If you want ZEP not only to track the time spent on your projects but also to immediately see the corresponding costs and automatically create a complete Project Invoice for your customers, then you can extend ZEP Compact with "Revenues & Costs." This module is already included in ZEP Professional.

With "Revenues & Costs," you have the following additional two navigations under Administration:

Suppliers

Define the basic-price tables for your company.

It will apply in the Invoices and Reports for projects that have neither their own Project Price Table nor a Customer Price Table for the associated customer.

The Basic Price Table also serves as a copy template for Customer Price Lists.

You specify the date from which the price table is valid. Whenever you define a new Basic Price Table for your company starting from a certain date, you also enter it in ZEP as a new price table with a new Start Date of Validity.

Every price table consists of four parts:

Price Factors are time-dependent factors that can be linked to a price table. If, for example, a special hourly rate is to be defined for night and weekend work, call up the corresponding price table(s) (Basic Price Table, Project, and/or Customer Price Table) and click the link Add Price Factors and enter the corresponding factors. Additionally, you can also add special Price Factors for further Activities.

You can store Price Groups in multiple languages.
The input is done in the Designation field: click on "German," enter the German designation for the short form, click on "English," enter the English designation, click on "French," enter the French designation. Depending on the language setting of the employee or the project, the German, English, or French designation is displayed.

With the help of Price Groups, the employees of a project are divided into differently paid categories.

In the Employee Administration, you specify a Price Group (Standard Price Group) for every employee already during creation. This is preset later during Project Planning, when you (or the relevant Project Manager) perform the Employee-Project Assignment, but it can also be changed individually.

In the Price Tables, you will always define hourly and daily rates based on the different Price Groups. This applies to the Basic Price Table(s), as well as to customer-specific Price Tables or project-specific Price Tables.

Here in the Master Data Administration, you manage the list of Price Groups that should be available for selection in the Employee Administration, Employee-Project Assignment, and Price Table entry. At least one Price Group is mandatory.

Price Groups cannot be deleted because this would affect old Reports and current Target/Actual comparisons, or cause them to differ from previous Reports. However, to remove no longer needed Price Groups from the display, you can "inactivate" them: Call up the corresponding Price Group for modification and set a checkmark in the "inactive" checkbox.

In existing Price Tables (Basic, Customer, Project Price Tables), the inactive Price Group is displayed with the note "inactive" if values for the daily or hourly rate are still assigned to this Price Group. As soon as all values are set to "0," the inactive Price Group is hidden. When copying Price Tables, the old Price Tables are copied identically, meaning inactive Price Groups may become visible again in the process.

Here you specify for which number of hours you calculate which share of the daily rate. This forms the basis of the invoicing for all projects with the Invoicing Type "Effort based on Daily Rate." The definition of Daily Rate Components established here in the Administration applies to all projects that have not defined their own definition of Daily Rate Components.

When defining Daily Rate Components, you can enter up to 4 decimal places for both the "from Hours" and the "to Hours" fields (depending on the set Minute Grid in ZEP; if you have set a 15-Minute Grid, 2 decimal places are sufficient).

You can enter up to 8 decimal places for the Daily Rate Components. ZEP displays the Daily Rate Components in the Reports with a minimum of 2 and up to 8 decimal places (depending on the definition). When an individual project is reported, exactly the Daily Rate Components that apply to this project are considered, and a maximum of as many decimal places as specified are displayed.

If a project does not define its own Daily Rate Components, the definition of Daily Rate Components set in the Master Data applies.

Only if this project should deviate from that, do you define custom Daily Rate Components here.

As soon as you define a custom Daily Rate Component for the project, the Daily Rate Component definition from the Master Data is no longer valid for the project, and you must define all Daily Rate Components completely here.

If the Daily Rate Component definition from the Master Data should apply to the project again, delete all project-specific Daily Rate Components.

Specify the number of hours for which you calculate which share of the daily rate. This is only effective if the project has the Invoicing Type "Effort based on Daily Rate."

When recording Receipts, the employee must specify whether they paid privately (usually the Payment Method"Private") or whether the invoice was settled by the company (usually the Payment Method "Company"). You can define additional Payment Methods for your company here, e.g., one for each of the different company credit cards.

You can store the Payment Methods in multiple languages.

The input is done in the Designation field: click on the "German Symbol," enter the German designation for the short form, click on the "English Symbol," enter the English designation, and similarly for the French and Spanish designations. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the German, English, French, or Spanish designation is displayed.

If the employee specifies the Reimbursement Payment Method when "Recording Receipts," the amount appears in their Expense Report. If you want to change which Payment Method should result in a reimbursement in the Expense Report, click the link Change Reimbursement. You can specify your desired Payment Method for reimbursement (provided it is not already in use).

When recording Receipts, the employee specifies the amount and the Tax Rate. Enter the Tax Rates here that should be available for selection during Receipt Recording. You can set outdated Tax Rates to inactive; they will then no longer be offered for selection, but will still be available for modifications.

Here, currencies and Exchange Rates are recorded. One of these currencies is used as the Base Currency in ZEP. All Exchange Rates are specified relative to the Base Currency. Accordingly, the rate for the Base Currency is 1.0.

You can manage your Exchange Rates here manually or you can update the entered Exchange Rates via the ZEP Scheduler under Administration > System > Tasks "Update of Exchange Rates". Every currency that is defined here in the Master Data under Exchange Rates is updated with the current rate. The rate is retrieved by ZEP from the Fixer.iowebsite. Please ensure the correct currency code!

In some Reports (e.g., Travel Expense Report for the employee, Overall Status), all monetary amounts are converted into the Base Currency. The lump sums for vehicle types and work locations are also specified in the Base Currency. A currency can have different Exchange Rates over time. The validity period for each Exchange Rate can be limited in the "valid until" column. In Reports, the current Exchange Rate is used, for example, to convert a receipt into the project currency (conversion rate on the receipt date) or to convert an invoice amount from the project currency into the Base Currency (conversion rate on the invoice date).

Conversion Rate by Date:

In the Reports, monetary amounts are rounded to two decimal places.

Exception: Monetary amounts in Swiss Francs (currency designation "CHF") are rounded to 5 Rappen if you have specified this option with "Yes" under Administration > Project Time & Receipts Tile.

If you want to change the Base Currency, click the link Change Base Currency: Mark the currency in the "Base Currency" column that should be your new Base Currency.

What role does the Base Currency play in ZEP?

You can set a different currency as the Base Currency using the "Change Base Currency" button.

When recording Receipts, the employee can assign every receipt to a Receipt Type.

Some typical Receipt Types are already included in ZEP.

You can store the Receipt Types in multiple languages.

The input is done in the Designation field: click on the "German Symbol," enter the German designation for the Short Form, click on the "English Symbol," enter the English designation, and similarly for the French and Spanish designations. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the German, English, French, or Spanish designation is displayed.

Default Setting by Receipt Type:

You have the option to define specific Default Settings for each Receipt Type. These virtually "Standard Receipts" make Receipt Recording easier for employees and help to avoid errors.

The Default Setting for the following fields can be defined by the Administrator in the Administration for each Receipt Type:

If a Default Setting is defined, these values are used when recording new Receipts.

If no Default Setting is defined, the input fields are defaulted with the data of the last booked receipt.

Change Short Form of the Receipt Type:

You can rename the Short Form of the Receipt Type: click the symbol, enter the new Short Form, and save.

Deviating Service Date:

If the Default Setting "Service Date can deviate" has been set for a Receipt Type, an additional checkbox is displayed during Receipt Recording. If you check this box, you can specify a second date that deviates from the Booking Date. This date is the so-called "Service Date," meaning the receipt is forwarded for invoicing to the project at this time. For the calculation of internal costs of the project, the "Booking Date" is used as usual. If the payment method is "Private," this receipt is also listed in the employee's Expense Report on the Booking Date.

ZEP offers you the possibility to send emails at various points. For these emails, there are standardized texts included in the emails.

Here you can customize the standardized text for the Receipt Mail Template. You have the option to send specific information regarding the Receipt and Employee using general Placeholders.

You can send all Mail Templates as a test email (Preview) to your own email address. Click "Test Send (to own email address)" in the column on "German"/"English"/"French"; you will then receive the email in the corresponding language sent to your address.

Additionally, you can optionally add files (max 5 x 20MB / max. 50MB total).

The Receipt Details Mail Template is sent when an email link (behind an employee's name) is clicked in a receipt table (e.g., Reports > Employee Tab > Receipt Report, Reports > Projects Tab > Receipt Report).

In addition to the options under Administration, you can also make further specifications for the customer and project.

For the customer, you can store customer-specific Price Tables and Price Groups under the menu item Invoicing Settings, should these deviate from the information stored in the Administration. The Price Tables and Price Groupsspecifically stored for the customer are inherited by all projects assigned to the customer, provided no further specific information is given in the projects themselves.

In the project, you can make additional project-specific settings under the menu item Invoicing Settings.

Suppliers enable the centralized management of all external business partners from whom costs are recorded in ZEP. These include, for example, service providers, vendors, subcontractors, or other external suppliers.

Suppliers form the basis for structured document capture and meaningful analyses in the area of revenue & costs.

With the supplier area, companies can:

Administrators

Controllers

All Users

Path: Administration > Suppliers > Settings

Sorting of suppliers in selection lists by:

Specify whether suppliers should be sorted by supplier number or supplier name.

Sorting of suppliers in supplier management by:

Specify whether suppliers should be sorted by supplier number or supplier name.

Use supplier number range

If you want to use a number range for supplier numbers, activate this option. You can then enter a prefix, the desired number length, and a suffix.

VAT

Specify the VAT rate that should be prefilled automatically in payment data when creating new suppliers. The VAT rate can still be edited at supplier level.

Available are the tax rates stored under Administration > Prices & Documents > Tax Rates.

Industries

Path: Administration > Suppliers > Industries

Here you can create industries for your suppliers.

Click the Create Industry button in the top right. A popup window opens where you can enter a short code and descriptions in multiple languages.

Using the gear icon in the top right, you can configure table columns and change their order via drag & drop.

Path: Administration > Suppliers > Categories

Here you can create categories for your suppliers.

Click the Create Category button in the top right. A popup window opens where you can enter a short code and descriptions in multiple languages.

Using the gear icon in the top right, you can configure table columns and change their order via drag & drop.

Path: Administration > Suppliers > Additional Attributes

Here you can create additional attributes for your suppliers. An additional attribute is a field that becomes available for suppliers and can be maintained.

Click the Create Attribute button in the top right. A popup window opens where you can enter a short code and descriptions in multiple languages. You can also define whether the attribute is active or inactive and specify its type.

Additional attributes are displayed on the data page of the respective object and can be entered in edit mode.

Using the gear icon in the top right, you can configure table columns and change their order via drag & drop.

In the Suppliers menu, administrators and controllers receive a complete overview of all created suppliers.

Full-text search

Use the search field in the top left to perform a full-text search across all visible table columns.

Filters

Click Add filter to choose from various criteria to filter suppliers.

Example: To display all suppliers located in Stuttgart, select the filter City, then choose Stuttgart from the list. The table updates immediately.

Customize table

Sorting suppliers

Hover over a column header and click the small arrow to sort ascending or descending.

Favorites

Save applied filters as favorites (to the right under the Create New Supplier button).

Mass operations

When selecting multiple or all suppliers, you can change the following fields in bulk using Selected Action:

Export

Using the download icon to the left of the gear icon, you can export supplier data in various file formats.

Administrators can add suppliers using the Create New Supplier button.

Enter general data – Supplier Number and Name are mandatory fields.

In the General tab, you will also find additional attributes if they were created under Administration > Suppliers > Additional Attributes.

Enter contact details and payment data for the supplier. These details can later be edited in the supplier record (click the supplier number) or via mass operations.

The supplier record displays all supplier-specific data at a glance. Click the pencil icons in the respective tiles to edit the data.

Using the gear icon in the top right, you can navigate to individual menu items under Administration > Suppliers. At this point, an administrator can also delete the supplier if no document is linked to it.

When clicking Supplier Record, a dropdown menu appears allowing you to switch to related addresses and contacts (where you can create and edit entries) and view the change history.

Within a supplier record, you will find the Reports menu item. Here you can view all documents assigned to the supplier.

You can also perform full-text searches, add filters, customize table columns, and save settings as favorites.

Click the document number to view and edit document details.

Use the copy icon to duplicate documents, the trash icon to delete documents, and you can also create documents manually from this page.

The Receipt Inbox is part of the Revenue & Costs module. It serves as a central point of entry and verification for newly received receipts. Receipts are first collected here and can be reviewed before being permanently imported into the system.

The Receipt Inbox makes the receipt processing workflow more structured, transparent, and manageable. Only after a receipt has been actively accepted is it transferred to document management.

The Receipt Inbox is included in the ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional product lines, but not in the ZEP Clock product line.

If you use ZEP Compact, you need the Revenue & Costs module. This gives you access to the Receipts menu, which contains the Receipt Inbox tab.

As an administrator, you can upload and process incoming receipts here. Controllers can view the uploaded receipts.

The following options are available to you:

The “Receipt number” and “Status” columns are always displayed and cannot be hidden.

The Receipt Inbox displays all receipts uploaded to this area by administrators. Before these can be processed as receipts by ZEP, they must be accepted by an administrator.

In the document inbox, administrators can review, accept, or reject documents.

To upload a new receipt to the receipt inbox, click the Upload Receipts button. A window will open where you can upload files (including e-invoices).

After uploading, this receipt will appear as a new entry in the receipt inbox and can be reviewed, edited, accepted, or rejected.

To review a document, click the green checkmark on the far left of the document’s row. This opens a detailed view where the associated file is displayed. This allows you to ensure that the document is valid and complete before accepting it, as well as make changes if necessary. In this detailed view, you can edit all information except for the creator and the document file.

When you save the detail view after review, the receipt is given the status “Accepted” and is incorporated into the system as a regular receipt.

Subsequently

All known receipt processing functions are then available. For example

The accepted receipt is thus fully integrated into the receipt logic.

If, while reviewing the receipt, you determine that it is invalid or irrelevant, close the detail view by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the detail window or by clicking Cancel.

You can then reject the receipt by clicking the red X on the left side of the receipt’s column. A window will open where you can add a comment if necessary before confirming the rejection.

Once a document has been rejected, the green checkmark and red cross icons disappear and are replaced by a trash can icon. This icon allows you to delete the document from the system.

In this way, incorrect or unnecessary documents can be removed early on.

If you have receipts which do not need to be assigned to employees, you can create them without an employee assignment. This option is available when accepting a receipt in the receipt inbox as well as in the receipt reports (projects, suppliers, employees).

If a receipt has no employee assignment, the project selection displays all projects that have a billable status and whose duration includes the selected date of the receipt.