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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://grantmaster.dev/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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Time Tracking & Journals Workflow

This guide covers recording time, submitting monthly journals, and the manager approval process.

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Overview

Log Daily Time → Review Weekly Matrix → Submit Monthly Journal → Manager Approval → Recorded for Reporting
Time tracking in GrantMaster is called Journals. Each entry records hours worked on a specific project, enabling accurate cost allocation for grant compliance and donor reporting.

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Logging Daily Time

Who: All Members, Managers, Admins Where: Journaling > Daily Log

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Steps

  1. Navigate to Journaling — the Daily Log tab shows a calendar grid view of the current month
  2. Click on a day to add a time entry
  3. Fill in:
    • Project — which project you worked on
    • Hours — time spent (in decimal or HH:MM format)
    • Description — what you accomplished
    • Category (optional) — task type (e.g., Research, Fieldwork, Administration)
  4. Click Save

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Timer Support

For real-time tracking:
  1. Click the Timer button on any project
  2. The timer runs in the background while you work
  3. Click Stop to save the elapsed time as a journal entry
  4. Review and adjust the description before saving

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Multiple Entries Per Day

You can log time against multiple projects in a single day. The platform warns you if your total daily hours exceed 8 (configurable per organization) but does not prevent submission.

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Weekly Matrix View

Where: Timesheets > Weekly Matrix (/timesheet/weekly-matrix) The Timesheets page is a separate page from Journaling, providing a structured spreadsheet-like interface for time entry. The Weekly Matrix tab shows all your projects as rows and days of the week as columns. This view is useful for:
  • Filling in an entire week at once
  • Spotting gaps in your time allocation
  • Comparing effort distribution across projects

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Monthly Journal Submission

Who: All Members Where: Journaling > My Submissions (/journaling/my-submissions) At the end of each month, you must submit a Monthly Journal for manager approval.

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Steps

  1. Go to Journaling > My Submissions
  2. Click Create Monthly Submission for the target month
  3. The system pre-populates with all your daily entries for that month
  4. Review the summary:
    • Total hours per project
    • Total hours for the month
    • Any days with zero entries (highlighted in amber)
  5. Add any missing entries or corrections
  6. Click Submit for Approval

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Validation

Before submission, the system checks:
  • Minimum hours — must meet the organization’s minimum monthly threshold
  • Missing days — working days with zero entries are flagged (but not blocked)
  • Project coverage — warns if you have active project assignments with no logged time

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AI-Assisted Journal Generation

Where: Journals > AI Generate The AI can draft journal entries based on:
  • Your calendar events and meetings
  • Project activity logs and task completions
  • Patterns from your previous months
Review AI-generated entries carefully before saving. They are drafts and may not capture all activities accurately.

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Time Tracking & Journaling

Accurate time tracking is essential for grant compliance and project budget management. GrantMaster provides multiple ways to record your effort.

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1. The Active Timer

For real-time tracking, use the Timer available in the sidebar or on specific task pages.
  • Start/Stop: Click the play button to start a timer for your current project.
  • Automatic Logging: When you stop a timer, the system automatically drafts a journal entry for that duration.
  • Visual Cues: An active timer glows in the sidebar to remind you that time is being recorded.

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2. AI Monthly Journal Wizard

If you prefer logging time at the end of the day or week, the Monthly Journal Wizard uses AI to help generate accurate descriptions.
  • Input: Provide a brief summary of what you did (e.g., “Worked on the impact report and met with the donor”).
  • AI Generation: The wizard generates professional, Dutch-language descriptions compliant with GrantMaster’s auditing standards.
  • Distribution: The AI can automatically distribute hours across multiple projects based on your input.

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3. Manual Entry

You can still add entries manually via the Journals module.
  • Project Selection: Every entry must be linked to an active project.
  • Activity Categories: Select the type of work (e.g., Administration, Research, Meeting).
  • Validation: The system checks entries for overlap or excessive hours per day before allowing submission.

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4. Submission & Approval

  • Weekly/Monthly Sets: Journals are submitted in batches for approval.
  • Manager Sign-off: Your reports are routed to your direct manager for review via the Workflow Inbox.

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Manager Approval

Who: Managers, Admins Where: Journals > Approvals

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Reviewing Submissions

  1. Navigate to Journals > Approvals to see pending monthly submissions from your team
  2. Click on a submission to review:
    • Total hours and distribution across projects
    • Individual daily entries with descriptions
    • Comparison with previous months
    • Flags for unusual patterns (e.g., unusually high hours, missing days)
  3. Actions:
    • Approve — confirms the journal for payroll and donor reporting
    • Reject — returns to the employee with comments for revision
    • Request Changes — asks for specific corrections without full rejection

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Bulk Approval

Managers can approve multiple team members’ journals at once using the bulk approval interface. All submissions in the batch must be from the same month.

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Reporting & Export

Approved journals feed directly into:
  • Payroll exports — summary of hours by employee for HR processing
  • Donor reporting — hours allocated per grant/project for compliance reporting
  • Cost allocation — personnel costs calculated using hourly rates and logged time
  • PDF export — formatted journal reports for archival

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Best Practices

  • Log daily — recording time at the end of each day is more accurate than reconstructing a week later
  • Be specific in descriptions — “Worked on project” is not useful; “Drafted Section 3 of Q2 narrative report” is
  • Use the timer for tasks that are hard to estimate in advance
  • Submit journals on time — late submissions delay payroll and reporting cycles
  • Review before submitting — once approved, journals cannot be edited without manager intervention

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Limitations

  • Journal entries can only be created for dates within the current or previous month (configurable)
  • The AI journal generator requires at least 2 months of historical data to be effective
  • Approved monthly submissions are locked — corrections require a manager to reopen the submission
  • Timer data is stored locally in the browser and is lost if you clear browser data before saving