Tutorial for QuickBooks Time Tracker

The QuickBooks Time Tracker is now called the QuickBooks Time and Billing Manager. It is an online service that enables you to enter billable and nonbillable time via connection to the Internet. It allows the employees to enter hours spent on a job with the final approval being up to the business owner. All time is entered into the QuickBooks Time and Billing Manager and after approval, downloaded directly into the QuickBooks software. Many new features have been added to the former Time Tracker program.

Instructions

1. Determine which company file you wish to use with the QuickBooks Time & Billing Manager. As soon as you purchase the Time and Billing Manager, it will be available for you to sign in and begin using. When you first open the screen, it will ask which company file you wish to use with the Manager. You will have the option of using your company file immediately or using a sample file so you can see how the program works without altering your company data.

   Since the Time and Billing Manager integrates your Microsoft Outlook contacts, you will need to prepare both QuickBooks and Outlook for this integration. Spend a little time in the sample company and play with the features so you understand it.

2. Prepare the QuickBooks company file for integration with the Time and Billing Manager. Check through your customer and vendor lists in QuickBooks for duplicated customers and vendors. You will have to merge all duplications. You do this by opening the customer or vendor with the most complete information.

   Click on the "Edit Customer" button. When the Edit Customer window opens, highlight the customer name and press the "Ctrl" and "C" keys. Locate the duplicated customer and click on the "Edit Customer" button. In the customer's name box, highlight the name and hold the "Ctrl" and the "V" keys. This will paste the name of the more complete customer into that box. You will get a warning to let you know that the name is already in use and will have to click the "OK" button to merge the two duplicated names into one.

3. Purchase the Time and Billing Manager at the Intuit Workplace website. The cost is determined by how many employees and others will be accessing the site to enter billing data. You will need one user account for each employee in addition to the administrator user that comes with the program.

4. Log into the QuickBooks Time and Billing Manager using the user ID and password you chose when you purchased the Manager. When the main window opens again, choose the top option or the "Find Company File" button. The Time and Billing Manager will then begin integrating the QuickBooks company file information into the online application. When prompted, create usernames and passwords for each employee who will be using the program.

5. Follow the prompts to integrate your Outlook email account into the Time and Billing Manager. This may take some time depending on the number of contacts you have in your Outlook account.

6. Demonstrate to each employee how to log into the Manager and how to enter data. Each employee will have her own unique page and will be able to enter the hours she worked and for which customer on the spreadsheet. Each spreadsheet has 12 columns.

   The employee will enter the customer she did a job for in the first column. In the second column, she will enter the type of work she did. The third through the 10th columns are the days of the week, with the 11th column containing the calculated totals. The 12th column is labeled "Billable." If the employee's labor costs are billable to the customer for whom she is working, the employee will place a checkmark in this column.

7. Explore the tools of the Time and Billing Manager. Under the Manage Your Sheets tab, you can organize the time sheets by customer, by employee or by month. You can sort the results by each category. Under the Reports tab, you can create reports to find out which customers had the most billable hours in a month and which had the least. These reports can be saved as a .pdf file and emailed.

   The two buttons beneath the time sheets are the "Approve" or "Reject Time" buttons. Clicking the "Approve" button automatically downloads the time sheet into your QuickBooks company file.

References

• Intuit: A la Carte QuickBooks Apps & Services
• Intuit Workplace App Center: QuickBooks Time & Billing Manager