Logging time

Time is what turns the service desk into invoices. Every entry belongs to a customer, can sit on a ticket, is billable or not, and counts against the contract in force on the day it was worked. The contract then works out included hours and overage for the month (see Contracts and invoicing).

Log time on a ticket#

1. Open the ticket and press Log time in the Time section of the details panel, or choose Log time in More actions, or press Shift+t.
2. Enter the Duration, for example 1h 30m, 45m, 1:30 or 90. Or give a Start and End and the duration fills itself in.
3. Check the Date. It defaults to today.
4. Leave Billable on for chargeable work. When you turn it off, choose Why not billable, such as Warranty or our fault, Included goodwill, Internal, Training, Sales or pre-sales, or Travel.
5. Describe What was done, for example "Replaced the toner and cleared the paper jam". This is internal: the team sees it, the customer does not.
6. Optionally write a Note for the invoice, such as "Printer repaired and tested". It is printed on the invoice line instead of the ticket's subject.
7. Choose the Work type if you charge different kinds of work differently, such as remote or onsite.
8. Leave Contract on Automatic to use the contract in force on that date, choose a particular contract, or choose No contract.
9. Choose the Technician if you are logging for someone else.
10. Press Log time (or Cmd+Enter).

If the time overlaps something you already logged, the form says so, for example "You already logged 10:00 to 11:00 on #1234", so double counting is caught before it reaches an invoice.

You can also log time as you reply: press the clock in the composer and the reply and the time are saved together (see Replies, forwarding and scheduled send). A macro can log time too.

The Time section on the ticket then shows the total logged and how much of it is billable, for example "2h 35m logged, 2h 35m billable". Every change to a time entry, by whom and from what, is kept in its history, and the ticket's activity says when time was changed or deleted.

Timers#

The timer saves you guessing afterwards, and it follows you.

1. On the ticket, press Timer at the top (or in the Time section), or press t.
2. Work the ticket. The running timer shows in the top bar wherever you are in Tenvara, in every browser you are signed in to.
3. Press it again (or t on the ticket) to stop, and the Log time form opens with the time it recorded.

The top bar lists all your timers, running and paused, with pause, resume and stop, and lets you start a general timer and choose the customer later. Starting a timer pauses the one already running, unless One timer running at a time is off on the Time tab of Settings > Ticket setup. A stopped timer stays paused until its time is logged, so a cancelled form loses nothing.

Timers start and stop with the work in other places too:

• a chat that ends stops its timer and tells you how long it ran, ready to log,
• checking in to a visit starts one, and checking out logs the visit's time,
• the end of a remote session offers to log how long it ran.

Tenvara asks "Still working on #1234?" once a timer has run for four hours, or runs past the end of your working day. Both are set on the same Time tab, which also holds the list of reasons offered under Why not billable and whether one must be chosen. Your timesheet shows your running timers and suggests chats, visits and remote sessions with no time logged (see Timesheets).

Tip: Get into the habit of pressing t as you open a ticket you are about to work on. It takes a second and makes timesheets far more accurate.

Log time without a ticket#

Some work is for a customer but not about a ticket, such as a regular site visit or a review meeting.

1. Go to Service desk > Time and press Log time, or use Log time on a contract or under Contracts and time on the customer's Commercial tab.
2. Choose the Customer.
3. Fill in the rest as above.
4. Press Log time.

To put time on a ticket, log it from the ticket itself.

Internal time#

Training, team meetings and admin are not for any customer, but they are still work. Log them as internal time:

1. Press Log time in Service desk > Time (or from your timesheet).
2. Choose No customer (internal). The customer, task, contract, billable and invoice note fields go away, and the internal work type is picked for you.
3. Fill in the date, the time and what you did, then press Log time.

A work type is internal when Internal is ticked on it (on the Work types tab of Settings > Billing rules; only a non-billable type can be). Picking an internal work type with no customer chosen switches to internal time by itself. Internal time counts on your timesheet and the team's, and in utilisation as Internal time, so those hours no longer show as missing. It is never billed, never counts on a contract and never appears in a customer's reports. Someone limited to some customers sees only their own internal time.

Charges on tickets#

Not everything you charge for is time. The Charges section of a ticket's details panel adds parts and fixed fees:

1. Press Add a charge.
2. Choose From the catalogue and pick the Catalogue item, or A fixed fee or other charge and describe it, such as "Fixed fee: new starter set-up".
3. Set the Quantity, Unit price, Date and Tax.
4. Leave Billable on to put it On the next invoice.
5. Turn on Customer sees it to show it on the ticket in their portal.
6. Press Add charge.

Catalogue items come at their catalogue price; changing the price, or typing in a charge of your own, needs someone who manages billing. Billable charges go on the customer's next invoice run once, and a charge on an invoice can no longer change.

Review time#

Service desk > Time lists everyone's time for the chosen period: Date, Technician, Customer, Work (with the ticket it was logged on) and Work type, with more under Columns. My time, under it in the sidebar and on Home, shows only yours.

• Filter by text, Technician, Customer, Work type or Billable.
• Choose the period, such as This week, Last month or your own dates.
• Choose Columns, save the combination under Views, and export it as CSV.
• The ... menu on a row has Edit and Delete, to correct a duration, move an entry to another contract or switch it between billable and not billable.

Time to bill#

Sales and billing > Time to bill is where the accounts person, or whoever bills, reviews billable time before an invoice run takes it. It lists every billable entry no issued invoice carries yet, oldest first, with what it is worth at today's rates and what it waits on (a draft, approval, its timesheet, or the next run).

The tabs above the list split it into To bill, Not reviewed, Approved and Not billed. For one entry or many:

• Approve it.
• Bill different hours: for example, bill 1h for 1h 30m worked. Reports keep both the worked and billed time.
• Do not bill with a reason, such as "Our mistake: the first visit did not fix it". It stays as billable time for utilisation, but never goes on an invoice. Bill it after all reverses it.

In Settings > Invoices, under Lock dates and time approval, Only invoice approved time and Only invoice time from approved timesheets make time wait for approval (both off until you turn them on). The invoice run then says what it held back, for example "12 entries for Brightwater Estate Agents are waiting for approval, 6.5 h".

Lock dates#

Once a month is invoiced and reconciled, lock it. In Settings > Invoices, under Lock dates and time approval, set a Lock date for everyone and, if you like, a later one for everyone except administrators. Nothing dated on or before the lock can be created, changed or deleted: time, expenses and mileage, charges, invoice dates and payments recorded by hand. The date pickers stop at the lock, and an attempt says "The books are locked up to 31 August 2026". Closing an invoice run offers to lock up to the end of its period.

When locked time really must change, someone who manages billing can Unlock and change it with a reason, which is kept in the activity log.

Rate cards#

Billable ticket time not on a contract, and project time and materials time, are charged at the most specific rate on the day of the work:

1. the contract's own rate or percentage off,
2. the project's own hourly rate,
3. the customer's own rate or percentage off,
4. the person's own rate,
5. their role's rate, such as Engineer or Senior engineer,
6. the standard rate.

Set roles and their dated rates, and each person's role or own rate, on the Rates tab of Settings > Billing rules. Try it shows what an hour of someone's time for a customer is charged at today. A customer's own rate is on its billing settings and a contract's on its overview. A work type's multiplier (out of hours, onsite) applies on top, and the rate used is kept on each invoice line. See Rates, costs and targets.

Time on a customer and a contract#

Contracts and time, on the customer's Commercial tab, shows Billable this month, Not billable this month, the Last 90 days with its number of entries, and the monthly value of the contracts in force. Below the contracts it lists the last 90 days of time, with Open in Time and Log time.

Each contract page shows the time logged against it, month by month.

Expenses#

Parking, parts and mileage for a ticket are added in the Expenses section of its details panel with Add. Once approved, they are rebilled to the customer on the next invoice run for the month they were spent, and marked billed so they never go twice. The contract page lists them under Rebilled expenses.

Unbilled work and reports#

Reports > Unbilled work shows everything billable that is not on an issued invoice yet, by customer: ticket time, contract overage, project time, milestones, accepted quotes, expenses and mileage, charges and more, valued at today's rates, with the oldest item and why it waits (on a draft, not approved, month not run yet, billing hold). Open a customer to see the items, then Start a draft or Open the draft.

Reports > Time has time by customer, technician or contract for a period, split into billable and not billable, with billed against worked time and Why time was not billable by reason.