Managing Hour Balances #

Hour balances are the real-time record of how many prepaid service hours a customer has available under a contract.

How Deduction Works #

When a staff member logs time against a service request, the system:

1. Records the time entry with a duration, technician, and description
2. Identifies the contract linked to the request
3. Deducts the logged duration from that contract’s available hour balance
4. Updates the balance immediately (real-time, not batched)

Time can be logged in increments based on the Time Granularity setting in Services > Settings > General. Common options are 15-minute or 6-minute increments.

Viewing the Balance #

The current balance for any contract is visible from two locations:

• Contract detail page – Shows the hour bar, hours allocated, hours used, and hours remaining
• Dashboard widget – Shows aggregate hour usage across all active contracts

Hour Usage Alerts #

The system can alert administrators and customers when a contract’s usage reaches defined thresholds. Default thresholds are 70% and 90% of allocated hours.

To change thresholds:

1. Go to Services > Settings > Alerts.
2. Adjust the First Alert Threshold and Second Alert Threshold percentages.
3. Click Save Settings.

When a threshold is crossed, the system sends an hour-usage-alert email notification (if enabled) and flags the contract in the Alerts dashboard widget.

Manual Adjustments #

Administrators can manually adjust a contract’s hour balance from the contract detail page. This is useful for corrections, goodwill additions, or contract amendments. All manual adjustments are recorded in the contract’s activity log.