> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.timetracker.in/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The TimeTracker data model > How clients, projects, sections, tasks, time entries, timesheets, budgets and invoices relate to each other, and which records depend on which. This page is the structural view of TimeTracker. If [how TimeTracker works](/concepts/how-timetracker-works) is the story, this is the map. ## The shape ``` Workspace ├── Members ──────────── belong to Groups │ carry a Role (and a supervision scope) │ carry Rates (billable and cost) │ follow a Work schedule │ ├── Clients ──────────── the companies you bill │ └── Projects ─────── one engagement for a client │ ├── Sections ─── the phases or columns of that project │ │ └── Tasks ── the unit of work │ │ ├── Estimate │ │ ├── Assignees │ │ ├── Tags │ │ ├── Subtasks │ │ └── Comments and attachments │ ├── Budget ───── hours or money, one-time or monthly │ ├── Members ──── who works on it │ └── Rates ────── overrides for this project │ ├── Time entries ─────── one person, one stretch of time, one task or project │ ├── roll up into ─── Timesheets (a person's week) │ │ └── Submission → Approval → Locked │ ├── consume ──────── the project Budget │ └── become ───────── Invoice lines (if billable and approved) │ ├── Timecards ────────── clock in and out, a person's day at work ├── Expenses ─────────── costs that are not hours ├── Leave requests ───── time off, against a Leave policy ├── Planned blocks ───── intended work, before it happens ├── Invoices ─────────── └── Payments └── Reports ──────────── read across everything above ``` ## The records, one by one ### Workspace The tenant. Everything below belongs to exactly one workspace and never crosses between them. See [workspaces](/concepts/workspaces). ### Member A person's membership of a workspace. This is where their **role** lives, so the same login can be an Owner in one workspace and a Member in another. A member also carries their rates, their schedule and their group memberships. **A member is not the same as an invitation.** An invitation is a pending offer of access. It counts toward your seats, but it is not yet a person. Once accepted it becomes a membership, and the two are never double-counted. See [pending invitations](/team/pending-invitations). ### Group A standing team of people – "Design", "Engineering", "Dublin office". Groups are used for reporting and for [supervision scope](/concepts/supervision-scope). A group does not own projects. It is a way of naming a set of people. ### Client A company you bill. Clients own projects and are the anchor for the [client portal](/portal/overview). ### Project One engagement for one client. This is the most important record in the product, because almost everything hangs off it: tasks, time, budget, rates, invoices and portal access. **A project belongs to exactly one client.** Moving a project to a different client changes who can see it in the portal, because portal access is derived from the client. See [project visibility](/projects/project-visibility). ### Section The phases or columns inside a project – "To do / Doing / Done", or "Discovery / Design / Build / Launch". Sections are per project, so each project describes its own workflow. Sections are the user-facing status model for tasks. See [project sections](/projects/project-sections). ### Task The unit of work. A task sits in a section, inside a project. A task carries an estimate, assignees, tags, subtasks, comments, attachments, dependencies and a task number. See [task fields](/tasks/task-fields). ### Time entry The atom of the whole product: **one person, one stretch of time, against one task or project**. Every entry records: * Who, when, how long * Which task or project * Billable or not * **A frozen copy of the rates that applied at that moment** That last one matters. Changing a rate next month never rewrites last month's numbers. See [rate snapshots](/rates/rate-snapshots). ### Timesheet Not a separate record you fill in – it is a **view** of one person's time entries for one week, plus a submission state. Recording time *is* filling in your timesheet. The timesheet adds the workflow: draft → submitted → approved or rejected, and locked once approved. See [how timesheets work](/timesheets/how-timesheets-work). ### Timecard A record of **presence**: clocked in at 09:02, clocked out at 17:30. It says you were at work. It does not say what you worked on. Timecards and time entries are separate on purpose. A factory or shop floor cares about presence. An agency cares about what the hours were spent on. Some businesses track both. See [Time Clock](/time-clock/overview). ### Budget A ceiling on a project – **hours** or **money**, **one-time** or **monthly**. Recorded time consumes it. See [how budgets work](/budgets/how-budgets-work). ### Rate The price of an hour. There are two kinds, and they are walled off from each other: * **Billable rate** – what you charge * **Cost rate** – what it costs you Rates can be set at several levels, and a resolution order decides which one wins for a given hour. See [how rates are chosen](/rates/how-rates-are-chosen). ### Expense A cost that is not an hour – software, travel, a stock photo licence. An expense can be billable, in which case it can end up on an invoice. See [expenses](/expenses/overview). ### Leave request Time off, checked against a leave policy and a balance. See [time off](/time-off/overview). ### Planned block Intended work, placed on a calendar before it happens. A block has one **organiser** and a roster of participants. Only the organiser's copy syncs to Google Calendar. A block is an intention. A time entry is a record. They never merge. See [planner vs tracked time](/planner/planner-vs-tracked-time). ### Invoice A bill to a client, made of lines. Lines usually come from approved billable time and billable expenses. An invoice snapshots the details it needs – including your own company's "bill from" block – so changing your address next year does not rewrite last year's invoices. See [invoice sender details](/invoicing/invoice-sender-details). ### Payment Money received against an invoice. Several payments can sit against one invoice, which is why `partially_paid` is a real status. See [record a payment](/invoicing/record-a-payment). ## Which records depend on which Useful to know before you delete something. | If you remove… | What is affected | | ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | A **member** | Their time entries stay. Their tasks need reassigning. | | A **client** | Its projects go with it, and its portal contacts lose access. | | A **project** | Its tasks, budget and project rates go with it. Its time entries and any invoices already raised are the reason this is a high-impact delete. | | A **task** | Time recorded against it stays, attached to the project. | | A **section** | Its tasks must move somewhere first. | | A **time entry** | Budget burn and timesheet totals recalculate. | | An **invoice** | Void it rather than delete it. The time behind it is untouched. | Nothing is deleted in one step. Most deletes move the record to [Trash](/data/trash-and-restore) first, and high-impact deletes ask you to type the record's name to confirm. ## One-to-many at a glance | Parent | Children | | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | Workspace | Members, groups, clients, tags, roles, apps, settings | | Client | Projects, portal contacts | | Project | Sections, tasks, budget, project members, project rates | | Section | Tasks | | Task | Subtasks, comments, attachments, time entries | | Member | Time entries, timecards, expenses, leave requests, rates | | Invoice | Lines, payments | ## Related guides The same model as a story, with numbers. Every term defined in one place. What happens when a record goes away. The record most of the model hangs off.