What the time clock is
The time clock is PortaPro's built-in punch clock. A person clocks in when
the workday starts, takes breaks, and clocks out at the end. Those punches
add up into a pay-period timesheet that the office reviews, corrects and
approves under Team Management → Timesheets. Approved hours then go to
payroll as a CSV file, or to Gusto.
Every role that tracks time uses the same clock: drivers, mechanics, and
any admin or dispatcher who punches. Customers never appear on it.
For reviewing, correcting, approving and exporting hours, see
Who punches: two switches
A person sees the clock only when both of these are on:
clock. It is off for a new company.
Tracks Time. The description reads "Show the time
clock for this user and include them on timesheets. Turn off for salaried
staff who don't punch."
Turn Tracks Time on for each person who should punch, including newly
added drivers and mechanics. Leave it off for salaried staff. A working owner
who bills their own hours can turn it on for themselves.
If the company switch is on but a person's switch is off, their clock shows
"Time tracking is off for you".
Turning the time clock on
number from 1 to 24 is allowed.
The same page also holds the Pay periods and Overtime cards. Those
are covered in Timesheets and Pay Periods.
Where each person punches
| Who | Where they clock in and out |
|---|---|
| Driver | The Today screen in the driver app, at the top. Their profile shows recent shifts. |
| Mechanic | The Time Clock page in the sidebar. |
| Admin or dispatcher | Team Management → Timesheets → My time tab. It also lists the last 14 days of shifts. |
| Driver on a shared truck iPad | The roster screen: tap your name, enter your PIN, and leave Clock in now on. |
While someone is clocked in, a small on-shift badge stays on screen so a
forgotten clock-out is easy to notice.
Clocking in and out
you've worked this shift. Tap Clock out to confirm, or Keep working.
clocked in keeps your existing shift; it never starts a second one.
When the phone allows it, PortaPro records where you were when you clocked
in and out. It never holds up the punch: if location is off or slow, the
punch saves without it. On the timesheet the office sees a small "In" or
"Out" chip with the place, naming your yard when you were at one.
Breaks
you're back. The clock shows On break in between.
Shared truck iPads
On a shared truck iPad, signing on and clocking in are one step. The driver
taps their name on "Who's driving today?", enters their PIN, and with
Clock in now on, the shift starts as theirs, not the truck's. Clocking
out ends their session and returns the iPad to the roster. If a driver is
already clocked in on their own phone, the iPad shows that open shift
instead of starting a second one. See
Forgotten clock-outs: auto-close
A shift left open longer than the Auto-close shifts after limit is
closed for you, at clock-in time plus that many hours. This happens two ways:
and starts the new one.
shift" for days.
An auto-closed shift is marked Auto-closed on the timesheet. The end
time is a placeholder, not the real one. Someone in the office still needs
to confirm when the person actually stopped and correct the punch.
If someone's switch is turned off mid-shift
Turning off Tracks Time (or the company switch) while a person is
clocked in doesn't strand them. They can still clock out and end a break;
they just can't start a new shift or a new break.
Turning off Tracks Time also removes the person from the Timesheets list
and the export, though their past punches are kept. Approve and export their
hours before turning it off.
Two clocks: shift time vs work-order labor
PortaPro has two separate clocks, and they answer different questions.
Never add them together.
| Shift clock (this article) | Work-order labor | |
|---|---|---|
| Question | Was the person at work? | How much repair time belongs to this work order? |
| Where it's recorded | The time clock | Inside a maintenance work order (Fleet Management) |
| Used for | Payroll | Job costing |
A mechanic legitimately has both. The shift covers the whole day: arriving,
cleanup, waiting on parts. Work-order labor covers only the time on a given
repair. Adding the two would pay the same hours twice.
So it's normal for work-order labor to be less than shift time. If a
mechanic logs more repair time than they were clocked in for, one of the
two is wrong, usually a missed clock-in or labor entered on the wrong day.
Payroll always uses the shift clock.