Labor timecards overview

The Labor Timecard feature provides a system for entering daily or weekly time reports for each employee on a project. The benefit of this feature is that an employee's time can be tracked for multiple projects, contracts, and job cost codes.

  • All the security roles can enter labor timecards in the Time & Expenses module. However, only Administrators or Financial Administrators can approve labor timecards. If the Time & Expense Workflow is enabled (requires five or more licenses), users can approve time for their subordinates.
  • The clock in/out functionality is turned off by default, but you can enable it in Settings () > Feature Settings > Time & Expenses.
  • The Total Timecard Burden is the sum of the Employee Payroll Item Burden and the Workers Compensation Burden.
  • You can specify the default workers compensation codes on the job cost codes table in Projects > Contract Admin > Job Cost Codes.
  • The Committed Cost and Cost To Date columns in project analytics include only approved labor timecards.
  • You can export approved labor timecards in Excel or CSV format that can be imported in a payroll service.
  • You can export approved labor timecards directly to an accounting system using the AccountingLink.
  • In Settings () > Company settings > Global settings, you can configure Sage Construction Management to lock labor timecards that have been exported through AccountingLink automatically to prevent further changes or deletions.
  • To import labor timecards into a Cost Plus prime invoice, the following criteria must be met:
    • The status must be Approved.
    • The Billable Status must be set to Billable.
    • The total Billable amount must be higher than zero.
    • The timecard date must be earlier that the prime invoice issue date.
  • Create payroll items, such as straight time and overtime, in Settings () > Feature Settings > Time & Expenses.
  • Optionally, create workers compensation codes in Settings () > Feature Settings > Time & Expenses.
  • Make sure that employees are set up and payroll items referenced in the default rates table are available on the Employee Profile form.
  • If standardized union rates are applicable, then labor items could be beneficial for establishing timecard base, burden, and bill rates as follows:
    1. Create labor items or craft codes.
    2. Reference payroll items in the labor item's payroll rate table.
    3. Reference labor items on labor timecards.
  • Make sure the prime contract that will be referenced on the timecard is approved with a status date.
  • Similar to prime contracts, a job cost code is required when entering timecards.

  1. Labor code project and payroll item

    If a labor/craft code is specified on the timecard record, Sage Construction Management will check the payroll rate table within the Labor Item Details form to set the cost and bill rate. The project and payroll item referenced on the timecard will be the filter criteria.

  2. Employee project and payroll item

    If no labor code is specified, Sage Construction Management checks the project-specific rates table in the Employee Details page to determine any special cost or bill rate for that employee and project.

  3. Employee payroll item

    If none of the above conditions are met, Sage Construction Management will use the default payroll rates table in the Employee Details form to determine the cost and bill rate.

Add labor timecards

Edit, approve, or export labor timecards

Posted May 13, 2026 © 2026 The Sage Group plc or its affiliates ("Sage") or its licensors. All trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Use of non-Sage trademarks is not an endorsement of any person or product.