Job coding & subjects

Available on Pro and up. This is the layer on top of timesheets that turns "when" into "what + for whom" — the foundation for billable-hour tracking, EVV submission, cost-code reporting, certified payroll, and customer-visit logs.

The mental model

Every clock-in answers three questions:

1. Who? — the employee (already in Timely from day one)
2. When? — clock-in/out timestamps (handled by the punch flow)
3. What + for whom? — the layer this page is about

The "what + for whom" layer is two configurable pieces:

• Subjects — the universal "for whom" axis. Customers / Projects / Members / Matters / Properties — same table, different label per org.
• Punch fields — custom metadata you define yourself. Service codes, cost codes, billable matters, completion notes — whatever your business tracks.

Subjects

Set up under Settings → [your-org's-label]. The page label is whatever you've configured — Customer, Project, Member, Matter, Property, Client. Same data; same UI; different word.

Each subject has:

• Name — what it shows up as everywhere ("John D.", "Acme Corp", "Apartment 4B", "Project Phoenix")
• External ID — sync key for tying back to your other systems (Medicaid #, QuickBooks customer ID, project number). Optional but useful if you ever want to push timesheets data into another platform.
• Metadata — free-form JSON for fields specific to your vertical (address, billing rate, EVV authorization #, photo URL). Field-light by design; populate what's useful, ignore the rest.

Subjects can be archived (soft delete). Historical entries keep their links — you'll see archived subjects on old time entries but they don't appear in pickers.

Auto-attach to shifts

The killer feature: managers attach subjects to a shift in the schedule editor, and they flow into every clock-in for that shift automatically. The DSP working at Maple House Mon/Wed/Fri supporting John + Mary doesn't have to re-enter that on every punch — it's already there when they tap the SMS link.

If the actual roster changes (John was at the hospital that day), the worker can amend on the punch page or a manager can edit from the timesheets drawer post-hoc.

Renaming the label

Settings → [your subjects page] → Rename label. Affects the sidebar entry, page titles, button copy, and search placeholders. Common choices:

Punch fields

Set up under Settings → Punch fields (owner only). Each field has:

• Label — what shows up in the punch UI and timesheets drawer
• Key — stable identifier (snake_case, immutable once set). The join axis for exports.
• Type — text, number, dropdown (single), dropdown (multi). Attachment type is reserved for v2.0.1.
• Required — whether the field must be filled in before the punch can succeed
• Options (dropdowns only) — value|Label pairs, one per line

Common examples:

What you see in the timesheets list

The timesheets table renders subject chips inline with the employee name (first 3 visible, the rest collapse to "+N more"). Punch field values aren't shown on the list to keep columns tight — they appear in the edit drawer when you click a row.

What the worker sees at clock-in

When SMS-link clock-in writes a new time entry, any subjects attached to the planned shift flow into the entry automatically. If you've defined required punch fields, the punch page shows a follow-up screen after the GPS verification step — the worker fills them in before the punch is considered complete.

If no required fields are configured, the punch finishes as normal and the manager fills in any optional metadata from the timesheets drawer later.

Plan availability

Job coding (subjects + custom punch fields) is Pro tier or higher. Starter customers can still use vanilla timesheets without this layer — Pro adds the metadata + reporting axis on top.