In this article:
1. Introduction to the Worklog Configurations Panel
2. Worklog Configuration Categories
2.1. How to Create a Category?
2.2. Additional Category Options
2.3. How to Log Time for a Category?
2.4. How to Manage Categories from the Board?
3. Worklog Configuration Settings
3.1. General Settings
3.2. Limiting the Allowed Log Period
3.3. Examples
Example 1: Limiting the allowed log period for the last X day(s) only
Example 2: Limiting the allowed log period by week
In Businessmap, you can log time spent on tasks or subtasks for accurate tracking through the log time functionality. To ensure better and more flexible reporting, you can use the Worklog Configurations panel to create and manage worklog categories, as well as to adjust how users log time in the account to fit your specific use case.
Here is how to work with the worklog configurations.
1. Introduction to the Worklog Configurations Panel
To access the Worklog Configurations panel, you must be an Account Owner or have the "Manage Worklog Configurations" admin privilege. To open the panel, click the Administration icon in the upper right corner of your interface and select Worklog Configurations.
The panel is split into two sections — Categories and Settings. In Categories, you create and manage the worklog categories your team will be logging time for. In Settings, you define when and how users can log that time.
2. Worklog Configuration Categories
From here, you can manage the categories which users in the account can log time for. These categories act as standard card elements (such as tags) that can be added to boards and managed on a global account level, as well as directly from the board.
The goal of categories is to let you structure how users in the account log time depending on the nature of their work or the project they are contributing to. For example, in developing a new software feature, you may have several worklog categories, such as research, coding, testing, and deployment.
When you open the Categories panel, you will see all categories that have already been created. For each category, you will see whether they have been enabled or disabled, their name, availability level (global, auto, on-demand), the boards where they are added, and the options menu (the three dots).
You can use the filter in the upper left corner to sift through enabled and disabled categories.
2.1. How to Create a Category?
To create a new category, click the plus icon to the right of the search box. This will open a configuration window, where you have to:
- Select an icon color (1)
- Pick a suitable icon (2) for the category
- Type in the category’s name (3)
- Include a description (4) for the category (optional)
- Choose the availability level (5) — global, auto, or on-demand
- Add the board(s) (6) where the category will be present
2.2. Additional Category Options
From the Options menu (the three dots) of each category, you can perform the following actions:
- Edit — you can modify all category elements. Note: If you remove a board where users have already logged time for that category, the log will be preserved.
- Clone — copy the category. If you don’t change its name, the system will automatically add “Copy” to avoid duplicates.
- Disable — users will not be able to log time for this category, but any logs already made for it will be preserved in the system.
- Delete — permanently delete a category. Note: This will not remove any logs made for that category before it was deleted. The system will display ***Deleted category*** in the time logs.
Note: Any changes to worklog categories will be reflected in the account's Audit logs.
2.3. How to Log Time for a Category?
Open the Log Time menu of the card or initiative in which you want to log time. You can do that from the Context Menu in the closed card view or the Options menu (three dots) in the open card view.
Input the time and date of your log, and select the category from the dropdown. You will see only the categories that have been added to the board.
You can learn more about how to log time in Businessmap here.
2.4. How to Manage Categories from the Board?
You can access the categories that have been added to a board from the options menu on the Board sidebar (see image above). Only Account Owners and Workspace Managers (for the respective board) can create, edit, clone, or remove categories directly from the board.
The remaining users can only view the categories added to the board.
3. Worklog Configuration Settings
The Settings panel in the Worklog Configurations menu lets you control how and when users in the account can log time. Here are the available settings:
3.1. General Settings
- Manage time logging allowed sections — controls what sections (Backlog, Requested, In Progress, Done, and Archive) a card must be in for a user to be able to log time against that card or its subtasks. For example, if you want to limit your team from logging tasks that have been done, you can exclude “Done” and “Archive” from the options. If this setting is disabled, users can log time in all sections.
- Require category — ensures that users will select a category when logging work time against a card or its subtasks. If enabled, users will be required to select a category before logging time. Note: This also applies to boards where no categories have been added. In that case, you can ask the Workspace Manager, an Account Owner, or a user with the "Manage Worklog Configurations" admin privilege for assistance.
- Require parent card — ensures that users will select a parent card when logging work time against a card or its subtasks. If enabled, users will be required to select a parent card before logging time. Note: This also applies to cards that have no parents. In that case, you can ask the Workspace Manager, an Account Owner, or a user with the "Manage Worklog Configurations" admin privilege for assistance.
- Restrict Workspace Managers from managing other users’ logged time — prevents Workspace Managers from deleting and editing time logged by other users. If enabled, only Account Owners and users with the “Manage Logged Time” admin privilege will be able to edit or delete time logged by other users.
3.2. Limiting the Allowed Log Period
You can also limit the period for which users can log time:
- No limit — users can log time in the past, present, and future, with no constraints.
- By week — users can log time on a weekly basis (the week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday). There are two options here:
- Allow logging time for the current week only
- Allow logging time for the current week and for the last week no later than Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of this week.
- For example, if you select Wednesday, this means you will be able to log time for the previous week until Wednesday (by 23:59:59) of the current week.
- By month — users can log time on a monthly basis. You have two options here:
- Allow logging time for the current month only
- Allow logging time for the current month and for the last month up to X day(s) after its end.
- You can input a maximum of 31 days. However, if the current month is 30 days long, and you input 31, you will only be able to log time for the previous month until the 30th of the current month. Therefore, the actual limit would be 30 days and not 31.
- For example, if you input 7, and the current month is April, you will be able to log time for the entire month of March until April 7th (by 23:59:59).
- By year — users can log time on a yearly basis. You have two options here:
- Allow logging time for the current year only
- Allow logging time for the current year and for the last year up to X day(s) after its end.
- You can input a maximum of 100 days.
- For example, if you input 31, you will be able to log time for the entire 2023 until January 31st, 2024.
- Allow logging time for the past X day(s) only — logged time can be added, deleted, or edited only for today and the specified number of days in the past. You can select up to 365 days in the past.
- For example, if you input 40 days, users will be able to log, edit, or delete time for up to 40 days in the past plus today’s date.
For each log period option you select, you can set a specific timezone in which the period limits will be evaluated. By default, the timezone is set to UTC. Check pt. 3.3. for examples. This timezone is separate from the one you have configured for your account.
You can also disallow logging time in the future — if enabled, users will be able to log time only for today or dates in the past. ”Future” is considered any date after today, converted to the selected timezone. The default timezone is UTC.
There is a separate logged time limit setting — it regulates the maximum amount of time that can be logged at once, measured in hours. The amount can be any integer between 1 and 1,000 hours. The default value is 168 hours.
3.3. Examples
To help illustrate how the worklog settings would work in action, let’s look at a few examples.
Example 1: Limiting the allowed log period for the last X day(s) only
Let’s say you’re managing a multinational team spread throughout the globe. You decide to limit the allowed log period to a certain number of days to accommodate your company policies. If you are based in Tokyo, you are 16 hours ahead of your co-workers in Los Angeles. So, if you set the allowed log period to 3 days in the past and set the timezone to match your own, this would cause discrepancies with your team overseas.
When managing a multinational team spanning different time zones, it is crucial to align log period settings to ensure consistency across locations. You can consider setting a unified timezone for your team, such as UTC.
Here's how it works: The system takes the current date and time and converts it to the selected timezone, such as UTC+09:00 for Tokyo. Suppose it is 2024-03-21, at 09:00 in Tokyo. That corresponds to 2024-03-20, at 17:00 in Los Angeles. With this setting, you can log time for today and the previous three days (until 2024-03-18). However, your LA colleagues, being 16 hours behind, can only log time for the previous two days and one day in the future (the 21st).
Example 2: Limiting the allowed log period by week
When setting the allowed log period by week, it is essential to consider the timing of the cutoff to avoid confusion. Let's say you enable users to log time for the last week until Wednesday of the current week (by 23:59:59).
Consider this scenario: It is Thursday at 08:01 (UTC). Setting a timezone of UTC-08:00 would maintain the day as Thursday at 00:01 (08:01 - 08:00), preventing users from logging time for the previous week. However, if you set the timezone to UTC-09:00, the current moment would shift to 23:01 on Wednesday, giving users about an hour to log time for the previous week.