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Time & Expense Settings

By David Forsythe | Updated

 

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.

Time and Expense Settings.png

To access the Time & Expense account settings, hover over Settings on the left navigation and select Time & Expense.

Note: You can also add vendors and set up locations from the respective tabs on this page.

Tracking Time and Expenses

The settings in the Tracking Time and Expenses section apply to new and existing projects as you make changes. You can determine whether you want to allow time tracking for all projects, allow only Account Administrators to turn time tracking off for specific projects, or allow project participants to control time tracking settings.

  • 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.
  • Set by Project Participants with Additional Access—When selected, Project Administrators and project members with the proper Project Permissions can choose whether time tracking is allowed or restricted on projects and tasks.
    Note: If the Set by Project Participants with Additional Access setting is selected and you then change to either Always Allowed or Set by Account Administrator, all existing Project Permissions for configuring time and expense tracking will be removed. You will need to manually add these permissions again if you reapply this setting.

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.

Allow Time Tracking for Projects Settings.png

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

Track Time & Expense Against Settings.png

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 Approvals Settings.png

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.
  • 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 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.

Time and Expense Tracking Requirements.png

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.

Require Notes on Time Entries Settings.png

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.

Expense Amount Settings.png

Expense Budgets Defaults

These settings determine whether expense budgets are activated on the account and if they’re activated by default for new projects.

When deactivated on the account, expense budgets will still be available in any existing projects that currently have it activated, to avoid compromising existing expenses tied to expense budgets. You can deactivate expense budgets for existing projects via the Project Settings page of each project.

expense budgets in time and expense settings2.png

Tip: If most projects have non-labor costs, we recommend setting Default for new projects to On.

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 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. 

Send Timesheet Reminders Setting.png

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.
  • 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.

TE-Time-Lock.png

 

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 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 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.

Project Estimate Calculation Options.png

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 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 direct report, see the Account Member side panel.
  • All users for themselves—This option allows every user on your account to manage their own time off.

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Related Articles

Time

Expenses

QuickBooks Integration

Kantata OX API

 

By David Forsythe
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