Overview
The Time & Expense Settings page gives Account Administrators more control over how time and expenses are managed at the account level. Some time and expense settings can be managed individually on a per-project basis.
To access the Time & Expense account settings, hover over Settings on the left navigation and select Time & Expense.
Allow Time Tracking for Projects
The settings in the Allow Time Tracking for Projects section apply to new and existing projects as you make changes. You can determine whether you want to allow time tracking for all projects or allow only Account Administrators to turn time tracking off for specific projects.
- Always Allowed—When selected, this allows all projects to track time and no one has access to turn the Allow Tracking Time project setting off on a per-project basis.
- Set by Account Administrator—When selected, Account Administrators can choose in the project settings whether time tracking is allowed or restricted on a per-project basis.
In this section, you can also use the Default for new tasks drop-down to determine if tasks are able to track time and expenses against them or not by default when they are created.
Time and Expense Approvals
The settings in the Time and Expense Approvals section apply to new projects as you make changes. To require time and expense approvals for existing projects, select the Time entries must be approved before invoicing and Expenses must be approved before invoicing options in the project settings. Keep in mind that you can only turn off these settings on a per-project basis if there are no active submissions or approvals.
- Require Time Approvals—Project members on the Provider team with Edit Financials project permissions (or higher) will be able to review and approve time for the project where time was submitted.
- Require Expense Approvals—Project members on the Provider team with Edit Financials project permissions (or higher) will be able to review and approve expenses for the project where expenses were submitted.
Time and Expense Tracking Requirements
The settings in the Time and Expense Tracking Requirements section apply to both new and existing projects.
- Enable Time Entry Role Picker—Project members entering time will be able to select a role. This helps to keep track of responsibilities within a project. The associated bill rate will be selected when rate cards are enabled. You can add new roles from Settings > Roles.
- Require Assignment for Time and Expense Tracking—When enabled, users will only be able to track time and expenses against the tasks, deliverables, issues, or milestones for which they are assigned. When logging a time entry, they will only be able to select from a list of their assigned tasks.
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Require Time Entries to be Tracked Against a Location—This setting is only accessible after you've added one or more locations in Locations settings. When enabled, all account members are required to select a location when logging time.
Note: If preferred, you can require only individual members to specify a location when logging time; this is done from the Financial section of the Account Member Details side panel.
- Require Time Entries to be Tracked Against a Task Type—When enabled, this setting requires that users track their time against a task, deliverable, issue, or milestone. They will not be able to log time without an associated task.
TIP
Kantata has six default expense categories: Entertainment, Food, Lodging, Mileage, Travel, and Other. If you use Kantata's integration with QuickBooks, you can inherit additional expense categories from QuickBooks via sync. Otherwise, you can add, edit, or delete expense categories (even the defaults, except Other) via the Kantata OX API. For more information, see How to Create and Delete Expense Categories.
Require Notes on Time Entries
The settings in the Require Notes on Time Entries section may apply to new or existing projects as you make changes. These requirement options give Account Administrators the power and flexibility to make time entry notes required across the entire account or allow Project Administrators to manage these requirements for individual projects.
- Always Required—Require notes for time entries in all new and existing projects and do not allow users to modify this selection in the project settings.
- Always Optional—Make entering notes for time entries optional in all new and existing projects and do not allow users to modify this selection in the project settings.
- Set at Project Level (Default: Required)—For new projects only, require notes for time entries and allow users to modify this selection in the project settings for all projects.
- Set at Project Level (Default: Optional)—For new projects only, make requiring notes for time entries optional and allow users to modify this selection in the project settings for all projects.
Expense Amount Settings
The Expense Amount Settings section applies to all new and existing projects.
- Allow Negative Expenses—When enabled, this setting allows users to enter negative expenses for projects.
Send Timesheet Reminders
The Send Timesheet Reminders section is an account-wide setting. You can enable this reminder to appear for only specific users from the Account Member Details side panel.
- Remind Users to Submit Timesheets for Full Workweek—When enabled, this setting will notify a user when they are trying to submit a timesheet that doesn't contain all their hours for the workweek.
Track Time & Expense Against
This setting allows you to specify what types of tasks that users in your account will be able to track time against. If a task type (Task, Deliverable, Milestone, Issue) is not selected, users will not see that task type in any list of tasks when logging time.
Select the items that are permitted to have time and expenses tracked against them.
- Tasks
- Deliverables
- Milestones
- Issues
Time Lock
This setting prevents the addition, modification, or deletion of time entries on or before the selected lock date. This includes changes in status such as submission, approval, and rejection. For more information on these settings, please see our Time Lock article.
- Current Lock Date—When you set a lock date, the current date is displayed here.
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Set Lock Date—Use the Calendar icon to specify a date through which time entries are locked. You are allowed to set one lock date per account.
Note: If there are time entries in projects that have not been approved before the desired lock date, you cannot lock time.
- Download Audit Log—Exports an auditable CSV file containing the date and time the lock was set and the name and ID of the user who set the lock date.
Project Estimate Calculation Options
These settings determine when and how EAC (Estimate at Completion) and ETC (Estimate to Complete) is calculated in the Financial section of the Project Pulse side panel.
- Calculate Using Hard Allocations—This is the default for EAC/ETC calculations. A hard allocation is when a team member has been “confirmed” or “booked” to work on a project; these are managed in the Resource Center.
- Calculate Using Scheduled Hours—Calculate EAC/ETC using the hours a resource is scheduled to work on task(s) in a project. Scheduled hours are managed in the Resourcing tab of a project or the Task Details side panel.
- Calculation Using Actual Fees Through—Although this defaults to Yesterday, the calculation day can be adjusted to any Previous day of the week to change the boundary between actual fees and EAC. Actual fees are calculated up to and including the selected day, and ETC is calculated from the beginning of the day after the selected day. For example, if you select Sunday, it will calculate actual fees through (and including) Sunday and use ETC to get EAC from Monday forward.
Manage Time Off
These settings allow you to select the user types who can add, edit, or remove time off. Time off can be managed in the Schedule section of the User Details side panel. By default, only Account Administrators can manage time off.
- Account Administrators for all users—This is the default option and cannot be disabled.
- Managers for their direct reports—This allows managers to regulate time off for their direct reports, but not for themselves. For more information on how to assign a manager to a managee, see the Account Members details panel.
- All users for themselves—This option allows every user on your account to manage their own time off.
Comments
6 comments
This article has been updated to include more detailed information in the Overview section and remove inaccuracies about the Calculation Using Actual Fees Through setting.
This article has been updated to reflect wording updates and new sections on the page. No new settings have been added to the page.
This article has been updated to include information on Time Tracking Enhancements—now in Early Access.
This article has been updated to include a video.
This article has been updated to include information on the new time tracking enhancements.
This article has been updated to include information on the new setting "Default for new tasks".
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