Open Source ERP Academy

Time Log Entry, Approval, Reporting and Invoicing (Expense Report and Request)

The purpose of this page is to review the tools in iDempiere for time entry, approval, reporting and invoicing. Here are the places you can enter time in iDempiere:

  1. Expense Report - used for three different types of entries:
    1. Entries against projects to be invoiced to the customer (not flagged as Time Report)
    2. Time entries (flagged as Time Report)
    3. Vendor/employee expense reimbursements
      1. Note: you can use the Requisition for travel expenses
  2. Request where:
    1. Request Type is flagged as Invoice = Y
    2. Request itself is flagged as Invoice = Y
    3. Results are written to the Request window => Updates subtab by adding text to the Request window => Result field. An invoice line will be created per update record.

iDempiere Out of the Box

While iDempiere is capable of becoming a great time tracking tool, it is not a good on out of the box. Here are my thoughts:

  1. Expense Report for logging time:
    1. Pro: Represents an example of how to create an invoice from a document that is just a normal record
    2. Pro: because of the header/line and Document Status nature of the Expense Report, you can institute a reasonable approval process.
    3. Con: Time entry using this window is cumbersome. No one want so enter a warehouse when logging time. Users would much rather log time against a ticket that is relevant to a given task or ticket. Otherwise, they would rather just fill out a simple spreadsheet style form.
    4. Con: Recording time usually has multiple consequences. For subcontractors, it means creating Vendor Invoices. For employees, it means re-classing payroll expense to a project related expense or some other account.
    5. Con: iDempiere has no concept of creating work in process (WIP)/ unearned revenue entries for long-running projects that are more than time and materials.
    6. Action: use the Create AP Expense Invoices process to convert vendor facing Expense Reports into AP Invoices.
    7. Action: use the Create Sales Order from Expense process to convert customer facing Expense Reports into AR Invoices.
  2. Request for logging time:
    1. Pro: Requests represent tasks, and most people who work on tasks like logging time against the task.
    2. Con: Requests have no concept of a time entry log. There is simply a Quantity Invoiced field.
    3. Con: Request window is very big and complex
    4. Action: use the Invoice Request process to convert closed Requests into AR Invoices.

Converting iDempiere into a Great Project Time Tracking and Invoicing Tool

Lets start with observations based on my years in iDempiere:

  1. Almost everyone who tracks time does so against Projects.
  2. Most people use Project => Phase level.
  3. Projects are used by Project Managers, and everyone else works off of tasks.
  4. Requests are the best tool for tracking tasks. See the Request Architecture for the many, many capabilities of Requests including email integration, connection to almost every other record in iDempiere, conversation/status history, role-based routing, etc...
  5. Request need a sub-tab to log time. Project/Phase/Line will be auto-copied from the Request.
  6. I typically customize Project Lines to contain the Request Type and Request Status fields. I allow users to mass create Requests from Project Lines. Updating the Request details automatically updates the linked Project Lines. This way workers manage Tasks, and Project Managers see the results in Projects.
  7. There needs to exist a time entry approval architecture. Users create a Time Entry Approval header record then use a Create Lines From... dialog (similar to the Material Receipt => Create Lines From) to include the correct time entries in the correct approval report. Each line can be modified for an AP and AR amount (hours or $). Completed Time Entry Approval documents need to be able to post. How it posts is subject to much discussion, and is ultimately determined by the customer.
  8. Run a Process to convert completed Time Entry Approval documents into AP and AR invoices.

2017-03-30 Project and Time sheet Accounting Discussion

The purposes of this meeting were to (1) create a common understand of project and timesheet accounting and (2) create a road map to make iDempiere a great project/timesheet accounting system.

Adaxa and ADempiere

As of April of 2017, Adaxa will be releasing a new Timesheet Entry form in ADempiere. I believe they have integrated timesheets so they post through a special GL Journal => Document Type.

Simple Example for Time Sheets on a Manufacturing Floor

The below audio describes a simple and elegant solution for managing time sheets for environments where you are constantly moving from task to task. This scenario is common for manufacturing floors where every minute of time on work orders should be tracked.