Can we import our third-party timecard entries to work with the 'Timesheet Hours' column in Procore's Budget tool?
Background
My company isn't using Procore's Field Productivity tools. Instead, our team uses third-party software to collect timecard entries from our crews and workers in the field. Is there a way to import our timecard entries so they can appear in the 'Timesheet Hours' column? Our goal is to track labor in our Procore budget, similar to how Procore's Field Productivity customers do.
Answer
Yes. If your company does NOT use Procore's Field Productivity tools, you can develop your own custom or third-party custom integration for inputting your timecard entries into Procore. Your custom integration can input your entries to Procore's Timecards tool using the API, which enables you to view timecard entries in the 'Timesheet Hours' column of a budget view. Similar to how a user configures the Company level Timesheets tool's 'Default Cost Type for Timecards' setting to 'Labor' (see Configure Advanced Settings: Company Level Timesheets), this API solution sets your third-party time entries to 'Labor' (or any other cost type that you would prefer to use) and stores your data in the Timecard tool.
Here are the steps for creating or updating a timecard entry using the API.
- Use the List Line Item (Cost Code) Types endpoint to determine the cost types associated with your account.
- In the list of cost types returned, locate the cost type with a
base_typevalue of 'labor' (or any other cost type that you would prefer to use) and note itsidvalue. Because each Procore company account can create a custom list of cost types (see Add Company Cost Types), cost type identifiers are not consistent across accounts. You will use thisidvalue in the next step. - To create a new timecard entry or update an existing one, use the Create Timecard Entry or Update Timecard Entry respectively. In the body of your request, use the (cost type) id value you retrieved from the previous step as the value for the
line_item_type_idattribute.
Important
- The 'Real-Time Labor Productivity' and 'Labor Productivity Cost' budget views are supported and recommended for use by companies using Procore's Field Productivity tools. However, using the Procore API, you can use the API to import your time entries and add the 'Timesheet Hours' column to a budget view. See How do I add the 'Timesheet Hours' column to a budget view?
- To learn more about how the 'Timesheet Hours' column works with Procore's Field Productivity tools, see:
- If you add the 'Timesheet Hours' column to a budget view when you are NOT using Procore's Field Productivity tools or the API workaround documented in this FAQ, the value in the 'Timesheet Hours' column on your budget view will always be reflected as zero (0).