When you have set up Time & Budgets in Karbon, you can begin setting/adjusting budgets, adjusting fee settings, adding expenses, and adding time to your work and contacts. This article will cover how you can estimate a budget, track your time and expenses and submit your timesheets for approval.

To add a budget estimate to your work item, click 'Add Budget Estimate' and enter:

Once complete, review that the 'Estimate Total' matches your expectations and then click Save. Repeat this process for all associated Task Types per Role and for all Roles that participate to complete the work. This will create an accurate budget that can be reviewed in total in the 'Budget Overview' and by Role / Task Type / Team Member in the budget details table.

If updating an existing budget estimate, click on the entry's detail line to bring up the estimate's details to edit. For instance, if the budget table is viewed by Budget by Team Member, click on the Team Member and then click on the details line that gets expanded to edit the prior budget estimate.

There are 4 different ways of adding and tracking time in Karbon. We recommend using the timer to track time, as this gives you the most accurate time tracking.

Within the 'Time & Budgets' tab on a work item. From here, you can choose 'Add Time Entry'.

You will then be able to enter time for the work item, the Role, Task Type, date, and duration, as we as any notes. Specifying the 'Role' and 'Task Type' is important because they ensure the right dollar amount is associated with the time entry that is made.

You can add time from a contact within your 'Time & Budgets' tab. From here, you can choose 'Add Time Entry'.

From your global add icon (+) in the top right, select 'Time Entry'. You'll then have the option to add time against a contact or work item that you search for.
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Note: When adding time from this option, you will not be able to locate the 'None' contact. You must search for and use another contact to add time against. If you wish to add time against the 'none' contact, you will need to add time directly on that contact, or on one of their work items.

Add time using the clock icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen. Click the clock icon in the upper right corner of the Karbon screen. If you are on a contacts timeline, the client name will automatically be filled in. If you are on a work item, both Client and Work will be filled in. If it's not filled in, simply start typing to search for a client or work, or wait and fill this in when you are done working.

If there is allocated time against the Role and Task Type assigned to you within a work item, you will be notified if the time gets close to the remaining budget allocated for that work item or contact.

Once you're finished working, you can stop the timer and enter in the necessary details. Based on the work you've done in the work item, smart notes will be automatically added based on the activities you have carried out during that time. You can edit these, or add your own notes for more detail.

You can additionally begin your timer within the work item or contact itself, navigate to the work item or contact > Time & Budget tab > and select the Start Timer button:

Note: When the timer is running you can still click away from the work item and go to your Triage or another place in Karbon, and the timer will keep tracking your time until you click the stop button.

When you stop tracking time using Karbon's timer, you might notice that the Notes field is pre-populated with a list of activities. These smart notes are automatically added based on any actions you have performed in the related work item since you began tracking time.

You can edit these, or add your own notes for more detail before you confirm your time entry.

Best Practice Tip to ensure that your colleagues don't forget to add in their Roles and/or Task Types, be sure to set up them as required fields.

When you are creating a 'Time Entry' you will be prompted to specify a 'Role' and 'Task Type'.

The 'Role' is the specific job role capacity you are acting as when completing the work. This is not always the same as your primary job function. For instance, while you might be an owner, the role you are facilitating for this time entry might be that of an admin.

The 'Task Type' is what activity you are recording your time specifically against in the role you have chosen. For example, your might be holding a client meeting so your Task Type would be Meetings. However, you might be doing that in the Role of a Client Manager. 'Task Type' is required if the time spent needs to be tracked as billable or not billable.

Specifying the 'Role' and 'Task Type' are important because they ensure the right dollar amount is associated to the time entry that is made.

If you have chosen to track expenses, you are able to add them on a work item or a contact. You can turn the tracking of expenses on or off in your Time & Budgets settings. In addition to this, you will need to have the 'View Dollar Amount' setting set to on in your user permissions, in order to be able to add expenses to a work item or contact.

When tracking expenses you can choose to view and export from a single work item or from a contact in the 'Time & Budgets' tab. In either case, you can view the tracked expenses in the Expenses section or download them from the Budget table.

If you want to record an expense within the work item, click the 'Add Expense' button and specify the expense's description, cost, amount billable and the date the expense occurred. Only users enabled to view dollar amounts can record expense entries.

If you track expenses, the expense data will be displayed in the client's Time & Budget view and included in all related Time & Budget exports.

Please note: To be able to edit expenses, including those that you have submitted, you will need the permission added as a Time Administrator found in the Extra Permissions section under the user's profile.

To download expenses from a work item, go to the Time & Budget tab and click the download icon at the top of the Budget by Team Member / Role / Task Type section.

Likewise, you can view and export all expenses for a single contact within their Time & Budget tab and download expenses via the download icon at the top of the Budget by Work / Work Type section.

To turn off your 'Expenses', go into into your 'Settings' off of your 'Main Menu' and click into 'Time & Budgets'. At the bottom of the page will be the option to toggle the 'Expenses' option off.

You are able to edit all information on your time entries, but only if you have not yet submitted them. Once they are submitted you are no longer able to edit your time entry. Before submitting your timesheet you can edit your time entries in multiple places to ensure you've captured all time. Edit your time entries in one of two places:

Within the Time section off of the Main Menu, click into the timesheet that you want to make changes to and choose your name.

Find the day of the specific time entry, select the time entry, and review/edit/save the new time entry details.

To edit time entries off of work and contacts, navigate to their Time & Budget tab and click into the desired time entry and review/edit/save the new time entry details.

If you are unable to edit a time entry, it is likely that it is because of one of the following 3 reasons:

Note: Once a timesheet is approved, the timesheet time entries will become locked making them un-changeable. A lock icon will appear next to the related time entries on work items, contacts and on the timesheet itself. If you need to make a change, you will need to request for the Time Administrator to decline the currently approved timesheet. Once declined, you can edit and resubmit the timesheet for approval.

When activities take place within a work item that have not yet been recorded, a suggested time entry will appear within the timesheet of the day the activity took place.

You can find these suggested time entries off of the Main Menu under Time, choose your preferred week and day to see any available suggestions.

As you are completing work and tracking your activities (including time), Karbon is aggregating that information and assembling it to make it easy to create and submit weekly timesheets.

To review your time-related activities, you can view:

When choosing to review timesheets, go to 'Time' from the main menu. From here, you can review all timesheets by period and view their related statistics (number of timesheet drafts, count of those submitted for approval, and counts of those declined or approved). Click on a desired time period to review timesheet(s) for the given time period.

By clicking into your own timesheet, you are able to:

When your timesheet is up-to-date and ready for review, click the 'Submit' button and choose which Time Administrator to send you timesheet to. Once submitted, the identified Time Administrator will receive a Triage notification to review and approve. Until it is approved, you can continue to update your timesheet and make comments.

If your timesheet is declined, you will receive a notification in your Triage informing you as such. If a reason is not provided by a comment, create a comment from the Timesheet to determine what needs to be reviewed or changed. Once updated, click 'Submit' again to request another review.

Once a timesheet is approved, you will be notified via Triage and the time entries of the timesheet will become locked, making them un-changeable. A lock icon will appear next to the related time entries on work items, contacts and on the timesheet itself. If you need to make a change, you will need to request for the Time Administrator to decline the currently approved timesheet. Once declined, you can edit and resubmit the timesheet for approval.

Best Practice Tip: It is best to make sure your timesheet is complete and accurate before submitting. Here are some best practices to ensure this:

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