ConnectWise Manage Time Entries

Overview

Time entries in ConnectWise PSA track time spent on tickets, projects, and other activities. Accurate time tracking is essential for billing, resource management, and profitability analysis. This skill covers time entry CRUD operations, work types, work roles, billing settings, and approval workflows.

Anti-triggers

• Writing up what happened on a ticket — narrative goes in a ticket note (cw_add_ticket_note); only billable duration belongs in a time entry. Use connectwise-psa-tickets.
• Project time — project hours charge to a ProjectTicket, so the ticket has to be located first; use connectwise-psa-projects.

API Endpoint

Base: /time/entries

Time Entry Types

Time can be logged against different record types:

Charge To Type	Description
ServiceTicket	Time against service tickets
ProjectTicket	Time against project tickets
ChargeCode	Time against charge codes (internal)
Activity	Time against activities

See references/fields.md for the complete time entry field reference.

Work Types

Work types categorize the nature of work performed.

Type	Description	Typical Billing
Regular	Normal work hours	Billable
Overtime	After-hours work	1.5x rate
Training	Training time	Non-billable
Travel	Travel time	Varies
Remote	Remote support	Billable
On-site	On-site work	Billable
Administrative	Admin tasks	Non-billable

Query GET /time/workTypes for the configured list.

Work Roles

Work roles determine billing rates based on skill level.

Role	Description	Typical Rate
Level 1 Tech	Help desk	$75-100/hr
Level 2 Tech	Desktop support	$100-125/hr
Level 3 Tech	Systems admin	$125-150/hr
Engineer	Senior engineer	$150-200/hr
Consultant	Expert consultant	$200-250/hr
Project Manager	PM work	$125-175/hr

Query GET /time/workRoles for the configured list.

Billing Options

Option	Description
Billable	Time is billable at standard rate
DoNotBill	Time excluded from billing
NoCharge	Time shows on invoice at $0
NoDefault	Use ticket/agreement default

How Billing Is Determined

Precedence order, first match wins:

1. Time entry billableOption (if set)
2. Ticket billTime setting
3. Agreement billing rules
4. Company default

Common Workflows

Log time against a ticket

POST /time/entries
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "chargeToId": 54321,
  "chargeToType": "ServiceTicket",
  "member": {"id": 123},
  "timeStart": "2024-02-15T09:00:00Z",
  "timeEnd": "2024-02-15T10:30:00Z",
  "workType": {"id": 1},
  "workRole": {"id": 2},
  "billableOption": "Billable",
  "notes": "Diagnosed email delivery issue. Identified blocked sender.",
  "addToDetailDescriptionFlag": true
}

actualHours can be used instead of timeStart/timeEnd. Logging against a ChargeCode requires the company field explicitly, since there's no ticket to infer it from. See references/api.md for the actual-hours and charge-code variants plus get/update/delete/search examples.

Approval workflow

1. Time entry created — Open
2. Time sheet submitted — Submitted
3. Manager approves or rejects — Approved or Rejected (with internalNotes explaining what to fix)
4. Approved time is invoiced — Billed

Approve/reject and bulk-approval requests, plus time sheet get/submit requests, are in references/api.md.

API Patterns

Common query conditions for time entries:

Time entries for a ticket:

conditions=chargeToId=54321 and chargeToType="ServiceTicket"

Time entries by member:

conditions=member/id=123

Time entries by date range:

conditions=timeStart>=[2024-02-01] and timeStart<[2024-03-01]

Unbilled time entries:

conditions=status="Open" and billableOption="Billable"

Approved time waiting for billing:

conditions=status="Approved" and billableOption="Billable"

Charge Codes

Charge codes are used for non-ticket time (meetings, training, etc.). Query GET /time/chargeCodes for the configured list.

Code	Description	Billable
MTNG	Internal meetings	No
TRNG	Training	No
ADMIN	Administrative	No
PTO	Paid time off	No
PROJ	Project work	Yes
ONCALL	On-call time	Varies

Gotchas

• Billed time entries cannot be deleted. DELETE /time/entries/{id} fails once status is Billed; you must adjust the invoice instead.
• company is required for ChargeCode entries only. ServiceTicket/ProjectTicket entries infer the company from the ticket.
• billableOption on the time entry wins over ticket/agreement defaults — see billing precedence above. A blank or NoDefault value falls through to the ticket, then the agreement, then the company.
• Time sheets and time entries use different status vocabularies. Time sheets go Open -> Submitted -> Approved/Rejected; time entries go Open -> Approved/Rejected -> Billed (no Submitted state). Approving a time sheet does not retroactively change the status of every entry inside it. See references/api.md for both status tables.

Best Practices

1. Be specific in notes - Document what was done for invoice clarity
2. Use correct work type - Important for accurate billing rates
3. Set appropriate work role - Affects billing rate
4. Mark non-billable correctly - Don't inflate billable hours
5. Use charge codes - For internal time tracking

See references/errors.md for the complete error reference.

Related Skills

• ConnectWise Tickets - Service tickets
• ConnectWise Projects - Project management
• ConnectWise API Patterns - Query syntax and auth