Hours worked in excel

• Microsoft

• Software

Single simple formula to calculate the hours worked for a day shift or night shift and including lunch and all breaks in the calculation.

This tutorial will show you the simple formula that you can use for this and tell you how you can customize it to work for your situation, where you might have more breaks or fewer breaks for which to account.

(Some times in this tutorial are presented using the 24 hour clock, or military time, but that doesn’t change anything in regard to the formulas or their outcomes.)

Sections:

Magic Formula to Calculate Hours Worked

Simple Hours Worked

Day Shift Hours Worked with Breaks and Lunch

Night Shift Hours Worked with Breaks and Lunch

Notes

Magic Formula to Calculate Hours Worked

=MOD(Time_Out - Time_In,1)*24

Time_Out is when they stopped work for whatever reason.

Time_In is when they started work.

*24 is what changes the time format into a decimal format that is easier to read and can be used in mathematical calculations, such as for wages.

This simple formula is the building block for the rest of the tutorial and works for day and night shifts alike.

Using the MOD function, we are able to seamlessly calculate the number of hours and minutes worked during a day shift, night shift, or over both without the hassel of unmanageably long formulas.

This formula also lets us take breaks and lunch into account; we simply create this formula for each break from work and then subtract that from the total time between the first IN and last OUT of the day.

Everything in this tutorial will be an extension of this formula, basically just adding it again for each IN/OUT section.

Let’s start with a simple example in the next section and work our way up to the full example.

Simple Hours Worked

Note: the easiest way to perform this calculation is also the least useful in the real-world and so I won’t cover it beyond this next sentence. With simple times, you can subtract the OUT time from the IN time to get the result, such as =B1-A1 where A1 has the IN time and B1 has the OUT time. This formula breaks-down very quickly in the real world though, so it won’t be covered here; however, I felt it was important to mention it in this note.

=MOD(C2-B2,1)

C2 is the time work stoped. OUT

B2 is the time work started. IN

This returns a time like this:

Get Hours from the Time

The current format is still a time format and is not very useful for calculating how much to pay someone, among other considerations, so let’s change the time to hours.

=MOD(C2-B2,1)*24

*24 was added to the end of the formula, which multiplies the time by 24. This effectively converts the time into a decimal form.

Now:

8 hours and 30 minutes becomes 8.5

8 hours and 45 minutes becomes 8.75

Etc.

Result:

Problem: Weird Format for the Time

If you get a weird time result when you multiply the time by 24, make sure to change the formatting of the cell to General.

If the format is still set to a time or date format, it will not display correctly.

Hint: Ctrl + Shift + ~ will quickly change all selected cells to the General format.

Wage Calculation

Now that you have hours and decimals for the time someone worked, you can easily use this number to calculation wages or sum hours worked per week or month or year, etc.

Day Shift Hours Worked with Breaks and Lunch

We use one MOD function for each IN/OUT segment and subtract the breaks from the total time worked.

=(MOD(G12-B12,1)-MOD(D12-C12,1)-MOD(F12-E12,1))*24

MOD(G12-B12,1) calculates the total time that was worked, using the first time IN and last time OUT.

-MOD(D12-C12,1) calculates the time of the first break. Notice the minus sign in front of this MOD; that is because we are subtracting this break from the total time worked in the day.

-MOD(F12-E12,1) calculates the time of the second break. Notice the minus sign in front of this MOD; that is because we are subtracting this break from the total time worked in the day.

*24 this is put on at the end in order to convert the time format into an hour decimal format that is easy to view and use in calculations such as how much to pay someone. It converts something from 8:30 into 8.5 or 8:45 into 8.75, etc.

() remember to enclose all of the MOD functions together within a set of parentheses before multiplying by 24 or the result will be incorrect.

Result:

This is the basic formula.

Add or remove as many MOD() chunks as you need in order to account for all of the breaks that someone can take during the day.

Funky Formatting

If the result doesn’t look right, make sure to set the result cell’s formatting to General. You can do this from the Home tab or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ~.

Night Shift Hours Worked with Breaks and Lunch

This heavenly formula is exactly the same as the one for the day shift! 

We use one MOD function for each IN/OUT segment and subtract the breaks from the total time worked.

=(MOD(G13-B13,1)-MOD(D13-C13,1)-MOD(F13-E13,1))*24

Cell references have been updated, from the day formula; in Excel I literally just copied the formula down one cell, so the only change was the automatically updating relative cell references.

MOD(G13-B13,1) calculates the total time that was worked, using the first time IN and last time OUT.

-MOD(D13-C13,1) calculates the time of the first break. Notice the minus sign in front of this MOD; that is because we are subtracting this break from the total time worked.

-MOD(F13-E13,1) calculates the time of the second break. Notice the minus sign in front of this MOD; that is because we are subtracting this break from the total time worked.

*24 this is put on at the end in order to convert the time format into an hour decimal format that is easy to view and use in calculations such as how much to pay someone. It converts something from 8:30 into 8.5 or 8:45 into 8.75, etc.

() remember to enclose all of the MOD functions together within a set of parentheses before multiplying by 24 or the result will be incorrect.

Result:

This is the basic formula.

Add or remove as many MOD() chunks as you need in order to account for all of the breaks that someone can take.

Funky Formatting

If the result doesn’t look right, make sure to set the result cell’s formatting to General. You can do this from the Home tab or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ~.

Notes

There are many different ways to calculate time and hours worked in Excel, but, every single way, when used in the real world, is going to be more complicated and confusing than using the MOD function method exhibited in this tutorial. With the MOD function, everything is simple and logical and easy-to-follow. As such, I didn’t spend time showing you other methods because, in reality, you shouldn’t use any other method for the vast majority of situations.

Use the MOD function, keep the code modular, build on it as needed with required logic, and it will all work out, just give it time!

Download the workbook for this tutorial to view these examples in Excel.

Do you know what all of your employees are working on at every moment of the day?

The answer is probably no. And while that may seem okay at the moment, this lack of knowledge can have negative effects on your business as your company grows, and as control over day-to-day operations moves away from you.

In this article, you will learn:

• How Excel timesheet templates work
• How to create an Excel timesheet template with formulas
• How to calculate hours worked in Excel
  • Calculating total hours worked
  • Calculating regular work hours
  • Calculating overtime hours
• Calculating employee pay with Excel payroll formulas
• Locking timesheets when using Excel
• Best practices on distributing Excel timesheets
• Make the most of out timesheets
• Automate the whole process

Being unable to account for where your team spends their time can cause your business’ productivity and profitability to take a hit. This can lead to stagnation and decline.

One of the simplest and most effective ways of avoiding this is introducing timesheets to your company. Timesheets keep track of all the hours your team works each day, the tasks they worked on, and when they did them. Read more about benefits of time tracking in this post.

In this post, you’ll learn how to work with timesheets in Excel to record your team’s progress more accurately and improve your productivity.

How Excel timesheet templates work

Timesheet templates created in Excel are incredibly flexible and can be adapted to suit the individual needs that your business has. However, the overall way they work remains the same. Good timesheet practice will follow this framework:

• Set up timesheets globally, individually, or on a team-by-team basis
• Distribute among employees
• Use for all work, individual projects, or only for tracking billable hours
• Submit to team leaders or project managers for timesheet approval
• Collect and collate data to gain an understanding of how the business and teams are functioning as a whole
• Monthly timesheet review sessions looking at the bigger picture to spot inefficiencies and room for improvement

Timesheets work by keeping everyone updated with how long an employee spends at work, and the type of work they do. Passing timesheets up the hierarchy chain means that all levels of the company understand what goes on from top to bottom.

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Automate time tracking with Hubstaff

Stop wasting time on creating timesheets manually

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Creating Excel timesheet templates with formulas

Excel timesheet templates are the simplest way of recording hours, as they require minimal setup time and minimal input from employees.

Let’s take a look at how to use Microsoft Excel for this purpose. We’ve created a video explaining how to create a timesheet in Excel:

Excel allows for several operations within its cells that allow you to create timesheets customized to your team or business. Essentially, just imagine a typical paper time card and its contents, and convert that into digital spreadsheet form.

To start, fill out your sheet with the following information (feel free to modify depending on your company needs):

• Employee information: Name, department, supervisor, rate
• Entry date
• Tasks performed
• Start time and end time
• Regular and overtime hours worked
• Additional notes

You could also customize the sheet by adding colors, or by placing your company logo if you’re planning on printing and archiving it. Your timesheet should look something like this:

The only columns your team will be filling in will be the Date, Tasks, Start Time, End Time, and Notes columns. You can place formulas within the Regular Hours, Overtime Hours, and Total Hours columns that will automatically calculate the hours based on their start and end time entries.

How to calculate hours worked in Excel

Calculating total hours worked

Calculating the daily hours worked by your team with a spreadsheet isn’t difficult. To start things off, set the Total Hours column to count the number of hours between the start time and end time entries. This can be done by inputting the following formula:

• Total Hours = (End Time – Start Time) * 24

It’s necessary to multiply by 24 because Excel registers a whole day as a value of 1 (e.g. 12 hours will result in a value of 0.5).

Calculating regular hours worked

After the Total Hours, you’ll need a formula for your Regular Hours column. This will depend on how many maximum hours your team is allowed to work before it’s considered overtime. Your formula will look like this:

• Regular Hours = IF (Total Hours >= (max regular hours), (max regular hours), Total Hours)

In the example above, 8 is the maximum number of regular hours your team can work before going into overtime. The Regular Hours cell will only accept a maximum value of 8; if the total number of hours goes beyond that, the excess should go to the Overtime Hours cell.

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Be more productive with automated timesheets

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Calculating overtime hours

Below is the formula for overtime hours:

• Overtime Hours = IF (Total Hours <= max regular hours, 0, (Total Hours – max regular hours))

Based on the start and end time entries, any hours your team worked beyond the daily maximum will automatically be reflected in the Overtime Hours column. This way, you could easily check for unpermitted overtime work, and calculate their overtime pay with increased accuracy.

Calculating employee pay with Excel payroll formulas

After you’ve set up your timesheets to compute regular and overtime hours, you can use them to calculate your team’s pay. This can be done by multiplying their rates with the total number of both regular and overtime hours.

First, use the following formula to count the total number of regular and overtime hours.

• Total Hours = SUM (first row:last row)

Use the same formula for the Overtime and Total Hours columns. For the amount earned, use the following:

• Pay = hours worked * hourly rate

In the example above, the hourly rate is $10 per hour. Use the same formula for the total number of overtime hours worked, or use a different value for the hourly rate if you have specific overtime policies.

To get the total amount earned, simply add the totals of the regular and overtime hours.

• Total Amount Earned = Regular Amount Earned + Overtime Amount Earned

After that, you’re all set. All your team has to do is put in the time they started and stopped working, and the template will do the rest.

Locking timesheets

After timesheets have been submitted, it’s important to limit access for anyone other than authorized managers. This adds an additional layer of security against timesheet fraud, overpayments, and accidental edits to entries.

Formulas aren’t necessary for locking your timesheets. An easy way to do this would be to have your team upload their timesheets at the end of each week to your company’s shared drive. Or, you could create the timesheets directly there if you’re using a file storage and collaboration platform like Google Drive.

The best way to “lock” timesheets is to have your team upload them to one shared folder. Once all of them are turned in, move them to a separate folder accessible only by you, team leaders, and project managers. This prevents the timesheets from being edited by your team after they are submitted.

Distribute timesheets

Once your Excel timesheet template is prepared, it’s time to implement it across all of your teams. The process is straightforward, but here are some things to keep in mind:

• Customize templates and make adjustments to suit individual projects or variations in employee billing/hourly rates
  • Turn your Excel timesheet into a PDF. PDFs can be customized for each employee, printed off, and handed in each week or month
  • Turn your Excel timesheet into a Word document. Word documents can be managed on a computer and then uploaded to a file-sharing service at the end of the month or another defined period
  • Turn your timesheet into a Google spreadsheet that’s worked on collaboratively. There’s no need to worry about employees doctoring their times or the times of others as Google tracks changes made to the document
• Distribute to employees using one of the methods noted above
• Track the data: Depending on the option used, you can either collate data on a monthly basis and then analyze, or check-in periodically
• Analyze and refine: Make changes to workflows, team structures, and resource distribution based on feedback and data collected by timesheets

One thing to remember is that discipline and consistency are absolutely necessary for timesheets to have maximum effect, but they pay off. After a while, you’ll start to notice your teams’ productivity start rising, and your business’ overall performance improving.

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An easier way to track hours

Automatic time tracking, productivity measurement, detailed reports, and more

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How to make the most of timesheet templates

The key to making the most out of timesheet templates is following a rigid process, and ensuring that your employees fill them out regularly.

The benefits that timesheet templates have to offer your business (in terms of cost-saving, waste elimination, and data gathering) mean that they are an invaluable business tool that should always be used to the greatest effect. Here are some guidelines to make this happen:

Make employees fill timesheets out honestly, and on a regular basis

Employees should fill out their timesheets multiple times each day, and should make sure that they are completely honest with the time that they input.

One of the benefits of timesheets is that they help to pinpoint inefficiencies and roadblocks that stop your employees from working effectively. You can only identify these when your employees have filled out their timesheets honestly, as any made-up entries will skew the data.

Closely monitor timesheets to spot trends

As a leader within your company, you and other managers should closely monitor the timesheets that employees submit so that you can identify trends (both positive and negative). And, so that you can stay constantly informed of what’s going on in your business.

To do this effectively, spend some time each week looking back on the timesheet information, identifying areas of low (and high) productivity across the board, and then try to match up these areas to events that happened during the week.

Doing this often will help you to continuously improve your business.

Hold regular review sessions with team leaders and managers to deconstruct business’ performance and productivity

To make sure that you are getting the best out of your employees, hold regular sessions to review the performance of individual employees and your business as a whole.

Having regular review sessions means that even if you aren’t heavily involved with what goes on in your company on a day-to-day basis, you’ll still have a great understanding of how things are actually running and that you are positioned to make informed decisions about your company’s future.

Continuously refine your company’s processes and workflows

Having all of the data about how your employees work means that you can make informed decisions that refine workflows and change your company’s processes. Both of these can make your company more cost-efficient and more productive.

Automate the whole process with Hubstaff’s online timesheets

Hubstaff is a time tracking solution that allows you to streamline timesheets and time management. It tracks all of your team’s work hours, and the tasks they work on, and automatically generates detailed and accurate timesheets.

Instead of entering hours into a timesheet template, Hubstaff tracks time toward specific projects and tasks with a simple start and stop feature available through desktop, web, or mobile apps.

With Hubstaff, your team doesn’t have to note what time they have arrived in the office or started working, or what tasks they spent time on. They can start tracking their time and the task with just the click of a button. Hubstaff will handle everything else from timesheet creation to payroll processing.

Managers can get daily timesheets emailed directly to them, see how much of a budget has been used, set hourly limits for team members, and review and approve timesheets all from one central dashboard.

Compared to timesheet templates, Hubstaff offers a higher level of accuracy because you can turn on features including app and URL tracking, random screen capture while the timer is running, activity rates, and more. With Hubstaff, there’s no question about what was worked on when.

Finally, you can use the hours tracked and pay rates to automatically issue payroll to your team. The same goes for client invoices; just review timesheets at the end of each pay period, set bill rates, and you can send invoices much sooner.

Are you ready to start using timesheets?

Timesheets, when used correctly, are hugely powerful tools that can help to transform your business for the better.

They can dramatically increase productivity, make it easier for your employees to motivate themselves, and make your business run more smoothly.

To get started implementing timesheets into your business, you can download timesheet templates that we prepared, or create one specifically tailored for your business with a spreadsheet app and our guide above.

Alternatively, you can use Hubstaff to automate the whole process, and not worry about forgetting to note what time you clocked in or out.

Whatever your choice is, we’d like to know if you use timesheet templates in your organization, and how it has contributed to your team’s success. Do you have any go-to templates you’ve been using for years, or software tools that might be helpful to other business owners as well? Let us hear about it in the comments below.

This post was originally published September 15, 2016, and updated August 2019.

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How do you sum HH mm/s in Excel?

In the Format Cells dialog box, go to the Number tab, select Custom in the Category box, then enter [HH]:MM or [HH]:MM:SS into the Type box, and finally click the OK button. See screenshot: Now the result of summing times is displayed over 24 hours as below screenshot shown.

How do you calculate total hours worked in a month in Excel?

How to calculate working hours per month in Excel?

1. Calculate total working hours per month with formulas.
2. Enter this formula: =NETWORKDAYS(A2,B2) * 8 into a blank cell where you want to put the result, and then press Enter key, and you will get a date format cell as following screenshot shown:

What is the easiest way to calculate hours worked?

How to calculate hours worked

1. Determine the start and the end time.
2. Convert the time to military time (24 hours)
3. Transform the minutes in decimals.
4. Subtract the start time from the end time.
5. Subtract the unpaid time taken for breaks.

How do you calculate hours worked?

Take your number of minutes and divide by 60.

1. Take your number of minutes and divide by 60. In this example your partial hour is 15 minutes:
2. Add your whole hours back in to get 41.25 hours. So 41 hours, 15 minutes equals 41.25 hours.
3. Multiply your rate of pay by decimal hours to get your total pay before taxes.

How do you sum amounts in Excel?

If you need to sum a column or row of numbers, let Excel do the math for you. Select a cell next to the numbers you want to sum, click AutoSum on the Home tab, press Enter, and you’re done. When you click AutoSum, Excel automatically enters a formula (that uses the SUM function) to sum the numbers. Here’s an example.

How do I calculate time duration in Excel?

Another simple technique to calculate the duration between two times in Excel is using the TEXT function:

1. Calculate hours between two times: =TEXT(B2-A2, “h”)
2. Return hours and minutes between 2 times: =TEXT(B2-A2, “h:mm”)
3. Return hours, minutes and seconds between 2 times: =TEXT(B2-A2, “h:mm:ss”)

How do I add 24 hours to a time in Excel?

To add a desired time interval to a given time, divide the number of hours, minutes, or seconds you want to add by the number of the corresponding unit in a day (24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86400 seconds), and then add the quotient to the start time.

How do you calculate pay hours?

First, determine the total number of hours worked by multiplying the hours per week by the number of weeks in a year (52). Next, divide this number from the annual salary. For example, if an employee has a salary of $50,000 and works 40 hours per week, the hourly rate is $50,000/2,080 (40 x 52) = $24.04.

Can you SUM text in Excel?

Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to get the SUM of the required text values as this is an array formula.

How do you SUM and MaX in Excel?

Select a cell which you place the formula at, type this =MaX(20,(SUM(A5:A10))), A5:A10 is the cell range you will sum up, and press Enter.

How do I calculate hours and minutes in Excel for payroll?

Click on cell “A1” and enter the first of your payroll times. Enter the time as “xx:yy” where “xx” is the number of hours worked, and “yy” is the number of minutes worked. Press Enter and Excel will automatically select cell A2. Enter your next payroll time in A2.

How do I add 8 hours to a time in Excel?

In the Formulas Helper dialog box, you need to:

1. In the Choose a formula box, select Add hours to date.
2. In the Date Time box, select the cell containing the date time you will add or subtract hours from.
3. In the Number box, enter the number of hours you want to add or substract.
4. Click the OK button.

How do I add 6 hours to a time in Excel?

In Excel, generally, you may use the formulas to add hours, minutes or seconds to the datetime cells. 1. Select the cell next to the first cell of the datetime list, and then type this formula =A2+1/24 into it, press Enter key and drag the auto fill handle over the cell needed this formula.

How do you calculate your hours and minutes worked?

To calculate total hours worked, add up the total hours. Add the total minutes together separately from the hours. Your employee’s total hours is 40. Now, add together the total minutes.

How do I calculate payroll time in Excel?

If you input the starting time of an employee and the ending time of an employee, you can calculate total hours worked. Excel allows you to use time values in your cells. To find total hours worked, with the example, use formula “=B2-A2”. Enter this amount in cell C2 under “Total Hours Worked.”

How do you sum and deduct in Excel?

Subtract two or more numbers in a cell

1. Click any blank cell, and then type an equal sign (=) to start a formula.
2. After the equal sign, type a few numbers that are separated by a minus sign (-). For example, 50-10-5-3.
3. Press RETURN . If you use the example numbers, the result is 32.

Today we’ll have a look at how to calculate the number of hours worked in Excel in a few simple steps.

Follow my lead!

See the video tutorial and transcription below: 

See this video on YouTube:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWxNVVfO-gk

The table we prepared contains the time when an employee started and finished work. Hours worked can be calculated easily, as time difference – simply take the later time and subtract the earlier one.

Keep in mind one rule, though.

If Excel is to subtract time accurately and to display the right time format, cells must be formatted properly before the calculation takes place. Formatting of the cells in this table was set in the previous tutorial. If you want to know more about how to set the right formatting, watch our video on how to insert and format time in Excel.

If the cells have been formatted as needed, click in the cell where you want the result to appear. In this case it’s cell E3.

Type in the ‘equal’ sign and click on the cell that contains the later time value, which means 4:30 PM here. Since we’re subtracting, insert the minus and now just add the time logged under ‘Start Work’.

Press ‘Enter’, and we’ve got the result! On Monday, the employee worked nine hours and thirty minutes in total.

How to Calculate Hours Worked in Excel (whole week in a minute)

If you want to calculate hours worked for each day of the week, simply click on the bottom right corner of the cell containing the formula and drag down the cells where we need the formula to do the calculation, too.

That’s it! Good job!

Simple calculation of hours worked for each day of the week has been done!

But watch out for this!

Don’t miss out a great opportunity to learn:

• How to Sum Time in Excel
• How to Calculate Hours Worked in Excel (Midnight Span)
• How to Insert and Format Time in Excel

If you’ve found this tutorial helpful, like us and subscribe to receive more videos from EasyClick Academy. Look at more tutorials that help you use Excel quick and easy!

See you in the next tutorial!

Chandoo posted an interesting challenge on his blog last Friday, challenging users to calculated hours worked for an employee name Billy.  This example resonated with me for a couple of reasons.  The first is that I’ve had to do this kind of stuff in the past, the second is because I’ve got a new toy I’d use to do it.  (Yup… that toy would be Power Query.)

It always blows my mind how many people respond on Chandoo’s blog.  As the answers were pouring in, I decided to tackle the issue my own way too.  I thought I’d share a bit more detailed version of that here as I think many users still struggle with time in Excel.

Background and Excel Formula Solution

Chandoo provided a sample file on his blog, so I downloaded it.  The basic table of data looks like this:

Now, for anyone who has done this a long time, there a few key pieces to solving this:

• The recognition that all times are fractions of days,
• The recognition that if you omit the day it defaults to 1900-01-01, and
• The data includes End times that are intended to be the day following the Start time

The tricks we use to deal with this are:

• Test if the End time is less than the start time.  If so, add a day.  (This allows us to subtract the Start from the End and get the difference in hours.
• Multiply the hours by 24.  (This allows us to convert the fractional time into a number that represents hours instead of fractions of a day.)

Easy enough, and the following submitted formula (copied down from F4:F9 and summed) works:

=(D4+IF(C4>D4,1,0)-C4)*24

Also, there was a great comment that Billy shouldn’t get paid for his lunch break.  Where I used to work (before I went out on my own), we had a rule that if you worked any more than 4 hours you MUST take a lunch break.  Plumbing in that logic, we’d would need a different formula.  There’s lots that would work, and this is one:

=((D4+IF(C4>D4,1,0)-C4)*24)-IF(((D4+IF(C4>D4,1,0)-C4)*24)>4,1,0)

So why Power Query?

If we can do this in Excel, why would we cook up a Power Query solution?  Easy.  Because I’m tired of having to actually write the formula every time Billy sends me his timesheet. Formula work is subject to error, so why not essentially automate the solution?

Using Power Query to Calculate Hours Worked

Okay, first thing I’m going to do is set up a system.  I’m set up a template, email to Billy and get him to fill it out and email it to me every two weeks.  I’ll save the file in a folder, and get to work.

• Open a blank workbook –> Power Query –> From File –> From Excel
• Browse and locate the file
• Select the “Billy” worksheet (Ok, to be fair, it would probably be called Sheet1 in my template)

• Click Edit

And now the fun begins…

• Home –> Remove Rows –> Remove Top Rows –> 2
• Transform –> Use First Row as Headers
• Filter the Day column to remove (null) values
• Select the Day:End columns –> right click –> Remove Other Columns

And we’ve now got a nice table of data to start with:

Not bad, but the data type for the Start and End columns is set to “any”.  That’s bad news to me, as I want to do some Date/Time math.  The secret here is that we need our values to be Date/Times (not just times), so let’s force that format on them, just to be safe:

• Select Start:End –> Transform –> Date/Time

Next, we need to test if the Start Date occurs after the End Date.  Let’s use one step to test that and add one day if it’s true:

• Add Column –> Add Custom Column
  • Name:  Custom
  • Formula:  =if [Start]>[End] then Date.AddDays([End],1) else [End]

So basically, we add 1 day to the End data if the Start time is greater than the end time.  Once we’ve done that, we can:

• Right click the End column –> Remove
• Right click the Custom column –> Rename –> End

And, as you can see, we’ve got 3 records that have been increased by a day (they are showing 12/31/1899 instead of 12/30/1899

Good stuff, let’s figure out the difference between these two. The order of the next 3 steps is important…

• Select the End column
• Hold down the CTRL key and select the Start column
• Go to Add Column –> Time –> Subtract

Because we selected the Start column second, it is subtracted from the End column we selected first:

Now we can set the Start and End columns so that only show times, as we don’t need the date portion any more.  In addition, we want to convert the TimeDifference to hours:

• Select the Start:End columns –> Transform –> Time
• Select the TimeDifference column –> Transform –> Decimal Number

Hmm… that didn’t work quite as cleanly as we’d like:

Ah… but times are fractions of days, right?  Let’s multiply this column by 24 and see what happens:

• With the TimeDifference column selected:  Transform –> Standard –> Multiply –> 24
• Right click the TimeDifference column –> Rename –> Hours

Nice!

Oh… but what about those breaks?

• Add Column –> Add Custom Column
  • Name:  Breaks
  • Formula:  =if [Hours]>4 then -1 else 0
• Add Column –> Add Custom Column
  • Name:  Net Hours
  • Formula:  =[Hours]+[Breaks]

And here we go:

At this point I would generally:

• Change the name of the query to something like:  Timesheet
• Close and Load to a Table
• Add a total row to the table

But just in case you only cared about the total of the Net Hours column, we could totally do that in Power Query as well.  Even though it’s not something I would do (I’m sure Billy would trust YOU implicitly and never want to see the support that proved you added things up correctly…), here’s how you’d do it:

• Go to Transform –> Group By
• Click the – character next to the Day label to remove that grouping level
• Set up the Grouping column:
  • Name:  Net Hours
  • Operation:  Sum
  • Column:  Net Hours

Here’s what it looks like if you set the column details up first, indicating where to click to remove the grouping level:

And the result after you click OK:

Holy Cow that’s a LOT of Work!?!

Not really.  Honestly, it took me about a minute to cook it up.  (And a LOT longer to write this post.)  But even better, this work was actually an investment.  Next time I get a timesheet, I just save it over the old one, open this file, right click the table and click Refresh.  Done, dusted, finished and time to move on to more challenging problems.

Even better, if I wanted to get really serious with it, I could implement a parameter function to make the file path relative to the file, and then I could pass it off to someone else to refresh.  Or automate the refresh completely.  After all, why write formulas every month if you don’t have to?

🙂

Formatting Cells and AutoSum

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