Time Entry Settings

Settings > Time & Expenses > Time Entry >

General:

Auto-approve time entries for employees

Selects the Auto Approve Time option in the Employees screen for all new employees. This means time entries logged by all employees get automatically approved and there is no need for any submission of entries.

Time entry memo required

You can check this option if you want all employees to enter memos for their time entries on all projects. This is usually required in government contracts. You can override this rule at the project level.

Time entry rejection memo required

You can make entering a memo a requirement while rejecting time entries to explain why they were rejected. The next time you reject time entries, CORE prompts you to enter a rejection memo.

Adjust stop time when client hours are changed

Time entry made through start and stop time reflects the actual time worked on an activity. This time can be different from what is billed to the client. This option automatically adjusts the stop time if client hours are changed.

Skip time evaluation

CORE stops evaluating time entries of fixed-type projects. Otherwise, based on the comparison between the Contract Amount and Total Amount Spent [approved/unapproved billable and non-billable time and expenses including taxes and markups, but excluding WUD, extra time and expenses] [billable and non-billable services + non-billable expenses] of a project, it determines if an entry is billable or not. When Amount Spent > Contract Amount, you are prompted and the time entry's bill status is automatically adjusted as the project is over budget. You can continue to log non-billable entries or manually change its status to billable. You can override this rule at the project level.

Close Time Entries:

Prevent modification to past time entries: Older than......days

Time entries are not saved or deleted if the dates are older than the number of days set here. This defines the number of days into the past allowed for saving or deleting any time entry, thus ensuring that employees record or edit their time within the days specified by you, say, 7 days before the current day. This cannot be a negative number.

You can enter any value between 1 and 365 to define how many days in the past you would like time entries to be restricted. 

Example: If today's date is January 19, 2025 and you enter 14 in the field, CORE does not allow you to enter time older than January 5, 2025.

Note: These restrictions do not apply to editing time entries during the billing process.

Prior to 

Allows you to specify a past date to restrict time entry or editing. Select this option if you want all entries with a date before the specified date to be restricted. For example, if you have set your settings to Prior to January 31, 2025, all time entries prior to January 30, 2025 will be restricted.

On a rolling basis

Allows you to specify a rolling time period for setting restrictions on time entries. You can select from two options:

• Weekly: Allows you to set restrictions on time entries on a weekly basis. You can specify a specific day of the week for the restriction, and time at which the restriction will take effect. The day of week is selected from a predefined list, including options such as Last Day, Following Sunday, Following Monday, Following Tuesday, etc. The time is displayed in 30-minute increments in the drop-down list.
  Example: If you configure the settings as Lock time entries for the prior 1 week on the Last Day at 6:00 PM local time, and the company’s last day of the week is set to Friday then if today is August 19, 2025, there will be no restriction between August 19, 2025, to August 23, 2025 and till 5:59 PM. Restrictions will be enforced starting at 6:00 PM on August 23, 2025.
• Biweekly: Allows you to set restrictions on time entries on a biweekly basis. You can specify a specific day of the week for the restriction, and time at which the restriction will take effect. The day of week is selected from a predefined list, including options such as Last Day, Following Sunday, Following Monday, Following Tuesday, etc. The time is displayed in 30-minute increments in the drop-down list.
  Example: If you configure the settings to lock time entries for the prior biweekly period on the last day at 12:00 AM local time, and the biweekly period is set from November 15th to November 28th, 2025, then if today is November 15th, 2025, there will be no restrictions on time entries between November 15th and November 28th, 2025. Restrictions will be enforced for the prior biweekly period from November 1st to November 14th.
• Monthly: Allows you to set restrictions on time entries on a monthly basis. You can specify the specific day of the following month for which the restriction will apply and the time at which the restriction will take effect. For the specific day, you can choose either the last day of the current month or a day between 1 and 15 of the following month. If you select Last Day, the restriction applies to the last day of the following month. The time is displayed in 30-minute increments in the drop-down list. For example, if you configure the settings as Lock time entries for the prior month on the Last Day of the month at 6:00 PM local time, and today is August 19, 2025, there will be no restriction between August 1, 2025, to August 31, 2025 till 5:59 PM. Restrictions will be enforced starting at 6:00 PM on August 31, 2025.

Note: When defining a rolling basis, the restrictions are cumulative. This means that all time entries before the selected period will also be restricted, applying the rules retroactively.

Allow exceptions

Enable this option if you want to allow specific exceptions for some CORE users to create, update, and delete time entries beyond the defined restrictions.

Prevent modification to future time entries

When enabled, this setting will limit you to edit time entries for the specified future period. When a range of 1 to 365 days is specified, you will be allowed to edit time till the indicated number of days in the future. For example, if today is August 19, 2025, and you have specified 7 days in the field, you will be able to create, read, update, and delete entries from the current day till August 27, 2025.

Note: These restrictions do not apply to editing time entries during the billing process.