Time and Expense Tracking for Tasks in PRO-dela: Time and Money in One Tab

In PRO-dela, time and money for a task are recorded in one place — on the 'Expenses' tab in the task details. The 'Add expense' button opens a window with two tabs: 'Add time' and 'Add amount', and these are not two screens of one form, but two independent types of records. Hours are still accounted for as before, amounts through a separate, newer module for monetary expenses, and on the task page both records appear in a single unified feed.

Next — how the 'Expenses' tab is structured, what exactly happens with time and money records, why the single currency rule applies to amounts, and how all this turns into the task budget, project budget, and statistics.

The 'Expenses' Tab on the Task Details Page

On the task details page, expenses are placed in a separate tab, next to the 'Subtasks' tab. Previously, this area had a 'Time tracking' block — now it is called 'Expense tracking' and honestly combines two types of records, rather than masking money as time. At the top, the tab shows a brief summary: how much time was spent, how many monetary expenses were recorded, and — if the user has access to cost — the total together.

Not every project participant can add records, only those responsible for the result: the active task assignee, or a participant with broader task management rights in the project. Once a task is completed, adding new expenses is closed — this protects the final figure from retroactive edits after work is delivered.

If nothing has been recorded for the task yet, the tab shows an empty state 'Expenses not yet added' instead of zeros without explanation — and immediately offers a button to add the first record.

The 'Add Expense' Modal: Time and Amount — Different Forms

The 'Add time' tab is the same time tracking that was in PRO-dela before: hours, minutes, and an optional comment 'what was done'. Technically, this is still a task progress record, and it remains backward compatible — old records are not gone and were not recalculated retroactively when monetary expenses appeared.

The 'Add amount' tab is a separate type of record: amount, currency, and an optional comment 'what the amount was spent on'. This is a fixed monetary expense, not tied to the performer's hours: the amount can be entered for materials, a contractor, a license, a business trip — for anything not measured by working time.

Both forms are protected against empty entries. For time, you need to specify at least hours or minutes greater than zero. For amount, you must select a currency and enter an amount greater than zero; without a selected currency, the submit button remains inactive.

Unified Feed of Time and Money

Both forms lead to a single feed on the 'Expenses' tab: time records and monetary records are shown together, not in two separate lists. Each record shows the author, type, amount or duration, comment, and confirmation status. New records can only be added while the task is open; editing or deleting an existing record can be done by its author or an administrator.

Visibility of records in the feed depends on the role. The project client sees all records for the task — both time and money of all participants. Other participants see only their own records: an employee does not necessarily need to know how much time or money a colleague spent on the same task, while the client needs the full picture of the work they are paying for.

Single Currency Rule for Monetary Expenses

PRO-dela does not perform fictitious currency conversion, so there is an explicit safety rule for task amounts.

If the task and project have no budget yet, there is no currency restriction — the amount can be entered in any available currency. Once a budget exists, the system first looks at the task's own budget; if the task has no budget, it uses the project budget. The rule is simple: in this area, there must be exactly one non-zero currency.

If the budget specifies multiple currencies, adding a monetary expense is not possible: the form will return a validation error on the currency field until the team reduces the task or project budget to a single currency. If there is one currency but a different one is selected in the form, the system will also refuse — and will indicate which currency is allowed for expenses on this task.

This restriction does not apply to time tracking: hours and minutes are always entered without currency association.

Confirmation — a Status, Not a Filter

Both time and monetary expenses have a confirmation: a participant with the right to accept task progress — usually the project manager or the person responsible for acceptance — can mark a record as confirmed, and then unconfirm it. In the interface, this is a separate green 'Confirmed' label next to the record and buttons 'Confirm time' or 'Confirm expense'.

It is important to be precise: confirmation currently does not affect the final totals. Confirmed and unconfirmed records are equally included in the overall task total, project budget, and expense statistics. This is an informational marker 'the manager has seen this and agrees', not a switch that includes or excludes the record from the report — if the team needs to change the amount based on confirmation, this logic must currently be kept in mind rather than relying on the interface.

How Records Enter the Budget and Statistics

Each time and money record on a task does not remain an isolated line — it is reflected in the task budget card, project budget card, and in a separate statistics section.

Time itself is not stored in monetary terms, but the system can calculate its cost: it uses the rate and payment method saved in the progress record itself, and for old records without such a snapshot, it uses the current rate of the performer in the project. Monetary expenses are added to this amount directly, without exchange rate conversion. The total is shown as a single figure if the currency is the same everywhere, and as separate cards for each currency if not — the detailed mechanics of budget limits and currency transitions are covered in the article on project budgets.

The same records are also collected on the statistics page, in the 'Time' tab: total expense, cost of worked time separately, fixed monetary expenses separately, breakdown by project, and export to CSV — without needing to open each task individually.

What This Module Does Not Replace

PRO-dela does not automatically convert currencies and does not perform accounting: task expenses are management records, not primary accounting documents. The expense module also does not issue invoices on its own — project documents and invoices belong to a separate part of the platform. And, as mentioned above, record confirmation does not change the final budget figures — it is a status for the team, not financial control.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I record only money, without time?

Yes. 'Add time' and 'Add amount' are independent tabs of the same window. You can track only time, only monetary expenses, or both types of records for a task, depending on what actually happens in the work.

What if the project budget is in one currency and the task budget is in another?

The system first looks at the task's own budget. If it exists, its currency is used, and the project budget is not considered at that moment. If there is no budget at the task level, the project budget currency is used.

Who can see other people's time and money records in a task?

The project client sees all records for the task. Other participants see only their own records — colleagues' time and amounts are not shown to them.

Is confirmation required for every record?

No. Confirmation is a way to mark that a record has been reviewed and approved, but it is already included in the budget and statistics regardless of whether it is confirmed or not.

Connect Time and Expense Tracking to Your Task

Register in PRO-dela and open the 'Expenses' tab in any task of your project: start with hours, add a monetary amount when needed, and see how both records automatically aggregate into the task budget and statistics.