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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Getting Started
How do I log into hidma?
Navigate to app.hidma.com, enter your email address and password, and click Sign In. If you've forgotten your password, click "Forgot Password" to reset it.
What browsers does hidma support?
hidma works best on modern browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. We recommend keeping your browser up to date for the best experience.
Can I use hidma on my phone or tablet?
Yes! hidma can be accessed through your mobile browser at app.hidma.com. The mobile web interface is optimized for time tracking and essential functions on the go.
Time Tracking
How do I record time I worked?
Go to Timesheets and click the "Add New" button. Select the client, project, and job, enter the date and time worked, add a description of the work, and click Save.
How do I edit a time entry?
Click on any existing time entry in your timesheet to open the edit dialog, make your changes, and click Save.
How do I delete a time entry?
There are two ways to delete a time entry:
- Click the three dots (⋯) at the end of the time entry row and select "Delete"
- Open the edit dialog for the entry and change the time for that day to 0
Why can't I see certain projects or clients?
You can only see projects and clients that you have permission to access. This is typically controlled by your team assignments and user role. Contact your system administrator or team manager if you need access to additional projects.
Can I enter time for past dates?
Yes, you can enter time for any date, past or future. Simply select the appropriate date when creating your time entry.
Billing
What's the difference between a bill and an invoice?
In hidma, "bills" and "invoices" typically refer to the same thing - the document you send to clients requesting payment. However, if your organization uses Request for Payments (RFP) mode, bills become RFPs which are converted to invoices after payment.
What is a Request for Payment (RFP)?
An RFP (or Pro Forma Invoice) is a preliminary billing document that requests payment but is not a legally binding invoice. When RFP mode is enabled, all bills you create are RFPs. Once the client pays an RFP in hidma, the system automatically generates an actual invoice. This approach is typically used by legal firms.
How do I create a bill?
Go to the Bills section, click "Create Bill", select the client and billing period, choose which time entries and charges to include, review the amounts, and click Generate Bill.
Can I edit a bill after creating it?
This depends on your organization's settings and the bill's status. Generally, draft bills can be edited, but finalized or paid bills cannot be changed. Check with your administrator about your organization's policies.
How do I add charges or discounts to a bill?
When creating a bill, look for the "Add Charge" or "Add Discount" button (usually near the bill line items). Select the charge/discount type, enter the amount or percentage, add a description, and it will be added to the bill.
What's a recurring charge?
A recurring charge is a fixed fee that can be configured on a client or project profile. Recurring charges must be manually added to bills when you're ready to bill for them - they don't appear automatically.
How do I add a recurring charge to a bill?
When creating a bill, look for the option to include recurring charges associated with that client or project. Select the recurring charges you want to bill for and they'll be added to the bill.
Payments
How do I record a payment?
Go to Payments, click "Add Payment", select the client, enter the payment amount and date, choose the payment method (check, credit card, bank transfer, etc.), and save. Then allocate the payment to one or more bills.
What's the difference between Quick Payment and Standard Allocation?
Quick Payment is the fastest way to record and allocate payment when a client pays a bill in full - it combines recording the payment and allocating it in one step. Standard Allocation is used when you need to split a payment across multiple bills or apply partial payments.
What are Partial Allocations?
Partial Allocations allow you to allocate payments to specific line items (rows) on bills, not just to entire bills. This gives you granular control when clients pay for some services but not others on the same bill.
Can I allocate one payment to multiple bills?
Yes! Use Standard Allocation to record the payment first, then allocate it across multiple bills in whatever amounts make sense for your situation.
What if a client overpays?
When allocating payment, you can leave some amount unallocated, which remains as a credit on the client's account. This credit can be applied to future bills.
Projects & Jobs
What's the difference between a project and a job?
A project is a major engagement for a client (e.g., "2024 Tax Preparation"). A job is a specific task or work type within a project (e.g., "Federal Return", "State Return"). You track time to jobs, not directly to projects.
Can I have a project without jobs?
No, every project must have at least one job. Jobs are where you actually record time entries.
How do I create a project template?
Go to Projects, click "Create Template", define the project structure including standard jobs and settings, and save it. You can then use this template when creating new projects to save time on setup.
Why do some projects show different rates?
Charge-out rates can be set at multiple levels: project level, user level, team level, and default rates. hidma follows a hierarchy: Project Rate > User Rate > Team Rate > Default Rate. The most specific rate applies.
How do I activate projects for a client?
Click the project's status indicator — the small coloured dot and status label with a dropdown chevron — and choose Active. This indicator appears anywhere a project is shown, so the easiest way is to open the client's dashboard and change the status on each of their project cards. You can also do it from the Projects list or the Billing → Ready for billing view. The change saves immediately. Activating a previously closed project is the same as reopening it — see Project Status.
How do I change a project's status?
Click the project's status indicator (coloured dot + label) wherever the project appears and pick the new status from the dropdown. Out of the box the statuses are Active, On Hold, and Closed; custom statuses can be added for your tenant. See Project Status.
Clients
How do I create a new client?
Go to the Clients section, click "Add Client", enter the client's name and contact information, configure any client-specific settings (rates, billing preferences), and save.
What are client groups?
Client groups allow you to organize clients into categories (e.g., by industry, size, or service type). This helps with reporting and managing large numbers of clients.
Can I set different billing rates for different clients?
Yes! You can set client-specific rates when creating or editing a client. You can also set project-specific rates, which override client rates.
How do I change a client to active (or inactive)?
Click the client's status indicator — the small coloured dot and status label with a dropdown chevron — and pick the new status. You don't need to open an edit form: the indicator is clickable anywhere the client appears, including on client cards in the Clients list, the stats/summary view, and the client dashboard. The change saves immediately. Use the status filter at the top of the Clients list to find Inactive clients you want to reactivate. See Managing Clients.
How do I make a client inactive (archive a client)?
Click the client's status indicator and choose Inactive. Inactive clients won't appear in active lists but their historical data (bills, time, reports) remains accessible. Out of the box the client statuses are Active and Inactive; if you need an "Archived" or other custom status, Hidma can add it for your tenant. Mark clients inactive rather than deleting them, as deleting can break historical reporting.
Settings & Configuration
What are charge-out rates?
Charge-out rates determine how much clients are billed for work. They can be hourly rates for staff time or fixed prices for specific services. Rates can be set at the default level, team level, user level, or project level.
What's the difference between a cost rate and a charge-out rate?
They measure two different things:
- Charge-out rate is what you bill the client per hour. It appears on invoices and drives your revenue. It can be set at the default, team, user, or project level.
- Cost rate is what an hour of a team member's time costs your organization (based on salary, benefits, and overhead). It's set per user on their profile and is never shown to clients.
In short: the charge-out rate is the price, the cost rate is the cost. The gap between them is your profit margin on the work.
What is a cost rate used for?
The cost rate is what powers every cost and profitability figure in Hidma. As team members log time, each entry's cost is calculated from the user's cost rate (hours × cost rate), and these accumulate to give the total cost of a job or project. That cost figure is what lets you measure your margin - comparing what work cost to deliver against what you'll bill for it.
This means cost rates aren't really something to skip: without them, the cost-based numbers you rely on simply won't be there. The Cost column on the Client WIP report stays empty, project cost can't be calculated, and you lose the ability to see whether work is profitable or running at a loss. If you want any visibility into margins, you need cost rates configured. You set a user's cost rate on their profile under Team > Members.
The cost rate field is also flexible. Some firms don't track a separate internal cost and instead enter each user's billing rate in the cost rate field, skipping charge-out rates altogether. This is perfectly valid - it just means the Cost and project-cost figures reflect billable value rather than true cost, giving a quick revenue estimate without configuring the full charge-out rate hierarchy.
What user roles are available in hidma?
- Super User: Complete access to everything
- HR Manager: User and team management without full system access
- Team Manager: Manage their team's projects, time entries, and bills
- Team Member: Record time and manage their own work
- Client Portal User: Limited access for clients to view their bills and make payments
How do I add custom fields?
Go to Settings > Customisations > Custom Fields, click "Add Custom Field", choose the field type (text, number, date, dropdown, saved data), specify where it appears (clients, projects, time entries, bills), and save.
Can I customize invoice templates?
Yes! Go to Settings > Customisations > Document Templates to customize your invoice, receipt, and statement layouts. You can upload your logo, change colors, and configure what information appears on documents (grouping, user names, dates, comments, time amounts).
What are tax rates used for?
Tax rates are applied to charges and fees on bills. You can set up multiple tax rates (e.g., GST, VAT, sales tax) and specify which rate applies to different charge types.
What is document numbering?
Document numbering controls how your bills, receipts, and other documents are numbered. You can use sequential numbering or incorporate client codes into your numbering scheme.
Mobile Access
Can I do everything on mobile that I can on the web?
The mobile web interface focuses on core time tracking and essential workflows. For more complex tasks like creating bills, generating reports, or configuring settings, you'll need to use the desktop web application.
Does hidma work offline on mobile?
No, hidma requires an internet connection to function. All data is stored in the cloud and accessed in real-time.
Permissions & Access
What is a role used for?
A role controls what a user can see and do in Hidma - it's how you grant the right level of access to each person. Every user must have at least one role; without one, their account exists but they can't perform any actions. Roles come in two types:
- System roles apply across the whole organization (e.g. Super User for full access, HR Manager for managing people).
- Team roles apply only within a specific team (e.g. Team Manager, Team Member, Viewer), so someone can manage one team while just being a member of another.
A user can hold several roles at once, and their access is the combination of all of them. A role only governs permissions - it has nothing to do with a user's charge-out rate or cost rate, which control billing and cost separately. See User Roles & Permissions for the full list of roles and what each can do.
Why can't I see the Billing section?
Access to billing features depends on your user role. Only users with appropriate permissions (typically Super Users and Team Managers with billing rights) can access billing. Contact your administrator if you need billing access.
How do I request access to a project?
Contact your team manager or system administrator to request project access. They can assign you to the project's team or add you as a project member.
Can I limit what team members can see?
Yes, through team assignments and user roles. Team members typically only see projects and clients assigned to their teams. System roles (Super User, HR Manager) provide organization-wide access, while Team roles (Team Manager, Team Member) provide team-specific access.
Reporting
What reports are available in hidma?
hidma provides dashboards with key metrics and several detailed reports. The main reports available include:
- Time Reports (detailed time tracking data)
- Aged Debtors and Detailed Aged Debtors (outstanding invoices grouped into aging buckets, at client level or drilled down to each bill)
- Other raw reports for analyzing billing and productivity
Additionally, you can access the Client WIP (Work in Progress) report from individual client dashboards.
Can I change the aging buckets on the Aged Debtors reports?
Yes. The aging buckets on the Aged Debtors and Detailed Aged Debtors Standard Reports are fully customisable per tenant. Contact [email protected] with the timeframes you'd like to use and we'll update them for you.
Can I export report data?
Yes! Most reports can be exported to Excel, CSV, or PDF formats. Look for the Export button when viewing a report.
How do I see my team's productivity?
Use the Time Reports and dashboards, which show hours worked, billable vs non-billable time, and other productivity metrics for your team members.
How do I generate a timesheet report for a specific client?
There are two ways to generate a timesheet report for a client:
Raw Reporting (All Data tab) - Go to the Reports page and select the All Data tab. Use the filters to select the client you want to report on, along with any other criteria such as date range, projects, or team members. This gives you full access to all time entry data for that client, which you can sort, analyze, and export to CSV or PDF.
Client Work in Progress Report - Navigate to the client's dashboard and click View Work in Progress Report. When configuring the report, select Billed Time and Non-billable entries in addition to the default unbilled time. This gives you a complete picture of all time worked for that client — unbilled, billed, and non-billable — effectively serving as a full timesheet report.
What is the Client WIP report?
The Client WIP (Work in Progress) report shows unbilled work for a specific client. You can access this report from the client's dashboard to see time entries and charges that haven't been invoiced yet.
Files & Attachments
How do I upload files to a client, project, job, or bill?
Open the record in Hidma and find the Files widget. You can either click the upload button and pick a file, or drag and drop a file directly onto the widget.
Can I upload multiple files at once?
Yes. The file widget supports bulk uploads - simply drag and drop a group of files onto the widget and they will be uploaded together. You no longer need to upload documents one at a time, which is a noticeable time-saver when attaching a batch of supporting documents.
Troubleshooting
I forgot my password. How do I reset it?
On the login page at app.hidma.com, click "Forgot Password", enter your email address, and you'll receive a password reset link. Follow the link to create a new password.
Time entries aren't showing on my bill. Why?
Check that: (1) the time entries are within the billing period, (2) they're marked as billable, (3) they've been approved if your organization requires approval, and (4) they haven't already been billed.
My changes aren't saving. What should I do?
Try refreshing your browser, checking your internet connection, and trying again. If the problem persists, try clearing your browser cache or logging out and back in.
I'm getting a permissions error. What does this mean?
This means you don't have access to perform that action or view that information. Contact your administrator or team manager to request the necessary permissions.
Why can't I delete a time entry?
Make sure the time entry hasn't been billed yet. Once time entries are included in a bill, they typically cannot be deleted. Also check that you have permission to delete entries - you can usually only delete your own entries unless you're a manager.
Getting Help
How do I contact support?
Contact your organization's hidma administrator first, as they can often resolve issues quickly. For technical issues or product questions, your administrator can escalate to hidma support.
Where can I find training materials?
Check the Video Tutorials section of this help site for walkthroughs of major features including the comprehensive Onboarding Guide. Your organization may also have internal training materials.
What if I can't find the answer to my question?
Start by using the search function in this help site. If you can't find what you need, contact your organization's hidma administrator who can help answer questions or provide additional training.