Employees are ZEP's central data object — everything else hangs from them: project assignments, time tracking, absences, travel expenses, reports, and the handover to payroll and accounting. A well-maintained employee record is the foundation for every other ZEP process.
These articles guide you through the entire topic — from concept to creation and maintenance, to reports and edge cases such as external employees or ending an employment relationship.
Note: Employee management is part of the standard scope in ZEP Clock, ZEP Compact, and ZEP Professional. Which fields and actions are visible depends on the product line and the booked add-on modules.
Employees as ZEP's central data object
An employee in ZEP is more than an entry in a personnel list. They are the person to whom ZEP links the following data:
Master data such as name, personnel number, employment type, language, and address
Organizational assignment via department, location, and cost center
Time data from project time tracking, attendance, and absences
Travel data from trips, receipts, and per diem allowances
Billing-relevant values such as hourly rate, price group, and credit notes
Permissions via the assigned role and individual rights
Interface IDs for handover to external systems such as DATEV, Personio, or HR WORKS
This bundling makes the employee record the pivot point of ZEP. Every time entry, every report, and every invoice references an employee.
Integration into the ZEP data flow
The employee sits at the center of a network of data objects that all reference each other. The following diagram shows the most important connections:
The most important effect chains in words:
Master data → visibility: Without an active employment period, the employee does not appear in selection lists or reports.
Department and location → filters and permissions: Control who sees the employee in lists and who may approve absences.
Project assignment → time tracking: Only assignment to a project enables recording project times.
Employment type and hourly rate → billing: Determine whether and how the hours worked are invoiced or settled as credit notes.
Personnel number and interface IDs → external systems: Are the matching criterion when syncing with DATEV, Personio, HR WORKS, and other interfaces.
Tasks in employee management
The following articles cover all typical tasks around employees:
Creating, editing, and deleting employees — the workflow from new creation to deactivation or full removal.
Employee data — the reference for every field in the master data areas, including roles and permissions.
Employee administration — actions and sub-areas stored directly on the employee record.
Employee overview — the list view with filters, sorting, bulk operations, and export.
External employees and credit notes — edge case for freelancers and viewing one's own credit notes.
Employee reports — standard reports around employees.
Module-dependent extensions on the employee
With each add-on module, additional fields and actions appear on the employee. The following overview shows the most important extensions:
Absences and overtime — vacation entitlement, employment-period details, overtime display on the dashboard. (More on this module)
Travel expense management — per diem allowances, travel expense configuration. (More on this module)
Revenues and costs — default price group, hourly rates, cost rates, cost center, and cost unit. (More on this module)
Locations and departments — multi-department, location assignment. (More on this module)
ZEP Terminal — RFID chip assignment and stamp actions at the terminal. (More on the hardware)
Which of these extensions are active for you depends on your product line and the booked add-on modules. In the article Employee data you can see for each field the conditions under which it is shown.