Depending on the type of engagements that you work on, you may find that tracking time on the week view (Figure 3) is more efficient than tracking time on the day view. This is because the week view presents a grid that allows you to quickly type in the hours worked per project/role/task on each day of the week. To access the week view, click on the Time nav bar element (Figure 1) and select the Week view from the view selector (Figure 2) at the top of the screen.
Figure 1 - Select Time Entries to View the Default Day View on the Time Entries Screen
Figure 2 - Leverage the View Selector to Toggle Time Entry Views
The week view is ideal for people who tend to create a single time entry per project (or project/role/task) per day. Team members assigned to staff augmentation projects usually find the week view to be the most efficient way to enter time. And, if the Show allocations on the week view of the time screen setting in Workspace Settings is enabled, a member can quickly create time entries from time allocations across projects.
Additionally, members may have a need to attach one or more files to a week's time entries. If the workspace has the Time Attachment feature enabled, a member can upload attachments when on the Week view.
Figure 3 - The Week View of Time Entry
While the week view does allow you to quickly enter project time, it has the following limitation that the day view does not have.
- If there are multiple entries for the same combination of project/role/task (Figure 4), you must edit those time entries from the day view. They will be shown on the week view (Figure 5), but will be disabled and represented in a stacked box. See the Multiple Time Entries section of this article for more information.
Figure 4 - Multiple Time Entries for Client/Project/Task as Seen in Day View
Figure 5 - Multiple Entries as Indicated on the Week View
The week view is ideal for people who tend to create a single time entry per project (or project/role/task) per day. Team members assigned to staff augmentation projects usually find the week view to be the most efficient way to enter time.
Add a Time Entry Row
When there are no time entries for a given week, the week view will contain a blank gray area (Figure 6) that provides the member with multiple options for time entry. A new time row can be added, last week's rows can be copied to the current week, or last week's time entries can be copied to the current week.
Figure 6 - Start Time Entry for the Current Week being Viewed
Copy Last Week's Rows
You can add a new time entry row by clicking the Add Time Row button or you can copy over all of the rows from the past week by clicking the Copy Last Week's Rows button. This will create a row for each unique combination of project, role, and / or task that you entered time against in the prior week. This will not copy over the time entries themselves. If you wish to leverage the prior week's time entries, you can copy last week's time entries.
Copy Last Week's Time Entries
In order to leverage this function, workspace administrators must have the Allow time entries to be copied from the previous week setting enabled in the Time and Expense Settings area of workspace settings.
If you have time entries from the prior week, and no time entries for the current week, a secondary action will be present on the Copy Last Week's Rows button. This action - Copy Last Week's Time Entries (Figure 7) - will copy over all time entries from the prior week, bringing over not only the rows of the prior week, but the hours as well.
Figure 7 - Copy Time Entries from the Previous Week
Note that, when using the Copy Last Week's Time Entries function, if any single time entry fails validation checks, then that time entry will not be copied. Some examples of this would include:
- Project has been set to require notes for time entries, but one or more of last week's time entries for that project do no have notes.
- Project has been set to require that time entries are associated with tasks, but one or more of last week's time entries are not associated with tasks.
- The workspace requires that time entries be entered within the project start and end dates, and copying last week's time entries for that project would create time entries beyond the project end date.
When creating a new time entry row, you will be asked to define the parameters of the row (Figure 8). These include the type of time, the project, the role, and the task. Project roles and tasks are optional components of a project's setup and may not exist for every project.
Figure 8 - Time Entry Fields are Based on the Project Requirements
Once a time entry row has been created, it will show up on the week view. You can then easily type in the total number of hours worked per day and can specify Notes for the time entry as well (Figure 9).
Figure 9 - Entering Time in the Week View
Create Time Entries from Allocations
When enabled via workspace settings, allocations can be visible (Figure 10) on the week view of the time screen. Each project that a member is allocated to will be created as a row on the screen, with the amount of hours (per day) shown in each time entry cell. A member can click the plus (+) icon in the cell to add that many hours for each respective entry.
Figure 10 - Create Time Entries from Allocations
Delete a Time Entry Row
You can delete a row from the week view by clicking on the red delete icon (Figure 3) on the right side of each row. If there are existing time entries for that row, you will be presented with a confirmation window (Figure 11).
Figure 11 - Confirm Choice to Delete a Time Entry Row in Week View
If you are certain that all of the associated time entries for the week should be deleted, simply click the Delete button at the bottom-right of the confirmation window. Once time entries are deleted, they cannot be restored.
If any time entries for a row are locked, you will not be able to delete the row from the week view. You will need to switch to the day view in order to delete any unlocked time entries. For more information, see the time entry locking article.
Multiple Time Entries per Day
When time is entered on the week view, a single time entry is created for that client/project/role/task combination for each day of the week. But, it is possible that multiple time entries exist for the same day if those entries were created on the day view. When a cell on the week view is comprised of more than one time entry, that cell will have a stacked appearance and it will be disabled (Figure 12).
Figure 12 - Stacked and Disabled Time Entry Cell for Multiple Time Entries
When a cell has this stacked/disabled representation, you cannot edit the value in the cell on the week view. To change the time associated with the cell, you must edit the individual time entries on the day view or list view.
To see the details for the multiple entries, hover your mouse over the cell and a window (Figure 13) will be shown that will provide the individual time entries including any notes. In addition, a message at the bottom of the window will explain that the entries can only be edited from the day or list view.
Figure 13 - View Details of Multiple Time Entries
Locked Cell in the Week View
Time entries can become locked under certain circumstances. Locked time entries are shown with a lock icon. When a time entry is locked, it cannot be edited or deleted by the current user.
Two important rules to understand about time locking are:
- Time entries are not individually locked or unlocked. When time entries are locked, it is because they are locked for the entire project or task or because conditions exist that require Ruddr to lock the time entry for the current workspace member. For example, the time entry might be associated with a published invoice.
- A time entry could be locked for one workspace member but unlocked for another member who has a different security role (with greater privileges).
On the week view when a cell is locked (Figure 14), a small lock icon appears in the top-right corner of the cell. Also, the cell will have a gray background which indicates that it can't be edited. Note that if a cell is comprised of more than one entry, the cell will be locked if any of the constituent time entries is locked.
Figure 14 - Multiple Time Entries for this Week are Locked
When a row on the week view contains a locked cell, the row cannot be deleted. In this situation, to delete individual unlocked time entries, you must use the day view or list view.
Timesheets
Note that in workspaces with the Timesheet feature enabled, time entries for a submitted timesheet are locked. For more information on unsubmitting a timesheet, please refer to the Timesheet Overview article in Ruddr Help Center.
For more information on locking, see the help article on time entry locking.
Submit the Week's Time for Approval
When all of the time entries for a week have been entered, you can easily submit them for approval with a single button click. The Submit for Approval button (Figure 15) at the bottom of the screen will submit any entries for that week that aren't already in a Pending Approval or Approved state. The button's label will include the number of time entries that will be submitted. If there are no time entries that need to be submitted, the button will not be shown. Note that any time entry with a running timer will not be submitted for approval. The timer must be stopped in order for the time entry to be submitted for approval.
Figure 15 - Submitting Multiple Time Entries
Timesheets
In workspaces that leverage the Timesheets feature, time entries are submitted as part of individual timesheets. Members do not submit individual time entries, nor do they submit groups of time entries across multiple timesheets. To submit a timesheet, a member can click the Submit Timesheet button (Figure 16) on the time entry screen. Once submitted, time entries associated with that timesheet are locked. For more information on submitting and / or unsubmitting a timesheet, please refer to the Timesheet Overview article in Ruddr Help Center.
Figure 16 - With Timesheets Enabled you see the Timesheet Status at the top of the Screen and can Submit the Timesheet
There are cases where a week spans across two months (Figure 17). In this case, you will have two timesheets and Ruddr will prompt (Figure 18) the member to select which timesheet to submit.
Figure 17 - Multiple Timesheets in a Week that Spans the End of a Month and the Beginning of a Second Month
Figure 18 - Specify the Timesheet to Submit When Two Timesheets are Present for a Given Week
Time Attachments
When this feature is enabled, a paperclip icon (Figure 19) is shown on the Week view of the time screen. Clicking this icon allows for one or more files to be uploaded (Figure 20) for that given week.
Figure 19 - Clicking the Paperclip Icon Allows you to Upload Attachments to a Week's Time Entries
Figure 20 - Attachments can Added to a Week's Time Entries
Uploaded files can optionally be associated with a specific project that the member is assigned to (Figure 20).
Figure 21 - Associate a Time Attachment to a Project
Once an attachment is uploaded, a member can open an attachment, download an attachment, reassign an attachment to another project, or delete the attachment (Figure 22).
Figure 22 - Manage Time Attachments
Lastly, there is a Time Attachments report in the Time section of reports that allows for easy reporting and viewing of time attachments.
Time Statistics
At the bottom of the week view, you will see statistics (Figure 23) that summarize the time entries for that week.
Figure 23 - Time Statistics for the Current View Available on the Time Entry Screens
These statistics are shown in three separate sections.
- Hours Summary - Toward the left of the screen is the total tracked time broken down into billable and non-billable hours. Also, your capacity and any missing hours are shown in this area. Your capacity of hours per day is set by your Workspace Admin. Most full-time employees will have 8 available hours of capacity per day from Monday through Friday.
- Time Summarized by Status - In the middle section of the time statistics, your time is summarized by its current status and represented in a bar. Time entries have one of the following status values: Not Submitted, Pending Approval, Approved, or Rejected. These status settings are color-coded, as mentioned earlier.
- Billable Utilization Figures - On the right side of the statistics area, you will see your billable utilization figures. These show your billable utilization, target billable percentage, and target attainment percentage for the period. These utilization figures are discussed in more detail in the personal dashboard help article.