Charge codes: what people can put time on
Set up the drop-downs on the timesheet, authorise combinations of them as charge codes, and assign them to people and groups.
A charge code is one combination people can record time against: a customer and project, a task and, if you use one, a pay type. For example Harbour Café › Monthly service › Labour · Regular. People only see the charge codes assigned to them on their timesheet.
Charge codes has three tabs. Manage charge codes holds the entries, Manage pay types holds the pay types, and Assign charge codes turns them into charge codes and gives them to people.
1. Manage charge codes: the entries
- Open Charge codes (under Manage in the menu) and choose Manage charge codes.
- Under Timesheet drop-down labels, pick a label, for example Project. Its entries are listed beside it.
- Choose Create new to add an entry, or click an entry to change it. Enter the Name and, where offered, a Code used in exports, the Customer, Billable and a Bill rate per hour.
- Untick Active to stop an entry being chosen. Inactive entries stay on past time; tick Show inactive to see them again.
Open Label settings to rename a label to the word your company uses, to make it Needed on all time, or to Switch off a label you do not use. You can create up to three labels of your own, such as Cost centre or Phase.
2. Manage pay types (optional)
Pay types sit under three heads: Regular, Overtime (which includes double overtime) and Leave related. Each can have a Code for payroll exports and, for overtime, a Multiplier of the person's rate. While there are none yet, Add Hourly, Overtime 1.5x and Double time 2x adds the usual three in one go.
A pay type is optional on a charge code: a charge code without one accepts any pay type. Overtime worked out by your overtime rules is separate, so do not tag the same hours as overtime here as well.
3. Assign charge codes
- Choose Assign charge codes, then Create new.
- Tick the entries under each label, and a Pay type if you want one. Every combination becomes an authorised charge code, for example 2 projects × 3 tasks = 6 charge codes. Choose Create charge codes.
- In step 1, Which charge codes?, select the charge codes to give out. Search to find them, or switch on Already assigned only to see the ones already given out.
- In step 2, Who can use them?, tick people or groups. Filter by All, People, Groups or a location; everyone you add is shown under Added. A group includes everyone in it, now and later.
- Set the Start effective date and, if it should stop, the End effective date. Bill rate per hour and Pay rate per hour (shown only to people who can see pay) are optional: empty uses the person's own rate.
- Check the summary, for example Assign 3 charge codes to 5 people from 14 Nov 2026, and choose Assign. The assignments are listed under Current assignments, grouped by charge code, where you can edit their dates and rates or remove them.
Records from QuickBooks
If QuickBooks Online is connected, customers, jobs and items that come from it are marked QuickBooks and are read-only here. Change them in QuickBooks: the next sync brings the change across.
Where to find it
Charge codes
Who has it: People who can manage projects or change company settings. If it is not in your menu, your role does not include it.
If something goes wrong
- Someone cannot find a charge code on their timesheet.
- Check it is assigned to them or to one of their groups, that today is between the Effective from and Effective to dates, and that its entries are still Active.
- I cannot change an entry.
- It is marked QuickBooks: change it in QuickBooks and wait for the next sync.
- There is no Create new for a label.
- You already have three labels of your own. Delete one under Label settings to create another.
Related articles
New to this part of ClockinBee? Read the overview: Customers and projects.
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