Time and expenses

Time entries show when an engineer worked, how many hours they logged and whether those hours are billable. Each entry points to the engineer, client and managed service agreement. That combination lets the service delivery manager compare a weekly time review with the agreement’s delivered hours and hours remaining. The status can move from Draft to Submitted, then to Approved or Rejected as the team handles review.

Expenses add the out-of-pocket side of an engagement. The engineer records a date, category, amount, billable flag, receipt URL and agreement. Status shows whether the expense is Draft, Submitted, Approved, Reimbursed or Rejected. A service delivery manager can inspect submitted expenses before they affect a billing discussion, and Finance Manager can see what remains to be reimbursed. The agreement’s expense total keeps those costs in the same commercial picture as service work.

• Time capture. The engineer logs hours against both client and agreement, with a note when context is needed.
• Expense capture. The engineer names the category, amount and receipt alongside the agreement.
• Management review. Submitted items give delivery and finance staff a focused queue to discuss before status changes.

Define which work belongs in a service entry and which belongs in a time entry. Teams may record both for the same activity, but they should decide what each record means before interpreting agreement totals. Set a regular deadline for engineers to submit time, and decide who reviews entries that span two clients or agreements. For expenses, agree on receipt standards and when an item is billable to a client rather than just reimbursable to the engineer.

The categories cover travel, meals, lodging, software and other costs. Choose one rule for using Other so reviewers can still understand the charge. A receipt URL should point to evidence accessible to the people handling review. If the expense also needs a file attachment, link it to the record and keep the expense amount and category on the expense itself.

A systems engineer spends a morning on one client agreement and logs the hours with the work date and a short note. The same engineer incurs a software expense for that engagement, marks it billable and provides the receipt. The delivery manager opens the submitted time queue and checks the client and agreement links. Finance Manager opens the submitted expense queue and checks the amount, category and evidence before changing its status.

For a second case, log nonbillable internal time against the correct context. Verify that the billable and nonbillable hours calculations on the time record reflect the flag. Then compare the engineer’s total hours with billable hours in the utilization review. This separates capacity planning from client charging and makes a low billable week explainable.

• Time Entries Awaiting Approval — Submitted hours with engineer, client and agreement context.
• Expenses Awaiting Approval — Submitted charges with amount, billable flag and owner.
• My Agreements — A manager’s assigned agreements and remaining hours.

Use the time and expense review sequence, then inspect the effect in margin review.