As well as adding individual time via the + button and selecting Time, and with the Add Time button in the drawer, you can also use the Bulk Time Entry function to create draft time for emails and documents. The draft time entries are created for emails and documents that you have selected in a list. Time entries are created for the date the email/document was last modified.
This article contains the following sections:
- Creating Bulk Time Entries
- Displaying your Time Entries
- Summary of Submitted and Draft Totals for the Day
- Adding the Hours to Bulk Created Time and Making Changes
- Updating the Time Entry from the Drawer
- Deleting Draft Time
- Draft Time without a Job or XPM Task
- Submitting the Time
Creating Bulk Time Entries
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In a list, select the documents you have been working on and want to create draft time for.
A useful list to do this from is your Home - My Recent.
Note: The Modified Date and Modified By is only updated if you make changes to a document itself. If you make changes such as to the Filing or Workflow details, this does not update the Modified Date and Modified By.
Changes made to the body of a Draft email or to a Phone Call, File Note or Meeting do not update the Modified Date and Modified By, but these details are recorded into the Activity section of the document drawer.The Home - My Recent list displays as follows.
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The My Recent tab displays by default the emails and documents you have created or modified in the last five days. You can change this by filtering the list on the My Last Edit date. For date columns, you can use the selector to quickly set the Start Date and End Date. Display the date column filter and click the button next to the dates to display a list of selectors that can be used, for example, "1D" for one day, "2D" for two days. Refer also to Filtering on a Date in Sorting and Filtering.
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When the required documents are selected, click Time Entry in the tool bar. Or right-click and select Time Entry from the tool bar pop-up menu (refer to Using the Document Action Tool Bar).
The Bulk Create Time Entries displays with Apply to set to the number of selected documents.
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Click Run.
Draft time entries are created for the selected emails and documents. They display in your Home - My Time along with any time entries for the relevant day that you have already created. A message displays and this includes a link that you can click to go to your My Time tab.
Note: If you run the Bulk Time Entry a second time for the same document this will create the time entries again. If you have already added time to a document, and that document is included in your selection to create draft time for, a draft time entry will be created for that document.
Displaying your Time Entries
For Bulk Created Time Entries:
- Date is set as the date the email/document was last modified.
- Hours shows as "No time entered".
- Status is set as "Draft".
- Job is set as the job selected for the relevant email or document (if available).
- Notes are added as the document type followed by the document name.
In Bulk Created Time Entries, the XPM Task is allocated as follows:
- If your practice does not have Workflow Jobs enabled, and a Job is selected for the email or document:
- If there is only one XPM Task for the Job, this is automatically selected for the Bulk Time entry.
- If there is more than one XPM Task for the Job, the first XPM Task for the selected Job displays.
- If your practice has Workflow Jobs enabled, and a Billing Job is selected for the email or document:
- If there is only one Workflow Jobs for the Billing Job, this is automatically selected as the XPM Task for the Time entry.
- If there is more than one Workflow Job for the Billing Job, the first Workflow Job for the selected Job displays.
- If your practice has Workflow Jobs enabled, and a Workflow Job is selected for the email or document, the Time entry is recorded against the Workflow Job.
When displaying the Time Entries on your Home - My Time tab, the XPM Task can be changed if needed by displaying the Update Time drawer for the entry and selecting the XPM Task.
The Draft Time entries display in your Home - My Time tab. Refer also to Displaying and Updating Time. Draft entries are included in the count shown in the My Time tab.
Any information that is incomplete in the Time entries is highlighted and shows what needs to be added in the colour yellow.
- The Time for all the Bulk Time entries is shown in yellow as they are automatically set as 00:00" hours.
You can add this directly in the Time field in the My Time list or in the Update Time drawer. - If there was no Job selected in the email or document that time entry was created for, this shows with both "No job selected" and "No XPM Task selected".
You can select the Job and the XPM Task in the Update Time drawer. - If there are no XPM Tasks for the selected job, this shows as "No XPM Task selected".
You can change the Job to one that has an XPM Task in the Update Time drawer.
Adding the Hours to Bulk Created Time and Making Changes
Before you can submit a time entry that has been bulk created, you need to add the hours.
Also, if any bulk time entries have been created for an email or document that does not have a Job selected, you need to select this for the Time Entry.
Adding the Hours
You can add the hours directly in your My Time list, by clicking the Time field.
Enter the time taken and press Enter.
Time is entered in hours and minutes in the format hh:mm.
Enter the time without the colon (:). FYI will automatically add the colon. For example,
to enter 1 hour 30 minutes type 0130
to enter 15 minutes type 0015.
When hours have been entered, the Submit button displays for that entry.
Updating the Time Entry from the Drawer
To make any changes to the Draft Time entry, click the Update button (or click anywhere other than Time or Notes) to open the Update Time drawer where you can make any changes.
You can use the Update Time drawer to update the Time hours, make any changes to the filing details, to update the XPM Task for the relevant Job or to change the Job and XPM Task. You can only select an open Job or an open XPM Task.
You can also set the Status to "Submit" from the Update Time drawer.
Using the Back Button
When the Update Time drawer is open, you can click on another draft Time Entry in the list to display it and leave the drawer open.
At the top of the Time drawer the Back button can be used to re-display in turn the previously selected Time entries email or document in that list.
Note: When the drawer is open, you can also display a different date and select a different Time entry.
Update Time is only displayed if the Time entry has not been submitted.
If you are not assigned to the Job
When submitting Time, if you are not one of the Assigned Users for the selected or defaulted job, FYI will need to add you as a user temporarily and then remove you. It is a requirement of Xero Practice Manager that, before time can be entered for a staff member, they need to be assigned to the job and task that the time is being recorded against.
When FYI assigns and then removes the user as assignee, you may receive a notification from Xero Practice Manager.
Summary of Submitted and Draft Totals for the Day
Next to the date, a summary displays with the total time that has been Submitted for that day, the total of any Draft hours that have been entered and a count of the number of Draft entries, either incomplete or ready for submitting.
As you add the hours to the time entries, this summary allows you to keep a running check on the total hours you have entered for a date.
Deleting Draft Time
To delete a draft time without hours entered, click the drop-down next to the Update button and select Delete.
In the same way, to delete a draft that you have entered hours for, click the button next to Submit and select Delete.
Draft Time without a Job or XPM Task
If any draft time entries are Bulk created where the email or document did not have a Job selected, this shows the Job as "No job selected" and "No XPM Task selected".
- Click anywhere other than the Time or Notes field of the relevant entry to open the Update Time drawer.
Edit the details and add the Job and/or the XPM Task.
If needed, you can add part of the incomplete information from the Update Time drawer, such as just the Time, and click Update and then complete the Job and/or XPM Task later, before submitting.
If needed, you can also delete the draft time without a Job or XPM Task by clicking the drop-down next to the Update button and selecting Delete.
Submitting the Time
You can submit each time entry individually, for example, after entering the time, by clicking Submit for each.
Alternatively, you can add all the times and make any other changes but leave the entries in draft. This allows you to check the total time for the day.
When you are happy with the time for the day, click the Submit Drafts button at the top of the day panel to submit to Xero Practice Manager all the Draft time entries for that date that are complete. This changes the Status to "Submitted" for those time entries. Any entries that still need to be completed are left as Draft.
The Submit Drafts button is only enabled if there are draft time entries, and there are entries for that day that have hours entered and all have the information such as the Job completed and XPM Task completed.