How billing works

The path from a logged time entry to a client timesheet, in order, and who configures each step.

Written for
admin, user
Roles
owner, admin, member, billing-contact
Requires
Feature
billing

SAQ turns logged time into a client timesheet through a fixed sequence of steps. Each step is configured in one place, and a billing run reads them all at once. This page walks the pipeline in order and points to the page for each step. SAQ does not produce invoices; the timesheet is the priced statement of hours your invoicing system or accountant works from.

The pipeline

  1. Time entry. A workspace user logs minutes on a ticket in a project. The entry snapshots the person's consultant category and the ticket's billing client at that moment. See Register time.
  2. Consultant category. Every person has a default category, and a project membership can override it. The category is what a rate is attached to.
  3. Rate card. Each client has a rate card: an hourly rate per category with an effective date, optionally overridden per project. The run picks the rate valid on the work date.
  4. Billing policy. Per ticket kind, a rule says whether work is Paid, Free, or drawn from a time bank. Rules exist at the workspace, client, project, and ticket level; the most specific one wins. See Billing policies.
  5. Time bank. A recurring or prepaid pool of hours per client. Work under a bank policy consumes the bank first; what does not fit is overage, charged at the rate or free. See Time banks.
  6. Period close. An Owner or Admin closes the month or week, freezing the work facts. Only closed periods can be billed. See Close a period.
  7. Billing run. For one client and one closed period, in order, the run rounds each entry up to the client's rounding increment, resolves the policy and rate, draws banks, and prices the rest. See Run billing for a client.
  8. Allocation outcome. Every priced entry gets one or more outcomes: charged, bank, or free. These are what reports and timesheets show.
  9. Client timesheet. The run produces numbered, immutable documents (HTML, PDF, CSV) that list the priced entries by project with the ticket's billing description, hours, rate, and amount, and a ledger for any time banks. See Client timesheets.
  10. Delivery. The documents are emailed to the client's designated billing recipients through the workspace mailbox, and billing contacts can download them in SAQ.

Billing client and billing mode

Every ticket in a project has a Billing client: the project's client by default, a collaborating client, or Internal work (no client). Time is billed to the client the entry carries. Internal work is never priced.

The Mode decides when time becomes billable:

  • Per period (time and materials): entries bill in the run for the period they were logged in.
  • When the ticket closes (deliverables): entries wait until the ticket is in a closed state, then bill in the next run for that client. Until then they are listed as work in progress.

The mode is set on the project and can be overridden per ticket.

What SAQ does not do

  • No invoices, invoice numbers, VAT, or payment tracking. Amounts on timesheets exclude VAT.
  • No accounting or ERP integration. Download the CSV or use the API to feed another system.
  • No fixed-price or milestone billing. Deliverables are modelled as When the ticket closes with hours and rates.
  • No approval workflow for timesheets. The period close is the lock.

Who configures what

Setting Where Who
Consultant categories and each person's default Settings → Consultant categories Owner, Admin
Category override per project member Projects → project → Members Owner, Admin, workspace-user Project manager
Workspace default policies per kind Settings → Consultant categories → Default policies Owner, Admin
Rate card, client and project policies, time banks Clients → client → Rate card / Policies / Time banks Owner, Admin
Client currency, language, timesheet layout, rounding Clients → client → Settings Owner, Admin
Billing recipients Clients → client → Contacts → Billing recipients Owner, Admin
Project billing client and mode Projects → project → Settings Owner, Admin
Ticket billing client, policy, mode, billing description, estimate Ticket page, Billing (staff) group Workspace users on the project, Owner, Admin, Inbox triage
Period length and time zone Settings → General (locked after the first close) Owner, Admin
Period close, billing runs, voids Billing → Periods, Billing → Billing runs Owner, Admin, in the browser
Client-wide document access for a workspace user Clients → client → Documents Owner, Admin

Example

Acme AS is billed per period. Kari (category Senior, NOK 1 500/h on Acme's rate card) logs 2h on a Support ticket and 3h on an Implementation ticket in August. Acme's policy makes Support draw from a 10h monthly bank; Implementation is Paid. After August is closed, the run credits the bank with 10h, covers the 2h from it, charges the 3h at NOK 1 500, and produces timesheet ACME-TS-2026-08-1 showing 3h charged (NOK 4 500), 2h covered by the bank, and a closing bank balance of 8h.

  • Consultant categories and rate cards Define the categories that carry hourly rates, assign a default category per person with project overrides, and maintain each client's rate card with effective dates and project-specific rates.
  • Billing policies Set per ticket kind whether work is paid, free, or drawn from a time bank, at the workspace, client, project, or ticket level, and understand which rule wins.
  • Time banks Set up recurring or prepaid pools of hours per client, understand every bank setting and ledger row, post adjustments, and see who can read balances.
  • Run billing for a client Price a client's time for one closed period with the five-step run wizard, fix blockers, review billing descriptions and bank totals, commit, and void a run when needed.
  • Client timesheets (documents) What the timesheet documents a billing run produces contain, who can download them, how they are delivered to billing recipients, and how to fetch them through the API or MCP.
  • Billing fields on a ticket What the Billing client, Policy, Mode, Billing description, and Estimate fields on a ticket mean, who may set them, and what changes when the billing client or kind changes.
  • Close a period Close a month or week so its time entries are frozen for billing, using the four-step wizard with its advisory checklist, first-period boundary, re-authentication, and typed confirmation.