Time Tracking Settings: Manual Entry & Hour-Based Time Tracking

🕒 Time Tracking Settings: Manual Entry & Hour-Based Time Tracking


What This Covers

This article explains how to enable manual time entries and hour-based time input in Ontraccr, giving your team flexibility beyond live punch-in/punch-out tracking.


🧭 Where to Find These Settings

  1. Go to the Web App
  2. Navigate to Settings > Time Tracking > Clock Settings
  3. Scroll to the “Enable Manual Entry” and “Enable Hour-Based Time Tracking” options

🔧 Setting #1: Enable Manual Entry

What it does:

Lets users add or edit time manually — useful when they forget to clock in/out or need to log time for past days.

How it works:

  • Global toggle that allows manual entries across the company
  • Must be combined with role permissions to control who can actually use it
  • Users with permission will see a Manual Entry button on the time tracking screen

Real Use Case:

A foreman finishes a job late on Friday and forgets to clock out. With manual entry enabled, they can fix it Monday morning without admin help (if they have permission).


🎛️ Role-Based Control

Even if manual entry is enabled globally, you can restrict it per role:

  • Go to Settings > Roles & Permissions
  • Open any role
  • Toggle the Manual Entry permission to allow or restrict it

🔧 Setting #2: Enable Hour-Based Time Tracking

What it does:

Allows users to enter the total number of hours worked (e.g. “7.5 hours”) instead of selecting a start and end time.

How it works:

  • Only applies when users are entering time manually
  • Adds a toggle to the time entry form that lets them choose between:
    • Start Time / End Time
    • Total Hours Worked

Why it's useful:

  • Speeds up data entry
  • Helpful when users don’t remember exact times
  • Especially handy for foremen or admins logging time on behalf of a crew

💡 Pro Tips & Edge Cases

  • 🧑‍💼 Ideal for teams using paper timesheets or end-of-day reporting
  • ⚠️ Hour-based entry is not available during live clock-ins — only when entering time manually
  • 🔒 You can mix-and-match: Enable hour-based entries but only for select roles (via permissions)

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