Configuring time tracking for a workspace

You can configure the time-tracking function to track the time agents spend creating or working on tickets. Time can be tracked automatically by the system or manually by your agents. The total time counted over all sessions is accumulated and stored for each ticket. Session times and total working time can be viewed in the ticket history. Also, you can assign hourly billing rates to agents for calculating the money spent working on tickets. 

All of this data can be used for reporting. The Time Tracking report returns information for each reported ticket plus totals and averages for all data included in the report. The report can include averages and totals for a specific internal user, customer, status, priority type, and so on. For more information about reporting, see Configuring reports.

Time tracking is enabled for items by default. If the field is set to Mandatory, Require Time Tracking is also set to Required.

To configure time tracking

1. Open the item where you want to configure time tracking:
   1. Click the Administration tab.
   2. In the Workspaces section, click the name of the workspace or click Manage to open the Workspace Administration page. Then double-click the workspace.
      The Workspace details page appears. 
   3. In the left pane, click Record Definitions.
   4. Double-click the item.
      The item details page appears. 
2. In the left pane, click Time Tracking.
3. In the Methods Available section, accept the default of Automatic or select whether agents will enter the amount of time spent working (in hours and minutes) or select a start and end time (where the system calculates the amount of time).
   • Automatic: A clock appears on the ticket form and automatically tracks time during creation and editing. That is, when a ticket is being created or updated, the clock tracks the amount of time that the ticket is active for viewing or editing. When a ticket is submitted or saved, the clock stops. It starts running again if the ticket is updated. This option is useful for call centers or service desks where agents do most of their work at their desks. If you want to allow your agents to pause the clock, use this option.
   • Manually Enter Hours & Minutes: Agents type in the amount of time spent working in hours and minutes when they create or edit tickets. The time is recorded for each work session. The Require Time Tracking option is available for this method. Agents cannot enter hours and minutes for a past date. To allow past date entry, use the Set Start and End Times option.
   • Set Start and End Times: Agents specify when work began and stopped for both creating and editing tickets. They can enter past dates and times. FootPrints calculates the time spent based on the information supplied by the agent. 
4. In the Allow Clock to be Paused field, accept the default of No or select Yes.
   If you select Yes, a pause button appears in the Time Tracking section of the ticket. This option can be used for a more accurate time tracking if, for example, an agent must stop work on one ticket for some period of time, but keeps the original ticket session active.

5. In the Require Time Tracking field, select a value.
   This option is only available for manual methods.
   If you select Optional, agents can enter the same start date/time and end date/time, effectively registering zero time spent on the ticket. If you select Mandatory, agents cannot enter the same start and end date and time. Instead, the end date and time must be later than the start date and time.

6. (Optional) In the Time Tracking Comments field, select Disabled.
7. (Optional) In the Start Date and Time field, select Set Manually.
   The manual option is useful if agents typically perform much of their work offline and only update their tickets after tasks are completed.
8. Click Save.
9. Publish the workspace to implement your changes:

   1. In the breadcrumb trail, click the Workspace link.

   2. Click Save and Publish.

      A confirmation message appears.

   3. Click Yes.
      The Publication Succeeded message appears, showing the number of errors and warnings.

Related topics

Configuring items

Configuring workspaces

Creating Turn-around Time reports