Kimai (time)¶
Purpose¶
Kimai is the studio timesheet. Every billable and internal hour is logged here. Mindful Ops reads these entries for planned-vs-actual. Support tickets and MainWP work still need a timesheet on the matching customer and project.
Audience¶
Everyone who bills or tracks time.
Access / URL¶
Live: https://time.mindfuldesign.me
- Sign in with the provisioned account (usually studio email).
- Set profile timezone if prompted. Studio default for sync is Europe/Paris. Use the timezone actually worked in so start/stop times are accurate.
- Confirm the customers and projects for assigned work are visible. Admin maps or creates missing clients — do not invent a lookalike name.
Admins create API tokens for Ops sync only. Do not put tokens in tickets or git.
How it works¶
Ops syncs Kimai customers → Ops clients and Kimai projects → Ops projects (with auto-provision when enabled). Wrong Kimai metadata means wrong Logged hours on the planning grid.
| Kimai | Mindful Ops |
|---|---|
| Timesheets in the sync window | Upserted; removed in Kimai → pruned in Ops |
| User / customer / project IDs | Mapped to team members, clients, projects |
| Weekly totals | Logged on the planning grid |
The Ops Time page is a read-only browse of what sync already pulled. Fix hours in Kimai, then sync.
Day-to-day procedures¶
Log time¶
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Pick customer (client) then project (retainer, named job, or internal). |
| 2 | Start the timer when work begins, or add a timesheet after the fact with start/end (or duration). |
| 3 | Short description: what was done, ticket MD-n if support, site name if fleet work. |
| 4 | Stop the timer when switching task or finishing. Do not leave a timer running overnight. |
| 5 | Check the week view before logging off. |
Record: client work (support, features, content, client meetings); internal studio work on the internal customer/project Ops specifies; client meetings on that client.
Do not record: the same hour in Ops, Deck, or a spreadsheet; another person’s Kimai user; passwords or card data in the description.
Customers and projects¶
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Project not found | Ask Ops before creating one (duplicates break reporting) |
| Worked on the wrong project | Edit the timesheet in Kimai the same day |
| New client needed | Admin creates it in Kimai and confirms the Ops map |
Weekly close¶
Before the weekly planning review:
- All timers stopped.
- Each day has entries that match work done.
- Support work references
MD-nwhere a ticket exists. - If old entries were moved or deleted, Ops may need a full Kimai sync (incremental sync covers about a week).
Sources of truth¶
Kimai is the system of record for time. Ops Logged hours are a sync of Kimai.
Related systems¶
- Mindful Ops (planning)
- Support tickets — reference
MD-nin the description - MainWP Dashboard — log fleet work on the matching client
Gotchas¶
| Problem | What to try |
|---|---|
| Cannot log in | Password reset / Admin. Do not reuse an old Connecteam login |
| Empty customer list | Permissions — Admin assigns teams |
| Ops Logged does not match | Wait for hourly sync or Admin Sync now; confirm dates and project |
| Timer still running | Stop it; split the entry if two clients were mixed |
Kimai is hosted on the same ops account family as Planning (time.mindfuldesign.me). Outages: KnownHost / ops DNS — do not post infrastructure secrets here.