Working with Time Trackers

Updated by Leigh Hutchens

Using Time Trackers in Quinyx is optional.

What is a Time Tracker?

Time Tracker is a unique Quinyx term. It’s a feature for keeping track of hours and minutes or days. For example, you can use Time Trackers to track vacation balances, time off in lieu, flextime, etc. Employees can use Time Trackers to monitor their balances in the mobile app.

Simply put, a Time Tracker is a numerical value (balance) that varies over time, increasing and decreasing as a result of transactions.

Time Trackers:

  • Have one value per employee
  • Are measured in hours or days
  • Can display periodized or total value balance

Examples include:

  • Vacation Hours/Days
  • Time off in Lieu
  • Sick Hours/Days

Use cases

As an Account Manager, I can:

  • Navigate to a page where I can add a new Time Tracker.
  • Create a Time Tracker.
  • Edit an existing Time Tracker.
  • Delete an existing Time Tracker.
  • View a list of all my Time Trackers.
  • Use my Time Trackers when configuring an agreement template.

What can you do with Time Trackers?

You can use Time Trackers to track employees' vacation balances, time off in lieu, or flextime, etc. You can configure Time Trackers unique to your organization and create as many as you need.

Create Time Trackers

Before you can configure a Time Tracker you have to create it. The creation also allows you to do some basic settings to it. 

Create a Time Tracker by navigating to Account > Agreements > Time Trackers.

Abbreviation

Short name.

Name

What is visible in menus in the application.

Decimals to show

How many decimals you want the Time Tracker to show in the views.

Days/hours

If the Time Tracker should count days or hours and minutes.

Comments

Optional

Periodized

Use periodized if the Time Tracker balance can be carried over from one year to another and have a unique balance per year. For example, if employees can save up to 5 holiday days 5 years, Quinyx may calculate different balances per year.

When you tick this box, the following fields appear:

  • Each year starts on: Select what date each periodized year should start.
  • Maximum accrual per year: For positive transactions with the operator Add, except for manual adjustments, limit the sum of qualifying per periodized year to the specified total. Zero means unlimited.
    • You cannot set a maximum accrual in a Time Tracker that isn't periodized.
  • Standard deduction order: Select how the calculation is to take place if Time Trackers are periodized. We support several different ways of deducting days/hours from a periodized Time Tracker. This setting controls the year from which negative transactions (e.g. taking holiday) will be deducted:
    • None (deduct from current year):This is the default option, and as described days/hours will be deducted from the same periodized year as that in which the transaction was created.
    • Least recent year first: This option will deduct days from the oldest year with a balance higher than zero.
    • Current year first, then the oldest: This will take days from the current year first, then apply the same order as the option above, the oldest year with a balance higher than zero.
    • First to expire: This will deduct days from the periodized year that is about to expire first. This is needed for the Statutory/Non-statutory functionality where you can save some vacation days longer than others.
  • Balance as of current year: Select if periodized Time Tracker should be shown as per actual date or per a selected day for this yea's value.
  • Balance as of previous year: Select if Time Tracker should be shown as per actual date or per a selected day for last years value.
Quinyx does not display 0 (zero) values from previous years in the Time card.

Total start date

From the date the Time Tracker should start to count.

Note: When the ‘employment…start date’ accrual driver is selected; Quinyx considers the TT start date as default. (E.g. when employment start date is before the TT start date, Quinyx will consider TT start date).

Limit to employed since date

This will only count from the employed since date.

Display warnings

This will warn on min and max values. A warning will be visible in the Time card. Set minimum and maximum values to display a warning for the Time Tracker when any of these values has been reached. Note that setting a minimum and maximum value merely provides a warning when the value is exceeded, it does not stop the Time Tracker from calculating.

You can configure a manual scheduling warning for absence accrual. If you choose to configure it, a user in the manager portal will receive a warning indicating the exceeding of the given Time Tracker when attempting to create an absence and will be blocked from proceeding.

Show in staff portal and mobile app

Use if Time Trackers should be visible for employees in the mobile app

Save

Don't forget to save your Time Tracker.

There is no limit to the number of Time Trackers you can create.

Once you've created the Time Trackers, they can be configured in two different ways. You can set a Time Tracker to count based on the output of a specific salary type, or you can set up rules of accrual/deduction/reset in an agreement template.

Connect Time Trackers to an agreement or salary type

Time Trackers can be used to count time in different ways. You can add a Time Tracker directly to a specific salary type, meaning that when that salary type is generated, the Time Tracker balance will increase or decrease. If you associate this with the salary type directly under account settings, this will be translated to the salary type in the agreement template.

You can also add a Time Tracker on a salary type in an agreement template. However, this means that it will only be associated with the salary type on that specific agreement template.

You can add as many Time Trackers as you need for your organization.

Connect a Time Tracker to a salary type (on a global level)

To connect a Time Tracker to a salary type, go to Account > Agreements >Salary types.

Add a Time Tracker to an agreement

You can add a Time Tracker to an agreement by going to Account settings > Agreements > Agreement templates > Time Trackers.

Read more about adding a Time Tracker to an agreement here.

View an employee's Time Trackers

Once you've configured Time Trackers, they can be viewed as a balance or a log of transactions (like a bank account).

Time Tracker summary

You can view the Time Tracker balance on the right-hand side of the Time card.

You can set a starting balance on the Time card. Read more here.
Time Tracker transactions

A Time Tracker transaction can be created by multiple sources or causes.

  • Salary type outcome.
  • Manually added transactions, i.e., adjustments through WSDL or GUI.
  • Time Tracker accrual drivers are present in agreement templates after being configured.

A Time Tracker is only visible for an employee if they have had a transaction. So, for example, if an employee looks in the mobile app, but they've never taken sick leave, they will not see a Time Tracker.
The Time Tracker transaction list will show a balance that is based on the last locked date (Definitive transfer to payroll) + and unlocked transactions in the selected timespan. As a consequence, you'll seldom see a correct balance if you select only a single date in the transactions list.
Note that changes to agreement templates may affect time tracker values in periods that have already been transferred to payroll. F.ex if you make changes to salary types that are connected to a Time Tracker.
Practical example

If my last transfer to payroll date is October 2021

And in the Time card, I select to display Time Tracker transactions from December 1st, 2021 to December 31st, 2021

Then the balance will not include any transactions that happen in November 2021.

As a result, I will see a different balance in the time tracker transactions list compared to the time tracker pod on the right side of the timecard.

Read more about using APIs related to Time Trackers here.

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