Control project time before cost drifts out of view
Connect approved time, cost rules, budgets, forecasts, corrections, and downstream systems in one governed project-control workflow.
Transparent project control — not employee surveillance or automatic financial judgment.
Project Time & Cost Control Center • Portfolio
Budget vs. Approved Actual vs. Forecast
● Forecast > BudgetCurrent Budget
$2.40M
v3 • approved
Approved Actual
$1.61M
67% consumed
Forecast @ Completion
$2.58M
+7.5% vs budget
Exceptions
6
2 provisional
Unapproved time · 2 records
ProvisionalFX rate unavailable · EUR → USD
Blocks calcBudget version mismatch · Phase 2
Needs reviewOwner · Project Finance Reviewer
AssignedProject, phase & cost-object views • No worker productivity ranking. Synthetic data.
Time and cost are related —
not interchangeable
ZoikoTime keeps payable time, project effort, internal cost, billable value, budget, forecast, and reconciliation as distinct, governed measures.
Approved time
Versioned rates
Budget & forecast
Controlled adjustments
Reconciled outputs
One hour is not one number
Model each measure on its own terms—with its own rules, permissions, and downstream target.
Project effort
Approved or planned time assigned to a project, phase, task, or cost code with allocation version and scope.
Internal cost
Effort transformed by an approved internal cost rule: rate type, version, currency, effective date, formula, and rounding.
Billable value
Billable quantity × approved billing rate or fee rule by contract or change order, separate from internal cost.
Budget & forecast
Approved planned limit and projected outcome by dimension and period, each versioned and owned.
One governed view — from approved time to reconciled output.
Budgets, forecasts, and variance you can explain, defend, and reconcile.
Where project cost quietly goes wrong
Each driver is met with a governed control — visible, versioned, and human-owned.
Rate version mismatch
Historical time gets calculated with the wrong or current rate. Fixed with effective-dated rate versions and controlled revaluation.
Currency or FX gap
Project, contract, and reporting values can't be compared. Fixed with currency roles, FX source, rate date, version, and missing-rate state.
Unapproved time in actuals
Draft or disputed time overstates cost. Fixed by separating submitted, approved, corrected, and reconciled time, with provisional clearly labeled.
Variance without context
Overspend may be an approved scope change or timing. Fixed by showing budget version, scope/change order, phase, and forecast before escalation.
Allocation overwrite
Moving hours erases the original approval. Fixed with append-only allocation adjustments preserving before/after history and authority.
Blurred system boundary
ERP or PSA stays authoritative. Fixed by showing system of record per object, mapping, freshness, and reconciliation.
The Control Model
Seven governed steps from time to
reconciliation
Capture → cost rules → allocate → budget → forecast → route exceptions → close & improve.
Capture approved time
Reuse fair, approved time records with source, provenance, and worker-visible history.
Apply cost & rate rules
Transform effort with versioned, effective-dated internal cost rates, currency, and rounding—disclosed, not hidden.
Allocate to projects
Assign time to project, phase, task, or cost code with versioned, append-only allocations.
Compare to budget
Measure approved actuals against baseline budget and approved changes by dimension and period.
Forecast & explain variance
Project outcome vs. budget and attribute variance to scope, mix, timing, rate, or data quality.
Route exceptions
Send unapproved time, missing rates, or budget mismatches to the authorized owner—never auto-judged.
Close & improve
Lock periods, preserve evidence, handle late entries, and analyze recurring causes.
Roles
Proof for every buyer, on their terms
Illustrative imagery of the teams this serves—finance, delivery, and operations.
Finance & Project Accounting
Versioned rates, budgets, forecasts, variance, and reconciliation evidence.
Delivery & PS Operations
Budget consumption, forecast, and exceptions by project, phase, and cost object.
Ops, Payroll & Procurement
Approved time and outputs that connect to payroll, billing, and ledgers while remaining separate.
Imagery is illustrative — photos from Unsplash, not depictions of specific ZoikoTime customers.
Rate Governance
Sensitive rates, controlled by design
Separate rate types with effective dates, scope, currency, access control, and calculation disclosure—compensation stays restricted.
Rate & Cost-Rule Governance
Effective-dated · Versioned| Rate Type | Scope | Version | Visibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal cost rate | Senior Eng · USD | v4 · Jan 1 | Finance only |
| Billing rate | Contract A · USD | v2 | Commercial only |
| Pay / contractor ref | Restricted | — | Compensation hidden |
| FX rule | EUR → USD | v7 · daily | Missing → blocks calc |
Versioned, scoped, sensitive rate control
Internal cost, billing, contractor, blended, FX, and rounding rules are modeled separately. Every rule is versioned and effective-dated so historical calculations always retain the correct version while sensitive values remain protected server-side.
Separate internal cost vs. billing rate
Effective-dated versions — no silent overwrite
Compensation restricted & excluded from exports
Budget & Forecast
Explain variance before you escalate it
Baseline, approved changes, current budget, forecast versions, and variance categories—with the reason and the owner of the next action.
Approved baselines,
forecast & variance evidence
See what changed, why, what is provisional, and who owns the next action. Variance is attributed to scope, mix, timing, rate, or data quality—not misconduct.
Versioned baseline, changes & current budget
Forecast at completion vs. approved budget
Variance reasons & a named owner
Budget, Forecast & Variance
Forecast > BudgetReconciliation
Cost, billing, payroll & ledger —
separate and traceable
Approved outputs connect to downstream systems with their own statuses. A correction in one never silently changes another.
Downstream Reconciliation
Targets Kept Separate| Target | Version | Ack | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payroll input | v3 | 18:30 | Reconciled |
| Billing / Invoice | v3 | 18:31 | Accepted |
| Project Ledger (ERP) | v3 | — | Mismatch · Retry |
| Accounting Close | — | — | Period Soft-Locked |
Keep every downstream target independent
Each target—payroll, billing, project ledger, and accounting—has its own transmitted version, acknowledgment, and reconciliation state. ZoikoTime reconciles; it does not replace your accounting, payroll, billing, or ERP systems.
System-of-record shown per object
Transmission, acknowledgment & reconciliation
No cross-contamination between targets
Complete States
No ambiguous status — ever
Time, budget, and period states are explicit throughout the entire lifecycle.
Period lock, project closure, billing, payroll, and accounting close are separate states. Late entries route through a governed adjustment or an authorized reopen process.
Financial control — never worker surveillance.
Project, phase & cost-object views. No productivity ranking. No automatic financial judgment.
Trust, Privacy & Security
Control cost without watching people
The interface defaults to project, phase, team, and cost-object views. It never ranks individuals by productivity or treats variance as misconduct.
Anti-surveillance Invariant
No screenshots, keystroke content, URL history, application-name monitoring, or clipboard collection under any tier or configuration.
Human authority remains controlling. ZoikoTime does not replace accounting, payroll, billing, ERP, or statutory financial systems, and makes no automatic profitability, tax, or compliance judgment. Rates, currencies, integrations, and availability are registry-controlled and labeled Needs setup, Requires integration, or Planned where applicable.
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