PortaPro doesn't run payroll. It does the part that usually goes wrong before payroll: knowing who worked, for how long, and which of those hours are overtime.
| PortaPro | Your payroll service or bookkeeper |
|---|---|
| Drivers, mechanics and office staff clock in and out on the time clock, from a phone, a computer or a shared truck iPad | Pay rates and salaries |
| Breaks, forgotten clock-outs and mis-taps are flagged before anyone signs off | Overtime pay (time and a half, double time) |
| Hours are split into regular and overtime by your daily and weekly rules | Paychecks and direct deposit |
| Office staff correct punches (with a reason on record) and approve each person's period, which locks it | Payroll taxes and filings |
| Approved hours export as a CSV file, or go straight into QuickBooks Online as time entries | W-2s, 1099s, benefits |
The routine, once per pay period
Only approved people are in the file, so unchecked hours never reach a paycheck. The totals are the ones saved at approval: changing a rounding or overtime setting afterwards never changes what was approved.
Full details of each step: Timesheets and Pay Periods.
Using the file with your payroll service
The file holds hours, not dollars: Employee, Email, the period or date, Regular Hours, Overtime Hours, Total Hours, Break Hours and Status (plus Notes in the day-by-day file). Hours are decimals to two places, for example 38.75.
This works the same whether you pay through QuickBooks Payroll, ADP, Paychex, Gusto, Paycor or anything else. The one direct connection is QuickBooks Online, below.
Sending hours straight to QuickBooks Online
When your company is connected to QuickBooks Online (Financials → QuickBooks), Timesheets shows Send to QuickBooks next to Export CSV. It puts approved hours into QuickBooks as time entries, the timesheets QuickBooks Payroll reads when you run payroll.
Office staff (owners, admins, dispatchers) send hours; only owners and admins match people. Payroll itself still runs in QuickBooks. QuickBooks Desktop, Xero and FreshBooks don't receive hours: use the CSV there.
Things to set up once
Common questions
Does PortaPro calculate pay? No. It classifies hours as regular or overtime. Pay rates and multipliers live in your payroll service.
Can someone fix their own time after approval? No. Office staff un-approve the period (with a reason), correct it and approve again.
Does the export include people who aren't approved? No, on purpose. Send to QuickBooks follows the same rule.
I deleted a time entry in QuickBooks. Will PortaPro put it back? Only if that day's hours change and you send again. Otherwise it stays deleted.
QuickBooks refused the hours. The message from QuickBooks is shown next to the person and day. Your QuickBooks Online plan has to include time tracking, and QuickBooks won't take hours dated inside a period you closed in QuickBooks.
What about work-order labor in Fleet Management? That is job costing, not payroll. Payroll uses the time clock only; never add the two together.