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 Clock according to your requirements. You can individually adapt the behavior of ZEP, the appearance, as well as the stored data regarding your company.

Which menu items you see under Administration in ZEP Clock depends fundamentally on the additional modules you use. In the following, we go through the most important points. Should you have menu items that are not covered in this article, please look into the article for the corresponding additional module.

Company logo
You can have your company logo displayed 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 color shade in hexadecimal format in the input window or select the desired color by clicking on the color icon. If you would like to reset ZEP to the original color, delete the entry completely and click on save.

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

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

​Allow saving of 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 default language for ZEP. The language setting also includes the language-specific formatting of the date, time, and decimal numbers.

The employees created in ZEP generally have "-Standard-" set as their language. This refers exactly to the language you set here. If a specific employee should have a fixed language other than the standard one, then set this for the respective employee. The login page will then continue to be displayed in the standard language, and after logging in, the user will see ZEP in their own language.

Setting the number of entries per page

In ZEP, search results are often presented in a scrollable table, e.g., project administration, employee administration, etc. By default, 15 entries are displayed per page. You can change this number here.

The number of entries per page affects ease of use and speed:

This setting has no effect on fully displayed, non-pageable tables in reports and no effect on tables in pop-up 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 more entries than the set number.

Display company name in reports (header)
If you do not want your company name to appear in the heading on the printout of reports, do not place a checkmark.

Keep line breaks in CSV export
If you have longer formatted texts with line breaks in remark fields and would like to export them formatted as such as a CSV, specify Yes here.

When 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 wish 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 a 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:

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

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

If you wish to use your own email addresses, you should also use your own mail server that belongs to these addresses (see “Use special outgoing mail server for sending mail”). ​

Use ZEP mail server
However, if you use the ZEP mail server 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 add “a:mail.zep.de” to your SPF record. You must insert the entry “a:mail.zep.de” at a suitable position in the SPF record with spaces before and after it. Please contact your IT system administrator (not the ZEP Support Team) for this; 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 the DNS settings of a domain 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 SPF record of the sender's domain to ensure that the email comes 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-to name for automatically sent emails and for ZEP mail client
Here you enter the reply-to name that the recipient of an email automatically sent from ZEP sees.

The recipient then sees the following information in their mail program:

Reply-to address for automatically sent emails and for ZEP mail client
​Here you enter the reply-to address that the recipient of an email automatically sent from ZEP sees. The recipient then sees the following information in their mail program:

E-mail header and E-mail footer

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

If you wish 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 mail server, as this avoids unnecessary waiting times when using ZEP. The ZEP mail server accepts the emails immediately and adds them to a queue - this is then processed in the background. (You only need to add a:mail.provantis.de to the SPF record for all your domains so that the emails are not considered spam.) Example: v=spf1 +a +mx a:mail.zep.de -all

When sending via your mail server, ZEP must transmit all emails directly to your server, and you have to wait while using ZEP during this time - depending on the mail provider used, this can take a few seconds. Depending on the ZEP settings, this can also influence the time recording of employees, as emails are sent directly when saving a time if overtime is exceeded, the planned number of the project is reached, etc.

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

Sender name for automatically sent emails: ZEP

Sender address for automatically sent emails: [email protected]
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To allow ZEP to send emails via Microsoft Azure, access via OAuth must be configured as follows:

Azure Settings:
Access Azure: https://portal.azure.com

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

Once 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 on "+ New client secret". Here:

Now copy the code displayed as the 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:

API Permission menu option, then Add a permission > Microsoft Graph Delegated permissions:

Microsoft 365 Admin Center: Users > Active users > select the user > Email > Manage email apps > "Authenticated SMTP"

ZEP Settings:
Administration > My Company > Settings > Email > Change settings => select Use special outgoing mail server for sending mail

Fields relevant for Azure:

Save

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 the mail dispatch 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.

The redirect URL can be found in the ZEP settings for email when you switch to Google OAuth. Normally it is the following URL, where you must replace your ZEP name:

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

ZEP Settings:
​Administration > My Company > Settings > Email > Change settings

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

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

Here you can provide data about your company, such as location, tax numbers, and commercial register numbers, as well as details about bank accounts.

Optionally specify whether ZEP may only be accessed from specific IP addresses: Activate the checkbox Use IP address authentication, enter the corresponding IP addresses separated by spaces, and save.

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

Optionally, you can specify whether the normal ZEP login should be blocked and who is allowed 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; the "CLIENT ID" (Google: "Client ID") and "CLIENT SECRET" (Google: "Client secret") are generated by Google during registration. During registration, ensure that the address for "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 an additional field in their data (next to the email field): Google ID: the email address of the Google account must be stored here.

Login via Google can be initiated by calling the "glogin.php" page below the view directory of ZEP. The Google login can also be reached via the "Sign in with Google" link on the ZEP login page, provided the normal ZEP login is not blocked 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 the client or directory ID) from Azure and enter it in ZEP under Administration > My Company > Settings > Login > OAuth > Tenant ID.

Further information can be found at 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 have 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 email address. ZEP will send you an email with information on how to define a new password."

Here you can make employee-related default settings for ZEP.

Employee sorting in 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 internal reports
Here you can specify how the name of an employee should be displayed in internal reports. You have the choice between

Working time report total: person-days (PT) correspond to

In the reports, the number of total hours in the evaluation 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 correspond to one person-day, e.g., 8 hours.

PT representation with up to x significant decimal places

Enter a value between 0 and 10.

Notify before the end 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 have selected one of these options, a (system) task "Employment periods" is automatically scheduled under Administration > System > Tasks, which is executed daily. There is a mail template in the master data for the notification emails: Notification before end of employment.

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

In the working time table under My ZEP > Working Times, the symbol with the most recently entered "Released until date" can be found.

When employees release their working times, ZEP checks whether there are days in that period where less than half of the target time was booked. ZEP asks if the release should proceed anyway.
​Which period is checked? - Since the previous release date, but at most since the last monthly closing and at most one year.
​Which message appears? - If more than 10 days are under-booked in this period, the number of days is displayed; for up to 10 days, a list of the dates is shown.

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

If the release date does need to be changed, a ZEP administrator can correct the release date at any time in the Data sub-menu of the employee.

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

If an employee has granted the release of their working times/absences, send notification optionally to administrators, department heads, department heads of higher-level departments, and additional recipients.

An administrator can see this release date under Employees and view or change it under Employees > [Employee Name] > General > Data. If you also use the Absences & Overtime module, you will see the gray-blue release symbol next to the gray-yellow lock symbol under Administration > System > Monthly closing. A department head (only with the Locations & Departments module) sees or edits the release date under Departments > Employees. If the Absences & Overtime module is also used, the department head 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 is 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.

Dashboard Settings
Display current employee birthdays widget: In the ZEP dashboard, various widgets can be added to the view. This includes a widget that displays employee birthdays (provided these have been maintained in the employee data). With this setting, you control whether the widget is available for display.

Default setting for working days and regular working hours (hours per day) 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 applied when creating new employees. You can, of course, overwrite this default setting for each individual employee.

Default setting for annual leave entitlement for new employees
Please enter a value for the annual leave entitlement per year. The setting made here will be pre-assigned as a default value in the employee administration and can be overwritten for individual employees.

Default setting for leave days and days absent
This setting is primarily relevant for part-time employees:

For full-time employees who have the same regular working hours every day, this setting makes no difference.

Exception: If full-time employees have different numbers of regular working hours on different weekdays, and if less leave is to be used for shorter days than for longer working days, you can also consider the setting "convert according to regular working hours" for full-time employees.

Overtime per month settled with the salary

If you have employees in your company whose employment contract contains a regulation regarding overtime settled with the salary and you have activated the setting "subtract inclusive overtime from the monthly hourly balance" under Administration > Overtime & Absences > Settings, you can specify a value and a calculation type for the overtime settled with the salary per month here. These values are then automatically adopted for new employees.

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

Default break regulation for new employees

You can specify here which break regulation should be used as the default for new employees. This setting is pre-assigned as a default value in the employee administration and can be overwritten for the individual employee.

An employee requires at least the "User with additional rights" permission level to see the current presence of all employees in My ZEP > reports.
If you do not place a checkmark here, all employees, including "Users," can see the current presence of all employees.

The employee is only allowed to see the current presence in their own department (and downwards in sub-departments) in My ZEP > reports.
Place a checkmark here if you want an employee to be able to see only the presence of employees in the same department (and sub-departments).

Deactivate manual time recording
If manual time recording is deactivated for employees, they no longer have the Working Times menu item available and can only stamp their clock-in and clock-out times via the stamp symbol at the top right in ZEP.

Offer own clock-in/clock-out report in "My ZEP > reports"
Control whether employees can view their own clock-in/clock-out times under reports > My reports.

Recipient of the info mail if an error occurred during clock-in/clock-out. Specify to whom ZEP should send an info mail if an error occurred for an employee during clock-in/clock-out.

Location transmission
Decide whether the location of the device should also be sent when using the ZEP Clock App. This setting can be adjusted individually for each employee.

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

Here you can adapt the standardized text for the employee mail template. You have the possibility to send specific employee information using general placeholders. The placeholders are 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 on Test delivery (to own email address) and select the desired language (currently German, English, French, Spanish, and Polish), then you will receive the email in the corresponding language at your address.

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

You can store categories in several languages. The entry is made in the Designation field: click on German/English/French/Spanish and 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 categories to each employee. You can filter the working time report by these categories: under reports > Employees > Working time report, you can display all working times of employees in a specific category.

You can define additional attributes for employees. An additional attribute is a field that is then available 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 identical.

Regarding the data types:

Additional attributes are displayed on the employee's Data page and can be entered in edit mode. ​ Current uses for additional attributes:

Backward recording for project times

Optionally, you can additionally specify for this definition:

Allow advance booking for time recording
Specify how many days into the future time recording should be possible. You can choose whether advance booking should be restricted to a number of minutes or whether your employees may book several days in advance. ​

Multi-line remark field for working time recording

If you want your employees to add longer remark texts to the booked times, you can set the remark field in the working time recording mask to be several lines large here. ​

Enforce remark text
If you want a remark to be entered for every time entry, specify this here.

Pre-fill remark text from the last recorded working time
Here you can determine whether the remark text should be pre-filled with the remark text of the last recorded working time during time recording or not.

Allow time recording on public holidays and days that are not working days (generally weekends)
If your employees also work on days that are not defined as working days in the regular working hours, you should place a checkmark here.

Display days that are not working days
You can decide whether non-working days (generally weekends) are also displayed in the working time recording table. Even if non-working days are generally switched off: as soon as a booking is made on a non-working day, this day becomes visible in the table.

Display of gaps in working time recording
Here you can specify whether breaks (times for which no time reports were recorded) should be marked as a gap.

If you activate this option, gaps in the course of the day are marked by a larger spacing in the table of working time entries on the "Record working time" page.

These gaps are viewed by ZEP as breaks. However, if you have simply forgotten to record a time here, ZEP now makes it easier for you to fill this gap as follows: If 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 enter the corresponding working time and remark, and you can easily fill this gap.

Pre-fill from-time for a new day
Specify whether users should find a predefined time when starting ZEP, or whether the working time recording should be preset with the current time (default) for a new day.

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

However, if you recalculate using 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 minute grid of 3 minutes, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or 30 minutes. If the minute grid is changed, editing times that were recorded in a different grid is only possible to a limited extent.

If you want to observe or even enforce the legal requirements for break regulations in your company, you can store them here in ZEP. Additionally, you can define a "core working time" within a break regulation. If you do not want a break regulation in ZEP (i.e., the employees themselves are responsible for the correct recording of their breaks), ignore this point. ​
​

In ZEP, non-booked periods between two time entries are considered breaks. ​

Here you create one (or several) break regulations for your company. The Standard break regulation is already created, in which the minimum breaks according to § 4 ArbZG are entered.

If you want to create a new break regulation, click on Create new break regulation, enter a name, and save. Specify the date from which the break regulation is valid. You can choose whether there should be a minimum rest period. This refers to the time span between two working days.

If you do not specify a minimum rest period, you only have to specify the maximum working time per day in terms of the break regulation in hours.

In the break regulation, you can switch the warning for violation of the break regulation on or off at any time via the checkbox In case of non-compliance with the break regulation (maximum working time, minimum breaks, core time), the user receives a warning during recording (My ZEP > Project times, App, Terminal). Yes / No.

If you use the Absences & Overtime module, you can optionally specify whether exceeded maximum working time and non-compliant minimum breaks should be deducted from the overtime account of the respective employee. (Non-compliant rest periods are not deducted.)

Specify how the deduction for missing breaks should be calculated.

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

Specify the minimum length of a break in terms of the break regulation.

In which reports is the break regulation taken into account/displayed?

Here you will find the variants for the calculation method for missing minimum breaks and thus – if configured – for the deduction of missing breaks, explained using examples:

Assuming the minimum breaks are set as follows:

And assuming an employee has the following bookings:

Gross variant:

The total time is considered and the corresponding minimum break is deducted from it.

Net variant:

Total minimum break 00:45 (so in this case no difference to gross).

All minimum breaks are considered sequentially: The time up to the first scheduled minimum break is considered and the applicable minimum break for it is deducted. The resulting net time is considered and, if necessary, a further minimum break is deducted from it.

Employee-friendly variant:

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 figure based on the sum of the working times and the sum of the breaks taken. This figure is independent of the clock times of the working and break periods.

Within the framework of a break regulation, you specify the minimum breaks applicable to the working times here: According to § 4 ArbZG, the minimum duration of breaks is staggered based on the duration of the employees' daily working time. The minimum duration of breaks for a working time of more than 6 to 9 hours is at least 30 minutes, and for a working time of more than 9 hours, it is 45 minutes. If you would like to map these legal requirements in your ZEP, please specify it as follows: ​

Create new minimum break:
from hrs 6:01 and to hrs 9:00:

from hrs 9:01 and to hrs 24:00

You can create a fixed break: Click on Create new fixed break, specify from when until when this break should apply, and save.

Within the break regulation, you can define core working times in ZEP. A core working time is a period during which employees are expected to record time. By assigning a break regulation to an employee, the core working time or several core working times defined therein can also be assigned.

Compliance with core working time is not enforced. In the Project times table, ZEP uses a blue notification to indicate if the core working time was not observed on a specific day. In the month-end report, a column displays "insufficient core working time" (only with the Absences & Overtime module).

How to create a core working time:

Click on Create new core working time, specify from when until when this core working time should apply, and save. Specify the maximum permitted break in hours. ​
​
​Example:
Core working time from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, maximum permitted break of 1 hour. This means the employee must have worked at least 5 hours between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Please note: the "break" can also be at the beginning or the end of the core working time.

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

If you have activated record activities in ZEP Clock, your employees can specify which activity they are performing when recording their working time.

Activities are designations for various work processes and can be useful for later reports.

You can store activities in several languages. The entry is made in each case in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish and enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

Checkbox

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

Information on travel and the Travel Expense Accounting module can be found here.

Here you make settings regarding the Locations & Departments module.
Information on the settings can be found here.

You will see this tile if you use the Absences & Overtime module. Further information on the individual menu items can be found here.

If you use the Document Management module, you will receive this additional tile in ZEP. Information on the individual menu items and setting options can be found here.

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 at the following locations:

Here, suitable text modules can be created for you which you have not already created elsewhere because they may not be clearly assigned to a specific area thematically.

Enter one or more email addresses here (separate multiple addresses with a comma) 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 identifies logical or configuration errors, e.g., an invalid mailbox specified.