

1. Complete the New Attachment dialog box. As you save each attachment, it will appear on the attachment table. Refer to Adding and managing attachments.

2. On notes that can become a notification email, attachments can be included. To attach the new attachment to the notification email, select Include Attachments in Email on the notification panel. You can make this a default setting.

3. To complete the attachment process, you must save the note or time entry. If you close without saving, the attachments will not be uploaded or attached to the parent entity.

NOTE  When opened from the Ticket Time Entry dialog box or page, you can select the Internal Only check box. On the Note dialog box or page, this check box is missing and the attachment inherits the setting of the note.

If you edit a note or time entry that is associated with existing attachments, they appear in a separate Attachments section. This section will be expanded if the note or time entry has at least one attachment. It will not appear on the New Task Note, New Task Time Entry, New Ticket Note, and New Ticket Time Entry pages.

All users can view attachments they uploaded. To view attachments uploaded by other users, Can view Ticket and CRM notes and attachments marked as "Internal Only" and "Internal & Co-managing" permission is required.

When you edit a time entry, the Last Updated time stamp shows the date, time and resource who created or last modified the time entry.

The New and Edit pages for each entity feature a notification panel that is accessed from a persistent handle at the bottom of the page.

For more information, refer to Notification panel.