Settings
General
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:
Username
Last Name, First Name
Username (First Name Last Name)
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:
Username
Last Name, First Name
Username (First Name Last Name)
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.
Which period is checked? - Since the previous release date, but a maximum of one year since the last month-end closing.
Which message appears? - If more than 10 days are underbooked in this period, the number of days is shown; if up to 10 days are underbooked, a list of the dates appears.
Subsequently, employees can no longer edit their project times, receipts, or absences for the time up to and including the release date.
All changes are still possible in Administration. A Project Manager can still rebook project times and receipts within their projects
If an employee has entered a Release Date, they can no longer undo it.
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.
Dashboard-Settings
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.
Defaults for new employees
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:
Set correspond to calendar days if the employment contract of a part-time employee stipulates the same number of working days as for a full-time employee, and you therefore enter an average value per day as the Regular Working Time. Absence Days correspond to calendar days. Every whole Absence Day has the same value. Every whole vacation day means one day deducted from the vacation quota.
Set convert according to regular working time if the employment contract is such that the number of vacation days was calculated depending on part-time employment. Absence Days correspond to full-time working days. Every whole Absence Day is only worth as many hours as the Regular Working Time of the relevant weekday. If the employee takes a whole day of vacation, this corresponds to the Regular Working Time of the relevant weekday in hours, converted into full-time working days. Example with 8 hours per full-time working day: If the employee only has 4 hours of Regular Working Time on Friday and wants to take the entire Friday off, only half a day of vacation is deducted from their vacation quota.
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.
If this setting changes for an employee (i.e., if a vacation day is suddenly worth more or less because the employment contract has changed), ZEP will NOT automatically convert the vacation entitlements / remaining vacation. You must agree on the change with the employee, enter the new vacation entitlements, and manually enter an adjustment if necessary.
For (freelance) employees with Regular Working Time 0, only the setting "correspond to calendar days" is suitable. Conversely: With the setting "convert according to regular working time," it no longer makes sense to define working days with Regular Working Time 0.
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.
Attendance
With the free "Attendance" option, employees can also record attendance time, i.e., 'Come' and 'Go' ('clock in' and 'clock out') via the ZEP App. This attendance can be compared with the recorded project times (= working hours) in a report.
You specify that attendance should be recorded in ZEP under Administration > Employees > Settings.
The ZEP App is a mobile time clock for smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system (version 4.4 and later) or iOS. To use the app, it must be connected to an existing ZEP account.
Employees who are to record their attendance via the ZEP App must be assigned to the app. It can be installed on several "Devices" (managed under Administration > System > Device Management). Additionally, you must enable "Consideration of Attendance Times" in the data for the respective employees.
First basic settings:
Under Administration > Employees > Settings, you specify the following:
Attendance
Who should be allowed to view the attendance times of other employees:
An employee requires at least the authorization level 'User with Additional Rights' to view the current attendances of all employees under My ZEP > Reports.
If you want all employees to be able to see the attendances of all other employees under Reports > Employees > Current Attendances, do not check the checkbox. If only employees with the authorization level "User with Additional Rights" and above should see the attendances, activate the checkbox.
Employee may only see current attendances in their own department (and downwards in sub-departments) under My ZEP > Reports
Activate the checkbox if only the current attendances of other employees in their own and subordinate departments should be visible.
Should the employee be able to view and report their own attendance times in ZEP:
Optionally set the following for employees with the "Consideration of Attendance Times" setting:
Offer Clock In/Out Report in Reports
Show attendances for information during project time recording
Enter a recipient who should receive the information email if an error occurs during clocking in/out.
Specify whether an employee is allowed to manage their own Clock App in their profile.
f you use the Attendance module, you can make further employee-specific settings. The following options are added:
Consideration of Attendance Times
Clock In / Clock Out
Generate Project Time
Fill all gaps when generating project time
Current Attendances
Consideration of attendance times
Set per employee whether attendance times should be considered for them.
If you activate this option, the employee must record their clock-in and clock-out times via the ZEP App or the ZEP Terminal.
You can also set whether an employee can log in and out directly in ZEP: activate the checkbox Start/end attendance in the web interface for this. This action can also be performed as a mass operation (Employees > Select action > Change consideration of attendance times) for multiple employees.
After the employee has logged into ZEP, they can start attendance (Clock In) in their Profile (top right). Attendance can be ended in the same way: point/hover the mouse over the profile and then click End attendance (Clock Out).
Optionally, you can specify a 4-digit PIN code for the ZEP App.
If an employee is to record their attendance, they must be assigned to a device where they can clock in and out.
To be assigned to a device, the employee must be assigned to a category. Proceed as follows:
Create corresponding categories (e.g., the name of the device as the category) under Administration > Employees > Categories.
Go to the respective employee and assign this category to them.
When you now create a device, select the desired category. All employees with this category are now assigned to the device.
Configured Minute Grid
ZEP records the current time for "Clock In/Out"; in the report under Employees > [Employee Name] > Attendance > Clock In/Out, you can optionally set whether the Clock In/Out times should be displayed rounded to your configured minute grid under Administration > Project Time & Receipts > Settings.
Display of Attendance in the Employee Table
An employee who is currently present is indicated with a green dot and the time since they have been present. An employee who is currently absent is displayed with a gray dot and the time until they were present.
You can also start the attendance time for an employee (Clock In) at this point by clicking the icon or end the attendance time (Clock Out) by clicking the icon.
Clock In / Clock Out
This report can be accessed by an employee for themselves (My Reports > Clock In/Out) or by an Administrator for a single employee (Employees > [Employee Name] > Attendance > Clock In/Out) or across multiple employees (Reports > Employees > Clock In/Out).
Set a period for the report. Optionally, you can specify whether all Clock In/Out events should be displayed individually per day. If you choose this option, the devices on which the Clock In/Out events were booked will also be displayed.
Optionally, you can activate Round Clock In/Out to your configured time grid, meaning the "Clock In/Out" times are displayed rounded according to your configured minute grid (under Administration).
The table accordingly lists all times for Clock In and Clock Out events per day in the Attendance section and calculates the attendance duration.
Furthermore, the Project Time or Working Time section additionally displays Start, End, and Start until End, Break, and Project Time (or Working Time). If there is a variance (attendance time versus working time/project time), this is also displayed.
The Break Regulation section shows the deduction (according to the applicable break regulation) and the corresponding working time deduction.
Clicking the clock icon takes you directly to the employee's time recording page; the date and time are already pre-filled appropriately.
Administrators have the option Show and edit all Clock In / Clock Out per day.
The Attendance section additionally displays the columns Device, Administrator, and Remark for Clock In and Clock Out. Clicking + allows you to add a new Clock In or Clock Out event. Using the Change icon allows you to change an existing Clock In or Clock Out time.
Table Column Configuration:
Click the gear icon: under Table Column Configuration, you can select the desired table columns for display in HTML (in the browser) and for export as Excel or CSV. Set the order individually by clicking the symbol with the mouse pointer and dragging it to the desired position while holding down the mouse button.
Furthermore, you can export the table in the chosen format (according to your settings under Configuration > Table Columns > CSV).
Run Report in Background and Schedule as a Task:
You can also "Run this report in the background." If you select a format other than "Preview," you can click the Run in Background button. ZEP will ask you whether you want to run the execution immediately, daily, weekly, or monthly.
Optionally, you can Compress the result file as a ZIP archive and, if applicable, encrypt it with a password, and/or send the result file additionally to your own email address (stored in ZEP).
By clicking OK, this report is scheduled as a Task with the set parameters and will be executed at the defined time. You will then simply receive the result in the desired format via email.
You can view and manage all your scheduled Tasks under Profile > Settings > Tasks.
Generate Project Time
Under Employees > [Employee Name] > Attendance > Generate Project Time, you can generate project times from attendances, meaning that when the employee clocks in and out via the ZEP App or the terminal, a project time is generated for the determined attendance time.
Here you can specify for which project, task, and activity (including billability) the entry should be generated:
Click New Entry and set a period for which this selection should apply (you may need to update the project selection list). Select Project, Task, and Activity. Specify whether the entry should be billable or non-billable and save.
You can create different entries for different periods. You cannot select the travel activity and the work location.
If you change entries in the "Generate Project Time Table" that are already in the past, the already generated project times will not be rebooked!
In case of changes to the projects (duration, bookability, etc.) or the project employee assignment, you must ensure that the configured project time generation still fits. If a project time generation is set up, but the project time cannot be saved, a message will appear on the display of the ZEP App.
All changes to the "Generate Project Time Table" are saved in the employee's change history.
Fill all gaps when generating project time
If you have configured for an employee that project times are generated from attendances, a project time is automatically generated for every time span between "clock in" and "clock out" (i.e., for the determined attendance time).
However, if the employee themselves books project times to different projects during this attendance time, in this case, an automatic project time entry is only generated for the configured project from the last "to-project-time" until "clock out."
If you want the other "attendance times not booked to projects" to also automatically generate a project time entry, you can optionally activate the checkbox "fill all gaps when generating project times."
Setting activated:
Within the clock in/out period, the entire time is filled, meaning all gaps between the already recorded project times. Exception: fixed breaks (from the break regulation). This means that if the employee has already recorded project times and deliberately left breaks, these will be filled.
Setting not activated:
Within the clock in/out period, only the time period after the last already recorded project time of the clock-out date is filled. (The last project time of the date, even if it is after the "clock out" time).
Example 1: Employee clocks in at 9:00 Explicitly books project times from 10:00 - 12:00 and from 13:00 - 15:00 Employee clocks out at 16:00.
Setting "No, do not fill gaps":
A Project Time entry is automatically generated from 15:00 - 16:00
Setting "Yes, fill gaps":
Project Time entries are automatically generated from 9:00 - 10:00, from 12:00 - 13:00, and from 15:00 - 16:00
Example 2: Employee clocks in at 9:00 Explicitly books project times from 10:00 - 12:00 and 13:00 - 15:00 and 18:00 - 18:30 Employee still clocks out at 16:00.
Setting "No, do not fill gaps": No Project Time entry is generated, because 18:30 is the last recorded Project Time, and there was no further attendance after that.
Setting "Yes, fill gaps": Project Time entries are automatically generated from 9:00 - 10:00, from 12:00 - 13:00, and from 15:00 - 16:00 (The gap between 15:00 and 18:00 is not completely filled, but only up to the "clock out" time).
Both settings also function across midnight. However, in any case, no Project Time entries will be generated if 36 hours or more lie between "clock in" and "clock out" (as this can only be an error or "app-was-offline" case).
Activities that are allowed to overlap (e.g., "On-call Duty") are not treated specially.
Current Attendances
Under Reports > My Reports > Current Attendances, employees can see who is currently present (depending on settings and role).
The same report can also be found for Administrators under Reports > Employees > Current Attendances.
The statuses are:
green = is present
gray = is not present
Location Transmission
Decide whether the device's location should be transmitted when using the app. This setting can be individually adjusted for each employee.
Text modules
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.
Mail Templates
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.
Categories
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.
Additional attributes
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:
Name: This is the technical name of the attribute, under which it can then also be read or set in the SOAP interface.
When using Personio: The Personio attributes are adopted if the name is the same.
Designation: Multi-language designation that is displayed in the user interface.
Remark: An (internal) remark, e.g., to describe the attribute.
Type: The data type of the attribute. Options are: Text, Yes/No, Number, Decimal Number, Percentage, Date, URL, E-mail, Selection List, Employee Selection.
Details on the data types:
Selection List: Here you can specify one or more options that can be provided as a single or multiple selection
Employee Selection: An existing employee can be selected and assigned via this.
Additional Attributes are displayed on the employee's Data page and can be entered in the edit mode.
Current uses of Additional Attributes:
In the administration views via configurable columns.
Via document variable in the Letterhead: an Additional Attribute is available as a document variable under its name.
Via SOAP in the <attribute> area.
Freelance Employees
With the free option "Freelance Employees," you simplify the billing process for your external employees.
You activate this option under Administration > Employees > Settings > "Activate Freelance Employees & Credits"
Quickly and easily check the invoices you receive from your external employees: compare them with the employee's expense report generated by ZEP. Or even simpler: create Credits to the employee and thereby entirely avoid the invoice verification process.
You can store internal hourly and daily rates for external or freelance employees, project-specifically if necessary. ZEP generates the expense report for each employee for their hours worked. The expense report can simultaneously function as a Credit: transfer the determined amount, thereby completely dispensing with the tedious checking of the invoice submitted by the external employee.
Scope of Application:
Credits to freelance employees: Instead of receiving an invoice from the external employee and having to check it elaborately, you simply generate a Credit from ZEP and transfer the amount.
Quick and easy invoice checking: Compare the invoice received from the external employee with the employee's expense report in ZEP.
Combinable with the product lines:
ZEP Compact with the Revenues & Costs module
ZEP Professional
The module offers the following features:
Marking employees as "Freelance Employee"
Selection of whether a freelance employee issues invoices or receives a Credit
Freelance Employees with Credit:
Specification of VAT and currency for the Credit per employee
Recording of upper and lower Credit text per employee. Placeholders for account, IBAN, ...
Specification of whether receipts are billed with the VAT recorded on the receipt or with the VAT of the freelance employee
Credits
Creation and storage of a Credit to the Freelance Employee
Printing of the Credit on the invoice letterhead
Format selectable (pdf, MS Word, LibreOffice)
Generation of Credit numbers; format configurable analogous to invoice numbers
Internal daily rates, also project-specific possible.
The conversion of booked hours into daily rates is based on the daily rate shares maintained in the master data.
For profit reports and Credits: when allocating internal costs to projects, all projects are considered individually.
Example: if the freelance employee works 5 hours each for two projects, they receive 0.75 daily rates for each.
With the Export for Accounting module:
Storage of special expense accounts and posting keys (BU-Schlüssel) for Freelance Employees:
for wages
for every receipt type
for subsistence costs, mileage allowance.
Others:
New menu item Credits for freelance employees, as well as under Reports > Employees for the Controller/Admin
The module has no effect on invoicing the customer.
Settings for freelance employees
If you use the Freelance Employees module, you can make the following settings in ZEP under Administration > Travel > Expense Report & Credit:
Number Range for Credits:
Only one number range
Credit No. Prefix
The entered text appears as the prefix in the Credit number.
We have entered the following placeholder as a default setting: %PERSNR% - The personnel number of the corresponding employee with the employment type: Freelance Employee with Credit.
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.Suffix
The entered text appears as the suffix in the Credit number.
If you use the Locations & Departments module, you can also set Own Number Range per top department. The corresponding settings are then made under Department > Data.
Credits per Project = Yes:
You can create a separate Credit for your freelance employees for each project.
Please note, if you have activated this setting:
a Credit can only be created for each individual project.
when a project-related Credit is created, meaning it is saved as checked, the entire period is still locked (as with non-project-related Credits).
the subsistence costs, including the meal deduction, are distributed proportionally to the involved projects (Number of location-project-relevant hours booked on the project in relation to all location-project-relevant hours booked).
there are also project placeholders in the upper and lower Credit text.
there are also document variables for project short form and designation (analogous to invoice).
If you do not want freelance employees to see the names of other employees under Reports > My Reports in the Absence Overview or in Current Attendances, then set the following under Administration > Employees > Settings to Yes: Freelance employees (excluding Administrators and Department Managers) are not permitted to see other employees in reports, e.g., in the Absence Overview Then the freelance employee only sees their own data in the reports.
Text Modules
Credit Text Modules:
Compile your Credits individually and at the touch of a button from pre-defined Text Modules.
Under Administration > Employees, there is the menu item Text Modules. Here you can store predefined texts for the Credits.
Click on + New Text Module, enter a name for the Text Module in the dialog window, and select the corresponding language. Enter the desired text in the Content field. You can also embed certain placeholders here; these placeholders will then be replaced by the respective values in the corresponding text.
If you now want to insert such a Text Module into a Credit, click Insert Placeholder/Text Module under Upper Text or Lower Text and select the desired texts.
Other employee settings
Employment Types:
You can specify an employee's employment type when creating a new employee (Employees + new employee or Employees > [Employee Name] > General > Data) in the Settings tab.
Permanent Employee
Employees who are permanently employed receive an Expense Report if receipts were paid privately and travel costs (subsistence costs, mileage allowance) were incurred, where applicable.
Freelance Employee
Freelance Employees receive an Expense Report including their internal wages (corresponding to the information under Internal Billing Rates), privately paid receipts, and travel costs (subsistence costs, mileage allowance) incurred, where applicable. In this employee's menu, the menu item "Internal Hourly Rates" changes to "Internal Billing Rates" (here you can choose between an hourly rate and a daily rate). Enter a VAT ID for the freelance employee, if applicable. Specify whether the freelance employee may view their own Expense Report under Reports.
Freelance Employee with Credit
Freelance Employees with Credit receive a Credit with their internal wages (corresponding to the information under Internal Billing Rates, privately paid receipts, and travel costs (subsistence costs, mileage allowance) incurred, where applicable). In this employee's menu, the menu item "Internal Hourly Rates" changes to "Internal Billing Rates" (here you can choose between an hourly rate and a daily rate), and there is the new menu item Credit Settings.
Enter a VAT No. for the freelance employee, if applicable. This VAT No. is offered as a placeholder in the Upper and Lower Text of the Credit (as well as in the Text Modules for Credits) and can also be output in the Credit.
Specify whether the freelance employee may view their own Credit under Reports.
Credit Settings
Specify the VAT that should be shown on the Credit for this employee and a currency. Optionally, you can choose whether Receipts should be reimbursed with the recorded Input VAT. If the setting is deactivated, a Credit only contains one VAT rate, which is applied to the sum of all net amounts. If this setting is activated, the tax rates specified for the Receipts are used in the Credit.
Specify an address for the Credit.
You can define an Upper and Lower Text for the Credit. You can insert placeholders and Text Modules (to be defined under Administration > Employees > Text Modules), if applicable.
Apply this tax rate to receipts, as they are in the accounting of the freelance employee
If you activate the checkbox, Receipts in the Credit are always considered with the freelance employee's Credit-VAT rate (entered in the VAT field, e.g., 19%), even if the receipt was recorded with a different tax rate (e.g., 7% depending on the receipt type).
This means: Receipts recorded by this employee with the private payment method belong to their own accounting and are taxed with their tax rate when a Credit is issued, not with the tax rate recorded on the receipt.
Not checked means: the recorded receipt tax is passed through in the Credit, exactly as in the Expense Report of a permanent employee.
In that case, the VAT from Employees > Credit Settings is only applied to wages, subsistence costs, and mileage allowance.
If you have activated this checkbox and also use the Export for Accounting module, then you must enter an expense account for receipts and the associated posting key (BU-Schlüssel) for these receipts (which belong to the freelance employee's accounting).
Internal Billing Rates
Employees > [Employee Name] > General > Internal Billing Rates
Here you specify the internal billing rates of the freelance employee (with or without a Credit).
ZEP requires the numerical information for the internal hourly or daily rate for calculating the internal wages in the Expense Report (employment type "Freelance Employee") or in the Credit (employment type "Freelance Employee with Credit"), in the internal costs, in the project reports, and for the department reports regarding costs.
In the employee's projects, you can also enter a (deviating) project-specific internal hourly rate or daily rate. This project-specific internal hourly rate or daily rate is then used for all the above-mentioned reports.
The conversion of booked hours into daily rates is based on the daily rate shares maintained in the master data.
A staff member's "Internal Billing Rates" have a validity period. They are always valid from the date you enter under "Valid from."
If the internal billing rates change, click + Create new internal billing rate and specify which amount should apply from which date.
The currency of the internal billing rate is specified under Credit Settings.
Credits
For a Freelance Employee with Credit, you create a Credit instead of an "Expense Report":
In the menu Travel & Costs > Credits of a selected employee, you get an overview of their Credits. The Credit corresponds to the (travel) Expense Report for permanent employees and additionally contains the internal wages (services) for the selected period.
If you create a Credit for a period, this period is locked, and no more changes can be made to the time bookings and receipts.
You can select the currency in which the Credit should be displayed (the currency specified under Credit Settings is preset). Furthermore, the following settings can be selected:
Deadline check for tax-free use of subsistence costs:
It is checked whether the employee has regularly booked to the same work location and the same project for more than two days per week over a period longer than 3 months.Time bookings that ZEP identifies with this check could exceed the tax-free period. Check these times and, if necessary, rebook them to a location with the characteristic "Other Travel, e.g., external activity longer than 3 months. Flat rates generally not tax-free."
To make these rebookings easier for you, you can rebook time bookings to another work location under Reports > Employees > Project Time Report or Reports > Projects > Project Time Report.
Optional, you can specify the following
Checkbox in the Subsistence Costs table: Display remark of the first project time of the day:
For shorter trips, the remark of the outward and return journey booking is output. For multi-day trips, the remark of the first time booking of the day is output in the Expense Report for days without a travel booking. Activate this checkbox to suppress the remark in the Expense Report.
Checkbox Show explanations for Subsistence Costs, e.g., application of the midnight rule, arrival/departure without minimum absence.
Checkbox: Show warning upon incomplete entry.
The report can be exported as a pdf, odt, doc, or docx file. Receipt files uploaded to ZEP can be output as a Receipt Files PDF.
Credits:
If Credits already created within the chosen period exist, they are listed in the table:
Per row, the services (the internal wages), the tax-free and taxable subsistence costs both before and after meal deduction are listed. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle, and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ("Total Receipts" are all receipts the employee has recorded, "Receipt Reimbursement" is the amount to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payment). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
Via the PDF symbol, you can download the Credit; via the trash can symbol, you can delete it.
Via the coin stack symbol, you can generate a payout in the amount of the "not yet paid out" balance.
Periods without Credits:
Periods in which amounts are pending for a Credit but no Credit has been created yet are listed in detail.
Header
In the overview, the total amount (to be reimbursed) is displayed both gross and net. If applicable, advance payments already made for the set period (entries in the payment documentation) are additionally listed, along with the corresponding new amount to be paid out.
You can "Create a Credit" and you can generate an "Advance Payment" in the amount of the balance to be reimbursed. An advance payment is a payout for a Credit that has not yet been created.
Services Table:
Each time booking is displayed with the date, project, number of hours, remark, and the amount (number of hours x internal hourly rate or the corresponding daily rate).
Subsistence Costs Table:
For each day worked outside the standard place of work, subsistence costs are calculated dependent on the location and the time of absence.
This is only displayed if the Administrator has specified the appropriate country setting for Calculation Procedure under the menu item Administration > Subsistence Costs > Settings.
If Yes is specified in the settings for Project column in the subsistence costs table of the expense report, the project to which the subsistence costs were incurred is displayed.
In the German calculation procedure for subsistence costs, the statutory flat rates for breakfast or lunch/dinner are deducted if meals are specified (see Reports > My Reports > Project Time Table). The percentage deduction refers to the flat rate for 24 hours, even if the employee was absent for less time. If the deduction for meals is higher than the flat rate to be paid out for the subsistence costs, this amount is shown but only deducted up to the amount of the incurred subsistence flat rate. (The employee receives €0 reimbursement for that day in this case).
In the Austrian calculation procedure, the calculation of the daily allowance is the same, except for locations with the regulation according to the collective agreement, where the deduction for meals refers to the "aliquot daily allowance," meaning the proportion of the daily allowance calculated based on the time of absence.
Receipts Table:
All receipts recorded by the employee are listed. The amounts to be reimbursed to the employee due to privately paid invoices are calculated. If invoices were paid with the company credit card and contained a private portion, these receipts are also listed, and the amounts are deducted. The sum of the receipts per VAT rate is listed individually if Reimburse receipts with recorded Input VAT is activated under Employees > Credit Settings.
Mileage Allowance:
For trips with the employee's own private vehicle, a (reimbursement) amount is calculated: A mileage allowance is reimbursed per kilometer driven. All trips with a company vehicle are also listed, naturally without mileage allowance reimbursement.
If the display of warnings is activated, you can click on the warning to switch to the employee's Project Times and correct incorrect entries.
The master data for travel expense reporting (flat rates for various locations, vehicles, etc.) can be maintained by an Administrator under Administration > Travel.
Employee Reports
Reports > Employees > Credits
Here you receive an overview of the Credits for your Freelance Employees with Credit for the set period. You can select the currency in which the Credits should be displayed.
If Credits already created within the chosen period exist, they are listed in the "Credits" table:
Per row, the internal wages, the tax-free and taxable subsistence costs both before and after meal deduction are listed. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle, and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ("Total Receipts" are all receipts the employee has recorded, "Receipt Reimbursement" is the amount to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payment). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
Clicking the PDF symbol allows you to download the Credit; clicking the trash can symbol allows you to delete it.
If you click on the employee name, you navigate to the employee's menu.
If you click on the listed period, you navigate to the Credits menu item for the respective employee; the period is already preset accordingly here.
This procedure makes it easiest to create all Credits for a month one after the other.
Clicking the coin symbol allows you to generate a payout in the amount of the "not yet paid out" balance.
Click the envelope symbol in the last column (sent as email) of the table. The Credit will be sent to the freelance employee in the defined format.
The period in the created Credit is locked. No more changes can be made to the time bookings and receipts. (To make changes, you must first delete the Credit using the trash can symbol and recreate it after completing the changes.)
Periods without Credits:
This table lists the periods without created Credits if the checkbox Compressed display on one row per employee is activated.
Credits Filter Setting
Path: Reports > Employees > Credits
Compressed display on one row per employee:
If this checkbox is activated, you receive the Credits for the selected period in tabular form. Per row, the internal wages, the tax-free and taxable subsistence costs both before and after meal deduction are listed per employee. The total kilometers driven, the kilometers driven in a private vehicle, and the tax-free or taxable reimbursement amount are listed, as well as the receipts ("Total Receipts" are all receipts the employee has recorded, "Receipt Reimbursement" is the amount to be reimbursed to the employee due to private advance payment). Finally, advance payments already made and amounts not yet paid out are listed.
If Credits not yet created exist in the set period, these will be displayed in a separate table.
If the checkbox is not activated, the periods without Credits are listed in detail; you can additionally select the following settings:
Deadline check for tax-free use of subsistence costs: It is checked whether the employee has regularly booked to the same work location and the same project for more than two days per week over a period longer than 3 months.
Time bookings that ZEP identifies with this check could exceed the tax-free period. Check these times and, if necessary, rebook them to a location with the characteristic "Other Travel, e.g., external activity longer than 3 months. Flat rates generally not tax-free."
To make these rebookings easier for you, you can rebook time bookings to another work location under Reports > Employees > Project Time Report or Reports > Projects > Project Time Report.
Optional, you can specify the following:
Checkbox in the Subsistence Costs table: Display remark of the first project time of the day:
For shorter trips, the remark of the outward and return journey booking is output. For multi-day trips, the remark of the first time booking of the day is output in the Expense Report for days without a travel booking. Activate this checkbox to suppress the remark in the Expense Report.
Checkbox Show explanations for Subsistence Costs, e.g., application of the midnight rule, arrival/departure without minimum absence.
Checkbox Show warning upon incomplete entry.
The report can be exported as a pdf, odt, doc, or docx file. Receipt files uploaded to ZEP can be output as a Receipt Files PDF.
Credit Report Table
Credits Table:
All created Credits within the report period are displayed.
Then, the Credits not yet created are listed for each selected employee.
Header:
The total amount to be reimbursed is displayed both gross and net. The specified period is a link to the employee's Credits, where the "Credit can be created."
Subsistence Costs Table:
For each day worked outside the standard place of work, subsistence costs are calculated dependent on the location and the time of absence.
This is only displayed if the Administrator has specified the appropriate country setting for Calculation Procedure under the menu item Administration > Subsistence Costs > Settings.
If Yes is specified in the settings for Project column in the subsistence costs table of the Expense Report, the project to which the subsistence costs were incurred is displayed.
In the German calculation procedure for subsistence costs, the statutory flat rates for breakfast or lunch/dinner are deducted if meals are specified (see Project Time Table).
The percentage deduction refers to the flat rate for 24 hours, even if the employee was absent for less time. If the deduction for meals is higher than the flat rate to be paid out for the subsistence costs, this amount is shown but only deducted up to the amount of the incurred subsistence flat rate. (The employee receives €0 reimbursement for that day in this case).
In the Austrian calculation procedure, the calculation of the daily allowance is the same, except for locations with the regulation according to the collective agreement, where the deduction for meals refers to the "aliquot daily allowance," meaning the proportion of the daily allowance calculated based on the time of absence.
Receipts Table:
All receipts recorded by the employee are listed. The amounts to be reimbursed to the employee due to privately paid invoices are calculated. If invoices were paid with the company credit card and contained a private portion, these receipts are also listed, and the amounts are deducted. The sum of the receipts per VAT rate is listed individually if Reimburse receipts with recorded Input VAT is activated under Employees > Credit Settings.
Mileage Allowance:
For trips with the employee's own private vehicle, a (reimbursement) amount is calculated: A mileage allowance is reimbursed per kilometer driven. All trips with a company vehicle are also listed, naturally without mileage allowance reimbursement.
If the display of warnings is activated, you can click on the warning to switch to the corresponding employee's Project Times and correct incorrect entries.
The master data for travel expense reporting (flat rates for various locations, vehicles, etc.) can be maintained by an Administrator under Administration > Travel.











