Entering individual staff time and expenses

Entering a time transaction

From the Actions menu, choose Time & Expense Entry.
Click the Entry tab.
In the
Staff
field, enter the staff ID or name, or select it from the drop-down list.
note
The
Staff
field is a user-defined terminology field.
If your firm uses a term other than Staff, you can change it in the Firm setup screen (Setup > Firm > Terminology tab). To view the default terminology for any screen or field, choose Enable Default Terminology from the Help menu (or press CTRL+SHIFT+H).
The other variable fields in this screen are
Client
,
Engagement
,
Project
, and
Activity
.
In the
Sheet Date
field, enter a date for the timesheet, or click the button and select a sheet date from the drop-down calendar.
note
Dates in red on the calendar contain time and expense entries. If you pause your mouse pointer over a date in red, a tool tip will display the number of hours entered for that day.
On the Time subtab, click the
Client
field in the first blank row, and select a client ID from the drop-down list.
Complete the
Engagement
field (required).
note
If you have chosen a default in User Preferences for the client, engagement, or activity, these fields will be completed automatically by the application and may be hidden.
If your firm is licensed for the Project Management module, update project and task information as needed.
If there is a project associated with this entry, select it in the
Project
field.
To update project tracking information, either right-click the
Project
field or click the Task Selection button next to the
Project
field to open the Task Selection dialog.
If there is a task associated with this entry, select it from the
Task
list.
note
If the task you select has an activity associated with it, the
Activity
field is completed automatically.
To update task tracking information, either right-click the
Task
field or click the Task Selection button next to the
Project
field to open the Task Selection dialog.
In the
Date
field, you can enter a date or click the button to select it from the drop-down calendar. If you have specified a default date, the application will complete the
Date
field with the default you selected. If you have not specified a default date and leave the
Date
field blank, the application will enter the date from the previous transaction.
note
The application will also complete the
Client, Engagement,
and
Activity
fields with the entry from the previous transaction, if you leave them blank.
If your firm has assigned rates to activities or engagements, the
Rate
field is completed automatically by the application; if not, you must select the rate from the drop-down list.
note
If you do not have security permission to override rates, this field is hidden.
In the
Hours
field, enter the number of hours or select the number from the drop-down calculator.
note
This column will be labeled either Hours or Minutes depending on the User Preferences your firm has selected for entering time.
If preferred, you can start a timer rather than entering an amount in the
Hours
field.
The application calculates the
Amount
field automatically.
note
If you do not have security permission to view WIP amounts, this field is hidden.
Staff with the appropriate security permission can override the amount, if necessary. When an amount is overridden, it appears in red. Amounts that you override cannot be recalculated by the application; you can only change them manually.
You can enter an optional comment in the
Comment
field. If you need more space to enter information, click the Comment button and enter the text in the Comment dialog.
Use this field to enter an optional comment on time and expense entries that you can include on invoices and reports. If the text you enter is longer than the length of the field, the Comment dialog opens to provide more space to type. To save time, you can select a pre-defined text item from the
Standard text
field to use as the comment.
These standard text entries come from Setup > Standard Text.
Click the Check Spelling button to spell check your comment. Click OK to return to the Time & Expense Entry screen.
You can also add an optional note to the biller in the
Biller Note
field.
Use the
Biller Note
field to enter an optional note on time and expense entries for billing. This note is for internal purposes only. If the text you enter is longer than the length of the field, the Biller Note dialog opens to provide more space to type. To save time, you can select a pre-defined text item from the
Standard text
field to use as the biller note.
These standard text entries come from Setup > Standard Text.
Click the Check Spelling button to spell check the biller note. Click OK to return to the Time & Expense Entry screen.
Press the TAB key until you reach the end of the line to complete the entry.

Entering comp time

On the Entry tab of the Time & Expense Entry screen, select a staff member and sheet date.
Click the Comp Time button.
In the Comp Time Detail dialog, enter a date for the comp time entry in the
Date
field of the last row. This should be the date on which the comp time was earned or used.
In the
Description
field, select Earned, Used, or Manual Adjustment.
Earned
— comp time was earned on this date
Used
— comp time was used on this date
Manual Adjustment
— an adjustment is required (should be used as necessary by firm administrators)
In the
Hours
field, enter the number of hours.
note
If you selected Used in the
Description
field, the number in this field will be displayed as a negative amount.
Click OK.

Entering an expense transaction

Click the Expense subtab.
Select the Client and Engagement for the expense.
If there is a project associated with the expense entry, select it from the
Project
drop-down list. Click the Task Selection button next to the
Project
field to open the Task Selection dialog and update task information.
note
For expense entries, only tasks with an expense type activity are available in the Task Selection dialog.
Select an Activity for the expense. This is a required field. Note that only expense type activities are available in the drop-down list.
Enter or select a date for the expense.
Enter the number of units for the expense, or use the drop-down calculator, to complete the
Units
field.
The
Unit Price
field shows the unit price that has been set up for the selected activity. You can enter a different price, if necessary.
The
Amount
field is calculated automatically by multiplying the number of units by the unit price.
You can optionally enter text in the
Comment
field by clicking the Comment button and entering or selecting text in the Comment dialog.
You can also add an optional note to the biller in the
Biller Note
field.
Press the TAB key until you reach the end of the line to complete the expense entry.

Editing on the fly