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Recording Time with the Timesheet

Using the timesheet feature to enter employee working hours.

Updated over 3 months ago

SmoothPay includes a built-in Timesheet feature that allows you to record daily hours and automatically convert specific hours into Overtime or TOIL/RDO, depending on your configuration.

This article explains how to open the Timesheet, how daily entries work, and how the Timesheet interacts with other automatic functions.


The Timesheet Calendar

The Timesheet appears as a calendar-based interface where you enter the total hours worked for each day in decimal format.

Each date has a corresponding entry field. You can enter hours on any day regardless of colour coding.

Colour coding

The calendar uses colour coding so you can easily identify the day type:

  • Pale yellow: Weekend

  • White: Weekdays within the active pay period

  • Red: Weekdays outside the active pay period

  • Gold: Public holiday

These colours do not restrict entry. They are visual indicators only.


Accessing the Timesheet

  1. Go to the Payrun screen

  2. Select the employee

  3. Click Timesheet on the silver bar just below the blue bar

This opens the employee’s timesheet for the current pay period.


Entering Hours

To enter hours:

  1. Click the date

  2. Enter the total hours worked in decimal format

  3. Move to the next day as required

  4. Click Save when finished

When you save, SmoothPay automatically converts these hours into individual transactions shown in the payrun screen.


Additional Timesheet Functions

The Timesheet screen also contains:

Alternative days to accrue (NZ only)

Use this option to record alternative leave in days.

Days paid (NZ) or Days worked (all other countries)

Enter the number of days paid or worked for the pay period.

These fields feed directly into statutory leave calculations where required.


Automatic Behaviours Triggered by the Timesheet

Depending on your organisation’s configuration, the Timesheet may automatically:

  • Convert excess hours to Overtime

  • Convert excess hours to TOIL/RDO

  • Allocate weekend hours to specific paycodes

Important:
Automatic overtime and automatic TOIL/RDO cannot operate together for the same employee. Only one automatic method can be active at a time.

If both are configured, TOIL/RDO takes priority and overtime will not trigger.


Editing Timesheet Entries

There are two ways to adjust entries:

Edit within the Timesheet

Reopen the Timesheet, update the hours on the relevant day, and click Save.

Edit in the Payrun

Edit the resulting transactions directly in the payrun screen if you prefer.
Note that re-saving the Timesheet will regenerate the payrun transactions.


Timesheet vs Manual Entry

You may choose between:

  • Entering hours day by day using the Timesheet

  • Entering a single total in the payrun screen without using the Timesheet

The Timesheet is recommended when:

  • You want a visual layout of activity across the period

  • Automatic overtime or automatic TOIL/RDO is configured

  • Weekend classification is used

  • You need accurate day-by-day records

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