Log hours and invoice projects in SamBooks

Record the time worked on each job, get it approved and turn it into a draft electronic invoice — by time and materials or by fixed-fee progress billing — without re-keying anything. Enter hours from the module or just by asking Sam in chat: the two paths are always equivalent.

What it's for

When you work on projects — consulting, software development, agency, support, maintenance — the hours tracked against clients are what you eventually invoice. SamBooks holds both sides together: the timesheets (the hours with their description and status) and the invoice that follows from them.

With the Timesheets section you can:

• log the hours worked on a job, with date, duration, activity and notes;
• distinguish billable hours from non-billable ones (e.g. internal activities);
• edit or delete a draft, approve or reject a timesheet;
• approve several entries at once by selecting them with the checkboxes and pressing Authorise selected;
• generate a draft electronic invoice from the job, adapted to its pricing: time & materials, fixed-fee by progress (SAL), or mixed.

The principle is simple: you invoice only what has been approved, and each hour is invoiced only once.

Prerequisites

• Have a job already created on the Jobs tab, linked to a client if you want to invoice it (an internal job without a client is still manageable but generates no invoice).
• Have at least one resource (the collaborator who worked) on the Resources tab.
• To approve/reject hours, see amounts at rate and generate the invoice you need the Manager or Administrative role. Every collaborator always sees their own hours.

Note: the monetary value of hours (rate, cost, margin) is visible only to Manager and Administrative roles. A collaborator sees their hours but not what they're worth.

Step-by-step

1. Log the hours

On the Timesheets tab you have two paths.

From the module. Press New timesheet and fill in:

• Job and Resource (who worked and on what);
• Date and Hours (the duration, quarter-hours allowed, e.g. 1.25);
• Description of the activity (e.g. "Requirements analysis");
• optionally the rate-card line to apply (among the rate cards linked to the job), the Start time and End time, the Km travelled and the Reimbursable expenses;
• the Billable (on by default) and Overtime toggles.

You don't enter the rate by hand: it's frozen automatically at logging time, so a later price-list update doesn't change hours already logged. Press Log hours: the timesheet starts as a draft.

With Sam, in chat. Press Log with Sam: the chat opens with a ready-made prompt. Write the hours in natural language, e.g. "yesterday 4 hours on the Acme job for requirements analysis". Sam prepares the timesheet and asks you to confirm before saving.

2. Edit or delete a draft

While a timesheet is a draft you can correct or remove it:

• Edit: click the draft's row — the window reopens with the data; edit and press Save. The rate is re-frozen on the new data.
• Delete: in the Actions column press the trash icon, then confirm.

Once approved or rejected a timesheet is final and can no longer be edited (see below): in that case you delete it and, if needed, create a new one.

3. Approve or reject (manager)

A timesheet's life cycle is simple: draft → approved or draft → rejected. Manager and Administrative roles find, on draft rows, the Approve and Reject actions:

• Approve makes the timesheet billable: only approved hours enter the invoice, and from then on the entry appears among the job's activities ready to be invoiced;
• Reject moves it to rejected: a final state, excluded from invoicing. To fix a rejected timesheet, delete it and create a new one.

An approved or rejected timesheet stays only deletable (trash icon): it can no longer be edited.

Bulk approval. To clear several entries at once, tick the checkboxes on the draft rows (or the header checkbox to take them all on the page) and press Authorise selected. It's the quick way to approve, say, all of someone's hours in a month. In chat you can also ask Sam "approve all of Mario's hours for March".

The counters at the top — Drafts, Approved, Rejected — tell you at a glance where the hours are.

4. (Optional) Export and check overlaps — with Sam

To archive or share the hours, ask Sam in chat to export them to an Excel sheet (.xlsx) with the filters you need ("export Mario's March hours to Excel"). SamBooks also offers an overlap check: it finds entries for the same person whose start/end times overlap on the same day — handy before invoicing ("are there overlapping hours for Mario in March?").

5. Generate the invoice (the same button adapts to the job)

Open a job's detail (click the row on the Jobs tab) and press Generate invoice. The button adapts to the job's pricing.

Time & materials (T&M) job. Set the period (From / To) and the VAT rate (22% by default) and press Generate draft. SamBooks collects the client's hours that are approved, billable and not yet invoiced in the period, aggregates them into lines (hours × rate, plus any expenses) and creates the draft. Regenerating the same period doesn't re-invoice hours already on an invoice: each hour is invoiced only once.

Fixed-fee job. The Fixed-fee quota (progress) box appears, showing the agreed price, how much is already invoiced and the remaining amount. In the Progress percentage to invoice field you set how much to invoice now:

• keep the suggested value (the remaining) to invoice all that's left up to 100%;
• or lower the percentage to invoice a partial stage of progress (e.g. 30%): SamBooks immediately shows the matching amount.

Press Generate draft: the invoice is created with the fixed-fee line. The running total updates, so the next time you'll see the new remaining and can't go over 100%.

Mixed job. Set the period for the overtime hours billed on consumption and, if it's time to invoice the fixed part too, turn on the Include fixed-fee quota toggle and set the progress percentage. The draft will contain both the overtime hours and the requested fixed-fee quota.

In every case the draft doesn't go out by itself: sending to SDI is a separate step, to be confirmed, with the usual checks. It's a safeguard against accidental submissions. If there's nothing to invoice (hours not approved or already invoiced, fixed fee already at 100%), SamBooks tells you and creates no invoice.

Tips

• Fill in the time fields when you can. Start and end time are optional but power the overlap check.
• Mark billable up front. Keep the Billable toggle on only for hours to charge; keep internal hours non-billable so they never reach an invoice.
• Approve at period end, then invoice. The tidiest flow: hours are logged, the manager uses Authorise selected for the month, then the draft is generated.
• Fixed fee: invoice by progress. You don't have to invoice everything at once: issue one percentage at a time (SAL) and the system tracks the running total up to 100%.
• Fixed fee and timesheets coexist. On a fixed-fee job you can still log hours to track the work: they don't affect the price (it's fixed) but remain useful for margin and history.

Common mistakes

• "I can't generate the invoice" (T&M). Check the hours are approved, billable, within the chosen period and that the job has a client.
• "The fixed fee has already been invoiced at 100%." You've already issued the job's full lump sum: there's no remaining amount to invoice.
• "The percentage exceeds the remaining amount." You're asking for a progress percentage higher than what's left: lower it to the remaining shown.
• I can't edit a timesheet. Only drafts can be edited. An approved or rejected timesheet is final: delete it and create a new one.
• The created draft doesn't look sent. That's normal: generation produces a draft. Sending to SDI is a later, separate step to confirm.

FAQ

Can I log hours by talking to Sam instead of filling in the form? Yes. Press Log with Sam or write the hours in chat in natural language. Sam composes the timesheet and asks you to confirm before saving.

What are a timesheet's states? Draft (just logged, editable and deletable), Approved (ready to invoice, deletable only) and Rejected (excluded from invoicing, final).

What's the checkbox on the row for? Selecting the timesheets to approve in bulk with Authorise selected. Tick the draft rows and press the button.

How do I invoice a fixed-fee job? From the job detail, Generate invoice: you set the progress percentage (SAL) to invoice (the remaining by default, up to 100%). The system tracks the running total and prevents going over the agreed price.

Is the generated invoice automatically sent to the Exchange System? No. A draft is created: you review it and send it to SDI in a separate step, to be confirmed.

Can I download the hours to Excel? Yes: ask Sam in chat to export them. Sam generates an .xlsx sheet applying the filters you specify (job, resource, status, period).

Related features

• Manage projects and jobs — creating jobs, rate cards and resources, tracking budget against actuals.
• Import hours from ClickUp — bring hours already tracked in an external project-management tool into SamBooks.