Office Timesheets' primary purpose is to provide a professional web-based time and expense tracking application. At the core of Office Timesheets lay two primary functions: tasks and entries. Office Timesheets tasks (a.k.a. jobs) consist of up to 10 customizable Element Levels specific to your organization, and entries to define the data specific to these items.

Office Timesheets tasks are comprised of up to ten custom Element Levels, in addition to the default Employee and Expense fields. These customizable Element Levels can be anything specific to the purpose of the time and expense sheets for your organization, such as:

• Client
• Project
• Phase
• Task (refers to a specific action)
• Cost Center
• and more...

A combination of these Element Levels is what comprises a task. Behind each of these Element Levels lays element items, such as a list of your organization’s clients. When a new task is added for a job/project, you will be asked to specify what items under your custom Element Levels apply to the new task. For example, when a new task is created, you will have to specify the Employee, and perhaps the Client, Project, Phase, Task (referring to a specific action) and Cost Center for the task to be added to the timesheet so time and expense entries can be added for the task.

Furthermore, data for the element items can be stored within custom fields. For example, the fields that store the data under each client name (element item) in the Client Element Level can be customized to fields for the client’s address, city, state, and any other contact information your organization needs for their clients. All of these fields where data is entered can be changed specifically to what you need. After a task is created, it is viewable under both timesheet and expense sheet views. This process renders endless possibilities for customizing Office Timesheets tasks.

Within Office Timesheets there are several places to leave notes. One of these places is in a task. In addition to specifying what data comprises a task, users are also given a chance to leave notes exclusive to that task. Notes for tasks could include things like “On hold until September 1” or “Call Bill to get further details.” After a note is added to a task, a small red square appears beside the task on the time or expense sheet being viewed to remind the user that there are notes associated with the task.

In addition to leaving notes when creating a task, users can also specify when the task start date and the date it is due. Task start and due dates allow for a more controlled and customized project management system.

Users can also define rates for the task, which are custom fields used for billing, budgeting and project-costing purposes. Task rates can be pre-determined or defined on a task-by-task basis.

Office Timesheets also offers the ability to apply customized statuses to tasks. They can be marked using checkboxes when adding or editing a task. For example, administrators can set the task status fields for:

• Complete
• Billable
• On Hold
• Cancelled
• and more...

Users can then mark a task to which status applies accordingly. Administrators can also lock the task and its entries once a task has been marked to a specific status, such as Cancelled. This prevents users from adding, editing or deleting to the task or its time and/or expense entries for security and accounting reasons.

Under Task Rules, administrators (or users with the appropriate security rights) can set the level order of Element Levels, any dependencies, and/or if they are required. When a new task is created, the list of the Element Levels and their element items for the task appears in the task entry dialog box in their set level order. Dependencies can also be set to control what appears in the Element Level fields. For example, if you would like a certain project to be dependent on a client, then the Project Element Level must be below and set dependent upon the element item chosen within the Client Element Level. In other words, which element item that appears in the Project Element Level field when a new task is entered depends on which client name is selected.

The required status can also be checked for an Element Level, indicating that when a new task is created an element item for that certain Element Level is required in order for the task to be created. All of these rules can be set to an organization’s or employee’s needs. Level dependencies and required statuses can also be set, saved and used at a later date; much like turning a feature on or off.

The second component of Office Timesheets is the time entries associated with the tasks. Time entries can be entered into a timesheet by several ways, and like tasks they can have notes and statuses attached to them. Office Timesheets time entries can be entered by opening the time entry dialog box, entering time directly into a cell, or by starting and stopping the timer. Time entries can also be generated in reports, account for billing and payroll, and much more.

When an employee spends a portion of time in their work day towards completing a task, that time has to be accounted for, for billing, accounting, payroll, and other purposes that an organization needs. The time spent on a task can be entered for a time slot during the day by specifying the exact start and end times, which automatically calculates the amount of time spent; or time spent can simply be entered without specifying exact stop and start times. Depending on the company policy and/or regulatory compliance, employees might be required to track exact hours and account for all time during their day; or the company’s requirements might be more relaxed and employees are only required to keep track of the time spent. Requiring the time spent or specific hours can be enforced by the employee’s security policy, or it can be left up to the employee. Other options for time spent are setting the format of time spent to either hours/minutes or decimal, and/or choosing for the time spent to only be available on the timesheet view.

Another place in Office Timesheets to leave notes is when adding or editing a time entry. In addition to giving the time spent on a task, users are also given a chance to leave notes exclusive to that time entry. Notes for time entries could include something like “Remember to add 30 minutes for work done at home.” After a note is added to a time entry, a small red square appears in the cell beside the time entry on the timesheet to remind the user that there are notes associated with the time entry.

Office Timesheets also offers the ability to apply customized statuses to time entries. They can be marked using checkboxes when adding or editing a time entry. For example, administrators can set the time entry status fields to be

• Billable
• General Overtime
• Shift 1 Overtime
• Shift 2 Overtime
• and more...

Employees can mark a time entry to which status it applies. Remember, administrators can also lock the time entries once a task has been marked to a specific status, such as Cancelled. This prevents users from adding, editing or deleting to the time entries under a task for security and/or accounting reasons.