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Utilizing the Time Tracker for Payroll

This article walks you through how to manage payroll using the Time Tracker tool—from reviewing pending hours to approving and finalizing completed payroll periods.

Overview

Time Tracker makes payroll collection easier by pulling billable, non-billable, and drive-time hours directly from the Practice Management system, giving you a clean and accurate workflow.

How the Time Tracker is Organized

The Time Tracker organizes employee time into three categories:

  • Pending – Hours submitted by employees awaiting review.

  • Approved – Hours you’ve reviewed and approved but not yet finalized.

  • Finalized – Completed payroll periods ready for export or record-keeping.

Your workflow moves through these stages: Pending → Approved → Finalized.

Navigating to the Time Tracker

  1. Select the Admin Module

  2. Select the "Time Tracking" tab.

Review Pending Time

  1. Select a Start Date.

    • Time Tracker uses a two-week payroll period

    • The end date auto-populates based on the selected start date.

  2. Click Show Data.

  3. You’ll see payroll data for each office, including:

    • Billable hours

    • Non-billable hours

    • Drive time

  4. All employees who worked during that time period appear on this list, with total hours and weekly breakdowns.

  5. Click on an employee/provider line to see a detailed breakdown of their time entries.

Approving Hours

  1. In the Pending list, select the employee(s) whose time you want to approve.

  2. You can also select an entire office to select all employees from that location.

  3. Click Yes to approve the submission.

  4. Once approved, the entry automatically moves to the Approved section.

Viewing Approved Time

  1. Navigate to the Approved tab.

  2. Choose the date range you want to review.

  3. Click Show Data.

  4. Approved timesheets will display with an option to download a spreadsheet (using the download icon).

    • This file can be imported directly into your payroll software.

Finalizing Payroll

  1. After exporting the approved timesheets, select the items you want to finalize.  This means that those appointments have completed all time tracking stages.

  2. Click Finalize.

  3. Choose Yes to confirm.

  4. Finalized payroll will appear in the Finalized list, where you can also download finalized records.

Handling Alerts & Errors

If you see a red caution symbol in Pending payroll:

  • Click the icon to view the alert details.

  • The system will display any issues that may impact finalization.

  • You can choose to resolve them before continuing or close the alert if you prefer to proceed without resolving the error.


Time Tracker Feature Versus Payroll Report

The Time Tracker includes an approval workflow, highlights any appointments that did not make it onto the finalized payroll report, and stores a copy of each finalized payroll for discrepancy review. It also offers expanded filters and admin tools, making it the primary workspace for preparing and validating payroll. Use the Time Tracker when reviewing, correcting, and approving time before payroll is finalized.

The Payroll Report, by contrast, is an on-demand report you can run at any time to view payroll data such as overlapping appointments or to process pay for someone terminating mid- pay period. Use the Payroll Report when you need quick payroll insight outside the normal payroll cycle, but not for approvals or exception management.

Last Updated: 1/28/26 by Amanda Kelly