Time your work with the timer

The timer measures work as you do it, so you log what you did instead of estimating it afterward. You have one timer, and it is kept by your Outpost rather than by your browser: start it on a ticket at your desk and you can stop it from your laptop. Stopping it logs the time on the ticket or task it was started on, and the time appears on your timesheet.

Before you begin

• You are on the MSP plan and hold ticket:write. To time a project task, you also need project:time.
• Opening a ticket does not start a timer. You start it yourself.

Start the timer

1. Open the ticket and select the Time tab, or open the project task.
2. Select Start timer.

The button is replaced by Timer running and the elapsed time, and the timer appears in the header.

A timer can’t start while this week’s timesheet is approved, because its time could never be logged. Starting one shows This week’s timesheet is approved. Ask a manager to reopen it.

Move the timer to other work

You have one timer at a time. When it is running on something else, the ticket or task shows Switch timer here instead of Start timer.

Selecting Switch timer here stops the running timer, logs its full elapsed time on the ticket or task it was running on, and starts the timer on this one. If the stop fails, the timer keeps running where it was and nothing starts, so no time is lost between the two.

Tip

To log less than the full elapsed time on the old work, stop it from the header first, as described in Stop the timer and log the time, then select Start timer here.

Follow the timer in the header

While your timer runs, the header shows it with the elapsed hours and minutes and what it is running on, such as 1:05 #1051 VPN drops. It is the same in every browser and on every device you are signed in on. A timer started elsewhere appears within a minute, or as soon as you return to the window.

The timer gets a warning when it has probably been forgotten:

Warning	When
Running since yesterday	The timer started before midnight today.
Over 10 hours	The timer has run for more than 10 hours.

Check a timer with a warning before you log it.

Stop the timer and log the time

1. Select the timer in the header, then Stop and log.
2. The Stop and log time dialog shows what the timer was on and when it started. Time to log holds the elapsed time. Change it to the time you worked, as hours and minutes, such as 1:15, or minutes, such as 75, between 0:01 and 24:00.
3. Select Stop and log.

The time is logged as one billable entry on the ticket or task the timer was on, dated the day the timer started. On a ticket, it takes the agreement’s default charge type. To mark it not billable, edit it afterward on the ticket’s Time tab, on the task, or in the timesheet cell.

A timer that ran for more than 24 hours cannot be logged as it is. Enter the time you worked in Time to log.

The timer is cleared only after the time is logged. If logging fails, the dialog says the time could not be logged and the timer is still running, and you can try again.

If the timer started in a week whose timesheet is approved, stopping it is refused with This week’s timesheet is approved. Ask a manager to reopen it. Discard it, or ask an approver to reopen that week.

Discard the timer

To throw a timer away without logging anything, select the timer in the header, then Discard. The Discard this timer? dialog shows how much time is on it. Select Discard to confirm.

Open the ticket the timer is on

Select the timer in the header, then Open ticket. A timer on a project task has no Open ticket. Open the task from your timesheet or from Projects > My work.

Verify

• While the timer runs, it shows in the header in every browser you are signed in on.
• After you stop it, the entry is on the ticket’s Time tab, or the task’s time, and on your timesheet for the day the timer started.

Next steps

• Fill in and submit your timesheet
• Time tracking and dispatch