Clock in where the work happens
- Browser, installable web app or tablet terminal.
- Work location via categories: office, home office, on the road.
- Breaks automatic per the stored rule.
Working time tracking for service businesses that runs attendance and project time at once.
Attendance time and project time are two independent views of the workday in teamspace. One meets the recording duty and is the basis for surcharges, the other makes work billable. Staff clock in via browser, in the installable web app or at the tablet terminal. Breaks, surcharges, overtime and the time account are calculated by the system.
Overview
Recording only coming and going gives away half of it.
Working time can be recorded in teamspace in two ways, independent of one another. The attendance time records when someone was there: start, end, breaks, work location. It is the basis for the statutory record and the only basis on which night, Sunday and holiday surcharges arise. The project time records what was worked on and whether the hour is billable. From it come project profitability, customer invoicing and the activity record.
The two need not match. Whoever is clocked in for four hours can book them across three projects. Some companies run only project times, others need attendance for the surcharges. In HR you set which of the two times feeds overtime and flexitime. Whoever uses both gets the most out of it, and that is exactly what we recommend.
Starting point
Still Excel timesheets, since the duty applies?
- Timesheets in Excel: changeable after the fact, contestable in a dispute.
- Surcharges and breaks are recalculated by hand at month-end.
- Overtime sits in no account, until someone complains.
- Home office and field service don't clock in at all.
- Attendance for the payroll office and project time for the engagement recorded twice.
Since the German Federal Labour Court ruling of 2022, recording working time is mandatory. teamspace brings it into a record that runs along in everyday work.
What it delivers
The record carries duty and billing at once.
Three things a working-time record in a mid-sized business must do, so that the recording duty does not become a second administrative task.
Surcharges and models automatic
- Night, Sunday and holiday surcharges per time block.
- Flexitime, trust-based or fixed times per person.
- Collective and company rules can be modelled.
Accounts everyone can see
- Time account with target/actual and traffic light.
- Overtime with payout or time off in lieu.
- Remaining leave and balances without Excel at month-end.
Two time types
Two time types, run independently.
Attendance time meets the recording duty and is the basis for surcharges, project time makes work billable. Both run independently and need not match. Whoever needs surcharges uses attendance; whoever bills uses project time. Most effective is both together, and that is what we recommend.
the same workday
Wed 28 May · two views
Attendance time
statutory- Start, end, breaks
- 08:30 · 12:00–12:30 · 17:12
- Surcharges per time block
- night · Sunday · holiday
- Time and overtime account
- target/actual · +7:30 h
basis for payroll and the recording duty
independent need not match
Project time
billable- Project, phase, task
- Berger, Cloud, internal
- Category sets billability
- billable · 7.5 h
- Margin and utilisation
- contribution live
basis for invoicing and steering
Where attendance and booked project time drift apart, the time matrix flags it.
Recording day to day
Clock in where the work happens.
Recording has to work in daily business, otherwise first the clock-ins fail, then the record. teamspace lets everyone clock in where they work.
- Browser clock with a live stopwatch, one click for start, break and end.
- Installable web app (PWA) for home office and field service, without an app store.
- Tablet, smart TV or PC as a terminal at reception or in the shop floor, with an RFID card or by touch.
The work location is recorded via categories, for example office, home office or external work. If needed, categories can be restricted to certain IP ranges or to office hours. There is no GPS tracking, the location is a category, not a tracker.
Evaluation
The system calculates surcharges itself.
Working time is not all the same. Depending on the time of day, weekday and model, surcharges arise or other rules apply. teamspace evaluates this from the recorded attendance times, instead of recalculating it by hand at month-end.
- Surcharges per time block: night, weekend and holiday work as a percentage via the attendance category, freely configured.
- Working-time models per person: flexitime, trust-based time or fixed times. Whether start and end must be clocked or the duration suffices is configurable per model.
- Daily maximum, which blocks recording above a value.
Collective special rules and company agreements are modelled via the categories. This produces correct hours accounts without anyone maintaining an Excel formula at month-end.
From clocking in to payroll preparation
Five steps, recorded once.
- 1
Clock in during the day
Start, break, end, in the browser, in the app or at the terminal. The work location comes along as a category.
- 2
Calculation automatic
Breaks are accounted for per rule, surcharges evaluated via the attendance category, overtime goes into the time account.
- 3
Weekly approval
Managers see the aggregated weekly view and approve. Every correction carries editor and timestamp.
- 4
Analysis
Staff see their time account, overtime and remaining leave. Leadership sees sick-leave rate, home-office share and utilisation at the push of a button.
- 5
Payroll preparation
Approved hours, surcharges and absences are ready as a data export for payroll preparation.
“Time tracking is far simpler and more convenient than in Excel.”
Accounts
The time account shows every balance.
Staff and managers need clarity about hours, not only in a dispute. teamspace keeps the accounts running continuously, with a traffic light for the state.
- Target and actual stand against each other up to date, the time account shows the balance.
- Overtime by three rules: from the attendance time, from the project times or not at all under trust-based work. A threshold per month or year sets from when extra work counts as overtime.
- Three ways to reduce it: as a leave request "reduce overtime", as conversion into leave days or as a payout with its own rates.
Sickness, leave and public holidays fill the account up to the daily target, so no minus arises where no one is absent. The remaining leave is calculated by the system including previous-year carry-over and expiry.
First call
Does this fit your working-time model?
In 30 minutes we walk through your attendance categories, your surcharges and the handover to the payroll office on an example employee. At the end you see where a clock-in becomes statutory data and billable hours at once.
Evidence
Written-once times stay provable.
Corrections are part of everyday work, typos and late clock-ins cannot be avoided. teamspace documents every change, instead of overwriting it silently.
- Editor and timestamp on every correction, with the old and new value.
- Edit deadlines per person, for example a week or until the fourth day of the following month.
- Write-once locking by the employee, centrally or automatically on the weekly or monthly cut-off.
Written-once periods are locked, after which only finance administration changes them. So it stays provable when work was done. Start, end, breaks and corrections are recorded with editor and timestamp; that supports a record in the spirit of the ECJ ruling C-555/19 and the German Federal Labour Court ruling 1 ABR 22/21.
Made in Germany
Hosted in Frankfurt, up to the recording duty.
Working-time data is personnel data. teamspace stores it in two geo-redundant, ISO 27001 certified data centres in Frankfurt am Main, exclusively within the EU, GDPR compliant with a data processing agreement. We have developed teamspace since 1999 in Darmstadt, without outside capital. The contracting party is 5 POINT AG, a German public company under German law.
Start, end, breaks and corrections are recorded objectively and with a timestamp. That supports a working-time record in the spirit of the German Federal Labour Court ruling and the ECJ ruling. We do not claim blanket conformity with working-time law; that depends on how a company uses the record. That is exactly what we look at on your model in the first call.
Handover
Approved hours go to payroll preparation.
Working time tracking does not stand alone. Once the hours are approved, they are ready for the next step, without retyping.
- Working hours, surcharges and absences run as a data export into payroll preparation.
- Utilisation per person flows into capacity planning.
- Project times go into the billing of the engagements.
teamspace runs no payroll itself, there is no income-tax filing and no social-security contributions. The data sits prepared for the payroll office or the tax advisor. Recorded once, available in every view.
Part of the HR software
Working time tracking is a function of the HR software.
Employee record, leave, sickness, overtime and payroll preparation sit in the same system as working time. The clock-in feeds the time account, the versioned hourly rate the project costs, the approved hours the payroll preparation. How the whole module connects is shown on the overview page.
To the HR softwareUse cases
More HR functions on the same employee.
Six functions of the same system, each with its own view of the employee, all without double entry.
Digital employee record
Master data, contracts, documents and reviews in one composed record.
Learn moreLeave management
Submit and approve requests, keep remaining leave and deputy in view.
Learn moreSickness management
Sick report with certificate, certified days fill the time account.
Learn moreTrack overtime
Three calculation rules, thresholds per month or year, three ways to reduce it.
Learn morePayroll preparation
Hours, surcharges and absences as a data export for the payroll office.
Learn moreCapacity planning
Contract times and skills from HR feed into resource planning.
Learn moreScope
Functions of working time tracking at a glance.
Recording
- Browser clock with a live stopwatch
- Installable web app (PWA) for on the road
- Tablet, smart TV or PC as a terminal with RFID
- Work location via categories
- Breaks automatic per rule
Evaluation
- Working-time models per person: flexitime, trust-based, fixed times
- Surcharges per time block via attendance categories
- Daily maximum and office-hours restriction
- Overtime by three calculation rules
Steering
- Time account with target/actual and traffic light
- Overtime reduction, conversion or payout
- Write-once locking weekly or monthly
- Corrections with editor and timestamp
- Data export for payroll preparation
What it is about
What working time tracking covers and why it has two jobs.
Working time tracking is the recording of the start, end and duration of daily working time. Since the German Federal Labour Court ruling 1 ABR 22/21 of 2022, which the ECJ ruling C-555/19 of 2019 preceded, it is mandatory for German employers. It protects staff, safeguards rest periods and provides the basis for surcharges, overtime and payroll.
It relates to working-time law, the ECJ case law and time management. Beyond plain attendance, breaks, night, Sunday and holiday work, rest periods as well as home office and mobile work play a role. This view answers the question of when, where and how long work was done.
The second job is economic. The project time records what the hour was used for and whether it is billable. It is not legally required, but for service businesses it is the data core of fees, utilisation and margin. Both views run independently in teamspace: some companies run only project times, whoever wants to give surcharges needs attendance. They need not match, and most effectively they work together.
Related modules
Three modules dock directly onto working time.
Anyone who records working time almost always touches time on the project, capacity and the invoice too. Here are the shortest routes there.
Time tracking online
Attendance and project time on the same employee. From the entries, the hours account and the overtime account calculate.
- Clock in via browser, app or tablet
- Break and day limits configurable
- Handover to HR accounts and invoice
Project management
Skills and contract times from HR flow into capacity planning. The versioned hourly rate calculates the internal cost in every phase.
- Capacity planning by skill
- Plan vs actual per phase and employee
- Hourly rate historically correct
Invoicing software
From approved project times comes the fee invoice, with the hourly rate valid on the booking day from the HR timeline.
- Fees from approved hours
- ZUGFeRD and XRechnung
- Financial accounting to DATEV Unternehmen online
Frequently asked questions about working time tracking
What distinguishes HR working time tracking from project time tracking?
The attendance time documents when, where and how long work was done; it is the basis for the recording duty, surcharges and payroll. The project time records what the hour was used for and whether it is billable. Both run independently in teamspace and need not match. In HR you can set which time forms the basis for overtime and flexitime. Most effective is to use both.
Does teamspace meet the Federal Labour Court ruling on the recording duty?
The German Federal Labour Court confirmed a duty to record working time in 2022; the ECJ ruling of 2019 had laid the groundwork. teamspace supports the record in the spirit of these requirements with objective recording of start, end and breaks, corrections with editor and timestamp, and write-once locking. Conformity in a given case depends on how a company uses the record.
How does recording in the home office work?
In the browser or via the installable web app (PWA). More on time tracking in the home office. The work location is recorded as a category, for example home office or on the road. There is no GPS tracking; if needed, categories can be restricted to certain IP ranges.
Are surcharges for night, Sunday and holiday work calculated?
Yes. Surcharges are recorded as a percentage per time block via the attendance category and taken into account when clocking in. The rates are freely configurable; collective special rules and company agreements are modelled via them.
How does the connection to payroll preparation work?
Approved hours, surcharges and absences are ready as a data export for payroll preparation. teamspace runs no payroll itself; the data is prepared for the payroll office or the tax advisor.
Can times be corrected after the fact?
Yes, with evidence. Every correction carries editor, timestamp and the old and new value. An edit deadline can be set per employee; after the weekly or monthly write-once locking the periods are locked, after which only finance administration changes them.
Where is the working-time data stored?
In two geo-redundant, ISO 27001 certified data centres in Frankfurt am Main, exclusively within the EU. teamspace is made in Germany and GDPR compliant. The contracting party is 5 POINT AG, a German public company based in Darmstadt.
See your working-time model in teamspace.
We talk through your attendance categories, surcharges and the handover to the payroll office. A short call shows whether teamspace fits your way of working.