Import Time Cards
Permissions and Settings
To upload time cards you must have one or more of the following:
Have the cost center permission Maintain Time
Be the Time Entry Delegate for a resource (set on a resource's profile)
To import time you’ve worked yourself, your best option is Import Time on the Enter Time page
There is a 5,000 card limit for imports on the time cards search page. If you have more then five hundred cards you'll notice that they are import in batches of 500 cards.
Data Sources
Time card data can be imported from three different sources
CSV file upload (filename must have the .csv extension)
QIF, QFX, OFX, QBO are also accepted formats
Here is a link to an Excel template with the necessary fields:
Time Card Fields
The below table contains all the fields you can map to a time card on import.
Field | Description | Expected Format |
Description | Specify text up to 1000 characters long. Anything longer will be truncated. | String |
Location | The location for this time card. If your company does not use locations, this field will not be shown. The text needs to match exactly what is in the Location Editor. | String |
Handy Info | This data doesn't get imported, it is simply for reference during. For example, you might have work notes in here. Or you might have a note to yourself that the time should not be entered until next month. | String |
Project | This can contain either a project code or a project name. It is preferable to use a project code in this field as Projector will automatically map to the appropriate project. If you choose to use a name instead, it will not be mapped to a project if there are multiple projects with the same name. Instead, we'll provide a picklist of projects with this name that you will need to select from. | String |
Rate Type | If your organization allows multiple rate types, for example Regular, Overtime, or Travel - then specify the appropriate rate type here. If your organization does not use rate types, leave this blank. | String |
Task | The name of the task worked on. | String |
Role | Occasionally resources have only one role on a project, and and that role can be automatically populated. However, identifying roles prior to data import will lead to much higher success rates when importing data. | String |
Work Date | The date work was performed. | We support multiple date formats:
|
Work Hours | The number of hours and minutes you worked. | We support multiple time formats. Below are three different ways to write "three and a half hours."
|
Other (User Defined Fields) | Your installation may have fields listed that are not in this table. They are special fields defined by your administrator. For instance, you might see "Ticket #" as a field and you are expected to enter a number. Please contact your administrator if you are unclear what to enter in these fields. | The expected format depends on the type of UDF.
|
JIRA / Zendesk | If you have a JIRA / Zendesk integration, you can specify the linked ticket id here. | String |
How To Import Time Cards
Here is a simple walkthrough of a time card import.
Start an Import
To start an import, go to Financials in your sidebar and click Time Cards.
In this new window, you’ll see a button labeled Import Time. When you click the arrow next to that button, a picklist will appear with two options: Import Time Cards and Import Time Off Card. Select Import Time Cards.
The time card import process consists of three steps. Below, we’ll walk you through each of these steps.
Step One: Choose Import File
You can either drag and drop a file into the box at the bottom of this page, or you can click Choose a file and browse your computer’s files to find the one you’d like to import.
The decoding method for your file will be ANSI by default, but if you’d like to, you can select a different option from the picklist in the “Change decoding method” field.
Step Two: Map Fields
When you upload your file, you’ll be taken to step two of the import process. This is where you specify how the information from your file should be mapped to your time cards.
On the left, you’ll see all the applicable time card terms in Projector. On the right, you’ll see fields where you can choose what you’d like those terms to be mapped to. Each field will have a dropdown menu where you can select the appropriate terms in your file for each mapping. The additional content shown in the collapsed dropdown menu represents the first few rows of data from the file you’re importing.
Depending on the installation settings and project-specific parameters, the field mapping requirements vary for a successful card import. The following fields are always optional Description, Handy Info, TC-Jira and TC-Zendesk. Later on, you can specify or correct fields manually for each of your time cards.
If you frequently upload a file in the same format, then you can optionally save your mappings as a template you can reuse later on. At the bottom of your window, you can set a name for your mapping and save it as a template. If a saved mapping already exists and you want to use it for this file, you can select it from the picklist next to Saved mappings.
When you’ve filled out all the mappings you’d like to, click the Review Time Cards button.
Step 3: Review Time Cards
Once you’ve filled out your mappings, you’ll be able to review your time cards and make any necessary corrections.
If you want to adjust the info on a time card before importing it, click on that time card in the left hand column. You can select multiple time cards for bulk editing by holding the CTRL key and selecting multiple cards.
If you’d like to make bulk edits on all of your time cards, check the box next to Select All for Edit.
Once you’ve selected your time card(s), you can edit their details in the right side of your window.
Projector allows you to import time cards for multiple resources at once, and the details in your time cards may vary from resource to resource. Notice how, when we select time cards for two different resources, the Resource, Date, Hours and Project fields auto fill to “Varies”.
If there are any individual time cards you don’t want to import, you can delete them from your import list by selecting them and then clicking on the trash can icon in the left sidebar.
Time cards that are ready for import will be shown in green in your left hand sidebar. However, if there are any errors with a time card that prevent them from importing, that time card will be displayed in red. Usually, a time card will appear in red if you hadn’t filled out all the field mappings in step two. If this is the case, return to step two, make sure all necessary mappings are filled out, and click Review Time Cards again.
Alternatively, you can select your red time card(s) in the Review Time Cards step and fix the errors manually. Any fields that are empty or incorrect will be highlighted in red, so you’ll know which ones need to be fixed.
Once all the details on your time cards look right, click the Import button. You’ll see a dialog box letting you know your time cards are in the process of importing.
So long as you’re importing less than 500 time cards, you’ll be redirected to your time card list immediately once your time cards have been processed for import.
However, this workflow will be a bit different when you import more than 500 time cards. Projector’s time card import feature processes time cards in batches of 500. If you’re importing a file with a large number of time cards, you’ll see a pop-up window tracking the import progress of each batch. Closing this window or clicking Cancel will stop the import, so make sure you leave this window open until all your time cards have been imported.
When all time cards have been successfully imported, you’ll see a confirmation message in this window, as well as hyperlinks directing you to view each batch of time cards.
Click on one of these batch hyperlinks to view your time card list.
You can only view one batch of time cards at a time. To view another batch of time cards, click Clear Results in your top toolbar.
Then, find the next batch of time cards in your Recently Run list, and click Run.
Importing Time Off Cards
The process for importing time off cards is very similar to the process outlined above for importing time cards. To begin, you’ll again click the arrow next to the Import Time button in your Time Cards window. This time, click Import Time Off Cards from the picklist.
From here, the steps you follow are nearly the same as those you’d follow when importing time cards. The only difference will be in the field mapping step. You’ll see a shorter list of fields to map, as well as two new mappings: Time Off Hours and Time Off Reason.
Once you’ve filled your time off mappings out, you can continue the time off card import process just like you would for a time card import.