Manual entry of completed hours
Manual entry of completed hours
Your Work Orders now provide greater flexibility in tracking time spent on jobs. The Completed Hours field can be manually edited to override the automatic calculation that normally comes from completed activities, giving you direct control over this important metric.
In this article
- How the feature works
- Where to find the feature
- Enabling manual entry
- Editing completed hours manually
- Resetting to automatic calculation
- How remaining hours are calculated
- Limitations
How the feature works
When manual entry is disabled (the default setting), the system works exactly as before: the Completed Hours field updates automatically based on the total duration of all completed activities on the Work Order. You cannot edit this field directly.
When manual entry is enabled, you gain the ability to type a value directly into the Completed Hours field. Once you save a manual value, two things happen:
- The automatic calculation from activities pauses
- An override indicator (a pencil-lock icon 🔒) appears next to the field to signal that the value has been manually set
You can clear the manual override at any time using the reset button (↺) to return the field to automatic, activity-driven calculation.
Where to find the feature
The Completed Hours field is located in your Work Order form, within the Estimation section. It appears alongside other time estimates like Planned Hours and Remaining Hours.
Enabling manual entry
Manual entry is off by default. Your account administrator must enable it to make the feature available.
To enable manual entry of completed hours:
- Navigate to Settings (in the main menu or customer administration area)
- Select Work Orders
- Find the Completed Hours section
- Toggle Allow manual entry of completed hours to Yes
- Click Save
Once enabled, the Completed Hours field becomes editable across all Work Orders (unless they are locked).
Editing completed hours manually
To manually edit Completed Hours:
- Open a Work Order
- Scroll to the Estimation section
- Locate the Completed Hours field
- Enter the number of hours you want to record
- Save the Work Order
The pencil-lock icon (🔒) will appear next to your manually entered value to confirm the override is active. This icon indicates that the field is no longer following the automatic calculation.
Resetting to automatic calculation
If you've manually entered a value and want to return to automatic calculation from activities:
- Open the Work Order
- In the Estimation section, locate the Completed Hours field
- Click the reset button (↺) that appears next to the pencil-lock icon
- Save the Work Order
The manual override is cleared, and the Completed Hours will recalculate automatically from your completed activities.
How remaining hours are calculated
Regardless of whether your Completed Hours came from manual entry or from automatic activity roll-up, Remaining Hours always recalculates correctly.
Remaining Hours = Planned Hours − Completed Hours
This ensures your time tracking stays accurate and meaningful for project planning and billing purposes.
Limitations
Manual entry is not available when:
- The Work Order is locked
- Manual entry has not been enabled by your account administrator
Other important notes:
- If you manually override completed hours and then later add new completed activities to the Work Order, the manual value is preserved—activities won't automatically update it
- You must manually reset the override if you want new activities to be reflected in the Completed Hours calculation
- The feature works the same way for both clock hours and man-hours, depending on your company configuration