Log hours and invoice projects in SamBooks

Record the time worked on each project, send it for approval, and turn approved hours into a draft electronic invoice billed by time and materials — without re-keying anything. Enter hours from the module or just by asking Sam in chat.

What it's for

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

In the Timesheets area you can:

• record hours worked on a project, with date, duration, activity and notes;
• separate billable hours from non-billable ones (for example internal work);
• run each timesheet through an approval flow (draft → pending approval → approved or rejected);
• approve a person's or a period's hours in bulk with Authorize selected;
• ask Sam to export the hours to an Excel sheet;
• generate a draft time-and-materials invoice from a client's approved, billable hours.

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

Prerequisites

• A project already created in the Projects tab of the Projects hub, linked to a client if you want to invoice it (an internal project with no client can still be managed, but won't generate an invoice).
• At least one resource (the person who did the work) in the Resources tab.
• To enter and approve other people's hours, see rate-based amounts, export and generate the invoice you need the Gestore (Manager) or Amministrativo role. Every collaborator can always see their own hours.

Note: the monetary value of the hours (rate, cost, margin) is visible only to Gestore and Amministrativo roles. A collaborator sees their own hours but not how much they are worth.

Step-by-step

1. Enter the hours

In the Timesheets tab of the Projects hub you have two ways.

From the form. Click New timesheet and fill in:

• Project and Resource (who worked and on what);
• Date and Hours (the duration, quarter-hours allowed, e.g. 1.25);
• a Description of the activity (e.g. "Requirements analysis");
• optionally Start time and End time, Km driven and Reimbursable expenses;
• the Billable (on by default) and Overtime switches.

You don't enter the rate: it is frozen automatically when the entry is saved, so a later price-list change won't alter hours already recorded. Click Save hours: the timesheet is created as a draft.

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

2. Submit the timesheet for approval

A draft isn't ready to be invoiced yet. From the timesheet row click Submit: the status moves from draft to Pending approval. The four counters at the top — Drafts, Pending approval, Approved, Rejected — update so you can see at a glance where the hours are stuck.

3. Approve or reject (manager)

Users with the Gestore or Amministrativo role see Approve and Reject actions on pending rows:

• Approve makes the timesheet billable on consumption: only approved hours go into the invoice;
• Reject removes it from the billing flow.

To clear several entries at once, use bulk approval: select the pending rows with the checkboxes (or tick the header to take them all on the page), then click Authorize selected. It's the quick way to sign off, for example, all of one person's hours in a month. From chat you can also ask Sam to "approve all of Mario's hours for March".

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

You ask Sam in chat for both of these. To archive or share the hours, ask Sam to export them to an Excel (.xlsx) sheet applied to the filters you need ("export Mario's March hours to Excel"). SamBooks also offers a time overlap check: it spots the same person's timesheets whose start/end times overlap on the same day — handy before invoicing. You ask Sam for this too ("are there overlapping hours for Mario in March?").

5. Generate the time-and-materials invoice

From a project's detail view click Generate T&M invoice. Set the period (From / To) and the VAT rate (set to 22% by default) and click Generate draft.

SamBooks collects the client's hours that are at once approved, billable and not yet invoiced in the period, aggregates them into lines (hours × rate, plus any expenses) and creates a draft TD01 services electronic invoice. You immediately see the draft number, how many lines and timesheets were included and the total.

The draft does not send itself: sending to the SDI is a separate step that you confirm, with the usual checks. It's a safeguard against accidental submissions.

If there's nothing to invoice in the period (hours not approved, not billable or already invoiced, or a fixed-fee project), SamBooks tells you and creates no invoice.

Tips

• Fill in the time fields when you can. Start and end time are optional, but they power the overlap check: with precise times the system can tell you if you logged two activities that clash.
• Mark billable up front. Keep the Billable switch on only for hours you want to charge to the client; keep internal hours non-billable so they never end up on an invoice.
• Approve at period end, then invoice. The cleanest flow is: everyone submits, the manager uses Authorize selected for the month, then you generate the draft for the period.
• Generate per period without fear of duplicates. Regenerating the same range won't re-invoice hours already included in a previous invoice: every hour is invoiced once.
• For fixed-fee projects the amount is the project's fixed fee, not the hour count: time-and-materials generation is for consumption-based hours.

Common mistakes

• "I can't generate the invoice." Check that the hours are actually approved (not draft or pending), marked billable, within the chosen period, and that the project has a client linked. If one of these is missing, there's nothing to invoice.
• A person can't see the amounts. That's by design: rates, costs and margins are reserved for the Gestore and Amministrativo roles.
• The timesheet stays in draft. A draft doesn't reach the invoice until it is submitted and then approved. Don't skip Submit.
• Incomplete times. Start and end time must be provided together, and the end must be after the start, otherwise the entry is rejected.
• The created draft isn't sent. That's normal: generation produces a draft. Sending to the SDI is a later action you confirm separately.

FAQ

Can I enter hours by talking to Sam instead of filling in the form? Yes. Click Log with Sam or write the hours directly in chat in natural language (project, date, duration, activity). Sam composes the timesheet and asks you to confirm before saving.

What do a timesheet's four statuses mean? Draft (just entered), Pending approval (submitted, waiting), Approved (ready to invoice) and Rejected (excluded from billing).

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

If I regenerate the invoice for the same month, will I bill the same hours twice? No. Already-invoiced hours are not picked up again: each timesheet is invoiced once.

How do I handle a fixed-fee project? For fixed-fee (or mixed) projects the lump-sum amount is the project's fixed fee. The "Generate T&M invoice" function bills consumption-based hours.

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 (project, resource, status, period).

Related features

• Manage projects — create projects, assign resources, track budget against actuals.
• Import hours from ClickUp — bring hours already tracked in an external project-management tool into SamBooks.