Understanding the difference between scheduled and registered hours is essential for managing your business effectively. For financial or HR teams, it helps ensure crew members are paid accurately based on the hours they worked, avoiding overpayments or underpayments. For account managers, it provides insight into whether a project stayed within budget and helps identify reasons for any discrepancies.

In this article, you will learn how to compare the actual hours vs. the planned hours to understand the impact on costs, make informed decisions and stay in control of your finances and project profitability.

Real-life scenarios

Here are some examples how this functionality can be used:

How to reconcile time in Rentman

In Rentman, you can access detailed insights into scheduled and registered hours, as well as planned and actual costs, along with their differences. These details are displayed in specific columns within the platform:

• Planned time - the time period a crew member is scheduled to work on a function.
• Registered time - the time period a crew member has recorded as worked for the function.
• Difference time - the difference between the planned time and the registered time.
• Planned costs - the estimated costs based on the crew member's rate for the scheduled work.
• Actual costs - the actual costs incurred for the crew member who worked, calculated using their rate.
• Difference costs - the variance between the planned costs and the actual costs.
• Registration status - the status of time registration:
  • Planned - activities scheduled for the future.
  • Exceeds time - activities where the registered time is longer than the planned time.
  • Aligned - activities where the registered time matches the planned time exactly.
  • Under time - activities where the registered time is shorter than the planned time.
  • No registration - activities in the past that have no time registrations

You can access these columns by adding them to your overview or selecting the Time registration default column set in the following sections in Rentman:

Projects (Crew and transport and Crew scheduling tabs)

1. Open a project.
2. Navigate to the Crew and transport tab or the Crew scheduling tab.
3. Click on settings Adjust view and adjust the column set.

watch_later Time registration module

1. Navigate to the watch_later Time registration module
2. Select a time registration and open the details pane.
3. Scroll down to see Activities , where you can see the planned vs. registered time and planned vs. registered costs.

Activities sub-module

1. Navigate to the Activities sub-module.
2. Select a crew member.
3. The time reconciliation columns are part of the default column sets, but you can also click on settings Adjust view to create your own column sets.

How to export payroll document

Rentman also allows you to export payroll documents, which simplifies payroll processing by combining data from the watch_later Time registration module and Activities sub-modules into a single exportable file. It lets you quickly transfer commonly used payroll data into your payrolling systems, ensuring accurate and efficient payment for crew members' worked hours. It eliminates manual data entry, saves time, and reduces the risk of errors in payroll calculations.

Here is how you can export payroll documents:

1. Navigate to the watch_later Time registration module
2. Select the time registrations you want to export.
3. In the blue bar, select More options more_vert button and choose "Export payroll document"
4. Choose which columns you want to include in your export file.
   Column selection options

   All columns visible in the overview - All the columns that are currently visible in the overview will be included in the export file.
   
   Add all time registration columns - All columns available in watch_later Time registration module will be included in the export file.
   
   Manually selecting columns.... - Manually select which columns you want to include in the export.
   Under Selected columns, you can see all the columns that are currently selected.
5. Select if you also want to export activities related to these hours.
   Activities options

   No - No activities will be included in the export.
   
   Yes, add all activity columns - All columns related to the activities will be included in the export.
   
   Yes, select columns manually... - Manually select which columns you want to include in the export. Note: If you select No, you will not be able to export hours without activities - registered hours that do not have activity linked to them. For example, if you have a time registration with a start time of 28-01-2025 at 09:00 and an end time of 28-01-2025 at 18:00 and only add one activity with a duration of 4 hours, you have 5 hours without activities.
   
6. Click  Export  to download your .xlsx file.