How to Use Job Costing on Mobile

Job costing lets you assign cost codes and project items to your clock-in records so your company can track labour costs by job, project, or client.

Understanding Job Layers and Items

Your company organises job costing into layers (e.g. Client, Project, Task).
Each layer contains items (e.g. "Acme Corp", "Building Refurb", "Painting").
When you clock in, you may need to select an item from one or more layers.

Selecting Job Items

On the Time Clock screen, the job item selectors appear before the Clock In button.
Browse the list or use the search bar to find the right item.
Tap the item to select it.
If there are multiple layers, select an item from each one.
Once your selections are complete, tap Clock In to start your shift.

Scanning a QR Code to Autofill

Instead of selecting job items manually, you can scan a QR code to fill them in automatically.

Tap the Scan button on the Time Clock screen.
The scanner overlay opens, showing a live camera preview with the hint "Point the camera at a code".
Aim the camera at the QR code — the app detects and reads it automatically.
To switch between the back and front camera, tap the Switch camera button at the bottom of the screen.
To close the scanner without scanning, tap Back.
Once a code is read, the matching job items are filled into the selectors for you.

Tip: The scanner starts with the back (rear) camera by default. Use Switch camera if the code is easier to reach with the front camera or if the rear camera is not available.

Automatic Linked Job Selection

When your company has Job Linking enabled, selecting a parent job item can automatically fill in the layers below it.

After you select a job item, Timecloud checks the next linked layer.
If the parent item has exactly one linked child, that child is automatically selected for you.
This continues down through each layer — if the auto-selected child also has exactly one linked child below it, that item is filled in too.
The auto-fill stops when a layer has two or more linked children, or no linked children at all. You then pick manually from the available options.
If you change a parent selection, any auto-filled children below it are cleared and re-evaluated.

How it works in practice:

Select "Acme Corp" in the Client layer → if Acme Corp is linked to only one Project, that project is auto-selected → if that project is linked to only one Task, the task is auto-selected too.
This saves time when your job structure has a clear one-to-one chain.

Note: Auto-fill also works when scanning a QR code. After the scanned item is applied, any single-child linked layers below it are filled in automatically.

Mandatory Job Layers

Some job layers are marked as mandatory by your company.
You must select an item from each mandatory layer before you can tap Clock In.
Mandatory layers are indicated with a required marker.

Suggested Job Items

The app may suggest job items based on:
- Your current location — items linked to the nearest site
- Your recent history — items you have used recently
Suggestions appear at the top of the list for quick selection.

Remember Previous Job Items

The Remember Previous Job Items toggle saves your last used job items so they pre-fill automatically next time.

Where to find it

Open the Home tab in the mobile app.
The toggle appears as a top-level menu item — look for Remember Previous Job Items with a briefcase icon.
Available to both employees and managers.

For employees

When toggled ON, your last used job items auto-fill on the Time Clock screen when you clock in.
You can accept the pre-filled items or change them before confirming.

For managers

When toggled ON, previously used job items pre-fill in Choose Jobs on the Manager View punch board.
This saves time when repeatedly clocking in teams on the same project or job.
You can adjust the pre-filled items before tapping IN.

Custom Comment Fields

Your company may configure additional comment fields on job items.
These could be text fields (e.g. a description of work done) or numeric fields (e.g. quantity).
Fill in the required fields during clock-in when prompted.