Flexitime, core hours, shifts — represented, not recalculated
Any app can capture clocking entries. The effort comes afterwards: breaks by rule, targets per weekday, core hours, overnight shifts, premiums, a flexitime account with capping. If a system does not know those rules, the work goes back into the spreadsheet.
Where simple clocking apps come apart
Not at capturing the entries but at evaluating them. Four places where it typically sticks.
Targets that differ
Anyone working longer Monday to Thursday and shorter on Friday needs a target per weekday. A flat daily figure produces a wrong difference every week.
Break rules
Is the break deducted, or only recognised when clocked? From what duration? Without a rule per weekday, every payroll run brings an argument.
Midnight
Shifts crossing the day boundary get cut in two if the system does not know about them. Night shifts then look like two half days.
Premiums
Nights, Sundays, public holidays: work them out by hand and you recalculate every month — and get them wrong and you either overpay or underpay.
Flexitime with no limit
A balance that grows without limit eventually becomes a problem. Without capping, the instrument for controlling it is missing.
Individual special cases
If every deviation needs a construction of its own, maintenance becomes a second job. Models have to be reusable.
Build one model, assign it to many
In ITN-Zeiterfassung a working time model is an object in its own right: it consists of day cards from Monday to Sunday, each with a target and a break rule, plus core hours, clocking windows, the public holiday rule, the treatment of overnight shifts and the settings for the flexitime account including its cap. Premium types hang off it with their eligibility windows.
Employees are assigned to that model. If a rule changes — the break arrangement or a premium rate, say — it is changed once on the model and applies to everyone. That is the difference between a setup that grows with you and one that gets murkier with every special case.
The result becomes visible in the daily row: clocking entries on the left, break, target, actual and difference in the middle, corrections on the right. You see not just the number but how it arises — which matters when somebody asks.
A target and a break rule of its own for each weekday.
When work should happen and when entries are permitted.
Shifts crossing midnight are attributed to the correct day.
The balance runs along, and credit can be limited.
Eligibility windows stored, calculation automatic, paid out or credited as time.
How the setup works
The models are the part worth sitting down for properly, once. After that it runs.
Gather the rules
What target hours apply, how are breaks handled, are there core hours, how are premiums arranged? Most of this sits in employment contracts, works agreements and unwritten practice.
Form models rather than mapping people
Out of the rules come a handful of models — full-time, part-time, shift — instead of many individual cases. In our experience three to five models cover most of a workforce.
Assign and cross-check
Employees are assigned, and then a completed month is recalculated: do targets, actual hours and premiums match what was previously worked out by hand?
- calculate a comparison month
- resolve the differences
- only then switch over
Set the carry-over
Existing flexitime and leave balances are entered as a carry-over, so the accounts are right from the first month.
Every setting in detail — with screenshots from the model editor — is in the feature reference.
Frequently asked questions about working time models
Can I set a different target for each weekday?
Yes. A working time model consists of day cards from Monday to Sunday, each with its own target and its own break rule. That covers the short Friday, the four-day week or part-time arrangements without building a separate model for every person.
How does the flexitime account work?
The difference between actual and target runs along as a balance and is shown on the account card in the month header — together with the carry-over from the previous month. A cap can be set for the flexitime account so that credit does not grow without limit.
Are breaks deducted automatically?
That depends on the break rule stored. It is defined per weekday, so both the deduction of a statutory minimum break and the recognition of breaks actually clocked can be represented. The daily row shows which break was applied.
What happens with shifts that run past midnight?
Overnight shifts are attributed to the correct day rather than being torn apart at the day boundary. With night shifts, on-call duty and long shifts, that is the point at which simple solutions produce wrong figures.
How are premiums calculated?
Premium types are stored with the window in which they apply — at night, on Sundays, on public holidays — and are then derived automatically from the clocking entries. For each premium you decide whether it is paid out or credited as time.
Do I have to create a separate model for every employee?
No, and that is the heart of the idea: models are built once and then assigned to employees. If a rule changes, it is changed on the model and applies to everyone assigned to it.
What goes to the payroll office afterwards is covered under DATEV and the payroll export. The legal requirements on recording itself are under the legal requirement.