BQE Software FAQs

Yes, you can combine your vacation and sick time into a single personal time off (PTO) item. It can be done this way:

In Core, under Global Settings > Custom Labels > Company, change the label for both Vacation and Sick to PTO.

From the main menu > Lists > Activity Items, create an activity item called PTO and set it as non-billable.

Associate this new PTO activity item with both Sick Time and Vacation Time in Global Settings > Master Information.

If you have existing time logged against Vacation and Sick activities, then merge the two activity items into a single PTO item (created above). This will allow you to view the PTO as a single item rather than two separate line items on reports, widgets, etc.

You should use this PTO activity item while logging your personal time off from now on as well as while setting up benefits (Core HR) for the employees.

When it comes to printing 1099s and handling other tax information, Core App Marketplace offers Zenworks Tax1099, allowing you to sync your data through Core Public API s.

If you see projects combined for billing under the client's name in the Create Batch Invoice screen, it is because you have set the project rule Send as joint invoice for the projects. If you do not want this to happen, you should remove this rule from the project profile. Check the Core Help for more details. You may also want to check out this article: Issue with joint invoicing in Create Batch Invoice.

If you notice that Core is running very slow in your browser, you can try logging out of Core and clearing the cache of your browser. That should help resolve the issue.

Please note that users who are using a trial version of Core will be having slower speed compared to the paid/subscribed users because the trial databases are on the trial servers while the subscribed databases have dedicated servers assigned to them.

As of now, you cannot import datadirectly from spreadsheets into Core. You can consult our Data Migration Team on importing the data as per your requirements.

Manual invoicing is where you can create an invoice from scratch by entering billing items manually or pulling in the WIP, and then making adjustments. This manual invoice enables you to create and edit an invoice for a project that might not have time and expenses logged to it. This is useful for new Core users who are implementing the software and need to enter past invoices and other historical information (alternatively, you can do so using the Opening Balances option from the Projects screen). It is also used to make exception billing, say a customer walks into the office and you need to charge them really quick. Check the Core Help for details.

Invoices transferred from your accounting software are saved as manual invoices. It is important to note that manual invoicing does not support joint or phased billing. Also, there is also no such thing as a 'draft manual invoice'. These invoices also do not obey certain project rules, say Prevent Time/Expense Entry rule.

While you can create most invoices using the batch billing method, there are situations when a manual invoice is a better option. For example:

When you need to create a quick invoice from an existing estimate, a budget or a ‘\% Done’ value for each activity or expense item

When there are no significant services associated with a product, such as reselling of software, hardware, and so on

When you want to create a quick invoice based on service and expense items

When you want to enter historical invoices (summary or detail) from a previous accounting system

When there are no time or expense entries charged to a project

When you have to create a quick invoice from a billing schedule

When you want to create an invoice and apply a payment at the same time

WUD stands for Write-up/Write-Down. It is a value or percentage at whichbillable hoursare written up or down. It is the equivalent of markup for expenses. You can write up/down the value of time entries in various ways: by applying WUD at the time entry level or by changing the value of net bill while invoicing. Changing the value of WUD to 0\%, resets the original value of time entries.

Here is a video that will help you manage your files and documents in Core: Managing documents in Core

Check the Core Help for details.

User is trying to create a phased project from a project template in Core, but noticed that although the Parent Project ID copies to the phases properly, the phases still have the template's project name.

This is the expected behavior in Core. When you create a project from a template that has phases, you need to specify an ID for the parent project and Core prefixes this ID to the IDs of all the new phases being created. However, the phases retain the project names specified in the template. You can overwrite them, if needed. Check the Core Help for details.

You can check the details of your Core subscriptions from the main company menu > Account > Manage Subscriptions screen. It shows all your purchased subscriptions, used and remaining, along with the expiry dates. Check the Core Help for more details.

User has a phased project and wants the invoices to show the Phase ID of the project phases there.

You can set the format in which Core displays the phases on the invoices in Global Settings > User Interface panel. Under Display As > Project Phase, select a format that contains the phase ID (say, Phase ID - Phase Name). The invoices will then display the phases in this format.

Core offers various robust subscription packages that are designed to match your role in the company. Some of these packages are Manager, Billing, Time and Expense, Accounting, HR, etc. You can purchase yearly or above subscription plans for your users according to the role they perform in the company. Depending on your requirements, you can buy different subscription packages and any number of subscriptions under them. Check the Core Help for details.

You can purchase each subscription for a monthly price and choose to pay in yearly and above plans. All the plans and pricing options are available on the Core website. You can use credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, Amex or Discover to make your payments online or pay by check or money order by calling our sales professionals.

BQE Software charges subscribers monthly depending on the type of package and you can choose to pay in yearly and above plans. All the plans and pricing options are available on the Core website. Click here for more on Core Pricing.

BQE has upgraded the authentication for the Core-Xero data integration from Oauth1.0 to Oauth2.0, which might cause existing connections to become invalid.After the Oauth2.0 migration, existing users of Core-Xero data integration with already established connections will have their tokens invalidated. In the Core > Xero Sync Detail screen, the Company Name and Country Code will be blank.

We need to make sure that the Xero account has an active BQE Core account connected to it. Also, existing users have to reconnect their Xero data files with the associated Core data files. To do this:

In Xero, open Settings > Connected Apps. As you can see, on the Connected tab there is no Core data file.

Now go to Core and open the Integrations screen from the Productivity Tools > Integrations menu.

On the Xero row, click Disconnect and then Connect.

You are asked to grant Core access to your Xero account. Click Allow Access. When prompted, click Connect.On the Xero Sync Detail screen, you will see the connection between the two apps.

Back in Xero, reload the Apps > Connected tab and you will see the connected Core app there.

If you want to view the emails sent out from Core, say invoices emailed to a client (PDF),you should enter your email address as Cc or BCc in User Preferences or Global Settings > Email Settings. This will send a copy of all outgoing emails to your inbox.

If you have created a budget and assigned it to a project, you can restrict the employees, activities and expense items that can be used on this project to the ones specified in the budget. You need not assign them to the project again via Project Assignments if you have already created the budget. All you have to do is add the below three rules to your project:

Restrict expense entries to budgeted expenses

Restrict time and expenses to budgeted employees

Restrict time entries to budgeted activities

This achieves the same effect of limiting the employees, activity and expense items on the project, without the need to create project assignments. Check the Core Help for more on these project rules.

Is there a global setting to change languages and metrics for users in different countries?

In Core, you provide the Country name at signup. This applies to your main Core company database and is set by the Owner.Based on the country you choose here, your default currency, symbols, tax codes and other settings are customized accordingly. It is set to United States by default. Check the Core Help for details.

Next, you can specify the full company address in the Company Profile screen.The country specified here determines the default currency for your Core company. You can set your default home or local currency here so that the correct amount, multiplier and symbols are used at relevant places (say, inExpense Entries). If you change the home currency here, the currency on the reports changes automatically. This selection can be overwritten at the employee level. Check the Core Help for details.

At the user level, you also get to set up your address and country in your user profile (View Profile screen). Core should adjust the number and date format (say for time entry) automatically based on these settings. This information relates to your subscription, billing and general UI. Check the Core Help for details.

At the Employees (and Vendors) screen level, you set the physical address of the employee/vendor. You can also override the default company currency here according to your location so that correct values and symbols are used everywhere. This currency setting enables your employees/vendors to log expenses in a foreign currency.

The above settings can be overwritten at the project level. In the Projects screen, you can set the address of your project as well as specify the currency to be used for it.

If you have added a bank account in Core, you can fetch the feeds for the past 90 days only (3 months). If the amount in Core does not match the actual amount available in your bank account, this might be because of the transactions carried out before the past 90 days. You can record the balance amount in theCloud Feeds screen by adding a transaction or reconcile your accounts using the Account Reconciliations screen. Check the Core Help for details.

The balance of a checking account in Core never matches the actual balance according to the bank. The Cloud Feeds screen shows a different balance that does not match either of the two.

The account balance in Core can differ from your actual bank account balance because you might have some uncleared transactions in Core that haven't been reconciled yet. You need to reconcile your accounts periodically to ensure there are no discrepancies or missing transactions. Check the Core Help for details.

For Cloud Feeds, you should disconnect and then reconnect to your bank to force a refresh of the data. Note that the Cloud Feeds data does not always give an accurate picture of your bank account and it is mostly used to import transactions from your bank account into Core or match them with existing transactions. Check out this article for details: Amount in Core and bank account do not match and also check the Core Help.

User is trying to create a time entry on a project, but the activity item shows up as non-billable by default, while it is marked as Billable in the Activity Items screen.

This can happen if the activity item is assigned to the project in the Project Assignments screen and its Billable flag is unchecked there (overwritten). To make it billable, you need to check its Billable flag in the project assignment. Check the Core Help for details.

Yes. You can deposit refunds or any funds that are not part of the existing payments from clients on the New Funds tab of the Deposits > Add Deposit screen. Check the Core Help for details.

User wants to know if and how to enter payroll data manually into Core. Also, user wants to see that information on the Profit & Loss report by project.

Core does not handle payroll as of now. The onlyway to populate payroll expenses in the P&L report is by using the Checks feature to cut the payroll checks manually for your employees and then run the P&L report. To do that:

Create an activity or expense item for each payroll item you have. Make sure to assign the appropriate payroll Expense Account to it.

Using the main menu on the left, go to Accounting > Checks and click on the quick add ‘+’ icon on the menu.

This will take you to the Add Check screen. Use the drop-downs to select the correct Bank Account and Payee. If you need to update the check date and address, you can do so.

Now on the Items tab, use the drop-downs to select your Project and Item created earlier for this purpose.

Enter a Quantity and Rate for the item. If needed, select another Expense Account from the drop-down.

Click Done to save the entry.

Repeat the steps 4 through 6 as many times as needed for your payroll items. When you have finished, click either Save & Add New or just Save to record the check.

Next run the Profit & Loss by Project report from the Reports screen to see these expense account transactions.

Core has specific activity items for Vacation, Sick, Holiday and Comp Time, and you can also change the defaults in Global Settings > Master Information > Time Off. To enter the sick days or hours, you need to create a time entry with the activity item that is assigned for sick time. The entries from the time-off activity items can be tracked by reports such as Employee Performance.

By default, Vacation, Sick, Holiday and Compensation time is tracked with predefined activity items: VAC, SICK, HOL, and COMP. These items, combined with hours allowed for each employee, are used to process PTO and time entry reports.

The PTO widget is not showing vacation time because that time was probably entered using a wrong activity item. You can customize these codes to your preference in Global Settings screen > Master Information tab or change their labels in Custom Labels.

In Core, you can create your own project naming structure. You can set this in the Global Settings > User Interface screen under Display As. Select the desired naming structure and format, say in this case you might want to choose ROOT PROJECT ID - PHASE NAME from the Project drop-down.

The Dashboard feature in Core offers many widgets based on the subscription package purchased by you. In other words, the widgets you access on your dashboard depend on your subscription package as well as the security permissions. You can view the widgets included in each package:

Widget Name

Core Essentials

Manager

Billing

Accounting

Time Expense

HR Standard

HR Administrator

Account Balances See a list of accounts with their associated balances and reconciled balances.

Active AccountsSee a list of active accounts and their balances for the current month and year-to-date.

Activity PerformanceKeep track of your most profitable activities based on their billed time for a defined period.

Aged ReceivablesSee the summary of open invoice balances broken down into four aging periods based on the invoice due date.

AgingSee the breakdown of your unpaid invoices for a defined period.

Balance Sheet- ComparativeCompare the selected year’s assets, liabilities and equity account totals with the same period for the prior year.

BillingTrack all the revenue generated by the company for a defined period.

Cash FlowSee the breakdown of your cash flow for a defined period.

Client PerformanceKeep track of your most profitable clients based on their cash payments for a defined period.

DocumentsView and open all the documents added or modified within the specified date range.

Due ProjectsView the list of projects that are due within the specified date range. You can see all the approaching deadlines.

Earned ValueSee the earned value of the projects you manage for a defined period.

Employee AllocationSee the allocated hours of the logged-in user by project and task within the specified date range.

Employee PerformanceKeep track of your most profitable employees based on their billed time for a defined period.

Expense PerformanceKeep track of your most profitable expenses based on their billed value for a defined period.

ExpensesSee the company’s expenses broken down into accounts within the specified date range.

Gross MarginTrack the profitability or margin analysis of clients within the specified date range on accrual basis.

HoursCompare the billable and non-billable hours logged by your employees for a defined period.

HR Upcoming ReviewsSee the summary of upcoming performance reviews along with their due dates.

IncomeSee the company’s income broken down into accounts within the specified date range.

Income vs. ExpensesView the company's overall income, expenses and profit for a defined period.

Money OwedSee the summary of open invoice balances for a defined period.

NotesSee a list of journal notes related to employees, projects and clients for a defined period.

Paid Time Off and Comp HoursSee the summary of hours logged or used by employees against the sick, vacation, holiday and comp time activities within the specified date range.

Profit and Loss-ComparativeCompare the selected period’s income and expense account totals with the same period for the prior year.

Project AllocationSee the allocated hours of the project and task within the specified date range.

Project Allocation by ActivitySee the allocated hours of the project by activity and task within the specified date range.

Project Gross MarginTrack the profitability or margin analysis of Projects within the specified date range on accrual basis.

Project PerformanceKeep track of your most profitable projects based on their payments for a defined period.

Project StatusSee overview of the projects based on their contract and budget amount.

ReimbursablesSee the unpaid and partially paid reimbursable expenses of the logged-in user.

Retainer BalancesSee the summary of retainer balances yet to be paid by the clients for a defined period.

Staff Effective RatesSee the billed percentage and realization rate of each employee for a defined period.

Staff UtilizationSee the billability and utilization percentage of each employee for a defined period.

Staff WorkLoadView your employees' scheduled hours and actual hours worked for a defined period.

Time PerformanceTrack the performance of employees based on the total billable hours, non-billable hours and internal hours logged by them.

To DosSee all the open, incomplete to-dos related to the logged-in user.

Unbilled TimeSee all the unbilled hours based on the time entry date within a defined period.

WorkflowsSee the status of entries submitted to the logged-in user based on entry type.

The billable or non-billable status of time entries depends on many factors.

The billability of time entries first depends on how the activity items are set up. If an activity is billable, it will come up as billable in time entry. It can, however, be changed while entering time.

The second factor can be the project's contract type. Marketing and Overhead project types always have time entries marked as non-billable as they are considered internal projects.

Then the amount spent from the contract amount of a Fixed or Hourly Not to Exceedproject triggers a time entry evaluation wherein anything above the contract is tagged as non-billable. Again, this can be overwritten and changed to billable, if required.

User needs to be able to track the available Personal Time Off (vacation and sick time) in Core. What is the easiest way to see this information?

There is no HR dashboard widget that allows a Time & Expense user to see the available PTO. However, we keep adding new dashboard widgets and so stay tuned on that!

As of now, you can track and see this information on the Personal Time Off Request screen (create and edit modes) info bar that summarizes the earned, used and available hours for the selected employee.

Some bulk actions like Workflow (Submit, Approve, etc.), Delete, and Update Rates are intentionally grayed out in the Actions menu on Core screens when you use 'Select All'. Allowing batch actions on a large record set can lead to performance issues and that is why it is not allowed by Core. As an example, the Submit or Approve action triggers multiple actions on the web server like push notifications to mobile, emails, and other notifications. This can cause problems and that is why those actions are disabled in case of Select All.

The reason for the invoice amount to double (or more) in case of recurring invoices depends on the time since the last invoice has been created. If the frequency for the invoice is set to monthly and for some reason it has been two months since the last invoice was processed, Core doubles the amount to account for both months since the last invoice.

When a project has been marked as 'Completed,' it no longer appears in the Payments screen. To apply a payment to a completed project, you can choose to create a new payment and select only the client when searching for invoices by client and project. This exposes all the open invoices for that client, regardless of the project status. You can then apply the payment to it.

You have to create a retainer refund in Core from the Credit Memos screen ( see here ) for the retainer amount to be moved. After the amount has been refunded, apply that same amount as a retainer to the other project phase.

How are earned benefits calculated in Core HR? It seems the accrued vacation time does not tally with the actual.

In Core HR, the benefits earned, say vacation days, by employees is calculated as shown below (1st Jan, 2013being the start date):

1st Jan, 2013: 0 days (as 1 year hasn’t been completed)

1st Jan, 2014: 1 day

Now employee earns 2 Days/Year for the next two years, i.e., 2015 and 2016.

1st Jan, 2015: 1 + 2 = 3 days (1st Jan, 2013 1st Jan, 2015 = 2 years completed)

1st Jan, 2016: 1 + 2 + 2 = 5 days (Here the start day is calculated from 2014 instead of 2013, so 1st Jan, 2014 1st Jan, 2016).

Next employee earns 3 Days/Year for the next three years, i.e., 2017, 2018 and 2019.

1st Jan, 2017: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 = 8 days

1st Jan, 2018: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 = 11 days

1st Jan, 2019: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 14 days

Next employee earns 4 Days/Year for the next four years, i.e., 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

1st Jan, 2020: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 18 days

1st Jan, 2021: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 22 days

1st Jan, 2022: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 26 days

1st Jan, 2023: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 30 days

This can be continued for future years in the same way as explained above.

Another example is when the benefits are earned and calculated in one-year increments (as seen below). The calculations will follow the same logic.

1st Jan, 2013: 0 days (as 1 year hasn’t been completed)

1st Jan, 2014: 1 day

Now employee earns 2 Days/Year for the next one year, i.e., 2015.

1st Jan, 2015: 1 + 2 = 3 days (1st Jan, 2013 1st Jan, 2015 = 2 years completed)

Next employee earns 3 Days/Year for the next one year, i.e., 2016.

1st Jan, 2016: 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 days

This can be continued for future years in the same way as explained above.

If your beginning balance in Core is different from the opening balance on your bank statement, youneed to reconcile your accounts to match the balances for your bank statement and Core account. This is a two-step process.

First, you must compare the beginning balance on your bank statement to the beginning balance in Core and verify the information for the account you want to reconcile in Core. Second, you have to compare individual transactions and then reconcile your accounts.

Note:If you clear a transaction directly in the account register, the beginning balance shown in the Account Reconciliation screen might not match the opening balance on your statement. Instead, clear transactions when you are reconciling accounts in Core for a more accurate beginning balance.

To reconcile your accounts:

Go to the main menu > Accounting > Chart of Accounts.

Select the account you want to reconcile and click the row menu to select Reconcile.

In the Statement Date field, enter the date of the bank statement you are trying to reconcile.

Compare the amount shown in the Beginning Balance field to the opening balance shown on your bank statement. How you handle the mismatch depends upon whether or not the accounts have been reconciled in the past. Check the Core Help for details.

First-Time Reconciliation

You might have entered your opening balance incorrectly when creating a new account (bank or credit card). If you have never reconciled your account, you can change the opening balance in the following way:

On the Chart of Accounts screen, find the account's opening balance transaction in the register (usually the first one)or look for Opening Balance Equity in the Account field of the register.

Change the amount to the correct opening balance.

Save the changes and exit.

Reconciliation Done Before

If your beginning balance in Core is different from the opening balance on your bank statement in your previously reconciled accounts, you need to find the cause of the discrepancy.Some of the reasons that may cause a discrepancy include:

You may have un-cleared a transaction in the account register by mistake. If yes, your beginning balance will be off by that amount. You can see this in the Reconciliation Discrepancies report.

You have changed or deleted a previously cleared transaction. To fix this, you must undo the previous reconciliation and then reconcile again with the correct transactions.

You have an option to ignore the discrepancy for now. When you finish reconciling, Core adds an adjustment transaction to the Reconciliation Discrepancies account. However, you should notignore a large discrepancy because then you will be adding a large adjustment that may remain unaccounted.

Find the ending balance on your bank statement and enter it in the Ending Balance field.

Enter any finance charge or interest earned that you have not yet entered in Core.

In the Account field for Finance Charge, enter the name of the expense account that you use to track service charges.

In the Account field for Interest Earned, enter the name of the income account that you use to track interest income.

Click Continue to display all the checks/payments and deposits/credits to be cleared.

Next, complete the reconciliation by selecting Reconcile Now. Check the Core Help for details.

User created retainers from the Retainers screen, but cannot find them in the retainer balance when applying payments on invoices.

This is because from the Retainers screen you can only request retainers from the client. This creates retainer invoices that you can send to the clients. You still have to receive and record the payment for these retainers before you can use them on invoices. Check the Core Help for more details.

3 Areas of Your Business that Need to be Automated

You might not want Core to evaluate and mark your time entries as non-billable when the amount spent on the project goes over the contract for Fixed Fee project types. In case you want to keep all the time entries on a fixed project as billable even though the amount spent on it is greater than the contract amount, this is possible in Core although by default Core performs the automatic time and expense entry evaluation.

To resolve this on a project level in Core:

Go to the Projects screen > General > Assignment.

Click Add Rule and check the 'Skip automatic time entry evaluation' rule. This allows you to enter billable time over the contract for time entries.

If you want to globally update all the projects for this rule, go to Global Settings > Time & Expenses section and check this rule there.

To make time and expense memos required or mandatory in Core, you can set thatoption at theglobal level, i.e., a rule that applies across the system:

Go to your company menu > Settings > Global Settings > Time & Expenses panel.

Check the option ‘Time entry memo required’.This ensures that all futuretime entries won’t be accepted without a memo.

Similarly, check the option ‘Expense entry memo required’.This ensures that all futureexpense entries won’t be accepted without a memo.

ClickSave.

You can also setthis rule at theproject level:

Go to the Projects screen > General > Assignment.

Click Add Rule and select the rule ‘Memo is required for time entry’.If required for expense entries, select that option too.

Click Add.

Using Core, you can allow your clients to check and approve time sheets.This is useful if you want clients to approve their project hours before billing them. In order to do this, a client representative must be able to log in to Core just like any other user, but with limited access to data.

To do this, the following steps need to be taken:

1.You must have a Time & Expense subscription packagein Core for the client representative.

To purchase an additional subscription if none is available, please watchthis video on how to do that.

2. Next create a new'Standard' userfor this client representative, which will link to a new employee contact automatically created at the same time. You can do so from your Company menu > Account > Manage Users screen by using the Add User > Existing Employee option. This external user will receive an invitation email.

3. You need to set up limited security permissions for this external user from your Company menu > Settings > Security Permissions screen.

4. Set up access to selective projects that can be seen by this client using Employee Control. You can do so from your Company menu > Settings > Employee Control screen in the View By: Project mode.

5. You might also want to set up the appropriate client and/or project records to indicate that this client representative is the manager of these records. This will help later to simplify submitting time and expense entries for approval. You can set this by going into the client record from Contacts > Clients and entering a value for the Manager field on its General > Details screen. The same can be done for the Manager field on the Projects > General > Details screen.

6. Make sure the rule for auto-approval of time and expense entries is not set up on these selective projects becausewe require manual approval for them. You can uncheck those rules on the Projects > General > Assignment screen.

7. The external user must set up email notificationsto let them knowthat entries are submitted for approval. This can be done via your Company menu > User Preferences > Notifications & Reminders.

8. You must inform your employees about the new workflow in your company. They need to submit their time and expenses to the external user for approval and billing using the Actions > Workflow > Submit option in the respective screens.

Note: Please read the Core Help for detailed instructions on each step, if needed.

How do I make time entry memos required or mandatory in Core?

You can set this option at theglobal level and project level. Then Core will prompt the user if they do not enter a time memo.

To set the rule at the global level:

Open the Global Settings screen in Core and select its Time & Expenses panel.

Under Time Entry, select ‘Time entry memo required’.This ensures that all futuretime entries are not accepted without a memo.

ClickSave.

You can also setthis rule at theproject level:

Open the Projects screen and select a project on the grid.

In the detail view, go to its General > Assignment tab.

Click Add Rule and select 'Memo is required for time entry'.

Click Add and save the information. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

Employee has been allocated 4 hours ofwork against aproject. How do I lock the system so that the employee can enter only 4 hours against that project?

This can be achieved by the following:

Open the Allocation & Forecasting screen in Core.

In the Show: Employeemode, assign 4 hoursto an employee against the selected project and activity.

Make sure the Start date is set accordingly.Click Done. Check Allocate Tasks to Employees for details.

We now need to apply a rule to this project:

Open the Projectsscreen and select the relevant project on the grid.

In its detail view, go to the Assignmenttab.

Click Add Rule and selectthe rule: Prevent time entry after reaching allocated hours.

Click Add and save the information. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

To test if this works, go to the Time Card screen.

Filter the data by the relevant employee and project.

Try entering more hours than the allocated value, i.e., 5 hours. On clicking Save, you are notified about the exceeding hours and cannot save the entry.

Employee has been allocated 4 expense units aproject. How do I lock the system so that the employee can enter only 4 units against that project?

This can be achieved by the following:

Open the Allocation & Forecasting screen in Core.

In the Show: Employeemode, assign 4 units to an employee against the selected project and expense item.

Make sure the Start date is set accordingly.Click Done. Check Allocate Tasks to Employees for details.

We now need to apply a rule to this project:

Open the Projectsscreen and select the relevant project on the grid.

In its detail view, go to the Assignment tab.

Click Add Rule and selectthe rule: Prevent expense entry after reaching allocated units.

Click Add and save the information. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

To test if this works, go to the Expense Entries screen.

Filter the data by the relevant employee and project.

Try entering more expenses than the allocated value, i.e., 5 units. On clicking Save, you are notified about the exceeding units and cannot save the entry.

How do I make expense entry memos required or mandatory in Core?

You can set this option at theglobal level and project level. Then Core will prompt the user if they do not enter an expense memo.

To set the rule at the global level:

Open the Global Settings screen in Core and select its Time & Expenses panel.

Under Expense Entry, select ‘Expense entry memo required’.This ensures that all future expense entries are not accepted without a memo.

ClickSave.

You can also setthis rule at theproject level:

Open the Projects screen and select a project on the grid.

In the detail view, go to its General > Assignment tab.

Click Add Rule and select 'Memo is required for expense entry'.

Click Add and save the information. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

You may have sub-contractors, consultants or vendors working on your projects and want to include their expenses in the contract amount. Core allows you to handle this easily as a part of its workflow and functionality.

Project Setup

While setting up a project, you can specify the service as well as expense part of the overall contract amount. These expenses are related to your consultants and vendors.

On the Projects > General > Assignment tab, click Add Rule.

Selectthe rule 'Include billable expenses in the contract amount'.This allows you to treat the vendor expenses as part of the overall contract. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

Budget Setup

Create a budget. Make sure to specify the expense items for the vendors in it.

Assign this budget to the above project. Check Assign Budgets to Projects for details.

Accounting

On receiving a bill from the vendor, open the Vendor Bills screen.

Click Create New to enter a vendor bill.

Select the vendor and then enter the bill reference number as well as a memo, if any, besidesthe project, item, units and rate. You can entermultiple lines. Check Create Vendor Bills for details.

Click Done and then Save.When the vendor bill is saved, it creates an expense entry automatically.

Notice that the Extra flag is not checked (show this field from More > Columns). It means that the value of these expense items will not add separately to the invoice.

In the Invoicesscreen, notice the expense entries flowing through. You can see the billable services as well as expenses there. You can process the invoices as usual.

If you are charging your clients a flat fee in addition to the hourly billing, you might want to add that flat fee (with a description as to what the fee is for) to the hourly invoice. In Core, this can be done in the following way:

Open the Projects screen and create a separate project (or create it as a phase of the existing hourly project).

Set the project's Contract Type as Fixed Fee. Check Create Projects from Scratch or Add Project Phases for details,depending on your preference.

In the detail view, enter the project description in the Memo field.

Next, go to its Assignment tab and add the rule 'Show memo on invoices'. Save all the project information. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

Finally, open the Invoices screen and create a joint invoice for the hourly and fixed fee projects so that they end up on the same invoice.Check Combine Invoices for details.

In Core, you can bill your clients using activity, employee or special fee schedule rates. Check Rates for details.

To do so:

Open the Projects screen.

Select the project you want to set up for billing and go to its detail view.

On the General > Assignment tab, click Add Rule.

Check the rule 'Use Bill Rates from Activity Items screen'. Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

Click Add and save your changes. Core will use the activity rates for billing.

How do I exclude expenses from the invoices in Core?

When you are not billing expenses to your client, it means that expenses are part of your project's contract amount. You are not separately charging your clients for the expenses.

To set that billing rule for a project:

Open the Projects screen in Core and select the relevant project in the list.

In the detail view, go to the Assignment tab.

Click Add Rule and select the rule ‘Include billable expenses in the contract amount’.

Click Add and then exit.

Check Assign Rules to Projects for details.

Core allows you to automatically approve time and expense entries, if required. This can be set at the project level or employee level.

To auto-approve time or expenses for a project, follow these steps:

In the Projects screen, open the detail view of a project.

Go to the General > Assignment tab.

Click Add Rule and check the options'Auto approve expense entries' and 'Auto approve time entries'. Click Add. The selected rules are now active and Core will automatically approve any new time and expense entry for that project.

To auto-approve time or expenses for an employee, follow these steps:

In the Employees screen, open the employee details.

Go to General > Rates & Options tab.

Under Auto Approve, check the options 'Auto approve time' and 'Auto approve expenses'. Click Save. Core will automatically approve the new time and expense entries of that employee.

You can also specify these rules for all new projects and employees in Global Settings > Time and Expenses panel. 'Auto approve time entries for projects' will automatically add the corresponding rule for the new projects you create while 'Auto approve time entries for employees' will automatically check the corresponding option for the new employees you create. Core provides similar settings for expense entries.

Typically, an account summary or a retainer summary appears at the bottom of system invoice templates. You can change that by unchecking those options in Global Settings > Billing or Projects > General > Assignment tab. The assignment at the project level takes precedence over the global level.