Configure Time

Use the Configure Time page to select basic information about how the application works, including the following:

  • How timesheets are displayed to users, including the time span, number of hours in a workday, and more

  • Timesheets approval settings

  • Which accounts are used to post hours and labor costs for timesheets to the General Ledger (needed for labor cost posting)

Permissions and other requirements
Subscription

Time and Expenses
Regional availability

All regions

User type

Business user with admin privileges
Permissions

Administration

  • Application subscriptions: List, View, Configure

  1. Do one of the following:

    • Go to Time > Setup > Configuration.

    • Go to Company > Admin > Subscriptions > Time > Configure.

  2. Complete the fields in each section.

Timesheet settings, rules, and table display

Intelligent time
Field Description

Enable intelligent time

Sage Intelligent Time (SIT) is a virtual Time Assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which adds automation to time entry. It intelligently gathers activities through connected time sources such as an employee's email or calendar. Then, it suggests the activities for inclusion in timesheets with the associated customer, project, or task information. Turning on Intelligent Time also allows employees to enter and approve time in a mobile app.

After turning on Intelligent time, the following pages in Time are upgraded to use Intelligent time:

  • Approve timesheets

  • My timesheets

  • Staff timesheets

Additionally, the following new pages are available:

  • My time clocks

  • Staff time clocks

  • Repository

  • Time sources

  • Setup > Time preferences

If you have timesheets that were created prior to turning on Intelligent time, you can view them in the Repository.

Intelligent time can be turned off at any time.

Learn more about turning on Intelligent time.
Timesheet settings
Field Description

Track time by

Determines the data that you want to capture when you track time. For example, Project and task are selected. All line items on a timesheet must be coded with the project and task to which it applies.

If you subscribe to the Projects application, selecting an option to track time by project and task enables you to run project financial reports on demand, and (in combination with labor cost posting) to calculate costs as a measure of project progress.

Timesheet duration
Select the duration of each timesheet, which controls the number of timesheets that must be submitted per month.
  • 1st-15th/16th through the end of the month: semi-monthly timesheets (2 durations per month). The first duration is always 15 days, and the second duration is variable. For example if the month is February, the second duration is from the 16th to the 28th, unless it's a leap year, in which case the second duration is from the 16th to the 29th. Timesheets must be submitted on the last day of each duration.
  • Daily: Timesheets consist of one day and must be submitted daily.
  • Weekly: Timesheets consist of 7 days and must be submitted each week.
  • Every two weeks: Timesheets consist of 14 days and must be submitted after every two weeks.

Timesheet units

Select the down arrow and then select the unit or unit combination: minutes, hours, and/or days that you want to use for timesheets. After timesheets have been submitted for your company, you cannot change this setting.

Number of workday hours

Enter the length of time of your workday (for instance, 8 hours). After timesheets have been submitted for your company, you cannot change this setting.

Only Staff Timesheet users can submit a timesheet (for users without Projects only)

Select to enable a simple timesheet review and approval process without a Projects subscription. Employees using My timesheets must save their timesheets as a draft, then have a Staff Timesheet user go to Staff timesheets, search for draft timesheets, review, and submit them.

To set an approval workflow for timesheets, you must subscribe to Time and Expenses.

Timesheet rules
Field Description

Notes

Require that employees include descriptive work notes with their time entries. Notes are included on customer invoices and used as reference within your own company.

Select to require notes:

  • For all line items: require notes for all timesheet entries, both billable and non-billable.
  • Only for billable items: require notes only for billable timesheet entries. Non-billable timesheet entries will not require notes.

Show description first

(Default) Show the description before the notes in the Entry Detail window (on the My timesheets and Staff timesheets page, in the Time Entries section, double-click on a cell to access this window).

Invoices do not include descriptions and are used for reference within your company.

Show notes first

For easier data entry, select to have the Notes entry field appear before the Description entry field in the Entry Detail window (on the My timesheets and Staff timesheets page, in the Time entries section, double-click on a cell to access this window).

Notes are included on the invoice.

Automatically default notes to

Automatically prefill the timesheet Notes field to one of the following:

  • Task description: Automatically prefill all timesheet notes fields with the description for this task, which can help you identify line items in an invoice.
  • Task WBS code: Automatically prefill all timesheet notes fields to the work breakdown structure (WBS) code for this task.
  • Do not default notes: (Default) Leave all timesheet notes fields blank.
All timesheet notes are included on order entry sales invoices in the Timesheet notes field.

Disable holiday entries

Select if you want to reject time submitted for work on company holidays.
Only allow entries between the start and end date of: Project and Employee

Select to reject any timesheets that are entered for dates outside of the related project dates or outside of the employee's employment dates.

  • Project: Rejects any time submitted before a project officially begins or after it has officially ended.
  • Employee: Rejects any time submitted before an employee has officially joined your company, or after leaving the company.

Only allow entries: Equal to or after the start date of the task resource and Before or equal to the end date of the task resource assignment
  • Equal to or after the start date of the task resource: Prevent an employee from entering time for a task before their assigned task start date. If no start date exists for the task resource, time entry is allowed.
  • Before or equal to the end date of the task resource assignment: Prevent an employee from charging time to a task after their assigned task end date. If no end date exists for the task resource, time entry is allowed.
Enable duplicates: My Timesheets and Lines in a timesheet

Permit entry of duplicate timesheets or duplicate lines in the same timesheet. By default, duplicate timesheets or lines in the same timesheet are not accepted.

  • My timesheets: Select to allow an employee to enter two or more timesheets for the same time period. Normally, employees can enter only one timesheet for a time period. For example, if your timesheet duration is weekly, employees cannot enter 2 timesheets for the same week. Most commonly, this option is enabled so that employees can enter their own timesheet corrections.
  • Lines in a timesheet: Select to allow an employee to enter 2 or more duplicate lines in the same timesheet. A duplicate line is any timesheet entry that has the same project, task, time type, and other details. If employees sometimes call out a particular portion of time with a different description or note, allowing duplicate lines is useful.
Even if you do not allow employees to enter duplicate timesheets, you can still create duplicate staff timesheets.

If timesheet dates fall within a closed period

Select one of the following options:

  • Automatically post to the next open period

  • Warn before posting to the next open period

  • Do not allow entry

  • Allow entry of timesheet dates to a closed period for statistical posting only

Number of hours

Enter the Minimum and Maximum number of hours for the following:

  • Required to submit timesheet

  • Required per weekday

  • Required per weekend day

User restrictions

Select a default for who can enter time and expenses and view project data.

Displays the following options:

  • Any user

  • Only users assigned to the project

  • Only users assigned to the project and task

Validate only when timesheet or expense is saved

Select to validate only when timesheet or expense is saved.

Timesheet table display
Field Description

Show departments and locations

Select to display departments and locations in projects for timesheet line items.

Show time type

Select to display time types in timesheet entries.

Use labor class, Use labor shift, Use labor union, and Use employee position
This option only appears for Construction subscriptions.

Select whether to display and require user-defined timesheet entries on employee timesheets and project contract rate tables.
Timesheet submission
Field Description

If timesheet dates fall within a closed period

When a user submits a timesheet with dates occurring during a closed period:

  • Automatically post to the next open period: The timesheet dates remain the same and the timesheet automatically posts to the next open period.
  • Warn before posting to the next open period: A warning message appears. The user can correct the dates or submit the timesheet as is. The timesheet posts to the next open period.
  • Do not allow entry: An error message appears. The user cannot submit the timesheet until they change the dates to occur during an open period.
  • Allow entry of timesheet dates to a closed period for statistical (hours) posting only: Only for companies not configured for labor cost posting. Allow statistical hours to post to closed periods for greater accounting accuracy.

Number of hours: Required to submit timesheet, Required per weekday, and Required per weekend day
Specify the minimum and maximum number of hours required for approval, per weekday or weekend day.
  • Required to submit a timesheet: The total hours for submitting the timesheet must meet the specified maximum and minimum requirements.
    You can submit a blank day (meaning without entered hours) even if a minimum number of hours is required.
  • Required per weekday: Each weekday on the timesheet must meet the specified number of hours.
  • Required per weekend day: Each weekend day on the timesheet must meet the specified number of hours.
Timesheets that do not meet the specified requirements are rejected. For example, if you specify that 60 hours is the maximum number of hours required for approval, timesheets that exceed 60 hours are rejected.

Select a default for who can enter time and expenses: Any user, Only users assigned to the project, Only users assigned to the task, and Validate only when time or expense is saved

Select whether to restrict users from entering time or expenses if they are not assigned to the related project or task.

By default, the Project and Task dropdown menus on timesheets and expense reports automatically filter for user restrictions. If you select Only users assigned to the project, the Project dropdown menu displays only those projects that the user is assigned to.

Have a large number of projects and tasks? Improve performance by waiting until the timesheet or expense report is saved to check for user restrictions. This is true even if user restrictions are set to "Any user." If you select Validate only when the timesheet is saved, all projects and tasks appear as choices when the user is entering time or expenses. When the user saves the timesheet or expense report, their user restrictions are checked to determine submission eligibility.

Timesheet approval setting

Establish an approval process for timesheet entries.

With timesheet approvals, specify who can approve or reject submitted timesheets. Establish up to 5 levels of approvals, which can include approvals by project managers, department managers, employee managers, administrators, and specific users.

For more information, go to Set up approvals for timesheets.

Timesheet approval setting
Field Description

Enable approval

Turns on timesheet approvals.

Email notification

Sends email notifications to timesheet approvers automatically whenever a timesheet has been submitted and is ready for their review.

Limit approval

Ensures that approvers can view only those line items they’re permitted to approve.

For example, if an approval is routed to a project manager, only the line items related to the manager's projects are visible. If you leave this checkbox cleared, timesheet approvers can view all timesheet entries, including entries for which they are part of the workflow and entries for which they are not.

Hide billable hours columns on Approve Timesheets list

The billable and non-billable quantity columns on the Approve Timesheets list include the timesheet's total billable and non-billable hours. This total includes hours for projects that the approver might not be responsible for and, therefore, will not see when they drill down.

To avoid confusion, hide these columns on the Approve Timesheets list page.

Approvers setting
Field Description

Unrestricted

Unrestricted users can reject or approve any submitted timesheet.

Avoid selecting a user outside of the normal approval levels (1-5), because an unrestricted user's approval overrides all other approval levels.

Unrestricted approval is available only for admin users.

First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth

You can establish up to 5 levels of approvals. For example, timesheets can first be approved by an employee's manager, then approved by the project manager.

  • Department Approval: Requires approval by the employee's department manager.
  • Project Manager Approval: Line items require approval by the manager of the associated project. In this case, the project manager approves only line items for their projects.
  • Employee Manager Approval: Requires approval by the employee's manager, which follows a hierarchy where the employee's manager can approve timesheets.
  • External User (customer) Approval: Line items require approval by the user selected in the "External user (customer)" field on the associated project. In this case, external users approve only line items for their associated projects.
  • Admin: Requires approval by a user with administrator privileges.
  • Specific users: Select specific users who must approve timesheet entries.

Timesheet GL posting

The options in this section enable you to post hours and labor costs in the General Ledger so that you can accurately report on project performance.

For example, you can create an employee utilization report to analyze employee efficiency.

For labor costs to post, make sure that an earning type and salary or hourly rate is associated with the employee record. Set up labor cost posting.
Cross-period splits
Field Description

Statistical and Labor

For posting of statistical hours and actual labor costs, specify whether to split timesheets that cross time periods.

For example, a timesheet begins on Monday, June 28 and ends on Friday, July 2. 

  • If you select No split, the entire week's timesheet is attributed to July.
  • If you select By calendar period, the hours for June 28, 29, and 30 post to the June journal entry. Hours for July 1 and 2 post to the July journal entry.
  • If you select By accounting period (this option is available only for companies that use non-standard accounting periods), and if the timesheet crosses accounting periods, the hours split accordingly.

Enable earning type at time type and task level

Gives users the option to override the employee's earning type by task or by an entered time type.
Journals
Field Description

Statistical

Specify the statistical journal to which to post timesheet entries.

 You can configure Projects so that each entity can post timesheet entries to its own statistical journal.

Labor cost

Specify the journal to which you want your labor costs (timesheet entries) to post.

GL summary frequency

Selecting Time period and employee can increase the number of journal entries.

Accounts
Field Description

Billable statistical and Non-billable statistical

Select the accounts to use for tracking billable and non-billable time.
The utilized and non-utilized accounts enable you to track time in highly specific units, such as time entered by individual consultants or employees.

Labor cost offset
Variance

Select the labor cost accounts to be used for tracking payroll liability and variance.