Timers

Overview

Timers is a stopwatch method of tracking your time on various activities. You can start and stop a timer when working on a task just like time clocks (also known as punch clocks). For instance, it is very common for lawyers to start a timer the moment they pick up the phone because their bill rates are extremely high. You can have multiple timers open at a time and can easily switch between them. For example, a lawyer commuting for a client's project and making a call to another client on the way. While you can record your time using multiple timers, you must save that time and log it into the main time entry screen.

BQE CORE offers a Timers drop-down screen via the top icon bar to enter your time quickly on multiple projects and activities. It also provides a detailed Timers screen where you can view and manage all your timers. You can start a timer without providing all the required details. This allows you to get started quickly. CORE allows you to run the timers for other employees as well. But when those users log in, they do not notice the timers running. This allows managers to create timers for their employees without them seeing any notification badges. With privileged access, you can manage timers for all users in the Timers list view. Click to watch this video on using timers in CORE.

You can set the Timers to auto-populate with the most recently-used projects and activities to speed up the time entry process. The limit to the number of predicted entries can be set up in User Settings.

Field Descriptions

How To

Run Timers

Edit Timers

Submit Time

Reset Timers

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

Export Timer Entries

Mark Screen as Favorite

Field Descriptions

Run Timers

You can immediately start a timer even if nothing is defined and the details (project and activity) are not yet known. These details can be filled out later when saving the time entry.

To start a timer, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Timers drop-down screen from the top icon bar and then click Add Timer.
   
   
   
   

2. On the Add Timer dialog, click Run Timer to start the timer immediately.
   
   

3. You can just click Save Timer to continue working and enter the details later in the edit mode. Alternatively, you can enter the required information now:

• • Hours: When time is being recorded by the timer, it gets filled in automatically here. Check Field Descriptions above for details.

  • Employee

  • Project

  • Activity

4. Optionally, you can enter a memo.

5. Click Save Timer. Saving a timer does not automatically create a time entry; your timer gets added to the Timers list. From there you can pause, start and edit it. After starting a timer, it is not deleted even if the time is unsaved or the session is closed. You can click Create Time Entry, if you have finished your work and want to log your time.

Note: On the main Timers screen, running timers appear in bold for easy identification.

Edit Timers

Sometimes mistakes happen and you might have a timer that was 30 minutes on but you canceled it. Or sometimes your timer logs, say, 2 hours for time card or payroll purposes, but you want the client to be charged only 1 hour. For such situations, CORE allows you to enter and adjust the Hours:Minutes:Seconds manually in the timer. Security permitting, you can start a timer from 00:00:00 and at any point of time, pause it and edit the time.

To edit a timer, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Timers drop-down screen from the top icon bar.
   
   
   
   
2. Click the dots (...) next to a timer in the list and then click Edit . If you are using the main Timers screen, then click  on a row to select View Details.
3. On the Edit Timer dialog, adjust the time by changing the value in the Time or Hours field. 
   
   
   
   
4. Click Save Timer. You can click Create Time Entry, if you have finished your work and want to log your time.

Submit Time

CORE allows you to submit the selected time entries for approval using various options. When time entries are submitted, the supervisor or manager gets notified about these submissions. You cannot submit entries or items that are already approved. In case of email notifications, CORE allows managers to quickly approve or reject the workflow entries or items submitted by employees directly from the emails.

To submit a timer entry, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Timers drop-down screen from the top icon bar.
   
   
   
   
2. Select a timer in the list that you want to submit.
3. Click Actions > Create and Submit.
4. On the Submit Time dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
   
   

   • Submit To

   • Resource: This can be an employee or a vendor (contract employee or outside consultant). 

   • Type: 
     - Billing and Payroll
     - Billing
     - Payroll

   • Memo

   

   
   
5. Click Done.

Your time entry is created and submitted for approval. You can also submit your time from the main Timers screen.

Reset Timers

To reset a timer, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the Timers drop-down screen from the top icon bar.
   
   
   
   
2. Select a timer in the list that you want to reset.
3. Click Actions > Reset.
4. You are prompted to confirm the action. Click Yes.

Your timer is set to zero (0) now. You can also reset your timer from the main Timers screen.

Show/Hide Columns in Grid

You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.

To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the main Timers screen from the top icon bar by opening the Timers drop-down screen and then clicking All Timers.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
3. Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Start Time.
4. Next, click the column name you want to sort the data by, say Activity.
5. Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).

Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).

You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.

Export Timer Entries

In CORE, you can export timer records to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.

To export time records to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the main Timers screen from the top icon bar by opening the Timers drop-down screen and then clicking All Timers.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
3. A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.

You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.

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 User Settings.

To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:

1. Open the main Timers screen from the top icon bar by opening the Timers drop-down screen and then clicking All Timers.
   
   
   
   
2. In the list view, click  on the top-right.
3. 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.