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How OwlOps Calculates Travel Time and Labor Time
Overview
When a technician is clocked in, OwlOps automatically tracks two types of time:
- Travel Time — Time spent getting to a job site
- Labor Time — Time spent actively working on a job/task
These totals are calculated in real time and displayed on the timesheet. Understanding how this works can help explain why the numbers look the way they do.
The Building Blocks: Events
The system tracks a small set of key events during a technician's shift:
| Event | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Clock In | The technician starts their shift |
| Check In | The technician arrives at a specific job site |
| Check Out | The technician leaves a job site |
| Hours Update | The technician manually logs time against a task |
How Travel Time Is Calculated
Travel time is the gap between the last meaningful activity and the technician's most recent Check In.
In plain terms: If nothing happened for 30 minutes and then the tech checked in somewhere, the system assumes they were traveling for those 30 minutes.
Example:
- 8:00 AM — Tech clocks in
- 8:45 AM — Tech checks in at a job site
- Travel Time = 45 minutes
If the tech never checks in at a site, or checks in before any other activity occurs, travel time will be zero.
How Labor Time Is Calculated
Labor time starts from the most recent Check In (or last activity if no check-in has occurred) and runs forward to right now.
In plain terms: Once you arrive at a job, the clock starts counting your labor.
Example (continuing from above):
- 8:45 AM — Tech checks in
- 10:30 AM — Timesheet is viewed
- Labor Time = 1 hour 45 minutes
What Happens When Hours Are Logged Manually
If someone has already logged hours against a task (via an Hours Update), the system avoids double-counting. It looks at how much time has already been recorded and only counts the remaining time since the last check-in.
Example:
- Tech checks in at 9:00 AM
- 2 hours have already been logged against tasks in this session
- It is now 11:30 AM (2.5 hours since check-in)
- Labor Time = 0.5 hours (2.5 hours elapsed − 2 hours already logged)
What Happens After a Check Out
Once a tech checks out of a job site, the labor clock effectively pauses. If the tech then checks in somewhere new, the gap between the check-out and that new check-in becomes travel time again.
Special Case: No Labor Time Yet
If the system calculates zero labor time but there is some travel time showing, the system will move that travel time into the labor column instead. This prevents a situation where a tech appears to have traveled somewhere but done no work at all, which usually just means they haven't formally checked in yet.
What the System Does NOT Do
- It does not use GPS or location data to determine travel time. It cannot tell whether the tech physically moved — it only looks at the timestamps of events.
- It does not know the distance between job sites.
- It does not apply minimum billing hours or travel suppression rules to the timesheet display. Those rules are applied separately when an invoice is generated.