As a rule, you only have the Administration menu item in your ZEP if you have Administrator authorization.

In this Administration area, you can configure ZEP according to your requirements. You can individually adjust ZEP's behavior, appearance, and the stored data related to your company.

Which menu items are displayed under Administration in ZEP primarily depends on the add-on modules you use. In the following, we will go through the most important points. If you have menu items that are not covered in this article, please refer to the article for the corresponding add-on module.

Company Logo
You can display your company logo on the ZEP login page and in ZEP at the bottom left: Select the corresponding file (maximum size: 1MB) and upload it.

ZEP Color
Either enter the desired hexadecimal color code in the input window or select the desired color by clicking the color symbol. If you want to reset ZEP to the original color, completely delete the entry and click Save.

Access via secure SSL connection
You can specify whether you fundamentally want to enforce an SSL-encrypted connection, offer it as an option, or if it should not be possible. We recommend always accessing ZEP with SSL encryption.

When changing the setting from "automatically redirect" to something else, users must manually delete their ZEP session cookie in the browser. Logging in is otherwise not possible.

Allow saving username and password in the browser
If you want to allow the browser to save the username and password, you can specify this here.

ZEP Language
Here you set the standard language for ZEP. The language setting also includes the language-specific formatting of dates, times, and decimal numbers.

The Employees created in ZEP generally have the language set to "-Standard-." This refers exactly to the language you set here. If a language other than the standard language should permanently apply to an employee, set it for the respective employee. The login page will still be displayed in the standard language, and after logging in, the user will see ZEP in their chosen language.

The same applies to Projects: Every project has its billing language defined under Billing Settings > Format; this is also generally "-Standard-." If the invoices for a project should be created permanently in a language other than the standard language, then change the project's language under Billing Settings > Format.

If you use the ticketing system, every Customer Contact also has a language setting for their ticket access. Here, too, the language is generally "-Standard-" and can be changed if necessary.

Setting Number of Entries per Page

In ZEP, search results are often presented to you in a scrollable table, e.g., Project Management, Employee Administration, etc. By default, 15 entries per page are displayed. Here you can change this number.

The number of entries per page affects usability and speed:

This setting has no effect on fully displayed, non-scrollable tables in Reports and no effect on tables in popup windows.

There is also a fixed minimum number of entries: A page break only occurs if the following page will contain at least 4 entries. This means the last page of a table can contain up to three entries more than the set number.

Display company name in Reports (header)
If you do not want your company name to appear in the header of printed Reports, do not check the box.
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Retain line breaks in CSV export
If you have longer formatted texts with line breaks in the remarks field of projects/tasks and want to export them formatted that way as CSV, specify Yes here.

If you click on an email address, the local mail client (e.g., MS Outlook, Lotus Notes) is called up by default. If you do not want this, you can alternatively use the integrated ZEP Mail Client by activating this option.

Separator for email addresses

Set here globally whether a comma or semicolon is used as the separator between email addresses.

Sender Name for automatically sent emails and for ZEP Mail Client

This sender name is used by ZEP in automatically sent emails:

The recipient sees the following information in their mail program:

Sender Address

This email address is used by ZEP as the email sender when ZEP sends automatic emails, e.g., for planned hour overruns, overtime notifications, or in connection with the ticket module.

If you have not configured anything specific, the default setting [email protected] applies.

If you want to use your own email addresses, you should also use your own mail server that belongs to these addresses (see "Use special outgoing server for mail delivery").

Use ZEP Mailserver

However, if you use the ZEP Mailserver and your email address contains your own domain, you must update your SPF record in the DNS settings to prevent your emails from being marked as spam. This means that you must supplement your SPF record with "a:mail.zep.de". You must insert the entry "a:mail.zep.de" into the SPF record at an appropriate place, with spaces before and after it. Please contact your IT system administrator for this (not the ZEP Support Team); they should know the appropriate location.

An example of the updated entry would be "v=spf1 +a +mx a:mail.zep.de -all" or "v=spf1 +a +mx a:mail.zep.de"

Explanation of SPF Record

The SPF record (Sender Policy Framework Record) is a type of security measure that helps protect email delivery and reduce email fraud. In simple terms, it is a rule set in a domain's DNS settings to confirm which email servers are authorized to send emails on behalf of that domain.

When an email server receives an email, it checks the sender's domain's SPF record to ensure that the email originates from an authorized server. If this is the case, the email is accepted. If not, the email may be classified as spam or forged and rejected or treated accordingly.

Reply Name for automatically sent emails and for ZEP Mail Client

Here you enter the reply name that the recipient of an email automatically sent from ZEP sees.

The recipient sees the following information in their mail program:

Reply Address for automatically sent emails and for ZEP Mail Client

Here you enter the reply address that the recipient of an email automatically sent from ZEP sees.

The recipient sees the following information in their mail program:

Email Header and Email Footer

Here you can design the header and footer area of the emails sent by ZEP using a simple HTML editor.

If you want to use your own email addresses as the sender, you can use your own mail server that belongs to these addresses (same domain).

We recommend using the ZEP Mailserver, as this helps you avoid unnecessary waiting times when using ZEP. The ZEP Mailserver accepts the emails immediately and adds them to a queue—this is then processed in the background. (You only have to supplement the SPF record on all your domains with a:mail.provantis.de so that the emails are not considered spam.) Example: v=spf1 +a +mx a:mail.zep.de -all

If sending via your mail server, ZEP must transmit all emails directly to your server, and you must wait during ZEP usage—depending on the mail provider used, this can take a few seconds. Depending on ZEP's settings, this can also affect employee time recording, as emails are sent immediately upon saving time when overtime is exceeded, the project's planned figure is reached, etc.

Enter your outgoing mail server here if you do not want to use the ZEP mail server. To do this, you define your mail server as a "Special Outgoing Server" with corresponding access data and set:

For ZEP to be able to send emails via Microsoft Azure, access must be configured via OAuth as follows:

Azure Settings:

Call up Azure: https://portal.azure.com

Then navigate via Azure Active Directory > App registrations > "+ New registration" to App registration:

When the app is registered, copy the "Application (client) ID" and temporarily save it in a file (e.g., azure.txt).

Now select "Add a certificate or secret" and click "+ New client secret". Here:

Now copy the code displayed as Value (Caution: not the Secret ID) and add it as a new line in azure.txt. Important: This code will not be displayed again later.

Afterwards:

Microsoft 365 Admin Center:

Users > Active users > select the user > Mail > Manage email apps > "Authenticated SMTP".

ZEP Settings:

Administration > My Company > Settings > E-Mail > Change settings => Select Use special outgoing mail server for mail delivery

Fields relevant for Azure:

Save Then click the External Link icon. This leads to the Office 365 login page. Please complete the login. After successful login, you will be redirected back to the mailbox page. => Done!

Google Settings: A guide on how to create an app in Google can be found here:

https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/6158849?hl=de#zippy=

You must register mail delivery from ZEP as an app (https://cloud.google.com/console). There you will receive the OAuth ID and the OAuth Secret which you must enter in ZEP.

You can find the Redirect URL in the ZEP email settings when you switch to Google OAuth. Normally, it is the following URL; here you must replace your ZEP name:

https://www.zep-online.de/zepXXXXXXXXXX/view/oauth2smtp.php

Administration > My Company > Settings > E-Mail > Change settings

Afterwards, an arrow symbol in a box will appear. There you must log in and grant the necessary permissions via a pop-up, if you have not already done so.

After logging in, you can send a test email using the envelope symbol.

Please enter your company data at this point. This data is required as the Invoice Sender for creating ZUGFeRD invoices, XRechnungen, and for the Swiss QR Code. This data is also used as a placeholder variable for the Letterhead. This means that if your company data changes (e.g., change of legal form, change of address, etc.), you can make the change here, and the updated information will automatically be adopted into all your letterhead templates where you have inserted a placeholder for this data.

You must at least fully specify the Name and the Bank details (see next point "Bank details"), otherwise ZEP cannot generate pdf/a-ZUGFeRD invoices. Additionally, the "ZUGFeRD" checkbox must be activated for the customer under Addresses, and the ZUGFeRD country code must be entered.

Invoices with GiroCode/Payment Code (only with Invoicing module) Simplify invoice payment for your customers with a QR code on the invoice. This code contains the recipient, account number/IBAN, amount, currency, payment purpose, or reference, and can be read by numerous banking apps, simplifying the transfer of the data mentioned above into the transfer form.

You can specify this data under Administration > My Company > Company Data. The QR code can be output using the placeholder Payment QR Code (%R_BEZAHLCODE%) in the upper or lower invoice text (project or customer additional fields). To ensure it is output right-aligned, it can be written into a table with right-aligned column alignment.

If you use the Departments module, you can also enter this Company Data separately for various departments that act as independent companies.

Please enter your bank details here. This data is required for the creation of pdf/a-ZUGFeRD invoices. This data is also used as a placeholder variable for the Letterhead. This means that if your bank details change, you can make the change here under New Bank Details, and the updated information will automatically be adopted into all your letterhead templates where you have inserted a placeholder for this data. The fields Bank Name, IBAN, and BIC are also available as document variables for the letterhead.

Every bank detail record has the following fields:

For ZUGFeRD and as a placeholder for the Letterhead:

Only for the Letterhead:

Additionally, the ZUGFeRD checkbox must be activated for the customer under Addresses, and the ZUGFeRD country code must be entered.

Here you can upload your own letter paper with logo and company data. All Reports in pdf, doc, docx, or odt format are displayed on this letterhead.

The letterhead is used in the following Reports:

Letterhead Creation

Please note our Instructions for creating the letterhead, which are available for download at this point.

If you do not store your own custom letterhead, the Standard Letterhead is always used. You can see this by the display: Standard Letterhead (Language) Portrait/Landscape format is used. This letterhead merely contains a footerwith your Company Name and the Page Number.

If you want ZEP to create your Reports ( in PDF, Word, or LibreOffice) completely including the letterhead, for example, with your Logo and further information in the header and footer, then you must create your own letterhead and upload it to ZEP.

You can upload different letterheads for these various areas:

Optionally, you can specify whether ZEP may only be accessed from certain IP addresses: Activate the checkbox Use IP Address Authentication and enter the corresponding IP addresses separated by spaces and save.

Optionally, ZEP provides you with the possibility of Login via OAuth: Under Administration > My Company > Settings > Login, specify whether you want to "Enable Login via OAuth." Select whether you want to enable this via Google or Microsoft (Azure), Keycloak, or General. Select the method first, and then the links will become visible. For secure communication of ZEP via OAuth, "CLIENT ID" and "CLIENT SECRET" must be stored in the ZEP settings.

Optionally, you can specify whether the normal ZEP Login should be locked and who is authorized to unlock the ZEP login via email if necessary.

For this, your ZEP must be registered as an app via the "Google Cloud Console" https://cloud.google.com/console. "CLIENT ID" (Google: "Client ID") and "CLIENT SECRET" (Google: "Client Secret") are generated by Google upon registration.

When registering, ensure that the address to "glogin.php" below the view directory of ZEP is stored with Google as the "REDIRECT URI" (Google: "Authorized redirect URIs").

After configuration, any employee with a valid Google account can log in with their Google access data if the email addresses of the Google account and ZEP match. The employee has another field in their data (next to the email field): Google ID: the email address of the Google account must be stored here.

The login via Google can be initiated by calling the page "glogin.php" below the view directory of ZEP. Google login can also be accessed via the link "Sign in with Google" on the ZEP login page, provided the normal ZEP login is not locked by the Administrator.

For Microsoft OAuth, your ZEP must be registered as an app via the App Registration portal: https://aka.ms/appregistrations.

If you have the setting "Supported account types: My organization only" in Azure, you must copy the Tenant ID (also known as Tenant or Directory ID) from Azure and enter it in ZEP under Administration > My Company > Settings > Login > OAuth > Tenant ID.

Further information is available under the link https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/develop/active-directory-v2-registration-portal

Here you can set quality criteria for the passwords used in ZEP.

What happens if you have forgotten your password or exceeded the allowed number of input attempts?
ZEP then offers you: "Use this form if you have forgotten your password for ZEP. Enter your username or your email address. ZEP will send you an email with information on how to define a new password."

Notification upon Percentage Achievement of Planned Hours

Specify here globally the percentage of planned hours at which an email should be generated to the Project Manager(s) with budget responsibility. You can optionally set whether only billably booked hours are considered.

No Email: No email will be sent.

Send Email at: You can enter up to three percentage values here (if only one value is entered, only one email is sent). As soon as a time entry exceeds one of these thresholds, the Project Manager(s) will receive an email notification from ZEP that the actual hours for the corresponding project or task (if you have stored planned figures for tasks) have exceeded the specified value. Of course, only if an email address is specified for the employee in Employee Administration. If there should be no Project Manager with budget responsibility, this email will be sent to the Department Manager (with the Departments module) or to the Administrator.

You can override these values project-specifically for any project under Data & Plan: in these projects, the project-specifically entered values will apply. Depending on the setting, all hours or only billably booked hours are considered. A prerequisite for a warning is the specification of planned hours for the project or the task.

If no Project Manager with budget responsibility and an email address can be determined, all Project Managers without budget responsibility are informed. If there are no Project Managers, all Department Managers of the project's department are informed if applicable; if they also cannot be determined (or if the Departments module is not licensed), all Administrators are informed. With every time booking, ZEP checks whether a percentage of the planned hours has been reached at the task level or project level, meaning up to two emails can be sent for each entered percentage value:

1) An email regarding the booked task or one of its superior tasks (depending on the level at which you entered the planned figures).

2) An email regarding the project.

Display planned and actual hours in the I-Point of the task list during time recording If you activate this option, the task I-Point during time recording is supplemented with the planned figures stored in the project or the tasks.

The table of tasks displayed on the help page is expanded to include the following columns:

Display actual hours in the I-Point of the task list during time recording
If you activate this option, the task I-Point during time recording is supplemented with the actual hours recorded for the project or the tasks.

The table of tasks displayed on the help page is expanded to include the following columns:

Only display bookable tasks in the I-Point of the task list during time recording
If you activate this option, the employees will no longer see all tasks of the project in the task I-Point, but only the tasks that have a bookable status and whose duration lies within the recording period.

Only display own tasks in the I-Point of the task list during time recording
If you activate this option, the employees will no longer see all tasks of the project in the task I-Point, but only the tasks to which they are assigned as employees.

Remarks of the tasks visible in the I-Point of the task list during time recording Under Administration > Project > Settings, you set whether the remarks of the tasks should be displayed in the task I-Point during project time recording.

Every employee has an I-Point next to the list of tasks during project time recording. When they call up this I-Point, they see a list of the tasks of the configured project.

If this list should also contain the remarks of all tasks, activate the setting Remarks of the tasks visible.

Display task employees including email in the I-Point of the task list during time recording

If you activate this option, all task employees and their email addresses stored in ZEP are displayed in the task I-Point.

Display remark of the selected project in the I-Point of the project list during time recording.
Here you set whether the remark of the selected project should be displayed in the project I-Point during project time recording.

Display billing type of the selected project in the I-Point of the project list during time recording.

Here you set whether the billing type of the selected project should be displayed in the project I-Point during project time recording.

Display all project employees of the selected project including email in the I-Point of the project list during time recording

If you activate this option, all project employees with their function in the project (Project Manager) and their email addresses stored in ZEP are displayed in the project I-Point.

User with Additional Rights/Controller may create projects: If you activate this checkbox, employees with the role "User with Additional Rights" or "Controller" can create new projects (otherwise, only the Administrator is allowed to do this). Such an employee has the Projects menu item.

Internal projects are fundamentally non-billable
Projects without customer assignment are Internal Projects:

When the setting Internal projects are fundamentally non-billable is switched on (yes):

A change to the setting Internal projects are fundamentally non-billable does not automatically affect already existing projects. Even if you subsequently change a customer project into an internal project, billably booked times do not automatically become non-billable times. If necessary, you must rebook the relevant times in the Project Time Report.

Display name for projects in table columns of reports
Set the designation with which projects should be displayed in table columns of reports:

External display name for projects and tasks
Set globally the form in which projects should be displayed in external reports:

External display name for tasks
Set globally the form in which tasks should be displayed in external reports:

'with signature block in the print version' pre-fill in Project Time Verification:
Set whether the Project Time Verification report should have the default setting with signature block in the print version.

Display Project Category in Project Tables
Set whether the respective assigned project category should be displayed in the project tables.

Keywords
If you specify here "Project Manager may add keywords (Yes)," the Project Managers can also create their own keywords within a project and assign them to the project.

You can classify and search for your projects using Keywords.

You can enter new Keywords under Administration > Projects > Keywords.

Link "Send email to project employees" sends email in project language In a project, in the Project Employees menu item, you can send an email to all project employees via the link Send email to project employees.

With the Yes setting, the email is sent in the project's language (set in the project under Format > Billing Settings).

With the No setting, the email is sent in the ZEP language (set globally under Administration > My Company > General).

Link "Send email to project employees" sends email via "Undisclosed Recipients" (recipients hidden in BCC)
In a project, in the Project Employees menu item, you can send an email to all project employees via the link Send email to project employees.

With the Yes setting, the sender's email address is listed in the To field, and all other recipients are listed in the BCC field.

With the No setting, all recipients of the email are listed in the To field.

All project employees may see the "Project Plan" menu item If you set Yes here, you can additionally specify:

If you set this, all employees in ZEP have the Projects tab, but only the respectively assigned projects are displayed, and only the Project Plan is displayed in the selected project.

Project No. Prefix
The entered text appears as the prefix in the project number. The following placeholders can be used:

Project No. Length
This is the length of the number that is inserted between the prefix and suffix. The number is filled with leading zeros, if necessary.

Project No. Suffix
The entered text appears as the suffix in the customer number. The following placeholders can be used:

Activities are designations for different work processes, independent of the project. An Activity is specified for every project time recording. These activities can be billed differently. Special hourly rates per Activity can be specified in the Price Lists (available from ZEP Compact with the Prices & Receipts module).

The distinction of Activities in project time recording is useful for later reports.

You can store Activities in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

Checkboxes

is not relevant to working time, e.g., on-call duty
You can assign this property to any Activity (except travel activity), meaning that for this Activity:

non-billable project times are also visible on Project Time Verification, Project Revenue, and Invoice Attachment, e.g., Goodwill
If an Activity marked this way is booked as non-billable to a project, the time is still listed in the Project Time Verification and is reported in the Project Revenue and on the Invoice Attachment with the price 0.00.

Properties:

You can select this option for any Activity and also combine it with other options (travel activity, "on-call duty").

If they are booked as non-billable, a daily rate share is also calculated from these non-billablebooked times, which is listed in the Project Time Verification and reported in the Project Revenue and Invoice Attachment with the price 0.00.

available from ZEP Compact Travel Expense Report.

A further special case is the Travel Activity (usually "re"). Among other things, it defines the start and end of business trips. In conjunction with the work location, ZEP automatically calculates the subsistence costs for the Travel Expense Report (unless you have switched off this function in the settings under the point "Calculation procedure for subsistence costs" by entering "no calculation").

Using Change Travel Activity, you set which of your activities should be the Travel Activity. With the checkbox may overlap with other activities, is not relevant to working time, you can specify whether travel time counts as working time for you or not.

For a Travel Activity with these properties, the following applies:

For the assignment of working hours, there is also the structuring of projects into Tasks. The following notes may be helpful in deciding between an Activity and a Task.

A work process is an Activity if some of the following points apply:

A Task, on the other hand:

To define a new status, enter a short form and a designation.

You can store the Project Status in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

You can select a color for each status; this will be displayed in the project table.

Status Order

You can move a status up or down with the arrow symbols. The sorting determines the sequence in which the statuses are displayed in the selection lists. A newly created status is always appended to the end of the list. You can move it to the correct position with the corresponding arrow symbol.
A newly created or copied project is always placed in the first status in the list.

Bookability

Specify whether this status is bookable. Only projects assigned to a bookable status appear in the selection lists during project time and receipt recording. If a status is bookable, it is displayed in bold in the table.

Filter

The Project Status can be filtered in the project reports and project planning.

To define a new status, enter a short form and a designation.
You can store a Task Status in multiple languages. You can select a color for each status; this will be displayed in the task table.

Status Order

Order and moving function analogously to the Project Status via the arrow symbols.

Bookability

The bookability of a task is analogous to the description you can find for bookability in the Project Status.

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 project mail templates To all project employees or To a single project employee. Additionally, you can optionally add files (max 5 x 20MB / max. 50MB total).

You have the option to send specific information regarding the project and employee through general Placeholders.

Please note: the placeholder Actual Hours (%ISTSTUNDEN%) always delivers only the current billably booked actual hours of the project.

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

Here you define Categories to which you can assign your Projects, respectively. This categorization serves as a search and selection criterion.

You can store Categories in multiple languages.

The input of Keywords can help you when using the search function to find and call up Projects faster, for example.

You can define Additional Attributes for customers, projects, tasks, and employees. An Additional Attribute is a field that is then present for every customer/project/employee and can be maintained via the frontend.

The following information must be provided when creating an Additional Attribute:

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

Currently, Additional Attributes can be used as follows:

Customer sorting in the selection lists by Name

Customer sorting in the selection lists by Name instead of Customer No.: If you activate this checkbox, customers in the selection lists (e.g., during project planning and project status reports) are sorted by customer name.

User with Additional Rights/Controller may create customers
Only an Administrator is allowed to create customers. Optionally, you can allow employees with the role User with Additional Rights or Controller to create new customers (Yes setting). Such an employee is automatically entered as the Customer Manager (with the permission to change customer data) for this newly created customer. If you subsequently remove this customer responsibility from such an employee (at the customer level), they can no longer edit this customer.

Default VAT for new customers
available from ZEP Compact Revenues & Costs

When creating a new customer, the value entered here is pre-filled.

Only with Invoicing module:

Default 'Flat travel rate for a continuous trip involving multiple projects' for new customers: available from ZEP Compact Travel Expense Report

As a default setting for new customers, you can set:

For Flat travel rate per day, you have these two options:

For Flat travel rate per trip, you have these two options:

In the menu item Customers > Billing Settings > Travel Settings, you then have the option to individually define for each customer how the flat travel rates should be calculated for that customer.

In Customer Administration, you can assign your customers to an Industry and filter the list by Industry. You define these Industries here.

You can store Industries in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

Here you define Categories to which you assign your customers, respectively. For example: prospect for one of your products, sales partner, or cooperation partner, etc. In Customer Administration, you assign each customer to a category. This categorization serves as a search and selection criterion.

You can store Categories in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field and can also be done in different languages. Depending on the language selected by the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the respective language.

At this point, you define Categories to which you assign your Customer Contacts, respectively. For example: Christmas Card, Info, etc. In the contact person's menu, you can then assign one or more categories. This categorization serves as a search and selection criterion under Reports > Customers > Customer Contacts.

You can define Additional Attributes for customers, projects, tasks, and employees. An Additional Attribute is a field that is then present for every customer/project/employee and can be maintained.

When creating an Additional Attribute, the following information must be provided:

When using Personio: The Personio attributes are adopted if the name is the same.

Details on the data types:

Additional Attributes are displayed on the employee's Data page and can be entered in the edit mode.

Current uses of Additional Attributes:

Record attendancees in addition to Project Times
If you want employees to clock in/out in addition to recording project time, check the box here. You will then see the clock events of the clock-in and clock-out occurrences of the employees under Reports > Employees > Clock In / Clock Out.

Activate Freelanceers & Credits
If you have Freelance Employees whom you want to bill using Credits, check the box here.

Freelance Employees (excluding Administrators and Department Managers) are not permitted to see other employees in reports, e.g., in the Absence Overview Sometimes it is desired that Freelance Employees do not receive information about other employees in ZEP. If this is the case for you, check the box here.

Employee sorting in the selection lists
Here you can set how employees should be sorted in the selection lists in ZEP. Choose between Username, First Name, and Last Name.

Employee formatting in Customer Reports Here you can specify how an employee's name should be displayed in Reports for customers. You have the choice between:

Employee initials Reports for customers are Reports > Employees > Time Verifications, Reports > Projects > Project Revenue/Customer Revenue, and Project Time Verification.

Employee formatting in internal Reports
Here you can specify how an employee's name should be displayed in internal Reports. You have the choice between:

Employee initials Internal Reports are, for example, Reports > Projects > Project Status, or Overall Status.

Project Time Report Total Sum: Person-Days (PT) correspond to In the Project Time Reports, the total number of hours in the report period is always displayed at the top left. Additionally, the total hours are displayed in Person-Days (PT). Here you specify the number of hours that corresponds to one Person-Day, e.g., 8 hours.

PT display with up to x significant decimal places
Enter a value between 0 and 10.

Notify before expiration of an employment period
Here you can specify whether and who is notified by email before the end of an employee's employment period. If you select one of these options, a (System) Task under Administration > System > Tasks "Employment Periods" is automatically scheduled, which is executed daily. The mail template for the notification emails is located in the master data: Notification before end of employment.

Every employee can specify the date up to which they have finished recording their project times (receipts, absences, if applicable) and thus release them.
Here you set whether ZEP users can release their recorded data (project times, receipts, absences, if applicable). This means every employee can indicate that all project times (receipts and absences, if applicable) are correctly and completely recorded.

In the project time table under My ZEP > Project Times, the symbol with the last entered "Released until Date" can be found.

When employees release their project times, ZEP checks whether there are days in that period where less than half of the target time was booked. ZEP asks whether the data should still be released.

Subsequently, employees can no longer edit their project times, receipts, or absences for the time up to and including the release date.

If the Release Date must be changed, a ZEP Administrator can correct the Release Date at any time in the employee's Data submenu item.

Additionally, you can specify whether and to whom a notification should be sent.

Send notification when an employee has granted the release of their project times, receipts, and absences
Optionally to Administrators, Project Managers, Department Managers, Department Managers of superior departments, and additional recipients.

A Project Manager sees a symbol for the Release Date in their project under Project Employees in the table. This symbol is blue if the release is later than the start of the report period (i.e., if the project employee assignment is displayed for October, the symbols are blue if the release is October 1st or later), otherwise gray. The exact Release Date is visible via mouseover.

An Administrator can see this Release Date under Employees and view and change it under Employees > [Employee Name] > General > Data. If you also use the Absences & Overtime module, you see the gray-blue release symbol next to the gray-yellow lock symbol under Administration > System > Month-end Closing.

A Department Manager (only with the Locations & Departments module) views or edits the Release Date under Departments > Employees. If the Absences & Overtime module is also used, the Department Manager can see the Release Dates (gray-blue release symbol next to the gray-yellow lock symbol) of the employees under Department > Employee Locks.

Display Release Date instead of lock in Employee Administration
Specify whether a "released until" column with the corresponding date should be displayed in the employee table under Employees instead of the "release lock."

Optionally specify whether the employee should be notified when they are locked or unlocked for a month.

Pre-fill 'with signature block in the print version' in Time Verification Detail and Employee Project Time Verification
If you want a signature block to be displayed in the print version of the Reports for Employee > Time Verification Detail, you can pre-set this option here.

Pre-fill 'with signature block in the print version' in the Expense Report
If you want a signature block to be displayed in the print version of the Reports for Employee > Expense Report, you can pre-set this option here.

Display Current Employee Birthdays Widget: Various widgets can be added to the Dashboard in ZEP for viewing. This includes a widget that displays the birthdays of employees (provided they have been maintained for the employees).

This setting controls whether the widget is available for display.

Default working days and regular working hours for new employees

Here you specify which days are working days and the Regular Working hours in hours for each working day. This default setting is automatically adopted when creating new employees. Of course, you can override this default setting for the individual employee.

Default vacation entitlement per year for new employees

Please enter a value for the annual Vacation Entitlement. The setting made here is pre-set as the default value in the Employee Administration and can be overridden for the individual employee.

Default Vacation Days and Absence Days

This setting is primarily relevant for part-time employees:

For full-time employees who have the same Regular Working Time every day, this setting makes no difference.
​Exception: If full-time employees have different amounts of Regular Working Time on different weekdays, and if less vacation should be used for the shorter days than for the longer working days, you can also consider the setting "convert according to regular working time" for full-time employees.

Overtime hours compensated by salary per month

If you have employees in your company whose employment contract includes a regulation on overtime hours compensated by salary and you have activated the setting deduct inclusive overtime from monthly hour balance under Administration > Overtime & Absences > Settings, you can specify a value and a calculation type for the overtime hours compensated by salary per month here. These values are then automatically adopted for a new employee.

In the menu item Regular Working Time of a selected employee, you can individually adjust the default setting.

Default break regulation for new employees

Here you can specify which break regulation should be used as the default setting for new employees. This setting is pre-set as the default value in the Employee Administration and can be overridden for the individual employee.

An employee requires at least the authorization level "User with Additional Rights" to view the current Attendance of all employees under My ZEP > Reports. If you do not check the box here, then all employees, including "Users," will see the current Attendance of all employees.

Employee may only see current attendances in their own department (and downwards in sub-departments) under My ZEP > Reports.
Check the box here if you want an employee to only be able to see the Attendance of employees in the same department (and sub-departments).

For employees with the "Consideration of Attendance Times" setting.
Set whether employees for whom Attendance times are considered can view their own Clock In/Out Report under Reports > My Reports. Additionally, you can set whether an info notification with the clocked attendances appears during project time recording.

Recipient of the info email if an error occurred during clocking in/out.
Specify to whom ZEP should send an info email if an error occurred during an employee's clocking in/out.

Location Transmission
Decide whether the device's location should be transmitted when using the app. This setting can be individually adjusted for each employee.

Here you can define so-called Text Modules with standard phrasing and placeholders. You can then easily insert these Text Modules when writing an email (Insert Placeholder/Text Module).

Click New Text Module and enter the Name for the Text Module in the dialog window (select the corresponding language). Enter the desired text in the Content field. You can also embed certain Placeholders here, e.g., %I_VORNAME% %I_NACHNAME%; these Placeholders will then be replaced in the email with the first and last name of the email's author, respectively.

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 Employee Mail Template. You have the option to send specific information regarding employees through general Placeholders. The Placeholders will be displayed to you when you click into the content text field. Additionally, you can optionally add files (max 5 x 20MB / max. 50MB total).

You can send all Mail Templates as a test email (Preview) to your own email address. Click Test Send (to own email address) and make the desired language selection (currently German, English, French, Spanish, and Polish); you will then receive the email in the corresponding language sent to your address.

You can define any number of Categories with a short form and designation for employees, for example, internal, external, part-time, full-time.

You can store Categories in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the German, English, French, or Spanish designation will be displayed.

In Employee Administration, you can assign any number of Categories to each employee. You can filter the Project Time Report by these Categories: Under Reports > Employees > Project Time Report, you can display all project times for employees of a specific category. The same applies under Project > Reports > Project Time Report.

You can define Additional Attributes for employees. An Additional Attribute is a field that is then present for every employee and can be maintained.

When creating an Additional Attribute, the following information must be provided:

When using Personio: The Personio attributes are adopted if the name is the same.

Details on the data types:

Additional Attributes are displayed on the employee's Data page and can be entered in the edit mode.

Current uses of Additional Attributes:

Define a Base Price List for your company.v

It will apply to the billings and reports for projects for which there is neither a specific Project Price List nor a Customer Price List for the associated customer.

The Base Price List also serves as a copy template for Customer Price Lists.

You specify the date from which the Price List is valid. Whenever you define a new Base Price List for your company starting from a certain date, you also enter it in ZEP as a new Price List with a new start date of validity.

Every Price List consists of four parts:

You can store Price Groups in multiple languages.
The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German, enter the German designation for the short form; click on English, enter the English designation, and so on. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the respective designation will be displayed.

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

In Employee Administration, you specify a Price Group for every employee when creating them. This is pre-set later in project planning when you (or the respective Project Manager) assign an employee to a project, but it can also be changed individually.

In the Price Lists, you will always define Hourly Rates and Daily Rates based on the different Price Groups. This applies to the Base Price List(s), as well as to customer-specific Price Lists or project-specific Price Lists.

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

Inactivate Price Groups

Price Groups cannot be deleted because this would affect old reports and current planned/actual comparisons or cause them to deviate from earlier reports. To remove no longer needed Price Groups from the display, you can inactivatethem:

Call up the corresponding Price Group for modification and place a checkmark in the inactive checkbox.

In existing Price Lists (Base, Customer, Project Price Lists), the inactive Price Group is displayed with the note inactiveif values for daily or hourly rates 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 Lists, the old Price Lists are copied identically, meaning inactive Price Groups may become visible again during this process.

Here it is specified for which number of hours you calculate which share of the daily rate. This is the basis of billing for all projects with the billing type effort based on daily rate.

The definition of Daily Rate Shares established here in the master data applies to all projects that have not defined their own definition of Daily Rate Shares.

When defining Daily Rate Shares, you can use up to 4 decimal places for both the from hours and the to hours(depending on the minute grid set in ZEP; if you have set a 15-minute grid, specifying 2 decimal places is sufficient).

For the Daily Rate Shares, you can enter up to 8 decimal places. ZEP displays the Daily Rate Shares in the reportswith at least 2 and with up to 8 decimal places (depending on the definition). When an individual project is evaluated, exactly the Daily Rate Shares that apply to this project are considered, and a maximum of as many decimal places as specified are displayed.

When recording Receipts, the employee must specify whether they paid privately (generally Payment Method private) or whether the invoice was settled by the company (generally 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 Payment Methods in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French and enter the German/English/French designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the German, English, or French designation will be displayed.

Reimbursement of Receipts

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 here the VAT Rates that should be available for selection for receipt recording. You can set obsolete VAT Rates to inactive; they will then no longer be offered for selection, but are still available for changes.

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

Example:

You can manage your Exchange Rates here manually or you can update the respective entered Exchange Ratesautomatically via the ZEP Scheduler under Administration > System > Tasks > Update Exchange Rates.

Every currency defined here in the master data under Exchange Rates is updated with the current rate. The rate is pulled by ZEP from the website Fixer.io. Please pay attention to 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 flat rates for vehicle types and work locations are also specified in the Base Currency. A currency can have different Exchange Rates over time. The period of validity for each Exchange Rate can be limited in the "valid until" column. In reports, the current Exchange Rate is used to convert a receipt into the project currency (conversion rate at the receipt date) or to convert an invoice amount from the project currency into the Base Currency(conversion rate at the invoice date).

Conversion Rate 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 cents if you specify this option with Yes under Administration > Project Time & Receipts > Settings.

If you want to change the Base Currency, click the link Change Base Currency: Mark the currency that should be your new Base Currency in the Base Currency column. Please note: If you change the Base Currency, all Exchange Ratesmust be adjusted accordingly! The same applies to the flat rates for vehicle types and work locations!

What role does the Base Currency play in ZEP?

The employee can assign each Receipt to a Receipt Type when recording Receipts. Some typical Receipt Types are already included in ZEP.

You can store Receipt Types in multiple languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French and enter the German/English/French designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the German, English, or French designation will be displayed.

Default Setting by Receipt Type

You have the option to define specific Default Settings for each Receipt Type. These quasi-Standard Receipts simplify receipt recording for employees and help avoid errors. The Administrator can define the default setting for the following fields for each Receipt Type in the master data:

If a Default Setting is defined, these values are used when recording new Receipts. If no Default Setting is defined, the input fields are pre-filled with the details of the last booked receipt.

Change Short Form of the Receipt Type

You can rename the Short Form of the Receipt Type by clicking the pen symbol, entering the new short form, and saving.

Deviating Service Date

If the Default Setting Service Date may 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 calculated further to the project at this time. For determining the internal costs of the project, the Booking Date is used, as usual. If the payment method is private, this receipt is also listed on the employee's Expense Report at 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 through general Placeholders.

You can send all Mail Templates as a test email (Preview) to your own email address. Click on the column "Test Send (to own email address)" 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 Mail Template Receipt Details is sent when an email link (envelope symbol behind an employee's name) is clicked in a receipt table (e.g., Reports > Employees > Receipt Report, Reports > Project > Receipt Report).

Retrospective Recording for Project Times

Allow recording for the previous week on Mondays

Allow Forward Booking for Time Recording and Receipt Recording

Specify how many days into the future Project Time Recording and Receipt Recording should be possible. You can choose whether the forward booking should be restricted to a number of minutes, or whether your employees are allowed to book several days in advance.

Allow Double Bookings
Specify whether times can be booked parallel to each other.

Multi-line remark field in Project Time and Receipt Recording
If you want your employees to add longer remark texts to the booked times, you can set here that the remark field in the Project Time Recording mask is several lines large.

Enforce Remark Text
If you want a remark to be entered for every time entry and every recorded receipt, specify this here.

Pre-fill Remark Text from the last recorded Project Time / Receipt
Here you can determine whether the remark text should be pre-filled with the remark text of the last recorded project time during time recording or not. This setting also relates to the recording of receipts, i.e., whether the remark text of the last recorded receipt should be pre-filled or not.

Allow Time Recording on holidays and days that are not working days (i.e., weekends)
If your employees also work on days that are not set as working days in the Regular Working Time, you should check the box here.

Display days that are not working days
You can decide whether the non-working days (i.e., weekends) should also be displayed in the Project Time Recording table. Even if non-working days are generally switched off: As soon as a booking has been made on a non-working day, that day becomes visible in the table.

Display of gaps in Project Time Recording
Here you can specify whether breaks (times for which no time entries were recorded) should be marked as a gap.

If you activate this option, the gaps in the daily schedule are indicated by a larger spacing in the project time entry table on the "Record Project Time" page.

These gaps are seen as breaks by ZEP. However, if you have simply forgotten to record time here, ZEP now makes it easier for you to fill this gap as follows: When you click on the corresponding gap, the end time of the previous entry is copied as the from-time and the start time of the following entry as the to-time into the upper recording field. Then specify the project/task/activity and remark accordingly, and you can easily fill this gap.

If you use time recording without from/to times (i.e., the ZEP Compact product variant without travel times, and "Recording by duration" checked in the settings), then there are no gaps and this setting is meaningless.

Pre-filling 'from-time' for a new day

Specify whether users should find a predefined time when ZEP starts, or whether the project time recording should be pre-set with the current time (standard) for a new day.

Minute Grid

Here you can choose whether the project time should be recorded in a 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 15, 20, or 30 minute grid.

However, if you recalculate with the displayed rounded numbers, you may arrive at a different final result. Although the final result displayed by ZEP is the correct one, this can lead to confusion regarding project billing. We therefore recommend a 3-minute, 6-minute, 15-minute, or 30-minute grid as the Minute Grid. If the Minute Grid is changed, editing project times that were recorded in a different grid is only possible to a limited extent.

Default Meals

In ZEP, meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) that an employee received during their trip must be specified for the relevant day. This results in the meal flat rate being deducted from the subsistence costs for that day, e.g., if breakfast was included with the overnight stay or the employee was invited to dinner/lunch by the customer.

Here you can make a Default Setting for the pre-filling of these meals (the employee can override this default setting individually):

This only takes effect if the employee has the setting for subsistence costs.

Working Hours, Target Time, as well as Planned, Overtime, and Deficit Hours in Hours:Minutes Format

Set whether the times recorded in ZEP should be displayed in decimal format or in hours:minutes format.

Expense Report, Project Time Verification, Project Revenue, and Invoice Attachment: Activities and Receipt Types with Designation or Short Form and Legend

Specify here globally how Receipt Types and Activities should be displayed in the mentioned Reports:

Expense Report, Project Time Verification, Project Revenue, and Invoice Attachment: Activities and Receipt Types

Recording a billable time that falls into a surcharge period according to the price list: Employee is asked and can specify whether this surcharge should actually be applied.

It can happen that employees voluntarily work in the evening, at night, or on weekends for a project, even though it would not be necessary, and consequently, no Price Factors should be calculated. Here you set how to proceed in this case:

Project Time Recording: Display Tasks including superior Tasks

If you want to display not only the Task but the Task hierarchy—i.e., all possibly superior Tasks—under My ZEP > Record Project Times, you can set this here.

If you want to observe or even enforce the legal requirements for Break Regulation in your company, you can store this here in ZEP. Additionally, you can also define Core Working Hours within a Break Regulation. If you do not want a Break Regulation in ZEP (i.e., employees are responsible for correctly recording their breaks themselves), disregard this point.

In ZEP, unbooked periods between two time entries are considered breaks. Additionally, Travel Times that are notbooked to a vehicle (e.g., travel by plane or train or as a passenger), so-called passive travel times, count as Break Times in the sense of the Break Regulation, meaning such passive travel times are not counted as Working Time (in certain Reports)! These travel times are deducted from the Working Time in the corresponding Reports and listed as a break in the sense of the Break Regulation.

Travel Times in a vehicle (e.g., car), so-called active travel times, are not considered breaks in the sense of the Break Regulation, as ZEP assumes that you were driving yourself and thus cannot take a break.

In Austria, the regulation applies: "For active travel time, the extension of the daily maximum working time is a maximum of 12 hours if the work is performed by ordered driving of a vehicle, provided this does not constitute the employee's main activity." This means here an employee is allowed to work additional hours.

Here you create a Break Regulation for your company (or multiple ones). The Standard Break Regulation is already created, in which the minimum breaks according to § 4 ArbZG (German Working Hours Act) are entered.

If you want to create a new Break Regulation, click Create New Break Regulation, enter a name, and save.

Specify the date from which the Break Regulation is valid.

You can choose whether you want to have a Minimum Rest Time. This refers to the time span between two working days.

If you specify no Minimum Rest Time, you only need to specify the maximum working time per day in hours in the sense of the Break Regulation; if applicable, also enter the additional hours for active travel times.

If you specify a Minimum Rest Time, enter it in hours in the sense of the Break Regulation. This is the time span that must be maintained at least between two working days or shifts. Also specify the maximum working time per day in hours in the sense of the Break Regulation. Enter the additional hours for active travel times, if applicable.

You can enforce compliance with the defined break rule:

If you use the Absences & Overtime module, you can optionally specify whether exceeded Maximum Working Time and non-complied Minimum Breaks should be deducted from the employee's Overtime Account. (Non-complied Minimum Rest Times are not deducted.)

Specify how the deduction for missing breaks should be calculated.

These three variants calculate a number based on the sum of the working hours and the sum of the breaks taken. This number is independent of the times of the working and break periods.

Specify the minimum length of a break in the sense of the Break Regulation.

Here you will find explanations, using examples, of the variants for the Calculation Procedure for missing Minimum Breaks and thus—if set—for the deduction of missing breaks:

Assume the Minimum Breaks are set as follows:

And assume an employee has the following bookings:

Variant Gross:

Variant Net:

Minimum Break total 00:45 (so in this case, no difference to gross).

All Minimum Breaks are considered sequentially: The time up to the first intended Minimum Break is considered, and the applicable Minimum Break is deducted. The resulting net time is considered, and, if applicable, a further Minimum Break is deducted from it.

Variant Employee-Friendly:

However: With a further break of only 12 minutes, the remaining Working Time is 9:00 hours and thus below the limit of 9:01, therefore the total Minimum Break is only 00:42 hours.

These three variants calculate a number based on the sum of the working hours and the sum of the breaks taken. This number is independent of the times of the working and break periods.

Within the framework of a Break Regulation, you specify the applicable Minimum Breaks for working hours here:

According to § 4 ArbZG (German Working Hours Act), the minimum duration of breaks is staggered according to the duration of the employees' daily working hours. The minimum duration of breaks for working hours of more than 6 up to 9 hours is at least 30 minutes, and for working hours of more than 9 hours, it is 45 minutes. If you want to map these legal requirements in your ZEP in this way, please specify it as follows:

Create New Minimum Break:

You can create a Fixed Break:

Click on Create New Fixed Break, specify from when to when this break should apply, and Save.

Within the Break Regulation, you can define Core Working Hours in ZEP. Core Working Hours are a time span during which employees should record time. An employee can be assigned the Core Working Hours defined there (or multiple Core Working Hours) via the assignment of a Break Regulation.

Compliance with the Core Working Hours is not enforced. In the Project Times table, ZEP displays a blue notification if the Core Working Hours were not complied with on a particular day. In the Month-end Report, a column "insufficient Core Working Hours" is displayed (only with the Absences & Overtime module).

How to create Core Working Hours:

Click Create New Core Working Hours, specify from when to when these Core Working Hours should apply and Save. Specify the maximum permissible break in hours.

Example:

Core Working Hours from 9:00 to 16:00 maximum permissible break of 1 hour. This means the employee must have worked at least 5 hours between 9:00 and 16:00. Please note: the "break" can also be at the beginning or at the end of the Core Working Hours.

If you have employees who work part-time, you should assign them their own Break Regulation with a corresponding core time.

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 Project Times Mail Template. You have the option to send specific information regarding employees through general Placeholders. The Placeholders will be displayed to you when you click into the content text field.

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

You can send all Mail Templates as a test email (Preview) to your own email address.

Click Test Send (to own email address) and make the desired language selection (currently German, English, French, Spanish, and Polish); you will then receive the email in the corresponding language sent to your address.

Available from ZEP Compact with the Travel Expense Report module

You have the choice:

No Calculation

No subsistence costs are calculated.

Germany

Specify a flat rate for an absence of more than 8 or at least 24 hours, respectively. If you also received breakfast or lunch/dinner paid for on a day, the tax regulation provides for a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether a meal was paid for is done under My ZEP > Project Times for the relevant day using the cutlery symbol.

Further information on legal provisions:

Details on the calculation of subsistence costs can be found in the documents of the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesfinanzministerium):

Austria

Calendar Day Rule

A calendar day is used as the basis for calculating the daily allowance.

24-Hour Rule

The calculation of the daily allowance is based on 24-hour intervals starting from "start of trip."

Under Travel Expense Daily Allowance, you specify the flat-rate daily allowance valid for the location. Furthermore, for each location, you have the choice between the Twelfths Rule and the Thirds Rule:

Twelfths rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

Thirds rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

The meal deduction relates to the aliquot daily allowance, i.e., to the portion of the daily allowance calculated based on the time of absence.

If you also received breakfast or lunch/dinner paid for on a day, you can make a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether a meal was paid for is done under My ZEP > Project Times for the relevant day using the cutlery symbol.

Where do I see the calculated subsistence costs?

Subsistence costs are reported in the employee's Expense Report and are considered as internal project costs in the Margin reports.

You also have the option to charge subsistence costs further within a project. You can set this per project.

The determined amount is then considered in the project billing and in the Margin reports.

When are subsistence costs incurred?

Subsistence costs are incurred when an employee books project times at a work location that is not the "Primary Place of Work" location. ZEP determines the time the employee was traveling, including breaks.

The best way to do this is for the employee to start every trip with an "outward" (hin) booking and end it with a "return" (rück) booking. (If you have the instruction that the actual travel time is not working time, the outward and return journey can also be booked only at a point in time, i.e., with a duration of "0," so that only the start and end of the trip are clearly set).

Where do the numbers for calculating subsistence costs come from?

The country-specific parameters per location are specified in Administration > Travel > Locations.

For an employee's absence per calendar day, the subsistence costs are determined from the duration of the absence and the parameters of the work location.

Under the following conditions, subsistence costs are calculated for unbooked days in between (e.g., Saturday and Sunday):

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no overnight stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

and

Set here whether the Period Check for the tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs should refer to the same Projector the same Customer.

If this, minus absence days, is more than 3 months and there has been no interruption of 4 weeks, a corresponding note is issued in the employee's Expense Report.

This setting influences the calculation of subsistence costs in the event that an employee travels overnight.

If you specify No here, ZEP will not recognize Overnight Stay Time, meaning an overnight stay will never be considered for the calculation of subsistence costs, as, according to the definition, there is none. This affects arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP will consequently never calculate subsistence costshere.

If you specify Yes here, ZEP applies your definition for overnight stays. Specify the time frame within which an unbooked time span must lie for ZEP to recognize an overnight stay.

Specify the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours. For the time frame, enter the Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00).

The Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours must not be greater than Start until End. (You can also enter 0, in which case an overnight stay is always recognized, even if there was no break. This means for arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP always calculates subsistence costs.)

This means an overnight stay is always assumed if a trip is present, i.e., the location of the time bookings is, for example, not the "Primary Place of Work"

and

between your specified Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00), the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours amounts to the specified number of hours.

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no overnight stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

and

Set here whether the Period Check for the tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs should refer to the same Projector the same Customer.

If this, minus absence days, is more than 3 months and there has been no interruption of 4 weeks, a corresponding note is issued in the employee's Expense Report.

This setting influences the calculation of subsistence costs in the event that an employee travels overnight.

If you specify No here, ZEP will not recognize Overnight Stay Time, meaning an overnight stay will never be considered for the calculation of subsistence costs, as, according to the definition, there is none. This affects arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP will consequently never calculate subsistence costs here.
​

If you specify Yes here, ZEP applies your definition for overnight stays. Specify the time frame within which an unbooked time span must lie for ZEP to recognize an overnight stay.

Specify the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours. For the time frame, enter the Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00).

The Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours must not be greater than Start until End. (You can also enter 0, in which case an overnight stay is always recognized, even if there was no break. This means for arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP always calculates subsistence costs.)

This means an overnight stay is always assumed if a trip is present, i.e., the location of the time bookings is, for example, not the "Primary Place of Work"

and

between your specified Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00), the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours amounts to the specified number of hours.

When an employee incurs subsistence costs (VMA) as part of an external activity, you can specify in a project's Travel Settings whether subsistence costs should be billed.

Here in the settings, you specify how these subsistence costs should be charged further to the relevant project or projects. You can choose the following two options when an employee has booked one day to various projects:

Distribute subsistence costs of the day proportionally across all projects (i.e., distribute the subsistence costs of the day proportionally across all relevant projects according to the number of hours)

The starting point is the calculation of the subsistence costs from the employee's perspective, i.e., all time bookings across all projects. This determines the flat rate applicable for that day, e.g., more than 8 hours or at least 24 hours (Administration > Travel > Locations).

In a next step, ZEP distributes this result across the involved projects of that day, i.e., across the projects that were booked as "location project-relevant."

This means:

From an internal perspective: The external subsistence costs to be charged are determined using the same key as the internal subsistence costs. In the simplest example: If all involved projects are set up to generally charge subsistence costs (for all times, not just for billable) with the "normal" location flat rates, then the sum of the project billings will be exactly the same amount as the employee receives in their Expense Report.

This implicitly also distributes breaks, transition days (weekends), and the meal deduction proportionally across the projects.

From the customers' perspective (i.e., the invoice recipients): The calculation of the subsistence costs for a project is always dependent on whether the employee also booked time to other projects "out of house" on that day (and it is not avoidable that times, start/destination location, and work location of an "other" project become visible on the invoice attachment for the subsistence costs table).

Please note: This is not always comprehensible to the recipient of the invoice, as the project times of the other projects are naturally not listed on the invoice.

Example:

If 4 hours are booked to the project, there can be a case where:

or you specify the Treat subsistence costs of projects from different customers separately

i.e., distribute the subsistence costs of the day only to projects of the same customer proportionally according to the number of hours; treat projects of different customers separately.

If you have chosen this option, you can further specify how the subsistence costs should be billed to the project.

if the employee has booked one day to various projects

If you have chosen the option "only distribute proportionally to projects of the same customer according to the number of hours; treat projects of different customers separately," you can select the following options for billing the subsistence costs of a project:

or

or

Examples for the Further Billing of Subsistence Costs to Projects/Customers

Setting: "distribute proportionally across all projects"

Setting: "treat projects of different customers separately"

— and treat times booked to projects of other customers as a break, meaning no interruption of absence time.

i.e., all times booked to projects of other customers are treated as a break; they do not interrupt the absence time of the one project.

Example: Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B:

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

Subsistence costs Project B: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

— and treat times booked to projects of other customers as "location not project-relevant" as a break, meaning no interruption of the absence time; times booked as "location project-relevant" to projects of other customers interrupt the absence time of a project.

only treat times booked as "location not project-relevant" to projects of other customers as a break. Times booked as "location project-relevant" to projects of other customers and the breaks around them do not count as part of the absence time of the one project, but interrupt the absence time of the one project.

Example 1:

Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B, every time booking was "location project-relevant":

08:00 - 09:00 Project A

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 9:00 hours + 10:00 - 11:00 hours + 12:00 - 13:00 hours + 14:00 - 15:00 hours + 16:00 - 17:00 hours

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Subsistence costs Project B: same as Project A, just "time-shifted"

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Example 2:

Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B, every time booking on Project A was "location project-relevant" (*), on Project B "location not project-relevant":

08:00 - 09:00 Project A*

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A*

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A*

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A*

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A*

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

Subsistence costs Project B: no subsistence costs, since location not project-relevant

— and times booked to projects of other customers interrupt the absence of a project

i.e., all times booked to projects of other customers and the breaks around them do not count as part of the absence time of the one project, but interrupt the absence time of the one project.

If an employee books time on two different projects of different customers on one day, each project is considered individually; the times booked to the respective other project are always considered a break.

Example: Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B:

08:00 - 09:00 Project A

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 9:00 hours + 10:00 - 11:00 hours + 12:00 - 13:00 hours + 14:00 - 15:00 hours + 16:00 - 17:00 hours

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Subsistence costs Project B: same as Project A, just "time-shifted"

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

You can optionally set here whether all start and destination locations should be displayed in the employee's Expense Report.

Example:

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Outward Journey from Home to Customer

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM: working at the customer's location

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Return Journey from Customer to Office

If you activate this setting (Yes), then the start and destination location of every time booking with the Travel Activity are displayed:

Home, Customer, Customer, Office

If you do not activate this setting (No), then only the first booked start and the last booked destination location that is not identical to the start location are displayed:

Home, Office

This setting might lead to misunderstandings (as in this example).

Subsistence costs are automatically calculated in ZEP if the work location is not the Primary Place of Work.

The easiest way to record the data for your travel and project time is in the correct chronological order:

Select the appropriate Non-Primary Place of Work location as the work location so that the subsistence costs are calculated correctly. The calculation period begins with the outward journey, or the first project time at the Non-Primary Place of Work location, and ends with the return journey or at 12:00 AM of the same day if no return journey was recorded. If project time is recorded at the Primary Place of Work location on the next day, ZEP calculates the subsistence costs until the end of the last recorded activity at the Non-Standard work location.

Example:

You were 9 hours away from home (including the break between 12 and 1 PM) and receive the statutory flat rate of €12 as subsistence costs for this. From 24.00 hours, €24.

Overnight Stay Definition
For the calculation of subsistence costs, it is crucial whether or not an Overnight Stay took place. Therefore, ZEP attempts to recognize whether an Overnight Stay exists based on the time bookings:

An Overnight Stay is assumed if

You always record based on the calendar day, meaning a trip across midnight is entered in two parts. In the first part "up to 12:00 AM," the location reached by that time must be specified (regardless of whether by plane, train, or car). In the second part (following day from 12:00 AM), the destination location is specified.

Ensure that the trip begins with exactly one Outward Journey and ends with exactly one Return Journey. The Travel Times in between must be onward journeys.

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no Overnight Stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

Arrival/Departure Rule without Minimum Absence Time

If a trip begins with an outward journey and is not concluded on the same calendar day, it is considered an arrival day. If an overnight stay took place afterwards (according to the definition above), the daily flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited, even with less than 8 hours of absence.

If a trip continues on a new calendar day and is concluded with a return journey on that day, it is considered a departure day. If an overnight stay took place before that (according to the definition above), the daily flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited, even with less than 8 hours of absence.

In total, no more than the 24-hour flat rate is calculated on any one day, even if multiple arrival and departure days took place.

Trips lasting several days should begin with an outward journey and end with a return journey, just like one-day trips. All Travel Times in between should be recorded as an onward journey.

If you have not recorded a return journey on the same day, ZEP assumes it is a multi-day trip. The subsistence costs are calculated as follows: from the outward journey until 12:00 AM of the same day and from 12:00 AM of the following day until the return journey.

Weekend

ZEP considers that an employee may receive tax-free subsistence costs if they remain at their external work location over the weekend, even if they did not work on the weekend days.

Under the following conditions, subsistence costs are calculated for unbooked days in between (e.g., Saturday and Sunday):

Example:

An employee could travel back over the weekend but wishes to stay privately at the external work location, and accordingly should not receive any subsistence costs for this time; in this case, they book a return journey with time 0 on Friday and then an outward journey with time 0 on Monday. No subsistence costs are calculated for the employee for this weekend.

If the Friday and Monday work is booked to a project that passes the subsistence costs on to the customer according to the project plan, then these weekend subsistence costs are naturally also considered in the project revenue (in the invoice, if the Invoicing module is used).

Three-Month Period

Since 2014, the Three-Month Period for the tax-free status of subsistence costs is measured purely chronologically for the interruption regulation. An interruption of professional activity at the same work location leads to a new beginning of the Three-Month Period if it lasts for at least four weeks. The reason for the interruption is irrelevant; only the duration of the interruption counts.

Travels Longer than 3 Months

You have the option to define special locations ("Other Travel") for which the calculation of subsistence costs does not consider overnight stays, meaning the basis for calculating subsistence costs is merely the time from the first time booking of the day until the last time booking of the day.

The background to this lies in the tax regulations in Germany: Subsistence costs for business trips are generally tax-free only if the employee is not employed at the same location for longer than 3 months. For an external activity lasting longer than this, there are no mandatory regulations for the remuneration of subsistence costs.

With ZEP, you have the choice:

Employee Share of Travel Time

A Travel Activity ("re") can also be booked with identical from- and to-times, i.e., with duration 0. Employees whose commute to the customer is not billed as working or project time, but who still receive subsistence costs (VMA) and potentially travel cost reimbursement, book such 0-times as outward and return journey to mark the start and end of the period decisive for subsistence costs.

Even if you omit the outward and return journey and simply book your working time at the Non-Standard Work Location, ZEP will calculate the subsistence costs for this time. The trip then ends with the next project time booking at the Standard Work Location. Note, however, that bookings at the Non-Standard Work Location on two consecutive days are interpreted as a multi-day trip, and subsistence costs are considered until 12:00 AM / from 12:00 AM.

Subsistence Costs Table

If you specify "Display Project" here, the respective project for which the subsistence costs (VMA) were incurred will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the table with the subsistence costs (VMA table).

Mileage Allowance Table

If you specify "Display Project" or "Display Project and Task" here, the respective project or project and task for which the kilometers were specified will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the mileage allowance table.

Receipts Table

If you specify "Display Project" or "Display Project and Task" here, the respective project or project and task of the recorded receipts will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the receiptstable.

File Format

Set the file format in which you want to create Expense Reports with ZEP.

Without the ZEP module "Document Generator," the file format for the Expense Report is "html."

Checked Expense Report in Landscape Format

Specify whether the checked Expense Report should be created in landscape format. Please note: an Expense Report saved as checked is saved in the specified format; if you change the format subsequently in the settings, you must first delete the Expense Report already saved as checked and then save it again in the desired format.

When recording travel times, the employee specifies which vehicle they used. The tax-relevant vehicles are already included in ZEP.

You can store Vehicles in multiple languages.

The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

For each Vehicle, you define here the mileage flat rate (tax-free, or optionally taxable) and possibly the passenger flat rate that is reimbursed in the Travel Expense Report for the employee for trips with the private vehicle. This flat rate can also be invoiced in the project billing.

You can also create several identical Vehicle types in ZEP; for example, if multiple vehicles are available in the fleet, you can create each individual one in ZEP with the respective license plate. The employees then select the used vehicle when recording their travel.

Vehicle Currency

Each Vehicle can have its own currency.

Application Example:

There are cases where vehicle flat rates should be billed in a currency other than the Base Currency (e.g., for an employee in another country, or for a project in another country, where you want to pass on exactly the vehicle flat rates valid in that country to the employees). In this case, you can create a new Vehicle where this different currency applies to the flat rates. The rate is retrieved from the website Fixer.io.

When you prepare the employee's Expense Report, the flat rates are converted if necessary. The date of the booked trip applies to the exchange rate used for this conversion.

Create Locations

When booking project times, an employee specifies the Location where the work took place. If the work was not at the usual Standard Work Location, this time may qualify for subsistence costs reimbursement. Here you define which Locations are available for selection. In general, the work Locations are intended to map the different subsistence costs flat rates (VMA flat rates); therefore, only Germany or other countries should be selectable.

You can store Locations in multiple languages.

The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

Home Work Location

Create a Home Work Location if you later want to track when employees worked from home.

You can create one or more Home Work Locations. A Home Work Location is a Location for which (just like for the Primary Place of Work) no VMA and no flat travel rates are incurred, and which consequently appears neither in the employee's Expense Report nor in the project billing.

Therefore, all flat rates are automatically set to 0 as soon as you activate the Home Work Location option.

Conversely, a Location for which you manually set all flat rates to 0 is not necessarily a Home Work Location, but merely a Location for which the employee receives no VMA (flat rate 0), but for which flat travel rates or special daily flat rates can still be charged to the customer project if you set this accordingly in Project > [Project Name] > Billing Settings > Travel Settings.

Taxable

You can also store higher flat rates for your employees; these must then be taxed and reported separately on the Expense Report. Enter the amount here that you wish to pay in addition to the tax-free amount. ZEP reports these amounts separately on the employee's Expense Report.

Domestic or Foreign

Please specify whether the Location is a domestic or a foreign Location.

Background: ZEP requires this information for the correct calculation of VMA.

Generally: For a trip across multiple Locations on one day, the last Location booked on that calendar day is used for calculating the flat rates.

Exception: If a foreign Location is also booked on a calendar day, the flat rates of that Location are calculated, even if it is not the last booked Location of the calendar day.

Location Currency

Each Location can have its own currency. When calculating subsistence costs in an employee's Expense Report and in the project billing, if applicable, the currency is considered. This means:

Business Trip or Other Travel

Example:

The employee always works at a customer location from Monday to Friday. They book an outward journey on Monday, a return journey on Friday, and all working times in between always to the appropriate work Location.

If this work Location is defined as Business Trip:

The basis for calculation is the absence time including overnight stay. This means in the example for Tuesday to Thursday that the absence time begins at 12:00 AM and lasts until 12:00 AM, so the flat rate for 24 hours applies.

If this work Location is defined as Other Travel:

The basis for calculation is the start and end of working time per day; overnight stays are not considered. For example, if the first working time on Tuesday begins at 8:00 AM and the last working time ends at 5:00 PM, these 9 hours apply to the flat rate, consequently, the flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited.

Implementation of Legal Changes

The tax authority determines the amounts for tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs. In the event of a change in the law, it is sufficient for you yourself to update the figures.

The Primary Place of Work (before 2014: Standard Work Location) is not managed in the list of work locations, as it is not relevant for the Travel Expense Report. It automatically appears in the "Work Location" selection list during project time recording (exception: if special "Project Locations" have been chosen for a project, the selection list may not contain the Primary Place of Work location).

Use of ZEP for Calculation of VMA or Travel Expense Daily Allowance

If you do not use ZEP for calculating subsistence costs or Travel Expense Daily Allowance, then every location only consists of a short form and a designation and has no effect on the Travel Expense Report.

If you use ZEP for calculating subsistence costs or Travel Expense Daily Allowance, check under the menu item Administration > Travel > Subsistence Costs > Calculation Procedure whether you have specified the appropriate country setting. Depending on this, the Locations have further parameters that are used for calculating subsistence costsor Travel Expense Daily Allowance.

Deutschland (Germany)

Tax-Free

Specify the tax-free flat rate for an absence of more than 8 or at least 24 hours, respectively. If you also received a meal (breakfast or lunch/dinner) paid for on a day, the tax regulation provides for a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location.

Taxable

You can also store higher flat rates for your employees; these must then be taxed and reported separately on the Expense Report. Enter the amount here that you wish to pay in addition to the tax-free amount. ZEP reports these amounts separately on the employee's Expense Report. Optionally, you can also specify a percentage deduction for meals.

Österreich (Austria)

ZEP supports the Calendar Day Rule and the 24-Hour Rule. Under Travel Expense Daily Allowance, you specify the flat-rate daily allowance valid for the location. Furthermore, for each location, you have the choice between the Twelfths Rule and the Thirds Rule as well as the collective agreement rule.

Twelfths rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

Thirds rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

This corresponds to the regulation for the tax treatment of foreign business trips in Austria.

The meal deduction relates to the entire daily allowance.

If you also received breakfast or lunch or dinner paid for on a day, you can make a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether or not a meal was paid for is done under Project Times for the relevant day using the symbol.

Here you make settings regarding the Locations & Departments module.

Here you find the configuration options and mail templates for the Resource Planning module.

You receive this tile if you use the Absences & Overtime module.

Here you can make settings and store data that relate to the Ticketing System module.

If you use the Quotation module, you will find the Quotations tile in Administration. There you can make settings and store data that are necessary for the module.

This tile is displayed to you if you use the Invoicing module for ZEP.

If you use the Export for Accounting module, you receive the tile of the same name in Administration with the corresponding configuration options.

If you use the Document Management module, you receive this additional tile in ZEP.

You have the option to link ZEP with various Interfaces.

Below you will find the links to the help texts for the individual Interfaces:

Information on the menu items contained in this tile can be found in the following places:

Here, Text Modules suitable for you can be created, which you have not already created elsewhere because they may not be clearly assigned to a single thematic area.

Enter one or more email addresses here (separate multiple addresses with a "comma" as a separator), to which an email should be sent if errors have occurred during the execution of Tasks. Such an email will then be sent to the ZEP Administrators and to the email addresses specified here. The mail mechanism is intended for when a Task detects logic or configuration errors, e.g., an invalid mailbox was specified.

At this point, you can create, edit, or delete Appointment Mail Templates.