Autotask Time Entry Management

Overview

Time entries are the foundation of MSP billing and resource utilization tracking. Every hour logged against tickets, projects, and contracts flows through the time entry system. This skill covers comprehensive time management including billing calculations, approval workflows, budget validation, and utilization analytics.

Anti-triggers

• A flat charge rather than hours — use

autotask-ticket-notes-attachments for ticket charges.

• Out-of-pocket costs — use autotask-expenses.
• What an approved entry became on the invoice — use

autotask-billing.

• Which agreement absorbs the hours, and at what rate — use

autotask-contracts.

Approval Status Codes

Based on the Autotask API, these are the time entry approval statuses:

Approval Workflow

DRAFT (0) ────────────────> SUBMITTED (1)
                                │
                    ┌───────────┴───────────┐
                    ▼                       ▼
              APPROVED (2)            REJECTED (3)
                    │                       │
                    ▼                       ▼
          Billing Cycle              Back to DRAFT

Workflow Rules:

• Resources can edit DRAFT entries freely
• SUBMITTED entries are locked until approved/rejected
• REJECTED entries return to editable state
• APPROVED entries are included in next billing cycle
• Only designated approvers can change status from SUBMITTED

Time Entry Field Reference

The fields you touch on nearly every call:

A time entry requires either a ticketID or a projectID — never neither, and never both.

See references/fields.md for the complete field reference.

Billing Calculations

Rate Hierarchy

Billing rates are determined in this order:

1. Contract Rate - Specific rate defined in contract
2. Resource Rate - Rate assigned to technician
3. Role Rate - Rate based on assigned role
4. Default Rate - System default rate

The first match wins; a contract rate silently overrides a resource's own rate, which is a common source of "wrong invoice amount" reports.

See references/examples.md for the rate-resolution, billing-amount, and billability-determination implementations.

Approval Requirements

Automatic Approval Triggers

Certain conditions automatically require manager approval:

See references/examples.md for the requiresApproval implementation.

Budget Validation

Before posting time, check both the project's hour budget and the contract's block-hour or retainer limit — they are tracked separately and either can be exceeded independently. Crossing 90% of a project budget flips the entry into requiring manager approval.

See references/examples.md for the project-budget and contract-limit check implementations.

Time Analytics & KPIs

Industry Benchmarks

See references/examples.md for the utilization-rate calculation.

API Patterns

See references/api.md for the full create/query request bodies and the submit, approve, and reject patterns.

Business Rules

Quarter-Hour Rounding

Standard MSP practice is to round time to the nearest quarter hour:

function roundToQuarterHour(hours) {
  return Math.round(hours * 4) / 4;
}

// Examples:
// 1.12 → 1.0
// 1.13 → 1.25
// 1.38 → 1.5
// 1.63 → 1.75
// 1.88 → 2.0

Minimum Billing Increments

Default Date Handling

If no date is provided, default to the current date:

function setDefaultDate(timeEntry) {
  if (!timeEntry.dateWorked) {
    timeEntry.dateWorked = new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0];
  }
  return timeEntry;
}

Common Workflows

Daily Time Entry Flow

1. Log time - Create entry with work details
2. Review - Check accuracy and completeness
3. Submit - Change status to SUBMITTED (1)
4. Await approval - Manager reviews entry
5. Resolve - Entry approved or rejected

End of Week Timesheet

// Get all draft entries for the week
const weekEntries = await queryTimeEntries({
  filter: [
    {field: 'resourceID', op: 'eq', value: currentResourceId},
    {field: 'dateWorked', op: 'between', value: [weekStart, weekEnd]},
    {field: 'approvalStatus', op: 'eq', value: 0}
  ]
});

// Submit all for approval
for (const entry of weekEntries) {
  await updateTimeEntry(entry.id, { approvalStatus: 1 });
}

Manager Approval Queue

// Get pending approvals for my team
const pendingApprovals = await queryTimeEntries({
  filter: [
    {field: 'approvalStatus', op: 'eq', value: 1},
    {field: 'dateWorked', op: 'gte', value: lastWeekStart}
  ],
  includeFields: ['Resource.firstName', 'Resource.lastName', 'Ticket.title']
});

Error Handling

Common API Errors

Validation Errors

Best Practices

1. Log time immediately - Don't batch at end of day; details get lost
2. Use descriptive summaries - Clients see these on invoices
3. Round appropriately - Follow minimum billing rules
4. Link to tickets/projects - Always associate with work items
5. Monitor utilization - Track billable vs non-billable ratio
6. Review budget warnings - Address before exceeding limits
7. Use billing codes - Categorize time for reporting
8. Keep internal notes separate - Don't bill clients for non-value work
9. Approve promptly - Long approval queues delay billing

Related Skills

• Autotask Tickets - Ticket management
• Autotask Projects - Project management
• Autotask Contracts - Service agreements and billing
• Autotask API Patterns - Query builder and authentication