This article builds on the First Steps for Employees article. The fundamentals of daily ZEP usage described there will not be repeated here.
This article focuses on system setup, basic configuration, and the most important administrative tasks for administrators and users with additional permissions. Depending on the modules and roles in use, controllers, project managers, department heads, or users with extended rights may also take on individual administrative tasks.
Defining Basic Settings Before First Use
Before employees start working with ZEP, you as an administrator should carefully configure the most important basic settings. Under Administration, you will find — depending on the modules in use — the central configuration areas for your company. Especially at the beginning, it is worth taking the time to deliberately decide how ZEP should be used in your organization, rather than just skimming through the settings. We would like to highlight the following areas in particular:
My Company: Define the default language, login options such as Single Sign-On, password policies, and basic email settings (mail server and signature), as well as your individual letterhead for quotes, invoices, and other client documents.
Projects: Define the project number range and default values for new projects (activities, project status, task status).
Customers: Form the foundation for projects and billing. Define default values for new clients (e.g. VAT, payment terms) and the structure of your sequential client numbers.
Employees: Define the default values pre-filled for new employees, including standard working hours, vacation entitlement, break rules, and other presets.
Prices & Receipts: If you work with billable services, define base price tables and associated price groups. If travel and external costs are recorded, receipt types should also be configured.
The pricing logic should be clearly defined before go-live (e.g. "price table on the client" vs. "price table on the project"). Subsequent changes are possible but often lead to inconsistencies in reports and billing
Project Times & Receipts: Define the central rules for daily time entry, including the retroactive entry period, permitted advance bookings, double bookings (parallel travel and working times), the requirement for notes, and whether entries are allowed on public holidays or days without a target working time.
The minute grid is particularly important — we recommend 3, 6, 15, or 30 minutes, as grids of 1, 2, 5, 10, or 20 minutes can cause rounding differences in reports. Note that if the minute grid is changed later, editing already recorded project times will only be possible to a limited extent. This decision should therefore be made before go-live wherever possible.
Break Rules and Working Time Regulations: In the Project Times & Receipts settings, you can also configure break rules, defining minimum rest periods, maximum working hours, minimum breaks, automatic break deductions, core hours, and warnings for rule violations.
The "Standard" break rule based on minimum breaks per § 4 ArbZG is already set up but can be adjusted or supplemented with additional rules. Important: once a month has been closed, the break rule for that period can no longer be changed. In this case, you will need to create a new break rule with a corresponding start date.
Travel: If you want to use ZEP for travel expense billing, define meal allowances along with the work locations available for booking, and mileage allowances.
Overtime & Absences: If you use the Absences & Overtime module, set the introduction date before go-live. From this month onwards, employees must record their times in full. Additionally, absence reasons, public holiday calendars, and — if used — surcharges and special time types should be properly prepared.
For more information on this topic, see here: Basic settings
Creating Employees
New employees are created in the Employees menu item. Start by entering the general master data and assigning the appropriate user permissions. When creating an employee, assign a default price group to define their standard hourly or daily rate. This can be customized at any time at the client or project level.
To grant the employee access, you can send a password reset link via email. If the employee does not have a business email address, you can set an initial password via "Enter Password" and share it along with their username.
After creating the employee, review the employee settings in their profile, some of which are automatically pre-filled for new employees:
Employment Period: Define the start of employment and, if applicable, the end date, along with the corresponding vacation entitlement for that period. For mid-year starters with non-rounded vacation entitlements, it is recommended to work with two employment periods.
Standard Working Hours: Define the working time model with target hours and expected working days, as well as the assignment of the applicable break rule and public holiday calendar.
Internal Hourly Rate: To enable cost and margin calculations, enter an internal hourly rate per employee.
Overtime & Vacation Balance: If the newly created employee brings forward existing vacation days or overtime, these can be entered here and offset against future balances.
For more information on this topic, see here: Employee Management
Creating Customers
Customers are another central data object in ZEP and should be set up completely from the start. In the client management section, you maintain master data, contacts, and other client-specific information.
If you work with billing-relevant functions, it is also worth reviewing the billing settings. Here you can store client price tables and travel settings that have been individually agreed upon with the client. These automatically apply to new projects for that client, as long as no separate price tables are created at the project level.
For more information on this topic, see here: Creating customers
Creating Suppliers
If you want to record supplier receipts and external costs in ZEP, you should also maintain the Suppliers section from the start. In the settings, you can define a number range for supplier numbers and a default VAT value. Additionally, industries, categories, and custom attributes can be configured.
For more information on this topic, see here: Suppliers
Creating Projects and Tasks
Before employees can log time in ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional, you must first create projects and assign employees to them as project members.
After creating a project, define the associated tasks (or sub-projects or project phases) against which project times and receipts will later be booked.
An important pitfall to be aware of: if no tasks have been created, the project cannot be selected for time tracking. Likewise, only projects with a bookable status will appear in the selection lists for project time and receipt entry.
It is also advisable to assign a clear and meaningful project abbreviation right away, so that projects can be quickly identified in selection lists and reports.
If no client record is assigned to a project, it is treated as an internal project, which is non-billable.
Practical tip: You can copy projects so that you can simply duplicate in the future, allowing you to carry over the project structure, project settings, and other recurring master data one-to-one.
After creating the project, you can individually adjust settings such as billing and project configuration. Feel free to share your specific use case with us at [email protected] to receive tailored advice.
For more information on this topic, see here: creating projects
Defining Time Entry Methods for Your Company
For a smooth start, you should decide early on how time will be recorded in your company. ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional offer the following options:
The standard method is via the browser using the time entry screen or the stamp icon (top right).
Additionally, the ZEP browser extension can be used to stamp in and out without logging in.
For mobile use, the ZEP app is available, allowing project times, receipts, and absences to be recorded or requested.
If you also want to use stationary time recording, partner terminals (Datafox and EasySecure) are available, enabling time booking against projects.
For a successful rollout, the key factor is not the range of technical options but rather a clear decision: which employee groups will record time in the browser, which will use the mobile app, and where do terminal solutions make sense?
For more information on this topic, see here: tracking time
Knowing the Key Administrative Workflows for Day-to-Day Use
For administrators — and, when the Locations & Departments module is in use, also for designated department heads — it is important to know where typical corrections and additions are made in day-to-day operations. Under Employees › Select the relevant user › Administration, each employee profile contains the sub-menu items Project Times, Receipts, and Calendar. Here you can edit other employees' project times, review receipts, and manage absences.
Individual rebookings can be made directly in the respective employee profile. For more extensive rebookings across different projects, tasks, or employees, we recommend using the project time report. There, multiple entries can be selected using multi-select and then reassigned to the desired new data fields via "Select Action".
This gives users with additional permissions a dedicated place for the most important day-to-day administrative tasks.
Using Automations Effectively
Under Administration › System › Tasks, you can automate recurring tasks. Particularly useful from the start are tasks such as reminders for missing time entries, reminders to clock in, or the automatic logout of employees at a fixed time or after a certain attendance duration. Additionally, you can set up notifications for employment periods, absence requests, shortfalls in target hours, or monthly closing locks. This helps to stabilize day-to-day operations early on and prevent incorrect bookings.
For more information on this topic, see here: Tasks
Introducing Additional Modules
ZEP Compact and ZEP Professional offer additional modules that are in some cases very extensive, including resource planning, quote creation, invoicing, and further commercial extensions.
These modules are functionally very powerful and often integrate deeply into existing business processes. If you plan to actively use them, we recommend a personal consultation with our ZEP expert team. Simply get in touch at [email protected] so that the setup can be tailored precisely to your workflows.
For more information on this topic, see here: Invoicing, revenue & costs, offer creation, ...