You can input services such as design time, travel, and CAD work using time billing in Design Manager. How you decide to enter billable times depends mainly on two factors. Primarily, how you and your Client want billable time details displayed on the Invoice. They can be summated, listed individually, or a combination of the two, depending on the needs of a particular Client. Secondly, what reporting or analysis capabilities of time billing are useful to you and your company.
Basic Time Billing
Basic time billing would be adding a time entry and then adding that time entry to an Invoice. You can learn how to add a Time Entry here and you can learn how to create a Client Invoice here or you can watch the video below. Your Client Invoice will be created with a separate time supplement listing all the time entries in detail. This is an Invoice setting that can be changed by going to Settings in the black navigation bar to the left and clicking on Workflow Settings and then clicking on the Invoice tab. You can also change this on a Project level by going to the Project and clicking on Settings and then Advanced Settings and going to the Invoice tab. With this basic approach you can also manage your time by viewing time reports. You can see information on the time billing reports below.
Advanced Time Billing
Advanced time billing gives you more flexibility in recording, managing and invoicing time. But before you can use the more advanced side, you will need to set a few things up in Design Manager. First, would be adding unique Time Activities to your design billing process. Second, would be adding your employees into Design Manager. With both the Time Activities and Employees, you can set up to three different levels or tiers of billing rates and costs. Then you can set the Project to follow the rate/cost of the Employee or have the Time Activity override this with its own set of rates/costs.
Time Activities
Each Time Activity can have up to three separate levels or tiers of billing rates and costs. Note: rate refers to the price that your client will pay per hour for the activity and cost refers to the cost that the employee gets paid for the activity. You can leave the cost fields blank.
To access this, follow the steps below:
1. On the left side menu, click on Settings and then on the Glossary tab.
2. Click on the Time Activities tab. Here you can view and edit the Time Activities already listed in the Glossary and can add more by using the Add button if needed. Each Time Activity entry includes the following:
Time Activity Code: Check the automated code and edit if needed
Time Activity Name: Name of the activity
Description: Describes what the activity entails/what it is
Time Billing Rates: Can either choose to use the cost/rate of the Employee, which can depend on the Employee chosen or to always use the cost/rate that is manually entered below. Refer to #3 below to see how to check specific Employee rates. Choosing to always use the cost/rate that is manually entered on the Activity is recommended to standardize the pricing of something across all Projects and Employees
Taxable: Can choose whether the tax is brought in from the Project or the activity is taxable or not
Non-Billable: Can choose whether the activity is billable to a Client or not billable to a Client
Inactive: Can make the time activity inactive which will not show when adding a time entry
3. When finished making changes, click on Save.
Employees
Each Employee can have up to three separate levels or tiers of billing rates and costs. Note: rate refers to the price that your client will pay per hour for the activity and cost refers to the cost that the employee gets paid for the activity. You can leave the cost fields blank.
To access this, follow the steps below:
1. On the left side menu, click on Client and then click on Employees.
2. Either add a new Employee or click on the Employee Code or Employee Name to edit the employee’s contact.
3. Go to the Time tab. Here you can view and edit the Tier cost and rates of the Employee.
4. When finished making changes, click on Save
Project Time Tiers
You can have up to three separate levels of billing rates and costs and can assign those to each Project. To change the tier of your Project, follow the steps below:
1. On the left side menu, click on Projects, find the Project you want to add billing rates to, and click on the Project Code or Project Name.
2. Click on the Settings tab within the Project.
3. Under Defaults, the Time Billing Tier drop-down box will allow you to select which tier you’d like to classify the Project as.
Once Payment Tier and Time Activities are assessed, you can begin to add time entries. Click here to learn how to add a time entry.
When you are ready to invoice your Client for billable time, you can create an Invoice, click here to learn how to create a Client Invoice. Your Client Invoice will be created with a separate time supplement listing all the time entries in detail. This is an Invoice setting that can be changed by going to Settings in the black navigation bar to the left and clicking on Workflow Settings and then clicking on the Invoice tab. You can also change this on a Project level by going to the Project and clicking on Settings and then Advanced Settings and going to the Invoice tab.
Time Billing Reports
To access the time billing reports, go to the left side menu and click on Reporting. Towards the bottom of the reports listed, you'll find the Time Billing section.
1. Employee Time Analysis: This report displays both Billable and Non-billable Time Entries for a particular Employee. Time Entries are grouped and subtotaled by either Project or Time Activity within the Employee depending on the Sort By option. Ranges for Clients, Projects, Employees, Time Activities, and Time Entry Dates are available to optionally narrow the scope of the report. The Show Descriptions option determines whether or not the Descriptions of the Time Entries will be displayed. As showing the Descriptions can greatly increase the length of the report, the Show Descriptions option is defaulted to No.
Here is an example of what this report will show
2. Project Time Analysis: This report displays both Billable and Non-billable Time Entries for a particular Project. The same as the Employee Time Analysis report above. The difference is that this will show Time by Project instead of Employee. Time Entries are grouped and subtotaled by either Employee or Time Activity within the Project depending on the Sort By option. Ranges for Clients, Projects, Employees, Time Activities, and Time Entry Dates are available to optionally narrow the scope of the report. The Show Descriptions option determines whether or not the Descriptions of the Time Entries will be displayed; as showing the Descriptions can greatly increase the length of the report, the Show Descriptions option is defaulted to No. Also, select whether to show a Summary of the selected Sort By at the end of the report.
Here is an example of what this report will show
3. Hours Journal: This report shows both Billable and Non-billable Time Entries entered within a specified calendar period. Time Entries are grouped and subtotaled by Employee and listed in Activity Date order within the Employee. Ranges for Activity Dates, Clients, Projects, and Employees are available to optionally narrow the scope of the report. The report displays the Project, Reference Number, Date, Hours, Cost, Taxable status, and Billable and Non-billable Amounts for each Time Entry.
Here is an example of what this report will show
4. Time Work in Process: This report is used to identify and analyze Time Entries that have not yet been invoiced to the Client. The report lists the Project, Time Activity, Reference Number, Description, Employee, Hours, Cost, and Price for each Time Entry. Ranges for Clients, Projects, Time Activities, and Entry Dates are available to narrow the scope of the report. Time Entries can be grouped and subtotaled by either Project or Time Activity depending on the Sort By selection.
Here is an example of what this report will show
