COBI.time - User manual for the Manager
Purpose and area of application
The following is a supplement to the user manual for the standard user of COBI.time for employees in management positions with employee responsibility. It supports the user in maintaining an overview of employees' time accounts and absences and in processing absence requests directly in COBI.time.
The modules for the supervisor/manager function are activated by the administrator via the user rights administration.
This manual covers the following additional modules:
(Administration) - see Administrator user manual * Attendance list * Time report * Absence overview
The Administration module is not covered in this user manual; please refer to the manual for the administrator.
After logging in to COBI.time, the supervisor receives the same dashboard as the standard user, but with the additional modules in the left menu bar, outlined in yellow in the image below.
[image: 1716551282604-85._dashboard_manager.jpg]
1. Attendance List
[image: 1716551406244-86._presence_list.jpg]
Please refer to the user manual for the standard user for the general functions.
The supervisor/manager can view the following information about the employees. Clicking once on an employee opens an overview window in which you can find an overview of the current working time, the time account balance and the holiday days, see illustration below.
[image: 1716551418998-87._presence_list_2_.jpg]
In addition, the supervisor has the option of clicking on the “Balance” to display the employee's monthly history.
[image: 1716551428920-88._monthly_history.jpg]
The following window opens. A monthly overview is displayed showing the times and absences already booked. You can scroll forwards and backwards month by month using the arrows to the left and right of the monthly display.
[image: 1716551438298-89._monthly_history_details.jpg]
By clicking on a single day, you get an overview of the time recording per day.
[image: 1716551458710-90._history_single_day.jpg]
If the employee has requested a time correction or for any other reason, the supervisor can correct times manually in this view and add a comment to the correction. The comment field is only mandatory if it has been activated in the general settings. Link zu den Einstellungen The comment may not exceed 400 characters.
Options for time correction:
[image: 1716551465216-91._edit_history.jpg]
If you click on a time that has already been booked, you can now set a different time.
Clicking on the arrow next to the status opens a selection menu in which a status can be selected accordingly.
You can add lines via the “plus” if, for example, you would like to add times to a project.
The entry does not necessarily have to be entered in the correct order of the daily schedule. The line automatically jumps to the correct position when the “Enter” key is pressed after the correction.
If the comment field is activated, it must also be filled in, for example the reason for the time correction can be entered here. Otherwise, you cannot save the changes.
You can use the “Show comments” function at the top right to display the corresponding comments for the changes. When you click on the button, only days are displayed for selection where changes have been made; after selecting the day, for example, the following overview is displayed:
[image: 1716551476138-92._show_comments.jpg]
The supervisor also has the option of having a time report created from the employee. For this purpose, click on the icon ( highlighted in yellow) next to the balance in the information window.
[image: 1716551483438-93._information_field_time_report.jpg]
The “Time report” is a separate module in the menu bar, which can be applied to all employees (see point 3.) and can also be called up within the information window of the individual employee, exclusively for this employee, after clicking on the employee within the attendance list. The general view and the structure of the time report are the same.
After requesting the employee's time report, you get the following view (example of a week in Feb.24):
[image: 1716551491223-94._time_report.jpg]
The actual and target working time, the difference in per cent and the corresponding balance are displayed. The booked times including the break are visible for the individual days. If projects have been booked, you can see these by moving the mouse pointer over the project symbol. The red arrows to the left and right of the name can be used to scroll forwards and backwards by month. This information can be imported into Excel via the “Export” button and processed accordingly.
2. Absence Overview
[image: 1716551505785-95._absence_overview.jpg]
The “Absence overview” module in the menu bar gives the manager an overview of the remaining holidays, already booked and requested absences of the employees.
Clicking on the icon opens the following screen.
[image: 1716551511578-96._filter_absence_overview.jpg]
You also have the option of filtering by teams or individual employees or clicking on “All employees” to get a complete overview. If you have selected a team, the “Employees” filter only displays the employees of this team and you then have to select them either completely or individually.
You can also use the date or month selection to display absences in the past.
Below is an example of the view of an absence overview:
[image: 1716551517598-97._absence_overview.jpg]
If nothing else is selected, the current month is always displayed in the absence overview; you can scroll forwards and backwards using the arrows to the right and left of the date.
The search function at the top left takes you back to the filter mask.
If you move the mouse pointer over the “Remaining holiday” field, you will see an overview of how this is made up, as shown above.
The exclamation mark next to the employee's name indicates that the employee has submitted an absence request. Requested and unconfirmed absences are marked with an asterisk in the calendar.
In the top right-hand corner, it is possible to display the name and colour legend of the reasons for absence.
ADDITION: The manager can also find the notifications of absence requests in the dashboard under “Notifications”, these can also be edited from there, see illustration below and picture at the top of the dashboard, point 4.
[image: 1716551528792-98._notifications.jpg]
Approval/rejection of absences There are two ways to approve absence requests. Firstly, you can click on the exclamation mark icon and all of the employee's absence requests will be listed one below the other. Based on the information “Received on:” under the reason for absence, you can decide which absences should be approved. This would also be a helpful decision-making aid, for example, if several employees have submitted a holiday request for the same period
[image: 1716551536854-99._absences_for_approval.jpg]
Individual requests can be accepted or rejected.
[image: 1716551551049-100._absence_approval.jpg]
In addition, absence requests can be processed directly in the calendar by simply clicking on the symbol with an asterisk in the calendar, the absence request opens and can be approved or rejected.
The advantage of approval via the exclamation mark symbol is that several absence requests are listed, which may not be visible in the calendar immediately if they were submitted for different months.
After an absence request has been approved, the asterisk * in the absence symbol disappears and the left margin turns black, i.e. the request has been approved but not yet finally saved.
[image: 1716551575068-101._approved_absence.jpg]
If an absence request is rejected, the absence icon disappears from the calendar immediately. The employee generally receives notifications in their own dashboard when a request is accepted or rejected.
It is also possible to edit the absence calendar manually, for example if you want to add a sick note. To do this, select the relevant weekdays within the calendar, then select the appropriate one from the list of defined absence reasons in the upper area. The factors 1 and 0.5 stand for one and half a day respectively. Once the selection has been made, the symbol with the left black border appears in the calendar. This time it is not marked with an asterisk because this reason for absence has been entered manually. Again, this has not yet been finally saved.
[image: 1716551585212-102._absence_by_hand.jpg]
All changes (accepting and rejecting absence requests) are listed in a legend in the bottom right-hand corner and must be finally saved before leaving the module.
[image: 1716551591012-103._approved_absences.jpg]
As soon as you click on the “Save” button, you will be shown another change overview listing how many and which changes you have made. You can use the arrow next to the number to display details and thus check again whether everything is legal.
[image: 1716551601028-104._change_overview.jpg]
Once the absences have been finally saved, the black bars in the icon disappear..
[image: 1716551608372-105._change_overview_2_.jpg]
3. Time report
[image: 1716551620619-106._time_report.jpg]
After clicking on the “Time report” symbol, the following screen appears.
[image: 1716551625415-107._time_report.jpg]
Here you have the option of filtering by teams or departments.
In the second option, a list of all employees is displayed, from which you can select one or more employees. Deactivated employees are not displayed for selection.
In the third option, all employees can be displayed.
You can also select a report type. The report can be selected monthly or for a specific period. You also have the option of using the arrows in the displayed calendar to scroll by year and/or select the months.
Once all criteria have been selected, click on the “Request” button and the corresponding time report will be created.
Below is an example of a requested time report for all employees for the month of January 2024:
[image: 1716551634452-108._time_report_example.jpg]
Using the drop-down menu in the name field (employees are displayed here in alphabetical order), you can select an employee and view their time report.
It is also possible to scroll through the time reports month by month using the two red arrows on the right and left, regardless of which month was previously selected.
In addition, you can use the two “Export” buttons at the top right to import the reports into an Excel file for further processing, for example to make them available to a tax office.
The “Export All” button imports all time reports for the employees included in the selection into an Excel file. An Excel data sheet is displayed for each employee, the names of the employees are displayed in the tab labelled below.
Only the time report of the employee currently displayed is imported into an Excel file via the “Export” button.
The working and break times are shown separately in the time reports exported to Excel.
