Handbook

Set up work areas, contingents, tasks and a geofence per project

Step-by-step instructions for admins and project owners. This chapter picks up where “Project Management” stops: on a project’s “Settings” page you enable what this one project actually needs – work areas for shift planning, sold hour contingents with a budget and warning thresholds, tasks for time tracking, a geofence for clocking in, working hours per weekday, reminders and the hourly rate for billing. How to create a project, assign members and evaluate hours is covered in the “Project Management” chapter.

How the project settings work

everyone

  1. A switch applies to exactly one project

    Open a project and switch to “Settings”. Under “Features of this project” you enable only what this project actually needs – not everything Jobilino can do.

    Tipp: A cleaning site needs work areas, a consulting project needs contingents, a construction site needs the construction log. Switching everything on at once only clutters the interface.

  2. The tabs follow the switches

    Every switch you enable adds the matching tab to the project – work areas, contingents, tasks, construction log, quality. With the switch off, the tab is gone.

    Tipp: Hiding is never the only guard: even through the interface, nothing can be created on a project whose switch is off.

  3. Switching off deletes nothing

    Disabling a switch only hides the respective page. Work areas, contingents and tasks are kept and are back unchanged as soon as you enable it again.

    Tipp: So you can try things out safely. A switch turned off by accident costs no data, only a click.

  4. Recognise locked switches

    If a module is not booked for your account – typically the construction log or quality inspections – the switch is locked and carries a note. The stored value is kept.

    Tipp: If the module is booked later, your old settings take effect immediately – nobody has to walk through the projects again.

  5. Who may change the settings

    Anybody who can open the project may read the settings – the tabs have to be right everywhere. Only holders of the “Can edit projects” permission may save.

    Tipp: Without that permission you see the switches but cannot operate them – the save button is missing.

Control access to a project

admins

  1. Maintain the access list

    On the same “Settings” page you find the “Access” block. People added here can open this project even if they are not allowed to access all projects.

    Tipp: That is the way to handle a single sensitive project: keep general visibility tight and specifically enable the people working on it.

  2. The general permission wins

    Anyone holding the “Can see all projects” permission always has access, regardless of this list.

    Tipp: So do not be surprised when somebody sees a project without being on the list – check their user group first.

  3. How this differs from the project team

    Access governs who may OPEN the project. Who may BOOK hours on it is governed by the project’s member list – described in the “Project Management” chapter.

    Tipp: Two separate questions, two separate lists. A controller often needs to read without ever booking hours.

Structure work areas

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  1. Enable the switch and open the tab

    Enable “Work areas” in the settings. The “Work areas” tab then appears on the project.

    Tipp: Meant for sites consisting of several units – posts and patrol routes in security, buildings, floors and rooms in cleaning.

  2. Create an area

    Enter a name and a kind: post, patrol route, building, floor, area, room, zone or general. Optionally add a code, instructions and notes.

    Tipp: The instructions are the place for what applies on site – key number, order of the patrol, particularities. They are available to staff when the area is assigned.

  3. Nest the areas

    Using “Parent area” you build hierarchies, for example building → floor → room.

    Tipp: An area cannot be its own parent, and an area with sub-areas cannot be deleted – clear up from the bottom towards the top.

  4. Assign in shift planning

    When planning a shift you choose the work area alongside the project. The roster then shows not just the site but the specific post or floor.

    Tipp: Only active areas of projects whose switch is on are offered. An area a shift already carries stays with it even if you switch the feature off later.

Create hour contingents

admins

  1. What contingents are for

    A contingent is a sold package of hours – typically “Support 2026, 100 hours”. Working time is booked against it, and you see at any time how much has been used and how much is left.

    Tipp: A project can run several contingents side by side. That is the normal case for customers with several packages or annual tranches.

  2. Enable the switch and create the contingent

    Enable “Hour contingents” in the settings and create the first one in the “Contingents” tab: name, validity period and the purchased hours.

    Tipp: The validity period also decides whether a contingent is offered during time recording – an expired one no longer appears.

  3. Choose the booking mode

    “Open (warn only)” allows bookings beyond the package and merely reports them. “Hard cap (block when exhausted)” rejects the booking as soon as the contingent is used up.

    Tipp: The hard cap applies to manual entries and edits – a running time recording is never stopped mid-shift. On a construction site, “open” usually works better.

  4. Set warning thresholds

    Store the percentages at which you want to be notified – preset to 75, 90 and 100 percent of consumption.

    Tipp: Each threshold reports once. If consumption drops again or the contingent is extended, it is armed anew – so you get no repeat messages.

  5. Store a budget and rates

    Optionally add a budget and hourly rates. The amounts are visible only to people with the contingent budget permission – without it they are removed server-side.

    Tipp: This lets a project manager track the hours without seeing the commercial side.

Run contingents over their lifetime

admins

  1. Book an extension

    If the customer buys more, book an “extension” with the additional hours and optionally the amount. It is added to the total hours.

    Tipp: Never overwrite the original number of hours. The extension is the record that more was bought – and it re-arms the warning thresholds.

  2. Correction and write-off

    A “correction” compensates a recording error, a “write-off” books out hours that are not charged to the customer. Both require a reason.

    Tipp: Keep the two apart: one corrects a figure, the other is a commercial decision. After a year, exactly that difference is the interesting analysis.

  3. Everything is in the ledger

    Allocation, extension, correction and write-off appear as lines in the contingent’s ledger – with date, person and reason.

    Tipp: The ledger answers the question “why do the hours not match the quotation?” – usually in two minutes.

  4. Per-person allocations

    Optionally split a contingent across individual people – for example 40 hours for the consultant, 60 for the developer.

    Tipp: Only worth it when the split is genuinely agreed. Otherwise run the contingent as a whole – less upkeep and just as meaningful.

  5. Export contingents

    Use the export buttons to produce the contingent report as Excel, CSV or PDF – with the summary, the ledger and the attributed time entries.

    Tipp: That is the proof for the customer: what was bought, what was used, for what. Amounts appear only for those permitted to see them.

Book hours against contingents

employee

  1. Choose the contingent while recording

    If the project has usable contingents, the “Choose contingent” selection appears during time recording – in the form, when starting the timer and after an NFC check-in.

    Tipp: Only what is active and within its validity period is offered. An empty or expired package does not show up at all.

  2. Without a choice nothing is attributed

    If you book without a contingent, the hour does not count against any package. It appears on the contingent page as an unattributed hour.

    Tipp: That is intentional: consumption should only count when somebody booked it deliberately. Unattributed hours can be assigned later on the time entry.

  3. Make the choice mandatory

    With the setting “Contingent selection mandatory”, every hour has to be attributed to a contingent: if there is exactly one usable contingent it is attributed automatically, with several a choice is required.

    Tipp: The option sits indented under the contingent switch and has no effect while that one is off. A running time recording and clocking out are never blocked here either.

  4. Read the warnings correctly

    When consumption reaches a warning threshold, the responsible people are notified – not the person recording the time.

    Tipp: As an employee you normally notice nothing about the contingent level. Only with the hard cap does the system speak to you directly.

Tasks per project

admins

  1. Enable tasks and create them

    Enable “Tasks” in the settings and maintain this project’s activities in the “Tasks” tab – with a title and an optional description.

    Tipp: Keep the list short and in the team’s language. Ten recognisable tasks get used, fifty fine-grained ones do not.

  2. Make them selectable during time recording

    With the tick “Selectable during time recording” the task appears in the multi-select when recording time entries – in the form and after an NFC check-in.

    Tipp: Untick it for tasks that only serve your internal structure. The task stays but no longer appears in the selection.

  3. Several tasks per entry

    Employees select any number of tasks for a time entry. The selection is always voluntary – nothing is ever attributed automatically.

    Tipp: The selected tasks appear under the project in the monthly list, in the PDF, in the hours export and in the app.

  4. Prompt on clocking out

    User groups can be configured so that people are asked at clock-out which tasks they completed – including one free text line.

    Tipp: The prompt is skippable and never blocks clocking out. If there is no selectable task, it does not appear at all.

Set up a geofence

admins

  1. Place the pin on the map

    Open the geofence block in the settings, search for the address or click directly on the map. You can drag the pin to adjust it.

    Tipp: The switch can only be enabled once a pin is set – otherwise there would be no centre for the radius.

  2. Choose the radius

    Set the radius between 50 and 5,000 metres; 700 metres is the default.

    Tipp: Be generous: a GPS fix between rows of buildings is easily a hundred metres off. Too tight a radius mainly produces phone calls.

  3. What the geofence blocks

    It rejects a real-time clock-in – starting the timer, NFC – on this project when the position is outside the radius and the time type records the location.

    Tipp: That is the decisive precondition: if the chosen time type does not record a location, the geofence does not apply. The pin and a matching time type belong together.

  4. What it never blocks

    Clocking out, editing and manual entries are never rejected – nor are daily entries such as leave or sickness.

    Tipp: So nobody is left standing outside because there is no reception. A manual entry with a reason is the intended corrective route.

Working hours per project

admins

  1. Store hours per weekday

    Open the “Working hours” tab and enter this site’s hours per weekday – or mark the day as closed.

    Tipp: These hours are at the same time the default deployment time for dispatch. The order is project before customer before 06:00.

  2. Limit time recording to the window

    With “Only allow time recording during working hours”, clocking in AND manual entries on this project are rejected outside that day’s window.

    Tipp: Unlike the geofence there is deliberately no back door via a manual entry here. So only tick it where the site really is closed.

  3. Exception for individual roles

    The permission “Allow in APP Check-In at anytime” lifts this time restriction for that person – on every recording route.

    Tipp: The clean way to handle standby and emergency service: the rule stays strict, and the few roles with a genuine need get the exception.

  4. Nothing entered means unrestricted

    As long as you maintain no working hours for a project, no time restriction applies at all.

    Tipp: So you do not have to walk through every project – maintain only the sites where the hours genuinely matter.

Project reminders

admins

  1. Create a reminder

    Open the “Reminders” tab and create one: title, recurring or on a fixed date, plus the time of day.

    Tipp: Meant for what hangs off the project and would otherwise be forgotten – a maintenance date, a contract renewal, the annual deep clean.

  2. Choose the lead times

    Choose how many days in advance to remind. Several lead times are possible, including the date itself.

    Tipp: Two stages are usually enough: one early enough to plan, one on the day itself.

  3. Define the recipients

    Choose people or whole teams as recipients. Each recipient can additionally get a personal message alongside the general one.

    Tipp: Team leads only see the people they manage in the picker – when saving too, not just in the list.

  4. Trace the delivery

    For every reminder that has fired you see per recipient when it was sent, delivered and seen.

    Tipp: “Send now” fires a reminder immediately without waiting for the date – handy for testing the recipient list.

Hourly rate and billing

admins

  1. Store a rate per project

    If the finance module is booked, the settings contain the “Hourly rate (billing)” – the net amount per hour for work on this project.

    Tipp: Leaving it empty does not mean “no rate” but “one level up”: the customer rate applies and, if that is missing too, the company default.

  2. Understand the chain

    When invoicing, the project rate wins over the customer rate over the company default. A rate typed by hand while creating the invoice always wins.

    Tipp: Maintain the rate where the exception is. A project at a special price gets its own rate, everything else inherits from the customer.

  3. Cost is not price

    This rate is a sales price. The hourly wage from an employee’s contract never feeds into billing.

    Tipp: The two are deliberately separate – otherwise a pay rise would quietly change your customer invoices.

  4. Recognise billed hours

    Hours that appear on a finalised invoice are marked as billed in time tracking and are not offered again.

    Tipp: If an already billed entry is changed afterwards, a note points this out – the invoice itself stays unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

What happens to my data if I switch a project feature off?
Nothing is deleted. Disabling “Work areas”, “Hour contingents” or “Tasks” only hides the respective tab on the project and blocks the feature through the interface. All areas, contingents and tasks are kept and are back unchanged as soon as you enable it again. So you can try things out safely.

Why is a switch greyed out and not operable?
Because the underlying module is not booked for your account – typically the construction log and quality inspections. The switch then shows a note and the stored value is left untouched. If the module is booked later, your old settings take effect immediately.

How do “Access” and the project members differ?
Access governs who may OPEN the project – important for people who are not allowed to see all projects. The member list governs who may BOOK hours on it. Two separate questions with two separate lists: a controller often needs to read without ever recording hours. Anyone with the “Can see all projects” permission always gets in, regardless of the access list.

Do I have to create work areas?
No, they are optional and meant for sites consisting of several units – posts and patrol routes in security, buildings, floors and rooms in cleaning. A single office does not need them. Areas you create are then assigned in shift planning so that the roster shows not just the site but the specific post.

What is the difference between “Open” and “Hard cap” on a contingent?
“Open (warn only)” allows bookings beyond the purchased package and only reports them through the warning thresholds. “Hard cap (block when exhausted)” rejects the booking as soon as the contingent is used up – that applies to manual entries and edits. A running time recording is never stopped mid-shift. On a construction site, “open” usually works better.

Why do my hours not count against the contingent?
Because no contingent was chosen while recording. Jobilino never attributes hours automatically – consumption should only count when somebody booked it deliberately. Such hours appear on the contingent page as unattributed and can be assigned later on the time entry. With the setting “Contingent selection mandatory” you enforce the attribution: with exactly one usable contingent it is attributed automatically, with several a choice is required.

How do I book additionally purchased hours?
Through an “extension” on the contingent – with the additional hours and optionally the amount. It is added to the total hours and re-arms the warning thresholds. Never overwrite the original number of hours: the extension is the record that more was bought, and it appears in the ledger with date and person.

Who can see a contingent’s budget and rates?
Only people with the contingent budget permission. Without it the amounts are removed server-side – in the interface and in every export. This lets a project manager track the hours and represent them to the customer without seeing the commercial side.

Are tasks attributed to a time entry automatically?
No, never. Employees select the tasks themselves, any number per entry, and the selection is always voluntary. Only what carries the “Selectable during time recording” tick is offered. The selected tasks then appear under the project in the monthly list, in the PDF, in the hours export and in the app.

The geofence does not block – why?
Almost always because of the time type. The geofence only applies to real-time clock-ins of types that record the location. So the pin and a matching time type belong together: a pin alone, without a location-recording time type, produces a geofence that never bites. Also check that the switch is actually on – without a pin it cannot be enabled at all.

What does the geofence definitely not block?
Clocking out, editing and manual entries – nor daily entries such as leave or sickness. So nobody is left standing outside because there is no reception or the GPS fix is too imprecise. A manual entry with a reason is explicitly the intended corrective route.

How do I block time recording outside opening hours?
Through the “Working hours” tab: store the hours per weekday (or mark the day as closed) and tick “Only allow time recording during working hours”. Unlike the geofence, clocking in AND manual entries are then rejected – there is deliberately no back door here. Individual roles can be exempted through the “Allow in APP Check-In at anytime” permission.

Do the project’s working hours apply or the customer’s?
The project wins. The order is project, then customer, then 06:00 as the final default. So maintain only the sites where the hours genuinely differ – as long as no working hours are stored for a project, no time restriction applies at all.

Which hourly rate is used on the invoice?
The project rate before the customer rate before the company default – and a rate typed by hand while creating the invoice always wins. So leaving it empty does not mean “no rate” but “one level up”. Important: the hourly wage from an employee’s contract never feeds into billing – cost and price are deliberately separate.

Where do I find the basics on projects?
In the “Project Management” chapter. It covers how to create a project, set the customer and status, assign members, select the project on a time entry, evaluate hours and use projects in work scheduling. This chapter builds on that and deals with the settings and the additional features per project.

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