[feature suggestion] add default rate / amount for time tracking / tasks

[erichk4]

hi,
i think it would be a timesaver to have an option to set a default amount for the task's added in the time tracker, as an addition it would be useful to add a input field to the "task edit" page (maybe below the description field) to override the default amount previously set.
so if i create an invoice from the selected tasks, the rate / amount would be set automatically...

[hillelcoren]

One option may be to create your rates/services as products.

After invoicing the tasks you can then select the product to set the rate.

[MegaphoneJon]

That's not a bad approach. It's worth comparing to the alternative approach I outlined on #1486. @hillelcoren's suggestion is pretty quick to implement. My approach would require some coding, but would allow different prices for different clients for the same work, non-billable time entries, and some other finer-grained niceties. @hillelcoren - I can put in some of the work toward my idea (or all of it, given enough time), but I'm not sure if that's the direction you want to go.

[hillelcoren]

If you'd like to work on a pull request please email us at contact@invoiceninja.com to review the details.

I like the idea of adding 'is_billable' to tasks, the other changes I'm less sure about...

[jgrossi]

@erichk4 @MegaphoneJon @hillelcoren Maybe just creating a Default Rate field in client's Additional Info section? Then if there's a "default rate" it would be applied in all tasks that invoices has.

[MegaphoneJon]

@jgrossi - despite my lack of movement on this, I've thought quite a lot about it!

The reason I've avoided the "default rate" option you've mentioned is that it only handles a subset of billing types. See Freshbooks' equivalent. I'd like to future-proof any incremental improvements we make, so that future improvements aren't hindered by decisions we make now.

That said - if the default rate is added to the projects table rather than the clients table, I don't think there's a scenario in which we'll end up regretting it. We may need to hide it in the UI if we later add a billing_method field to clients, but that's OK.

Of course, "project" is a required value on tasks in Freshbooks, but not Invoiceninja. I suppose there's an argument that you'd need to create a default rate on the clients table that could be overridden by the projects default rate.

[jgrossi]

@MegaphoneJon yep, maybe under projects makes more sense ;-) you can have different rates inside the same client.. you're right :D

[hillelcoren]

Thanks, this is great feedback!

FYI.. the app was initially built for a single business which creates many invoices but doesn't track expenses or tasks. The decision to add the features was driven mainly by feedback from the community.

Our belief is that we currently provide a best in class invoicing solution with adequate time tracking and expenses. Our plan in the foreseeable future is to change that, you can see our latest improvements to time tracking on our Trello board. We plan to spend more time on it in the future.

https://trello.com/b/63BbiVVe/invoice-ninja