time rounding --

[raymond]

is there a way to hack CommitCRM so that it does true rounding of times (not just "round up"). We have the system set to use 15 minute increments -- if we are even one second into the next time slice, it rounds up a whole 15 minutes... we would like it to do true rounding where half the defined increment is where the rounding happens (i.e. when set to 15 minutes, 7.5 minutes is the rounding point). This way, if someone works 18 minutes on a ticket, it rounds back to 15 minutes instead of up to 30. Maybe even have a defined delta where we could set the number of minutes before rounding up... if people want it to round up as it currently is, they just set the delta to match the increment.

thanks!

//ray

[Support Team]

Re: time rounding --

Under Tools > Options > Timer tab you can change the base charging unit from 0.25 to something else (it is currently set to 0.25 hour).

HTH,
Dina

[raymond]

Re: time rounding --

we don't want to change our billing increment, just the rounding... we don't want to bill a client for 30 minutes if a task takes us 16 (well, we do want to bill 30 but it's not good for long term relations!).

If there were a rounding unit as well, people could simply enter the charging unit for billing then a rounding unit for rounding. For instance if the charging unit were 15 and we set the rounding unit to 5 then when the timer hit 20 minutes, it would bump the billing up to 30. If we set the rounding unit to zero then it would round up exactly as it currently does. Obviously the rounding unit needs to be equal to or less than the charging unit.

thanks --

//ray

[raymond]

Re: time rounding --

Today I discovered that one of our techs has been using the "Copy duration to the Hours field (rounded)" - unfortunately because the rounding is majorly broken in CommitCRM, he was round UP to the next 15 minute increment even when he was only 6, 3 or even just one minute over the mark (e.g. if he worked 31 minutes, the client would be billed for 45 minutes). We can't have this. We want to keep the billing increment set to 15 minutes but have the program round correctly.

We need to get the rounding fixed... billing 15 minutes for 1 minute of work is not the way to keep clients happy. Please either fix the rounding (give us the option to set it to "round up" or "true rounding") or let us disable that button.

thanks --

//ray

[Support Team]

Re: time rounding --

It is correct and billing time duration is rounded up, so for example, if your rounding unit is set to 15 minutes then 21 minutes will get rounded to 30 minutes of billing time, and unlike down to 15 minutes (when rounding mathematical way).

We will add your suggestion regarding defining minimal amount for rounding.

[lpopejoy]

Re: time rounding --

So do I understand all this to mean that CommitCRM ALWAYS round the time UP?

[Support Team]

Re: time rounding --

Yes, the time duration is always rounded up.

[lpopejoy]

Re: time rounding --

Ok, I assume you will fix this in the next release?

[Support Team]

Re: time rounding --

We do not consider it to be a bug and this is how the system has been working for many years. The idea is that if, for example, you worked 6 minutes and rounding is to 15 minutes, shouldn't you get paid? 6 minutes goes does to 0 on a 15 minutes mathematical rounding. So the billing rounding here is up the next and nearest rounding cycle, as defined by you. The other way is not to use rounding at all or to reduce rounding to 10 minutes or less.

Hope this helps.

[lpopejoy]

Re: time rounding --

So you are trying to deal with a minimum time charge by incorrectly rounding time entries? Maybe there's a better way to deal with this? Obviously, it isn't personally affecting me right now - Or I would've noticed this already. I guess it's the principle of the matter that drives me crazy.

[Support Team]

Re: time rounding --

It's not about minimum at all. You can disable it entirely and charge customers exactly as you worked so if you work for 7 minutes you charge for 7 instead of 10 or 15 or whatever your billing unit it.

In other words - if you do not want to round up to your billing unit (15 minutes or whatever it is you selected) - disable this feature. Done!

[lpopejoy]

Re: time rounding --

No, we bill in 15 min increments. That's normal. It's not normal to charge 30 min when you work 16. Turning off rounding just because it is broken isn't really a good fix.

[AN-Tech]

Re: time rounding --

Ultimately it's not really a rounding feature, it's an auto-increment feature. If it didn't use the word round in it this conversation wouldn't be happening. :-)

[raymond]

Re: time rounding --

Commit, what we are suggesting is that you allow us to pick how the system functions.

To answer your question, if we work 6 minutes, we do NOT in fact bill our client for 15... that's called "nickel-and-diming" and is the second fastest way to lose clients (the first is to do crappy work).

I like ascendnet's suggestion (it's simple) - allow us to multi-select what happens at a global level:
1) round (do proper "mathematical" rounding which is what most folks want to do)
2) increment (do what commit is currently doing... which, while being "how the system has been working for many years" doesn't make it right for everyone)
3) disabled (enter the exact time)

This seems like such a trivial and simple thing to fix on the back end.

thanks --

//ray