Time Tracking

Track billable hours and invoice clients for your time.

Setting Up Time Tracking

Time tracking is available in Professional tier and above.

1. Go to Settings → Features
2. Enable Time Tracking
3. Configure default hourly rate (optional)

Recording Time Entries

1. Go to Time Tracking in sidebar
2. Click New Time Entry
3. Fill in:
   • Date: When the work was done
   • Customer: Who to bill
   • Service: Type of work
   • Hours: Time spent
   • Description: What was done
   • Billable: Check if billable to customer
4. Click Save

Timer Feature

Track time in real-time:

1. Click Start Timer
2. Select customer and service
3. Work on your task
4. Click Stop when done
5. Time entry is created automatically

Billable vs Non-Billable

• Billable: Time you'll invoice to the customer
• Non-Billable: Internal time (admin, meetings, etc.)

Toggle the Billable checkbox on each time entry.

Invoicing Time Entries

1. Go to Time Tracking
2. Filter by customer
3. Select unbilled time entries
4. Click Create Invoice
5. Time entries are added as line items
6. Review and send invoice

Once invoiced, time entries are marked as billed and won't appear in the unbilled list.

Invoice Audit Trail

Anytime an invoice line is produced from a timer, BizBooks Pro retains a direct pointer back to that original time entry. The pointer is persistent -- revising the quantity on the invoice, changing the description, or writing hours down later does not break the connection to the source record.

Reopen an invoice to edit and you'll notice a small staff-facing note appears under any line that came from the timer. It shows when the timer was started, when it was stopped, and the resulting elapsed time (for instance: Timer: 4/22/2026, 10:04:12 AM → 10:18:47 AM (14m 35s)). The note is an internal marker only and is suppressed from the PDF that goes out to your customer.

Because start and stop times are recorded at second-level resolution, brief sessions -- even under a minute -- still bill for their correct dollar amount rather than disappearing into rounded zeros.

Internal Billing Record

On the invoice list, each row has a clipboard icon (📋). Click it to bring up an internal-only billing record that summarizes every timer session that contributed to the invoice. The header is boldly flagged CONFIDENTIAL -- INTERNAL USE ONLY so there is no ambiguity about its audience.

The record includes, per time entry:

• Date of the work
• What was done and which project it ties to
• Exact timer start and stop timestamps
• Computed duration and hours (to four decimal places)
• Billing rate and line total
• Which team member recorded the entry

A Print / Save PDF button in the footer sends the page to your printer or saves a PDF for the matter file.

Employee Punch Clock - Overview

BizBooks Pro includes a complete time-clock module for hourly employees and 1099 contractors. Workers can punch in from a shared kiosk (tablet or PC at the workplace) or from their own phone. Each punch captures a selfie photo, GPS location, and an optional project tag. Managers review punches in a weekly approval queue and export approved hours to payroll.

Initial Setup

1. Go to Settings → Time Clock.
2. On the Rules tab, choose what's required at clock-in: photo, GPS, project, notes at clock-out.
3. Set the overtime threshold (default 40 hours/week → 1.5x) and the workweek start day.
4. Adjust PIN lockout settings (default: 5 failed attempts → 15-minute lockout).
5. Click Save Settings.

Kiosk Pairing

For shared-device punching (e.g. a tablet at the front desk):

1. In Settings → Time Clock → Kiosk Devices, click + Pair New Device.
2. Give it a name (e.g. "Shop floor iPad") and an optional location label.
3. Click Generate Token. A long token will appear - copy it immediately; it is not shown again.
4. On the kiosk device, open yourapp.com/kiosk.
5. Paste the token in the pairing field and tap Pair Kiosk.
6. The kiosk is now signed in and stays signed in until you unpair it.

Setting Employee PINs

1. In Settings → Time Clock → Employee PINs, click Set PIN next to an employee.
2. Either type a 4-8 digit PIN or leave the field blank to auto-generate a 4-digit one.
3. The PIN is shown once in a callout - give it to the employee right away. It is hashed and cannot be retrieved later.
4. To rotate a PIN later, click Reset. To revoke punch access, click Remove.

Clocking In & Out

Kiosk flow:

1. Worker taps their name on the employee grid.
2. Enters their PIN on the on-screen keypad.
3. If clocking in: camera does a 3-2-1 countdown and snaps a selfie; GPS is captured; worker picks a project (if required); taps Clock In.
4. If clocking out: live elapsed time shows; worker types optional notes; taps Clock Out.
5. A confirmation screen appears and the kiosk auto-returns to the employee grid after 5 seconds.

Personal-device flow: The employee opens BizBooks Pro on their phone, navigates to Time Tracking, and uses the punch panel at the top. The flow mirrors the kiosk (photo + GPS + project on clock-in, notes on clock-out).

Approving Punches

1. Go to Time Tracking → Approvals tab.
2. You'll see a weekly grid: rows are employees, columns are weekdays, totals on the right.
3. Overtime cells are highlighted orange. Pending punches show a blue counter.
4. Click an employee row to expand the day-by-day punch list with photo thumbnails, GPS map pins, and notes.
5. Per-punch buttons: Approve (turns the punch into a time entry with regular/OT split), Reject (with optional reason), Edit (change in/out times, project, or add a manager note).
6. Use the checkboxes + Approve Selected button for bulk approval, or click Approve Week next to a single employee.
7. Navigate weeks with the Prev Week / Next Week / This Week buttons.

Overtime Rules

BizBooks Pro computes overtime per workweek per employee using federal rules: anything over 40 hours in a workweek is paid at 1.5x. When you approve a punch, hours are split between the regular_hours and overtime_hours columns automatically.

• Threshold defaults to 40 hours/week. Adjust in Settings → Time Clock → Rules.
• Workweek start defaults to Monday. Adjust to match your pay cycle.
• If an employee has 38 regular hours approved and you approve a new 5-hour punch, the system books 2 hours as regular and 3 as OT.

Payroll Export

1. From the Approvals tab, click 📤 Export to Payroll.
2. Choose pay period start and end (defaults to the current week).
3. Pick format: Gusto-compatible CSV or ADP-compatible CSV.
4. Leave Mark as exported checked to lock the entries from further edits.
5. Click Download CSV. Upload the file to your payroll provider.

Only entries that are approved and not yet exported are included. The export is logged for audit purposes.

Tracking 1099 Contractors

The punch-clock flow works identically for independent contractors. The difference is at year-end: contractor hours roll up automatically into the 1099 Center, so you can issue 1099-NEC forms without exporting to a separate system.

1. Create the contractor as an Employee with employment_type = Contractor.
2. Either issue them a PIN (kiosk punching) or link a user account (mobile punching).
3. Approve their hours weekly as you would for employees.
4. At year-end, the 1099 Center pulls the contractor's total approved hours × their pay rate.