Best practices for using Custom Fields

How QuickBooks Time users can make the most of custom fields

Need to track more than employee time? You’re not alone! Data-driven companies are flocking to QuickBooks Time to take advantage of our Custom Fields feature. For a more detailed look at how your team is spending their time, try the QuickBooks Time Custom Fields add-on.

Custom Fields is a powerful tool within QuickBooks Time that can revolutionize the way you run your business. You can create one field that applies to all your jobs. For example, instead of creating an “install” sub-job code and a “repair” sub-job code for each of your clients individually, you can create one field called “task.” Just include “install” and “repair” in the task list, and it will show up on your time card for all customers!

Custom Fields allow you to easily set up fields on your employees’ time cards that capture any activity you need to keep track of beyond time tracking, like tasks, equipment, or expenses.

Employees fill out the fields as they track time, so at the end of the day, you can run reports to understand exactly how time is spent on your business.

Custom Fields are included on each employee’s time card and provide additional flexibility in the reports QuickBooks Time generates for you!

You can also assign custom fields to employees (or employee groups), so each employee can only view and track time for fields made specifically for their role or job. Custom Fields mapping makes clocking in easier and more accurate for both admins and employees by ensuring time is tracked and reported accurately.

4 ways industries like yours are taking advantage of Custom Fields

1. Retail Use Custom Fields for localized teams that need to record the types of tasks they have to do and whether they were injured on the job, in addition to just time tracking. For example, a retail shop tracks individual tasks, like running the register and talking to customers about the merchandise, in addition to tracking an employee’s time in and time out.
2. Plumbing These employees are often called to work at a moment’s notice, and they need to track items like mileage, drive time, expenses, equipment, and inventory. A plumbing company may get called out on a job to fix a leaking water heater. In their case, they need to track the tools used to make the repair, the miles driven to the location, and the work done, plus the amount of time spent on the job.
3. Construction Project-based jobs that typically take more than a day are found in industries concerned with tracking costs and project management. These industries could use the QuickBooks Time Custom Fields add-on to move projects from phase to phase. A construction company can use this feature to track the resources spent on a particular job—whether employees finished an installation today or if the job is still a work in progress.
4. Architects Used Custom Fields to track billing, expenses, and jobs in your professional services business. Architects, for example, can decide whether they incurred expenses during a job. Since this is a task-based job, the architect can use Custom Fields

Use dependencies for even greater detail

Dependencies allow you to view employee hours in even greater detail. Depending on how a field was filled out, you may need additional information. For example, the time card can be configured to ask, “Were you hurt on the job?” Since employers would likely want to know the details of that situation, a “yes” would then reveal another field where the employee could enter more information.

With dependencies, a construction company could even require employees to select “equipment used” on their time card. And depending on which was used, employees could make further specifications (i.e., selecting “forklift,” “forklift type,” “electric,” etc.).

Admins can manage and add up to six of their own Custom Fields. To add more, or to add dependencies to these fields, reach out to our support team at 888.836.2720.