How to Set Up Notifications

Getting There

1. Click Settings (cog icon) in the left sidebar.
2. Select Notifications from the settings menu.

Employee Shift Prompts

These are messages sent to employees based on their shift schedule.

Available prompts

• Early Start — notifies an employee when they clock in before their shift.
• Late Start — notifies an employee when they haven't clocked in and their shift has started.
• Early Finish — notifies an employee when they clock out before their shift is scheduled to end.
• Late Finish — notifies an employee when they're still clocked in after their shift should have ended.

To configure a prompt

1. Toggle the prompt on.
2. Set the Threshold (minutes before or after the shift boundary that triggers the notification).
3. Customise the Message text employees will see.

Notification Type

• Choose how employee prompts are delivered: Mobile App, Email, or both.

Administrator Prompts

These are alerts sent to managers and admins.

Available prompts

• Early Start, Late Start, Early Finish, Late Finish — same as employee prompts, but sent to the manager instead.
• Each can have its own Threshold and Message.

Manager Notification at Clock In

• Toggle on to notify admins when employees clock in.

Manager Notification Type

• Choose how manager prompts are delivered: Mobile App, Email, or both.

Internal Approval Reminder

Sends a one-time reminder to the admin who created a draft Client Job Approval report when it has been waiting for internal approval too long. This setting only appears when both Client Job Approval and Internal Client Job Approval are enabled for your company.

To set up an Internal Approval Reminder

1. Toggle Internal Approval Reminder on.
2. Set the Threshold (hours) — the number of hours after the earliest clock-in on the report before the reminder is sent. Accepts a whole number between 1 and 720. Default is 48 hours.
3. Customise the Message text. The default reads: "A Client Job Approval report is still waiting for internal approval."
4. Choose the delivery method: Mobile App, Email, or both.
5. Click Save Changes.

How it works

• Timecloud checks for draft reports where the earliest clock-in is older than the threshold you set.
• A single reminder is sent per report — the report creator will not receive repeated notifications for the same report.
• The reminder is sent via push notification and/or email, depending on which delivery methods you enable.
• The email includes the Report ID, date range, and pending hours so the creator can quickly identify and action the report.

Manager Report

• Toggle on to send admins a daily attendance summary email.
• Set the Manager Report Time — the time of day the report is sent.

Report Sections

You can choose which sections appear in the daily Manager Report email. Each section can be toggled on or off independently:

• Currently Clocked In — lists employees who have clocked in, with their scheduled shift and actual clock-in time.
• Who Was Late — lists employees who clocked in after their shift start time (respecting your company's lateness threshold), with the scheduled shift, actual clock-in time, and how many minutes they were late.
• Who Has Not Clocked In — lists employees who have not yet clocked in for their scheduled shift.

All three sections are enabled by default. At least one section must remain enabled while the Manager Report is turned on.

The report groups employees by department so managers can quickly scan attendance across their teams.

Unapproved Time Notifications

• Toggle on to send a daily email digest to project managers listing unapproved time entries on projects they manage.
• Set the Unapproved Time Notification Time — the time of day the digest is sent.
• The digest covers the current pay period (up to yesterday), so managers see a running picture of what still needs approval.
• Each manager receives one email per day summarising all their linked projects — not one email per project.

Requirements

• Your company must have Job Costing enabled.
• At least one Layer 1 job item must have one or more Managers linked (see How to Manage Job Layers and Items).

How it works

1. Enable Unapproved Time Notifications in Settings → Notifications and set your preferred send time.
2. Go to Job Tracking, open a Layer 1 job item, and link one or more admins in the Managers field.
3. Each linked manager receives a daily digest email listing employees with unapproved time on that project, including the date and hours for each entry.
4. The email includes a direct link to each employee's Attendance page so you can approve time immediately.

Opting out

• Individual managers can opt out from their employee profile: Operations → Reports → Unapproved Time Emails toggle (or User Access → Reports → Unapproved Time Emails for sub-admins).
• This setting is on by default — managers receive the digest unless they turn it off.

Leave Application Emails

• Toggle on to email admins when employees submit a leave request.

Block Out / Availability Emails

• Toggle on to email admins when an employee submits, updates, or deletes a blockout or availability entry.
• When enabled, managers and admins receive an email notification with the entry details — date range, times, recurrence, and any comment the employee added.
• Notifications respect direct reporting lines, so managers only receive alerts for employees who report to them.
• Individual managers can opt out from their employee profile (Operations → Reports → Block Out / Availability Emails toggle).
• This setting is off by default.

Not Working Shift Notifications

• Toggle on to notify admins when an employee clocks in for a shift they are not scheduled to work.

Saving Your Changes

• Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Tips

• Start with the most important prompts (e.g. Late Start for employees, Manager Report for admins) and add more as needed.
• Set reasonable thresholds — a 5-minute late start threshold avoids false alerts for minor delays.
• Use Leave Application Emails so managers never miss a time-off request.
• Enable Block Out / Availability Emails to keep managers informed when employees change their availability — especially useful for teams with frequent roster changes.
• Use Unapproved Time Notifications to keep project managers on top of unapproved hours — approve time directly from the email link to keep your records clean.
• Customise the Manager Report sections to show only the attendance data that matters most to your team — for example, disable Currently Clocked In if you only need to track lateness and no-shows.
• Use Internal Approval Reminders to nudge report creators about draft Client Job Approval reports that haven't been internally approved yet — a 48-hour threshold is a good starting point for most teams.