How to set a whole project to non-billable

[Fredrik Lindqvist]

We have an internal project where no time should be billable. I wonder if there is a way to set the whole project as non- billable so that the team-members don't have to remember to set billable hours to 0 for each work-log. We are using Tempo as well, but members update work-log on issues in Jira. 

[Fredrik Lindqvist]

Any new on this issue? Any good work-arounds? 

[Oliver Boothroyd]

So far, I cannot find anything to make a whole project non-billable.

First, I tried moving the project to a new permission scheme. The permission scheme had very restrictive settings on "Set Billable Hours".

But, that just removed my ability to set the hours. They still appeared in the final worklogs. I was also no longer able to edit them!

*****

The only thing I have found is to set issues as 'internal'. That allows the user to log the time, but the billable hours are set to zero.

You can find this setting via the below path:

Tempo > Settings > Configuration > Internal Issues

I haven't fully tested this solution, so cannot guarantee that it works 100%, but it is looking promising so far...!

***

Lastly, I'm really surprised that Tempo has not addressed this issue yet (or responded to your post). It's not the first time I've come across someone trying to set hours as unbillable.

Anyway, I would be very interested in hearing what happens if you decide to try my fix.

All the best,

Oliver

[Anne Kokk]

Hi, Oliver,

thank you for your answer!

I solved this situation exactly as you suggested - I set the issues as internal. so it is possible to separate billable and non-billable logged hours

However, this is a more labor-intensive option and some issues can be missed (especially if someone else creates an issue).

Best wishes,

Anne

[bilal_hussain]

i would suggest to have a logic written

If we select an account that is nonbillable for an issue

Then set billable hours of that task as zero 

[Susanne Götz _Tempo_]

Hi Fredrik,

It is currently not possible to add a whole Project as Internal (only the issues within the Project) or change the default value for the billed hours.

You can create an Account and categorize it as internal (create an Account category and set the Category type as internal). You can then link the Account to your project and update the issues in the Project to show this Account in the account custom field. (https://tempoplugin.jira.com/wiki/spaces/TEMPO/pages/172785937/Categorizing+accounts)

Users will still see the billed hours field in the log work dialog (this is a global setting), but all worklogs will be shown as internal (nonbillable).

Regards,
Susanne Götz
Tempo team

[Andrea Cukerman]

Hi Susanne, 

We are in the same situation as Fredrik. 

We created 2 accounts and associated them to the Project, one with the category type operational and the other one billable.

When I go to tempo reports and select the option Billable to be shown in the list view, all hours registered to the tempo account categorized as operational are shown by default as Billable despite being operational. Tried changing the category type from operational to internal as you suggested but still doesn t work. 

It will only set the billable hours to 0 if the issue itself is defined as an Internal Issue

[Susanne Götz _Tempo_]

Hi Andrea,

This is currently the expected behavior. 

There is a difference between "Internal issues" and the Account category "Internal".

Internal issues will automatically show 0h as billable when a worklog is created. 

Worklogs on Issues that are not listed as Internal issues in Tempo will show the same value for billed hours as have been logged, unless the value is edited, even if the category of the linked account is "Internal".

Regards,
Susanne

[Andrea Cukerman]

Thank you Susanne for the response.

When I chose the category type of the account, tempo´s definition was:

Billable	Logged hours that are billed to a customer; for example, for consultancy work for a customer Logged hours that are billed internally; for example, an internal service department might bill other departments
Capitalized	Logged hours that add capital to the business and are not billed; for example, hours that are invested in product development.
Internal	Hours that are logged to ongoing tasks within the company that are not billed and do not directly add value to the business; for example, time spent attending staff meetings, going on vacation, or being on sick leave.
Operations	Logged hours related to day-to-day operation of the business; for example, time spent on marketing activities, internal systems, or customer support (other than billable support).

On that note, wouldn´t be reasonable to assume tempos billable hours should be 0 if the account is non billable?  

[Oliver Boothroyd]

@Andrea Cukerman - Did you ever get an answer on this?

[Andrea Cukerman]

I sent an email and got this response:

"Hi Andrea,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Account category and billable hours are two separate features and do not affect each other. You can either track the billable work by using the Billable hours or Accounts.

Billable hours are by default the same as the worked hours, except for internal issues. Users set billable hours when logging work if they have the "Set Billable Hours" permission in the project. You can make your Jira issues as internal in Tempo, which means that the billable hours are default. Internal issues are issues such as sickness, leaves and vacations.

Accounts can be set at the issue and/or worklog level (account as a work attribute). Each account can be assigned a category (custom) and category type (4 built in types). Read more here. You can report on accounts, accounts categories and category types in the reports to see what work is billable and not.

Please check out these possibilities and let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Helga"

[Oliver Boothroyd]

Hmmm... So, it looks like we are back to square one, then, no?

If an account cannot be set to be non-billable, that's not very helpful, in my opinion.

The only way I can see it working, is if you use the reporting feature, and you filter out those Accounts that are non-billable. But, that's a manual task.

I'd be interested to hear if you can discover any other way of solving this :)

Oliver

[Anne Kokk]

I have exactly the same question - how to set a project to non-billable?