Time recording in Senta lets you and your colleagues record time against jobs, meetings, phone calls and so on, and the report on the time spent with each client.  


To get started, first go to Settings > General Settings > Extras and switch on time recording.  


Once you have enabled the time recording option, you should see a few new features on your site.  



Recording time


Jobs have a new Record time button.  You can click this at any time to record time against the job.  


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When you add time, you can record the start and end, duration, activity and a description.  You only need to enter the duration -- the start and end time are optional.



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For recording time against meetings, phone calls, etc. you can add time to Notes.  Whenever you're adding a note, you can click the new Add time button on the note.  The time recorded on notes is also added to the clients' Time tabs.  



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Displaying recorded time


Jobs


On jobs, the time tab shows the total time you've recorded against that job.  



Clients


On clients, the time tab shows a monthly breakdown of the time recorded against that client - including the total job time.



Work menu


You can view all time recorded within your practice by going to Work > Recorded time.



The recorded time report can show you the total time recorded against any job in Senta over any time period. You can sort and filter this list to show specific users, activities, clients and jobs. This report is only visible to those with practice manager permissions.



To change the time period, click the filter button on the "date" column, and select any of the presets, or "date range..." to set your own choice of time period.



This list can be exported by ticking to select the specific recordings you would like to export, then click Export. This will create a CSV version of the data provided in the report.



Formatting the CSV export to show hours and minutes


To change the values on your export to hours and minutes:


  • Select one or more cells that contain a decimal-based time value
  • Right click and choose 'Format Cells'
  • On the Number tab choose "Custom"
  • Scroll down the list of custom formats and choose h:mm
  • Click OK

Alternatively, if you’d like the cell to actually read 3 hours and 1 minute, or 3 hour(s) and 1 minute(s).


  • Select one or more cells that contain a decimal-based time value.
  • Right click and choose 'Format Cells'
  • On the Number tab choose "Custom"
  • Enter this format code in the Type field:

        h" hours and "m" minutes"


  • Click OK to close the Format Cells dialog box.

You can also use h" hour(s) and "m" minute(s)" if you want to include the potential for plural hours and minutes.




Adding activity types to Time Recording


You can add additional things to your list of activities for time recording.


Go to Settings > Lookups



Choose the Activity Type lookup



Select Add Item and enter the details of your new activity, then click Save.




We will be adding more features to time recording soon, including client profitability reporting and resource planning.


Will deactivating user remove their recorded time?


No, deactivating the user will not delete any of their recorded time or any other data relating to that user. It will just deactivate the profile, so the user cannot sign in to Senta anymore.