Bill Engine icon

Timers

The Timers feature is used to track the time you spend working on particular tasks. Timers are a part of a project, and each service item of a project can have its own timer, which is used to track work for which you charge by the hour. Bill Engine multiplies the duration of a service item by its billing rate indicated in Inventory to determine its final cost, which is then added to the total cost of the project.

The full list of active timers appears in the Mac OS X menu bar, next to Spotlight, time, sound volume, and other icons. You can start/stop a timer there or in Projects, next to the specific project item whose duration it is tracking.

Starting a timer for a specific project item
  1. Select the appropriate project in the Manage Bar.
  2. Click the Play button next to the selected item. The button will turn green to confirm that the timer is active.

All active timers switch to the Idle mode after your computer has been inactive for some time. To choose how soon you want the Idle mode to be switched on, go to Bill Engine > Preferences > General.

The readings of all active timers will appear in the menu bar so that you can view, stop, or restart them while working on your various tasks. You can also create a new timer there.

Creating a new timer using the menu bar
  1. Click on the timer reading field in the menu bar.
  2. Select New Timer. A New Timer view pops out.
  3. Enter the timer description and select an appropriate project.
  4. Click Create. An item with the new timer will appear in the selected project.
  5. Click the Play button next to the new item.