Time on tickets with a timer, work types and timesheets
Technicians log time on each ticket with a timer or by hand, by work type: normal hours, after hours, holiday, emergency, call-out or travel. The team lead approves the hours before they are billed, and each line can also land on the technician's timesheet.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Hours are written on a job card and typed in at month end, from memory.
- Night and holiday call-outs are billed at the normal rate because nobody marked them.
- Travel time is never recorded, so nobody knows what a far-away customer really costs.
- Hours are billed before anyone checked them.
How it works
- The technician presses Start Timer on the ticket when they begin and Stop Timer when they finish. A time line is added. Checking in to a visit starts the timer and checking out stops it.
- Time can also be added by hand on the Time tab: the date, the Work Type, what was done and the Hours.
- Each line shows its Billable Hours after rounding. It is marked Billable, Covered by Contract or From Prepaid Hours.
- The team lead opens Helpdesk > Tickets > Time to Approve, ticks the lines and chooses Action > Approve. A line whose timer still runs cannot be approved.
- Approved lines are ready to bill (Growth). Once on an order they show Invoiced and are locked.
- Where you use the Timesheets app, each line is copied to the technician's timesheet once the timer is stopped.
Everything it does
Timer and lines
- One timer runs per technician; starting another stops the first
- Solving, closing or cancelling a ticket stops its running timers
- The timer uses the issue type's Default Work Type, else Labour - Normal Hours
- States: To Approve, Approved, Invoiced
- Technicians change or delete only their own lines while they are To Approve; Invoiced lines cannot be changed or deleted
Work types (ready to use)
- Labour - Normal Hours, Labour - After Hours, Labour - Holiday and Travel Time: rounded up to 15 minutes
- Emergency Call-out: rounded up to 30 minutes, at least 1 hour
- Call-out Charge: not rounded, at least 1 hour
- Each is a service with its own price per hour, so the customer's price list applies; add your own under Work Types
Approval and cost
- Team leads approve with Action > Approve; Back to Draft takes it back and returns any prepaid hours to the contract
- With Growth, the Ticket time approval chain can add levels after the team leads
- Cost per hour: the technician's own Cost per Hour, else the work type's cost; a subcontractor's people use their firm's rate
- Costs are shown to team leads and above only
Timesheets
- Lines go to the Timesheet project set in the Helpdesk settings, or the team's own; a Helpdesk project is made if none is set
- Only technicians with an employee record get timesheet lines
- A copied line follows every change on the ticket and cannot be edited in Timesheets; the filter From Tickets shows them
Reports
- Time report: hours and billable hours by technician and kind of work
- Technician Utilisation (Scale): hours logged against the working hours due
Who uses it
Technician / AgentRuns the timer, adds time by hand and corrects their own lines.
Team LeadApproves time, sees the cost of each line and takes approvals back.
Service ManagerSets cost rates and approves at further levels of the chain.
Helpdesk AdministratorKeeps the work types, their rounding and minimum, and the timesheet project.
Where you use it
- Web: the ticket's Time tab, Helpdesk > Tickets > My Time and Time to Approve, Reports > Time, Configuration > Work Types
- The SmartMy Desk app: the timer, add time, delete your own waiting line. With Scale also offline. Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not a time clock: there is no punch-in for the working day here; that is attendance in SmartMy HRMS
What you control
Settings
- Work types: Kind of Work, Round Up to (minutes), 15 to start with; Minimum Billable (hours)
- Default Work Type per issue type
- Cost per Hour per technician
- Ticket time approval chain (Growth): team leads to start with
Approvals
- Ticket time: one chain per Entity, the team leads to start with; add levels after them (Growth)
Notifications
- Time / Materials to Approve: to the approvers of a level when it is not the person who pressed Approve, in the app's Inbox. App push is built and not switched on yet
Questions
What if a technician forgets to stop the timer?
The timer keeps counting until it is stopped, or until the ticket is solved. The team lead sees the hours on Time to Approve and can correct the line before approving it.Can we bill after-hours work at a higher rate?
Yes. After Hours, Holiday and Emergency Call-out are work types with their own price per hour. The customer's price list can change them.Is travel time recorded?
Yes, as the Travel Time work type. It counts in the Time report and, with Scale, in technician utilisation.Do we need the Timesheets app?
No. Time on tickets works on its own. It is copied to timesheets only where the Timesheets app is also installed.Is time tracking in the Starter plan?
Yes. The timer, work types, approval by the team lead and the Time report are in every plan. Billing the hours and approval chains come with Growth.Related features
QUOTES, BILLING AND PURCHASEBilling of approved time and materialsApproved, billable time, parts and call-outs go on an order at the customer's prices, with contract discounts and markup. A draft invoice follows for your accounts team. A customer's ticket does not close while billable work is left unbilled, unless a service manager waives it with a reason.WORKING A TICKETSite visits with check-in and check-outPlan each trip to the site inside the ticket. The customer agrees to the time and is told when the technician is on the way. Check-in and check-out record the time and the phone's position, start and stop the timer, and meet the arrival target.CONTRACTS AND MAINTENANCEPrepaid hours and hour packsA contract can hold a bank of prepaid service hours. Each approved time line draws its billable hours from the bank, and hours beyond it are billed on their own line. The customer's admins are told when the balance runs low. Your office sells top-up packs as a sales order.REPORTSTechnician utilisationFor each technician and day, see the hours they were due to work against the hours they logged on tickets. See how much of it you can bill, how much a contract covers, and how much went on travel.ACROSS SMARTMY DESKApproval chainsQuotes, time and materials go to the right people in order before they reach the customer or the invoice. You add levels, such as a service manager for large quotes, without code.REPORTSTicket, response-time, time and rating reportsSee how fast your desk answers and fixes, which targets were met or missed and where your technicians' hours go. See also what customers think of each team and technician. Every report is a table you can regroup, chart or open as a list.
See one of your own jobs run through it.
Tell us how a complaint reaches you today and what you bill for. We will show you the same job in SmartMy Desk.