Labour is one of the most dynamic elements in Uptick. When it isn't appearing on invoices or your profitability data looks skewed, it is usually due to a specific configuration or workflow gap.
1. Revenue vs. Cost of Labour
Before troubleshooting, remember how Uptick separates these two concepts specifically for Labour:
Revenue (Work Tab): This is what you charge the customer. It comes from Labour rates added to the Work tab.
Cost (Timesheets): This is the internal cost to your business. It comes from Technician Timesheet Sessions and their individual hourly cost rates.
2. Troubleshooting Invoicing Issues
Problem: Labour is missing from the invoice.
Is it "Performed"? Service tasks must be marked as "Performed" to flow onto an invoice. Otherwise, it won't be picked up.
Is it "Billable"? Check the Service Task on the Work tab. Ensure the Billable checkbox is ticked.
Is there a labour rate attached? You cannot invoice "time" alone; it must be a Labour Product from your catalogue. Ensure the service task has a product selected.
Price-book Mismatch: If the customer is on a specific price-book, check if the labour rate's price is specified in that price-book. If not, the labour rate price will use the Default pricebook's value which could be zero.
3. Troubleshooting Profitability & Margin Review
Problem: Labour cost is $0.00 or seems incorrect.
Unapproved Timesheets: Until a timesheet session is Approved, Uptick treats it as an committed cost. It only becomes an actual cost once an office user approves it.
Missing Technician Hourly Rate: Actual cost is calculated as:
Duration x Technician Hourly Rate.Check: Go to Control Panel > Individual Rates.
Fix: Ensure the technician has a "Default" cost rate set. Without this, their time has no dollar value.
Estimated vs. Actual: If you are looking at "Estimated Profitability," the system uses the cost price set on the Labour Product. If you are looking at "Actual Profitability," it uses the Approved Timesheets.
4. Troubleshooting Timesheets
Problem: Technician cannot submit timesheets or sessions are missing.
"Submit" Button Greyed Out (Android):
Ensure that all sessions for the day have been ended.
Check Permissions: The user must have the "Can update tasks" permission.
Sync Issue: Have the tech go to the About tab and select Reload all data.
Session not showing on the Task (Web):
Ensure the technician has initiated the time session on the correct task.
Refresh the page or clear the browser cache.
Multiple Technicians: If multiple techs log time, Uptick aggregates the total cost. If the total looks too high, expand the Timesheets section on the task to check for overlapping sessions or duplicates.
5. Troubleshooting Logic (Included Labour & Increments)
Problem: The "Extra Labour" prompt isn't appearing.
Uptick has a feature that alerts you when technician time exceeds the "Included Labour" on an attendance fee for callout/manually created tasks only:
Attendance Fee Setup: Go to Control Panel > Labour Rates. The "Attendance Fee" product must have:
Created as an attendance fee, using Create > Create attendance fee.
Included Labour (in minutes) defined (e.g., 60 mins).
Labour Increment (in minutes) defined (e.g., 15 mins).
Prompt Location: The warning appears in Margin Review or on the Create Invoice page when Uptick detects that the callout task has more recorded task session time than covered labour on the Work tab.
Problem: I can't find the right product when covering time on a task.
Where the labour modal is turned on for your workspace, a time and materials task with recorded session time shows a Billable labour card with a Cover time button. It opens the Add Billable Labour window. The button is unavailable on an inactive task, once all chargeable hours are covered, or without permission to update tasks. Workspaces that sell technician labour as products on task sessions do not show it.
Attendance fee: The question Do you want to charge an attendance fee? is set to Yes by default. Choose No to skip it. If the task already has an attendance fee, the question is replaced by Add more attendance fees, which changes to Don't add more attendance fees when selected.
Sections: Attendance fee, Business hours, After hours and Travel each have a product selector. Business hours, After hours and Travel appear only when time in that category is uncovered. On a task with no attendance fee, they stay hidden while the question is set to Yes and no fee is chosen.
Products listed: The Attendance fee selector lists products set up as attendance fees. The other selectors list labour products that have included labour or included travel time. When both labour and travel rates are available, they are grouped under Labour rates and Travel rates headings, with labour rates first for Business hours and After hours and travel rates first for Travel.
Product missing: Click Manage labour products at the bottom left of the window, or the link at the end of a selector list, Can't find the product you are looking for? Manage rates in Control Panel. Both open your labour rates in a new tab, where you can add or edit the rate. Without permission to manage products, the button isn't shown and the selector says Can't find the product you need? Ask an admin to add it in Control Panel.
Added products: Each product you add appears as a row under its selector. An Attendance fee row shows the time the fee includes. Business hours, After hours and Travel rows show a duration field and, with permission to view pricing, the charge. Hover over the product name to see its rate, included labour, included travel and billing increment. Uptick prefills the duration with the product's included time plus billing increments until the uncovered time is covered. Edit the duration as needed, or use the remove icon to take the product out.
Coverage: Business hours, After hours and Travel show Uncovered with the time still to cover, or Covered once the products you added cover it. If you add more time than needed, the section shows how much extra was added.
Sessions and Added labour: On the right, Sessions shows the task's session timeline. Added labour lists the products with Charge name, Time and Sell columns, plus a Total. Previously added shows products already saved on the task, and Unsaved charges shows the ones you are adding. No products applied shows until there is one. The Sell column only shows with permission to view pricing.
Opening a session: Click Edit (or View) in a session's popover to open it. If you have unsaved products, Uptick asks Leave with unsaved labour? first. The products you added are restored when you reopen the window on that task within 30 minutes in the same browser tab.
Save: Save is unavailable until you add at least one product. A product with a duration of 0h 0m can't be saved. Uptick shows Enter a time greater than 0. beside it.
6. Permissions Checklist
If you can't see or edit labour rates, ensure your security group has:
"Can change site configuration settings" (To edit Labour Rates).
"Can update tasks" (To manage time sessions).
"Can approve timesheets" (To move costs from commited to actual).
Quick Troubleshooting Summary Table
If you see this... | Check this first... |
Labour not on Invoice | Is the service task marked Performed? |
Cost is $0 on Margin Review | Are the timesheets Approved? |
Tech can't log time | Do they have the Can update tasks permission? |
Wrong labour price | Is there a Price-book override for this client? |
No "Extra Labour" alert | Is Included Labour set on the Labour Product? |
No Cover time button | Is it a time and materials task with recorded session time? |
