Projects involve multiple activities by a number of people. These activities are time-sensitive and must be monitored to keep costs and timelines on track. Timesheets are used to track the amount of time spent on various activities. Users can log time for the activities assigned to them and send them for approval.
Zoho Projects Timesheet module supports three types of views: List, Grid, and Calendar. These views are accessible from the global Timesheets under Work Overview and the Timesheet module under individual projects.
List view displays the time logs for tasks and issues by day for the selected period. The list view also shows details like the billing type, approval status, user name, and so on. The view also displays any custom fields added to the associated timesheet layout.
Timesheets can be grouped by date or by user. Additionally, timesheets can be filtered to view data matching specific criteria.
The list view supports pagination. Users can choose to view 25, 50, or 100 records at a time. The navigation tools at the bottom-right corner let users move between pages.
Here is an
eBook to help understand timesheets in detail.
Timesheet list view features an advanced date picker.
- Day: Select a particular date to view all time logs entered that day.
- Week: Select a week to view all time logs entered that week.
- Month: Select a month to view all time logs entered that month.
- Range: Select a custom date range.
- Project Span: View timesheets for the entire project duration.
Add Time Log
- Navigate to a project from the Recent Projects tab or from the project list view.
- Click Timesheet in the top band.
- Click Add Time Log in the top-right corner.
- Select an entry from the Tasks/Issues field.
- Enter the Date.
- Select the User assigned to the task.
- It is also possible to enter the log hours for activities other than tasks and bugs. Click the Enter Other Log Entries link and enter the general activity details, if any.
- Click Select Task to log hours for tasks and bugs as usual.
- Additional notes can be given under Notes.
- Log the time in Daily Log and set the Billing Type.
- Select Approver from the drop-down.
- Click Add.
Weekly Time Log
- Navigate to a project from the Recent Projects tab or from the project list view.
- Click Timesheet in the top band.
- Click next to the Add Time Log button in the upper-right corner. Click Weekly Time Log.
- Enter the log details.
- Click next to the hours entered to add notes to your time log. The icon turns yellow when you add notes.
- Click to access the form and select Approver and add the Cost Per Hour. (Click Add)
- Click Save to add time logs.
- Add additional entries by clicking + Add Row.
- Remove a row by hovering over it and clicking .
- Click Save and Add New to enter more time logs.
- Uncheck the Billable box against each entry if you don't want to bill the time logs.
- General log entries can be added by clicking + next to the Task/Issue field.
User Time Log Summary in the Weekly Log
Users with permission to add time logs for other users can check the hours logged and the hours remaining for the day from the Weekly Log section.
- Navigate to a project from the Recent Projects tab or from the project list view.
- Click Timesheet in the top band.
- Click next to the Add Time Log button in the upper-right corner. Click Weekly Time Log.
- Select the user.
- Select a task or an issue.
- Click on the time summary below the day/date.
- View the number of hours logged by the selected user and the hours remaining as per the time log restrictions.
This summary can also be viewed when entering the weekly log from Overview > Timesheets section.
- Click the left and right arrows in the upper-right corner of the timesheet to view the previous and next week effort respectively.
- If Time Log Restriction is enabled, you cannot enter log hours exceeding the daily and weekly log hour limits.
- Time log cannot be added for a holiday, weekend, or while on leave.
Pin Time Log Entry
Users can pin their weekly time log entries. When an entry is pinned, the project (for global timesheets), user, and task are pre-selected the next time weekly time is logged.
- Navigate to a project from the Recent Projects tab or from the project list view.
- Click Timesheet in the top band.
- Click next to the Add Time Log button in the upper-right corner. Click Weekly Time Log.
- Select the user and task / issue (It is necessary to select both the fields).
- For global timesheets accessed from Overview > Timesheets, it is necessary to select a project, a user, and a task/issue.
- Hover over the row near the Total (HRS) column and click the pin () icon.
- Click on the icon again to unpin.
Pins also work for general time logs.
Approve Timesheet
If timesheet approval setting is enabled you can approve timesheets before they are billed.
Approve Timesheets
- Navigate to a project from Recent Projects tab or the projects list view.
- Click Timesheet in the top band to view the entries in the list view.
- Navigate to the record and then scroll to the Approval Status column. When a time log is submitted, the default status is Pending. Click on the field.
- Select Approved or Rejected and provide a reason for rejection.
- Timesheets can be approved in bulk too. Select one or more records and click Approval Status in the bulk update options . Select the required status.
- Approved time logs can be deleted but not edited.
- To edit an approved time log the status should be changed to Pending or Rejected.
- In List view, the timesheet entries can be filtered based on their approval status for billing. Also, while generating the invoice, only the approved timesheet entries are billed.
- When Time Log Restriction is enabled, you cannot update the status of the time logs that exceed the log hour limits using bulk update.
Approvers in Time Logs
Users can select an approver when adding time logs. (Portal Owner and Project Owner can always approve time logs). The Approver field is visible in the New Time Log form only if "
Log entries associated to you as approver" option is selecting from
Timesheet Approval Setting. The default Approver is the Project Owner. This can be changed by hovering over a user in the drop-down and clicking the default icon
. For all subsequent time log requests, this user will be selected as an Approver by default.
Admins can select themselves as approvers. Other profile users cannot select themselves as approvers.
View Notes For Log Entry
- Navigate to the timesheet entry and click on it to view Timesheet details page.
- Notes section displays the notes related to the timesheet.
- Make changes to the note and press Enter or Return key.
Group Timesheets
Timesheets present the hours logged by users in an easy to understand table. Timesheets can be grouped either by date or by users. Timesheet groups can be viewed from the Overview section and also from Timesheet module inside a project.
Group By Date
View all timesheets by grouped by date. The latest entries are displayed first.
- Navigate to Overview > Timesheets.
- Select Group By Date from the drop-down.
The time logs are grouped based on the date they were recorded. They are displayed in the reverse chronological order. i.e. The latest time logs will be displayed at the top
Group By Date Inside a Project
- Select a project from the Recent Projects tab or from the projects list view.
- Select the Timesheet module in the top panel.
- Select Group By Date from the drop-down.
Group By User
- Navigate to Overview > Timesheets.
- Select Group By Date from the drop-down.
- The time logs are grouped based on the users. The user names are sorted alphabetically.
- For every user, the projects are sorted based on the project ID.
- For every project, the latest log entry will be displayed first.
Filters in Timesheet Groups
Timesheets can be filtered to view time logs matching the selected criteria. Click
in the upper-right corner to view filter options.
Trash Time Log
- In Timesheet, under the List view, hover over a time log and click .
- Click Delete.
Start Timer From List View
Timers can be started from the list view of tasks or bugs. The timer icon is displayed when the task or issue is assigned to you.
Supported Time Entry Formats
Earlier, the only supported format of time entry was with a colon i.e. 3:30. We've now extended that further to include support for more time entry formats. For Example, if you enter 3.75, our timesheets automatically interprets the entered time as 3 hours and 45 minutes.
Timesheet Bulk Update
Timesheet entries can be updated in bulk or one after the other.
- Navigate to a project and click on Timesheet in the top band.
- Select multiple records to enable the bulk update options.
- Click on any of the fields displayed to update it for all entries. Both default and custom timesheet fields can be updated.
Troubleshooting Bulk Update Failure
If the timesheet bulk update fails, please check for the following cases:
- Time logs have a daily and/or weekly restriction.
- Work hours assigned for a task are limited.
- The field being updated is not used in the associated projects.
- Billing status cannot be updated if the task already has a billing type set.
- Time log is already invoiced and cannot be update.
- User in the Approver field is updated to approve own time logs. (A user cannot be an approver for their own time logs unless they are an Admin).
- User in the Approver field is not part of the project the time logs belong too.
- User in the Approver field does not have permission to approve time logs in the respective projects.
- User performing the bulk update does not have permission to approve time logs in the respective projects.
- User performing the bulk update is not the associated approver for the time logs.