frequenlty asked questions
PROJECT HOURS time tracking is easy to setup. If you still have questions, check the below list with questions and answers or send us a mail.
How to Setup Project Hours
How do I create a project?
You can create new projects in the admin module. Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Projects’. Your projects are displayed on this page. You can add new projects, update existing projects and delete projects. You can set projects to inactive, they will not be deleted but they will no longer be available for entering time. You can also exclude projects from reports. This useful, for instance after you have set a project to inactive you want to keep it included in reports for a while. When all time has been reported you can remove the project from reports by updating the ‘display in reports’ setting.
How do I create an activity?
Activities are part of projects. Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Projects’. Here you can select a project and add activities to the project.
You can add, update or delete activities. You can set activities to inactive and you can remove activities from reports.
You can also make activities available to all projects. NOTE: be careful, use this setting with caution, users can see activities twice if you have defined the same activity for another project.
How do I set hourly rates?
There are three ways to set hourly rates in the administration module:
- Go to ‘Users’ and set a fixed hourly rate for a user.
- Go to ‘Projects’ and set an hourly rate for each activity of a project.
- Go to ‘Hourly Rates’. Click on ‘Enable’ and define hourly rates. Users can select these hourly rates when they enter time. This is the most flexibel option. It allows for selecting a different hourly rate for each combination of project and activity.
If you combine the above methods, Project Hours will first apply the rates from the page ‘Hourly Rates’, next rates defined for activities are applied and finally rates defined for users are applied. It is advised to use only one method.
How do I plan hours?
This is very easy. Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Planned Hours’. Next, click in the column ‘Planned’ to set planned hours for a user. Use the filter to only select the users you need.
Use the search box and type part of the name of a project to display one project to work on.
How do I define materials?
Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Materials’. On this page the materials you define are displayed. Here you can add, update and remove materials that users can choose from. You set a unit price for each material.
Note: instead of setting a unit price you can also let users set costs each time they enter materials. This is more flexible if it is unknown what the costs of materials are. Choose ‘Let user specify costs for each material entry’ to use this option.
How do I create a new user?
Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Users’. In this screen you can create, update and delete users.
How do I grant new users access to projects?
Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Users’. Select a user and click on ‘Set Access to Projects’. Check the projects you want to allow for this user. Note: by default a user has access to all projects.
How do I remove a user?
Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Users’ to remove a user. You can remove a user only if the user has not registered any hours or materials yet. You can inactivate users so they can no longer log in. You can always reactivate users later. Only time that users are active will appear on your invoice.
How do I create user groups?
On the page ‘Administration’, ‘Groups’ you can create, update or delete user groups. To add a user to a group you will have to go to the page ‘Users’ and change the group of the user.
Groups are used to create different reports per user group.
How do I link to a Google calender?
Go to the instruction page Link Project Hours with Google Calendar for a step-by-step manual to link Project Hours to Google Calendar.
How to use Project Hours
How do I write hours?
If you are logged in you can start immediately with writing hours. Select a project, fill in hours and minutes and click on ‘Add hours’.
Optionally, you can select an activity, write a comment or mark hours as traveling time.
If hourly rates are available, you can select an hourly rate.
The list will display the hours you have saved. You can select your entry and update or delete your entry if necessary.
How do I register materials?
Go to ‘Materials’ on the home page. Select the tab page ‘Add materials’. Select a project, select your material and set an amount. Next, click on ‘Add materials’.
You will see your materials appearing in the list. You can select your entry and update or delete if you wish.
How do I download an overview of used materials?
Go to ‘Materials’ on the home page and select the tab ‘Totals’. This will give you an overview of materials and costs for each project.
Click on the button ‘Download Excel report’ to download a report.
How do I download an overview in Excel?
There are several Excel reports available in Project Hours in the menu ‘Reports’ on the home page.
- Select ‘Download Exel report’ for a report with totals for user and projects or for a detailed report with all user entries.
- Select ‘Download weekly statement’ for weekly statements for users.
The pages have filters to set a time period with start and end date.
How can I use a timer?
Very easy. Select ‘Timer’ on the home page. Select a project and click on ‘Start’. The timer will start.
You can close the web page, the timer runs on the PROJECT HOURS server.
To stop or pause the time, return to the timer page and press ‘Stop’ or ‘Pause’. You can also cancel the timer, no time will be recorded.
If you stop the timer, time will be saved. You can always update the saved time entry later, it will be visible in the list on the home page.
Our mobile apps have a similar timer feature.
How do I log in on my mobile phone?
Open the PROJECT HOURS app on your mobile and select ‘Log in’ in the menu at the top left. Enter your email address and password and press ‘Log in’. You can now start tracking time on your mobile.
Why do I see an activity appearing twice?
Ocassionaly an administrator defines an activity twice for a project. This happens when an administrator marks an activity as ‘Available for all projects’ while some projects already had this activity. Please contact a PROJECT HOURS administrator of your organisation to correct this.
What user roles can I configure in Project Hours?
Project Hours has several roles that you can assign to users: User, Planner, Project Manager, Administrator and Organisation Administrator. Organisation Administrator is a special rol that can be activated for your organisation on request. The below table gives an overview of features available per role.
| Feature | User | Planner | Project Manager | Administrator | Organisation Administrator |
| Register time | v | v | v | v | v |
| Register materials | v | v | v | v | v |
| Register mileage | v | v | v | v | v |
| Register expenses | v | v | v | v | v |
| Reports for oneself | v | v | v | v | v |
| Reports for all users | v | v | v | v | |
| Approve hours | v | v | v | v | |
| Approve leave | v | v | v | v | |
| Planning | v | v | v | v | |
| Hour budgets | v | v | v | v | |
| Enter/update time for all users | v | v | v | ||
| Create users and set access rights | v | v | v | ||
| Define projects and activities | v | v | v | ||
| Define materials | v | v | |||
| Define vehicles (for mileage tracking) | v | v | |||
| Display/set hourly rates for users | v/x (*) | v | |||
| Update organisation settings (**) | v | v | |||
| * If Organisation Administrator is enabled, Administrators cannot view user hourly rates | |||||
| ** Enable/disable features, change feature settings |
Your subscription and invoice
What are the costs for using Project Hours?
The costs of PROJECT HOURS are €2.50 per user per month. We only charge for the periods that your users have status ‘active’. You can set this status in the user management module.
How long is the trial period?
PROJECT HOURS has a trial period of 2 months. This gives you ample time to try out PROJECT HOURS with your team and to check if the reporting suits your needs.
When will I receive an invoice?
You will be billed annually. After a year of usage (or earlier if you end your subscription) you will receive an invoice. The period for billing starts after your 2-months trial period has ended. The invoice will contain a list of users and time periods for which these users had status ‘active’. You will be charged for each active time period of each user.
How can I pay an invoice?
You will receive an email with an invoice after each year of usage. The email contains a link for online payment. All major payment methods are supported (iDeal, Bancontact, credit cards, etc.). Of course you can also pay with a bank transfer, details will be on the invoice.
How do I update my organisation details?
Go to ‘Administration’ and select ‘Organisation’ to update the name of your organisation in PROJECT HOURS. You can also set the order in which your projects appear in lists. For details on your invoice such as address send an email to info@projecthours.net.
How can I end my subscription?
To end you subscription send an email to info@projecthours.net.
Are there extra costs for mobile apps?
No, use of mobile apps is included in the price.
Why is there no VAT included on the invoice?
PROJECT HOURS meets the criteria for the Dutch small enterprises regulation (KOR) and because of that Project Hours is excempted from VAT.