Overview
Note: Help content (except videos) has been updated to reflect the UI/UX changes in BQE CORE.
In addition to Settings, BQE CORE supports individual preferences that affect only your own CORE account. The User Settings screen enables you to customize the look and feel of CORE along with other preferences such as notifications, reminders, side menu, email settings, time entry and more. You can also edit your personal profile, update the password for your CORE account, and enable two-factor authentication from here.
Based on your preferences, CORE can send specific notifications to you. In addition, you can choose various categories of reminders. In addition, CORE uses its intelligence to send general reminders to you based on any anomalies or issues it might find.
CORE allows you to set up a default emails with predefined subject, file names and messages for your invoices, statements, reports, payment receipts, etc. It uses the AWS SMTP server to send out all emails. You can specify email settings for the entire company from the Settings screen; User Settings will be used only if Settings are blank or you have checked the override option there. A system or IT administrator should configure your email settings.
Note: Typically, User Settings override the corresponding Settings, if any.
How To
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Field Descriptions
| Field Name | Field Description |
| User Settings > Two-Factor Authentication > | |
| Enable Two-Factor Authentication | For additional layer of security, you can enable the two-factor authentication (2FA) method for logging into your CORE company. This ensures that unauthorized people are not logging into CORE and accessing your company data. However, this 2FA option is unavailable for trial accounts and companies. CORE allows you to disable 2FA temporarily without losing all your previous configuration by un-checking this option. |
| Verification Method |
Select the verification method that you prefer for 2FA:
|
| Phone Verification Method | You can opt for verification over the phone either via:
Please note that standard carrier message and data rates might apply for this verification, depending on your phone plan. |
| Phone Number | You must select the Country code from the drop-down first and then enter the phone number. This is a required field. |
| Code Delivery Method | You can choose one of the methods for the delivery of the authentication code. CORE then accordingly sends the 2FA code to the selected channel:
Please note that standard carrier message and data rates might apply for this authentication, depending on your phone plan. |
| User Settings > Reminders > | |
| Previous week's/day's time card has less than . . . hours | Reminds you about your incomplete time card based on the hours specified here for the week or day. This is processed on login for the logged-in user. The criteria that triggers this reminder is that the hours logged or submitted for the previous week or day are less than what is set here as the weekly or daily hours. In both cases, it defaults to the employee’s standard weekly and daily hours, say 40 per week and 8 per day. |
| User Settings > Time Settings > | |
|
Time Entry: Auto-create Time Card activities based on |
You can choose the relevant settings for your Time Card:
|
| Automatically set start time | You can choose to let CORE automatically fill the start time of a time entry as set in the 'Default start time' field. By default, the start time of an entry will be the stop time of the previous entry, if for the same date. |
| Show start/stop time in universal format | Allows you to specify the start and stop time in the military 24-hour HH:MM format instead of the 12-hour AM/PM format. Depending on your selection here, the Start/Stop Time drop-down lists display the options accordingly (13:00 or 01:00 PM) in the Time Entries and Calendar screens. |
| Show allocation summary | Allows you to display the task allocation summary by default on the Time Card and Time Entries screen. |
|
Timer: Auto-fill Timer with the last...projects/activities |
Automatically pre-fills the Timers grid with the recently or last used projects and activities. This saves a lot of time, especially if you work on the same projects and activities every week. It applies to both the Timers quick drop-down menu as well as the main screen. |
| User Settings > Email Settings > | |
| Invoices/Statements/ Reports/Payment Receipts: Add Smart Field |
Smart fields are placeholder fields (variables) that allow CORE to auto-fill with IDs or values when emailing your invoices, statements, reports, or receipts. You can add multiple smart fields to the subject, file name and default message of your emails. Example: You can add {ClientID}{ProjectID}{Invoice_Number} to the Subject field of invoices. CORE auto-fills it with the relevant client, project and invoice number when composing the email. COTTorrance Airport:1222 where COT is the client ID (City of Torrance) and Torrance Airport is the project ID and 1222 is the current invoice number. Adding smart fields gives you the flexibility to customize the subject, file name and standard messages of your emails. This results in personalization of communication. These settings can be set at the global level and then overridden at the user level here. |
|
User Settings > Display Options > |
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|
Reset Options |
Allows you to clear out all the screen filters and reset dialog confirmations for the logged user. It also applies to the Disable Filters option in all CORE screens. |
|
Theme |
You can choose between the Light and Dark themes for CORE.
|
|
Fields & Filters: Auto Complete |
Allows you to turn off the Auto Complete feature at the user level. CORE no longer replaces your shorthand text with the longhand descriptions. |
|
Drop-down Suggestions |
Allows you to turn off recent suggestions in the drop-down lists. When this option is turned on, CORE displays the recently-used items in the drop-downs. |
| Drop-downs Search | You can choose how CORE allows you to search the drop-down lists. It can either do a wildcard search for the text entered by matching it anywhere in the list or it can match the search text with the starting text only.
|
| Filter Drop-downs |
By default, CORE does not include inactive records or items in the drop-down lists. Here, you can configure your drop-downs to include inactive items in the lists. As an example, you can also include vendors in the Employees drop-downs. Otherwise, only employees, contract employees, and outside consultants appear in them. However, an exception to this is the workflow drop-drops wherein actual vendors are always excluded, irrespective of the preference here. Similarly, you can choose to include other inactive records (vendors, activity items, and expense items) in the drop-down lists. For employee drop-downs, you can choose to include inactive and terminated employees and for project drop-downs, you can choose to include projects with status inactive, completed, canceled, draft, or hold. |
| Default CORE View | Allows you to set the default view or screen when you log into CORE. You can choose one of the options for your start-up screen:
|
Specify My User Settings
You can set your personal preferences for CORE here. To do so:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select a panel on the left and then choose the desired settings and options on the right.
- Click Save.
Update User Information
As a CORE user, you can view your personal profile on this screen. This screen also allows you to edit your information except for the email address as it is your login. The country specified by you in your user profile determines the date and number format for your CORE company.
To edit your user profile in CORE:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select the relevant panel on the left, User Information in this case.
- Review or edit your user name and contact information here. You can also add or update your profile picture (User Photo), which is then visible in the top user menu. You can remove or change the profile picture by hovering on it and clicking x.
- Enter more details or make your changes. Click Save.
Change Password
CORE allows you to edit your account password. However, you cannot change your email address as it is your login.
To change your CORE password:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select the Password & Log In panel on the left.
- On the Password and Login screen, click Change Password. If you have 2FA enabled for this account, you will be prompted to authenticate to prevent any unauthorized users from updating or changing the password in CORE.
- Next on the Change Password panel, enter the required information:
- Current Password
- New Password
- Confirm Password
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Click Change Password.
Note: CORE follows a strong password policy and so you must meet those requirements:
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Use 8 or more characters
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Use uppercase and lowercase letters (e.g., Aa)
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Use a number (e.g., 1, 2, 3)
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Use a symbol (e.g., ! # $ but wildcard characters like * and ? are not allowed)
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) or Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) means that when you try to log in to an application, say CORE, it asks for an authentication code that is generated dynamically and sent to your phone number, as specified when configuring it. This is implemented for an additional layer of security for logging into your CORE company. It ensures that unauthorized people cannot log into CORE and access your company data. You can set this option globally for all users from Settings > Access & Permissions > Login Security and then have individual users specify their own settings here. This option is not available for trial accounts and companies.
To enable two-factor authentication at CORE sign-in, follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select the relevant panel on the left, Password & Log In.
- On the Password and Login screen, click the toggle to enable Two-Factor Authentication. This option is enabled and not editable if your CORE admin has enforced a 2FA authentication policy for your role in Settings. Do note that if you choose to disable 2FA, CORE prompts you to confirm your identity again before allowing you to disable this setting.
- Click Set up 2FA and select the Authentication Method that you prefer. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Authenticator App (Click Continue after installing the app.)
- Text Message
- Phone Call
- CORE needs to verify a valid phone number to enable 2FA. For Phone Verification Method, select Text Message or Phone Call. Please note that standard carrier message and data rates might apply for this verification, depending on your phone plan.
- Next, select the country code from the drop-down, enter the phone number, and click Continue.
- When you receive the verification code on your phone, enter it here and click Verify.
- After your phone number is registered, depending on your selected method, you can take the next step. For Authenticator App, it generates a QR code and asks you to use your Authenticator App to scan the QR code, which in turn generates a verification code.
- At any point, you can change your Authentication Method and select a different verification method. You can do so by clicking on the re-authenticate link on the Password & Login screen.
- Before you can change or choose a different authentication method in CORE, you are prompted to authenticate your login using the current authentication method.
Note: CORE allows you to disable 2FA temporarily without losing your previous configuration by just un-checking Enable Two-Factor Authentication at the top. However, this option remains enabled and not editable if your CORE Admin has enforced a 2FA authentication policy for your role in Settings.
Set Notifications
If you are responsible for reviewing or approving time and expenses of other employees, you can set up notifications and reminders here instead of checking CORE every now and then for submitted entries. Same applies to your submissions. The notifications set here alert you (logged-in user) about the important actions taken by someone else (say your manager) or the pending actions you have to take. These appear on the Notifications panel on the top icon bar.
To set up a notification, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select the Notifications panel on the left.
- On the Notifications panel, choose to send the notifications via email, if you prefer.
- Select all the relevant Personal Notifications from the list. If you are a manager, you might want to select the Reviewer Notifications as well.
- Click Save.
Set Reminders
The reminders set here inform you (logged-in user) about the pending actions you have to take. You can dismiss the reminders if you do not want to take any action on them. All the reminders are triggered if the associated condition is met and it has been more than 24 hours for that condition. There are various categories of reminders that you can choose to be informed about. For instance, the 'Time entries awaiting my review' reminder is triggered when it has been more then 24 hours since the time entries were submitted to you and you still have not taken any action on them. These appear on the Notifications panel on the top icon bar under Reminders.
To set up a reminder, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Select the Reminders panel on the left.
- On the Reminders panel, select all the relevant reminders from the list. These reminders are displayed based on their default triggers.
- Click Save.
Email Payment Receipts
As a business professional, you might want to send a Thank You note to your clients along with a payment receipt. CORE not only allows you to do that, but also automates this process. It is smart enough to email the payment receipts to your clients automatically with your custom message. You can do this at the global level as well as the user level.
To set up automatic payment receipts, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Click Email Settings on the left panel.
- After entering your User Information, click the Payment Receipts tab.
- Enter the default Subject and Message for your payment receipts. If you want, you can add smart fields to it so that CORE can auto-fill them with specific IDs on emailing.
- Click Save.
Note: Make sure to check the option 'Email payment receipts to the clients’ in the Settings > General > Billing & Invoices screen.
Customize Side Menu
You can customize the order of your CORE screens or features as listed on the side menu. The visibility and access to these screens depends on your security permissions and subscriptions. You can manage the order of that list from here. These settings are remembered for the logged-in users.
To customize your side menu, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Click Side Navigation on the left panel.
- To reorder the screens in your side menu, click
and move the row up or down.
- Click Save.
You can click Reset to Default on the top-right to go back to the original order, if needed.
Manage Favorites Menu
You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage this favorites list from here.
To manage your Favorites menu, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Click Favorites on the left panel.
- To remove a screen from your Favorites menu, select it on the grid and click Remove on that row.
- Else, select multiple screen names and then click Remove Favorite on the top of the grid.
- To reorder the screens in your Favorites menu, click
Mark Screen as Favorite
You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from here.
To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the User Settings screen from the top user menu.
- Click
on the top-right.
- You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.
You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.