Settings
Backward recording for project times
Only for today and additional days back If you do not specify any additional days back, time recording is only permitted for the current today. If you specify that you want to record X days back, these days are added to the setting.
Only for the current week and additional days back If you set "... additional days back: 0", recording is permitted for the current week (Monday to Sunday).
Optionally, you can additionally specify for this definition:
Also allow recording for the previous week on Mondays This means that on Mondays, recording for the previous week is permitted retrospectively. If you specify that you want to record X days back, these days are added to this setting. (With a setting of "5 days", this means that on Monday you may still record for the last week back to Monday plus 5 days, i.e., until Wednesday of the week before last; on Tuesday, you may record backward until Wednesday of the previous week.)
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.
If you choose the decimal representation of times, we recommend a 3, 6, 15, or 30-minute grid.
With 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20-minute grids, you accept rounding differences in the display, as this grid can result in periodic numbers when converting into the respective hourly portion, which are displayed rounded in various tables and reports (hours to 4 decimal places, monetary amounts to 2 decimal places). For calculations, the correct numbers with 10 decimal places are used.
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.
Example:
You work with a 1-minute grid and record a time from 11:04 to 11:17. You then switch to a 15-minute grid. Then you call up the recorded time booking, e.g., to correct a typing error in the remark field. On the edit page, the "old" time is "forced" into the "new" grid by rounding, resulting in 11:00 to 11:15. This is how it is saved or attempted to be saved when the booking is changed. The change may then no longer be possible due to an overlap, because another time is already booked until 11:04 (according to the old minute grid).
Work Break regulation
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.
What are breaks?
In ZEP, non-booked periods between two time entries are considered breaks.
Creating a break regulation
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.
The month-end report, the working time overview, the break overview, and the monthly closing continue to display non-compliance.
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.)
Calculation method for missing breaks
Specify how the deduction for missing breaks should be calculated.
Gross: The total time is considered, and the corresponding minimum break is deducted from it.
Net: All minimum breaks are considered sequentially: the time up to the first scheduled minimum break is considered, and the applicable minimum break is deducted. The resulting net time is then considered, and if necessary, a further minimum break is deducted from it.
Employee-friendly: Similar to the net variant, but with the following difference: in some cases, it is sufficient to deduct less than the minimum break so that the working time falls below the scope of the respective minimum break rule, and the break rule is thus already fulfilled.
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.
Employee-friendly, but also apply to continuous segments of the day: Relevant if breaks are too early or too late in the day, resulting in working time blocks with a duration greater than 6 hours. The break regulation is then applied again to these blocks, and further breaks may be cut into them if necessary.
Specify the minimum length of a break in terms of the break regulation.
Interruptions of work lasting less than 15 minutes are not considered statutory rest breaks according to §4 ArbZG. They therefore count as working time (except for companies with corresponding collective agreements or works agreements). However, ZEP does not prohibit you from entering minimum lengths shorter than 15 minutes here.
In which reports is the break regulation taken into account/displayed?
Every employee can see a table for the selected period under reports > My reports > Break overview for each day, showing the rest periods observed, the start and end of working time, the specified minimum break, and the break observed; additionally, for days with non-compliance with the break regulation, information on insufficient rest time, insufficient breaks, or excessive working time is provided.
With the Absences & Overtime module: Under reports > My reports > Month-end report, all data regarding observed rest periods, start and end of working time, specified minimum break, and observed break are displayed for the selected period in addition to previous information; additionally, for days with non-compliance with the break regulation, information on insufficient rest time, insufficient breaks, or excessive working time is provided.
Administrators (and department heads where applicable) can additionally generate these reports for all employees (or all employees in the department).
If you use the Absences & Overtime module, you can save the balance of overtime and leave at the end of the month in ZEP with a monthly closing. Once a month has been closed, the break regulation for this period can no longer be changed; instead, you must create a new break regulation with a suitable start date.
Calculation methods - Examples
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:
From 6:01 to 9:00 hours: Minimum break 0:30
From 9:01 to 24:00 hours: Minimum break 0:45
And assuming an employee has the following bookings:
Day A: 7:03 to 16:45 (without break) = working time 9:42
Day B: 7:15 to 16:21 (without break) = working time 9:06
Gross variant:
Day A: Working time is more than 9 hours => Minimum break according to table 00:45
Day B: Working time is more than 9 hours => Minimum break according to table 00:45
The total time is considered and the corresponding minimum break is deducted from it.
Net variant:
Day A: Working time is already more than 6:01 hours => Minimum break according to table 00:30.
Remaining working time 9:12. This is more than 9:01 hours.
Total minimum break 00:45 (so in this case no difference to gross).
Day B: Working time is already more than 6:01 hours => Minimum break according to table 00:30.
Remaining working time 8:36. This fulfills all rules for minimum break. Total 0:30 minimum break.
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:
Day A: Working time is already more than 6:01 hours => Minimum break according to table 00:30.
Remaining working time 9:12. This is more than 9:01 hours.
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.
Day B: Like the net variant, but with the following difference: In some cases, it is sufficient to deduct less than the minimum break so that the working time falls below the scope of the respective minimum break rule and the break rule is thus already fulfilled.
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.
Employee-friendly, but also apply to continuous segments of the day Relevant if breaks are too early or too late in the day, resulting in remaining working time blocks with a duration greater than 6 hours. The break regulation is then applied again to these blocks, and further breaks may be cut into them if necessary.
Minimum breaks
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:
Specify the corresponding minimum break in hours according to the break regulation: 0:30 and press save.
from hrs 9:01 and to hrs 24:00
specify the corresponding minimum break in hours according to the break regulation: 0:45 and press save.
Fixed break
You can create a fixed break: Click on Create new fixed break, specify from when until when this break should apply, and save.
Fixed breaks are always cut out for all employees to whom the break regulation is assigned.
Even administrators cannot retroactively enter times into the time window of a fixed break. Accordingly, specifying a fixed break is only recommended if employees are unable to work during that time—for example, during shop closing times over lunch.
Core working time
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.
Activities
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.
Do not define too many different activities, as this confuses the user. It is not sensible to distinguish between activities that will never need to be viewed separately in a report. A "Miscellaneous" activity is better than a long list of activities that would individually only rarely be relevant.
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:
It is not relevant to working time, i.e., it is not included in the calculation of overtime. (Absences & Overtime module)
It is allowed to overlap with one other activity.
For the break regulation, it counts as a break.
It does not generate VMA (when using the Travel Expenses module).
Once you have provided an activity with these properties and recorded working times for it, you cannot undo these properties. You must first delete the recorded times.