timeghost Time tracking enables organizations to record and manage working time, project time, or both in one application.

Which features are available depends on the selected time tracking setup. Roles and permissions additionally determine which areas individual users can access and which actions they can perform.


In short

The time tracking setup determines how time is recorded. Roles and permissions determine who can use which features and view or manage data.


Two types of time


timeghost Time tracking distinguishes between working time and project time.


Working time records when an employee worked. It can include working periods, breaks and absences and is used for features such as target-hour comparisons, working time rules and time accounts.


Project time records what the time was spent on. Project time entries can be assigned to projects, tasks, customers and labels and can also contain billing information.

Depending on your workspace configuration, you can use either type independently or combine them.

Choose how your organization tracks time


Each workspace uses one of three time tracking setups:

  • Working time only — employees record their working time without maintaining separate project time entries.
  • Project time only — employees record time on projects and tasks without maintaining separate working time entries.
  • Project time with automatic working time — employees record project time and timeghost automatically creates the corresponding working time entries.

The selected setup also affects which features, navigation areas and roles are available in the workspace.

From workspace setup to daily time tracking


Before employees start tracking time, an administrator usually configures the workspace.

This can include inviting users, assigning roles and permissions, configuring working schedules and working time rules, creating projects and defining other organizational settings.

Employees can then use the available time tracking functions according to the workspace setup and their permissions.

Managers, administrators, supervisors and other authorized users can additionally manage or review data depending on the permissions assigned to them.

Projects, tasks and customers


Project time can be structured using several related elements.

A customer can be assigned to one or more projects. Within a project, tasks can be created to further categorize the work performed.

Projects can also define who may access them, who can create tasks and which users or groups are project members. Tasks can additionally be assigned to specific users or groups.

Project labels can be assigned to a project and are automatically attached to time entries recorded for that project. Time labels, on the other hand, can be selected individually for a specific project time entry.

Working time, schedules and absences


Where working time is enabled, timeghost can compare recorded working time with the employee's planned working hours.

Working schedules define the expected hours. Recorded working periods, breaks and absences can then be used to determine the employee's actual working time and time account.

Working time rules can additionally define requirements such as break durations, maximum daily working time or minimum rest periods.

Depending on the workspace configuration, rule violations can either be displayed to the user or compliance can be enforced, preventing an invalid entry from being saved until it has been corrected.

Roles and permissions


Not every user sees or can manage the same information.

Roles and permissions determine, for example, who can manage projects, view other users' time entries, export data or access administrative functions.

Project memberships, task assignments, groups and supervisor relationships can further influence which information and actions are available to a user.

This means that two users in the same workspace may see a different set of functions even when they are using the same time tracking setup.

Analytics and reporting


Recorded data can be reviewed in different Analytics areas for project time, working time and time accounts.

Depending on the selected area, data can be filtered and grouped by users, projects, customers, tasks, labels and other criteria. Filter configurations can also be saved as views, allowing frequently used analyses to be accessed again without rebuilding the filters.

Authorized users can export the relevant data for further processing or reporting.

One workspace, different experiences


Screens and navigation in timeghost Time tracking are intentionally adapted to the selected time tracking setup and the permissions of the current user.

A workspace using Working time only, for example, does not require all project-related functionality. A workspace using Project time with automatic working time, on the other hand, contains both project-related and working-time-related areas.

Therefore, some functions described in this Help Center may not be visible in every workspace.

What’s next?


→ Choose your time tracking setup
Learn about the three available time tracking setups and choose the configuration that fits your organization.

→ Access & installation
Learn how to access timeghost Time tracking in your browser, Microsoft Teams or as a Progressive Web App.

→ Set up your workspace
Configure users, permissions, projects and the most important workspace settings before your team starts tracking time.