Managing Billable & Non-Billable Time

Owned by Deniz Oğuz
Last updated: Oct 01, 2024
4 min read

Sometimes you may want some part of the entered worklog not to be billed to client. There are two ways to do it using WorklogPRO:


Billable (BOOLEAN) Work Log Attribute

Entering Work Logs and reporting them in this schema is simpler, but it is a little more limiting. Simpler because when entering a work logs users just need to check a checkbox for billable work logs. The limitation is, the whole work log either may be billable or non-billable, in other words you can't have partially billable work log attributes. Lets see briefly how to configure WorklogPRO for this schema:

  1. Open WorklogPRO administration and click on Attributes section
  2. Click on 'Add Attribute' button on the to right of the screen and new 'Attribute Dialog' will be opened. 
  3. Enter any name and description and select a suitable icon. Select 'Boolean' as type.
  4. Click on save.
  5. After that, when a user tries to enter a work log, they will see a new field on the work log dialog as shown in the following screenshot.
  6. Every timesheet export will now contain work log attribute values entered by the users independent of the timesheet type. You can also create a custom timesheet that either filters work logs according to value of 'Billable' attribute or shows work logs grouped by work log attribute values.

    1. Timesheet That Shows Distribution of Billable/Non-Billable: Click on 'Custom Timesheet' to open custom timesheet dialog. Enter date range, timesheet type. For the grouping field select 'Billable' boolean attribute as shown in the following figure.

    2. Timesheet That Shows only Billable Work Logs: You can filter out non-billable time and only show billable work logs in any timesheet type (project, filter, etc.). Open custom timesheet as usual, and fill date range and other fields. This time on the 'Attributes' tab, select 'Yes' for 'Billable' attribute and leave all the other attribute criteria empty. Empty means don't care and includes every work log. Of course if you want you can also filter based on multiple attribute values for example an 'Invoice Id'.

Billable Time (DURATION) Work Log Attribute

This schema allows partially billable work logs. Instead of a boolean attribute, we will create a duration attribute and use this field to enter billable work duration. That means, there will be two input boxes users will enter duration. Lets wee briefly how to configure WorklogPRO for this schema:

  1. Open WorklogPRO administration and click on Attributes section
  2. Click on 'Add Attribute' button on the to right of the screen and new 'Attribute Dialog' will be opened. 
  3. Enter any name and description and select a suitable icon. Select 'Duration' as type.
  4. After that users will see newly create 'Billable Time' work log attribute on the 'Work Log Dialog'. Entry format for duration field is the same with 'Time Spent' field. Other than formatting check there is no less than, greater than checks on value of duration attribute. It can be greater than or less than 'Time Spent' field. If you want "Billable Time" to be less than "Time Spent" field, you can apply a worklog verification script.
  5. Every timesheet  Excel export will include 'Billable Time' in the Work Log Tab. In Excel exports, value will be shown in seconds, just like 'Time Spent' field. Also 'Work Log Report' view will show total of duration fields for parent grouping. For example if timesheet is created with issue based grouping 'Billable Time' total for the issue also will be displayed as shown in the following screenshot.