Introduction to Testing Rounding Rules in TimeKeeper

TimeKeeper offers a flexible set of rounding rules to accommodate various business needs and ensure accurate time tracking for employees. Whether you're rounding to the nearest 15 minutes, excluding time worked before or after scheduled hours, or allowing a grace period for clock-ins and clock-outs, testing these rules thoroughly is crucial for ensuring your system functions as expected.

This guide will help you understand how to test and refine your rounding rules. While some trial and error is normal, it will help you fine-tune the system to meet your businesses’s specific requirements.

Disclaimer

The customer is responsible for the application of these rules and ensuring they abide by their country's legislation, and not TimeKeeper.

Step 1. Understand the Rounding Rules in Your Business

Ensure you fully understand how rounding will work in your business. These rules will determine how hours will be handled in the system. For instance, if you're rounding to the nearest 15-minute interval, this will influence how start and end times are adjusted.

A good place to begin is to determine how common time entries are rounded within your system. This will help you set up test cases that reflect actual use cases and common rounding scenarios.

Assuming the start time is 9:00 AM and end time is 5:00 PM, use the example test cases below to determine, how you would like time entries to round:

• 8:42 AM → What does this round to?
• 8:50 AM → What does this round to?
• 09:03 AM → What does this round to?
• 09:08 AM → What does this round to?
• 4:52 PM → What does this round to?
• 4:55 PM → What does this round to?
• 5:02 PM → What does this round to?
• 5:13 PM → What does this round to?

Step 2. Utilise the Grey Boxes in the Global Settings

Within the TimeKeeper settings, the grey boxes serve as a valuable guide to help you understand how the rounding rules are configured for your system. As you tweak the rounding intervals & splits, the scenario boxes will adjust accordingly.

• Account Settings: Go to the Account > Account Settings > Enable Rounding.
• Grey Boxes as Guidance: The grey boxes are typically used as indicators or examples of how the rounding works with your specific settings. Refer to these for guidance during your testing.

Step 3. Enter Raw Time Entries & Run the Report

1. Input the test time entries manually. For example, start time at 8.42am, clock out time at 5.13pm for a specific employee. To do this, head to Manage > Time Entries > in the top right hand corner, click on 'Go to our new time entries view'.
2. Save the entries to ensure they are recorded in TimeKeeper.
3. Repeat this process for different test times to ensure thorough testing across various intervals.

Testing Raw Entries below for Chris Rogers

Running the Report

1. After entering in the raw times, run the Staff TimeSheet Excel report.
2. On this Excel report, click on the "Rounded vs Unrounded" sheet. This sheet will clearly show how Timekeeper has rounded each entry.

• Actual Clock In: the raw time entry we entered / the employee clocked in at
• Rounded Clock In: The adjusted time based on your rounding rules

3. This report will help you visually identify whether the rounding rules have been applied correctly to each time entry. See below how the entries above have rounded.

Step 4. Review & Adjust Based on Results

• Did the time entries round as expected?
• Did any discrepancies appear?
• Are any rounding rules conflicting?

Go back to the grey boxes and verify that the rules in place match the business requirements.

Test again after adjustments to confirm the accuracy of changes.

Final Notes

Test multiple scenarios across different times (e.g., early morning, late afternoon) to ensure rounding works consistently.

Double-check settings to confirm they align with your desired rounding rules. Re-run reports periodically, especially if rounding rules are updated.

Rounding FAQs

Can I set rounding rules for some employees and not for others?

No, the rounding rules that are applied in the account global settings will by default apply to all employees on the platform.

We have some staff who from time to time will work a couple of hours before their expected start time. We want to ensure this is counted and added to their timesheet. Is there a way to manage this if we have rounding rules in place?

Yes, for those staff members we would recommend utilising the Time Addition Request. if they work for a couple of hours before their start time, this can be submitted as a time addition request. This is submitted to an administrator and can be approved in the web portal. Once approved, the additional hours are automatically added to the employees timesheet.

The times aren't rounding even though I have set the rules?

Account Settings > Enable Rounding > when rounding rules are applied > ensure to click save in the bottom right corner.

It is normal for raw time entries to remain the same --> the rounding rules apply when we run timesheet reports.

Can I apply different rounding rules for clock-ins and clock-outs, such as rounding clock-ins down and clock-outs up?

Yes, it is possible to configure separate rounding rules for clock-ins and clock-outs within TimeKeeper's settings. You can customize the rounding direction for each, allowing you to round clock-ins down and clock-outs up as needed.

Is it possible to set rounding increments smaller than 15 minutes, such as 5 or 10 minutes?

Yes, TimeKeeper allows you to set rounding increments to smaller intervals, such as 5 or 10 minutes, depending on your preferences.

These individual rounding rules can get very complex - so please do reach out to the support team at support@timekeeper.co.uk for help, if you require.

Updated on: 15/01/2026