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Hidma Onboarding Guide ​

This comprehensive guide walks you through all major features of Hidma in a complete 26-minute video walkthrough.

🎥 Complete Video Walkthrough ​

Jump to Any Topic ​

Click to jump directly to specific sections:

What You'll Learn ​

This comprehensive onboarding video covers everything you need to start using Hidma effectively, from your first login through advanced features like billing and custom settings

  • ✅ Generating bills and invoices
  • ✅ Using Hidma on mobile devices

1. Login & Activation ​

First Time Login ​

When you first receive your Hidma invitation:

  1. Check your email for the activation link
  2. Click the link to set your password
  3. Choose a strong password (min 8 characters)
  4. Log in with your email and new password

Need Activation Email?

If you didn't receive the activation email, ask your administrator to resend it.

2. Dashboard Overview ​

After logging in, you'll see the Dashboard - your central hub for quick actions and insights.

Key Dashboard Elements ​

Performance Stats The dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of your productivity through several key metrics. You'll see the total hours you've tracked during the current period, how those hours split between billable and non-billable work, your current utilization rate (the percentage of your time that's billable), and a count of how many projects you're actively working on. These numbers update in real-time as you log time, giving you immediate feedback on your productivity patterns.

Quick Actions The quick actions section puts your most common tasks right at your fingertips. From here you can add a time entry without navigating away from the dashboard, view any pending timesheets that need your attention, jump straight to your recent projects to log more time, or start creating a new bill if you have billing permissions. It's designed to minimize clicks for the things you do most frequently.

Navigation Sidebar The main sidebar on the left gives you access to every major section of Hidma. The Dashboard is your home base. Clients and Projects let you explore your work structure. Jobs defines the types of tasks you can track time against. Timesheets is split into "Your Timesheet" for logging your own time and "Manage Timesheets" for approving others' time if you're a manager. Bills is where invoicing happens. And Settings controls system configuration if you have administrative access. This navigation stays consistent throughout Hidma, so you always know how to get where you need to go.

3. User Profiles ​

Your Profile ​

Your user profile is your personal hub in Hidma. Access it by clicking on your name or avatar in the top-right corner of any page. This is where you'll manage your personal information, view your performance over time, and customize how Hidma works for you.

Personal Information This section shows your basic details like your full name, email address, and contact information. These details appear on timesheets and reports, and clients may see them when you're assigned to their projects. Make sure this information stays current, especially your email address for receiving notifications.

Your Role and Permissions Hidma shows your current role in the system - whether you're a team member, manager, administrator, or have a custom role. Your role determines what you can see and do throughout the application. For example, team members can log time and view their own projects, while managers can also approve timesheets and create bills. If you think you need different access, talk to your system administrator about adjusting your role.

Performance Metrics One of the most valuable aspects of your profile is the performance tracking section. Here you'll see historical statistics showing your productivity trends over time. This includes how many hours you've logged per week or month, what percentage of your time is billable vs. internal work, which projects consumed most of your time, and how much billing revenue your work has generated. These metrics help you understand your own work patterns and can be useful during performance reviews or when planning your capacity.

Preferences and Settings Customize your Hidma experience through the preferences section. Control which notifications you receive and whether they come via email, in-app alerts, or both. Adjust display settings like date formats, time zones, and dashboard layouts to match how you work best. Some organizations also allow you to set your working hours and availability calendar here.

4. Clients Section ​

Understanding Clients ​

The Clients section is your directory of everyone you do work for. When you navigate to the Clients page, you'll see a comprehensive list showing each client's name and code (if your organization uses client codes), their primary contact information, how many active projects they currently have running, their work in progress amount (the value of unbilled work you've completed), and any outstanding bills awaiting payment.

This centralized view helps you quickly assess the status of any client relationship. Click on any client to dive into their dedicated dashboard where you can view their complete details, see all projects associated with them, review their full billing history from day one, and access specialized client reports like work-in-progress summaries and account statements. It's the hub for understanding everything about your relationship with that client.

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5. Projects Section ​

Working with Projects ​

Projects in Hidma organize all work under clients, providing structure for tracking time, managing deliverables, and billing. Each project serves as a container that groups related activities, team members, and billing arrangements together.

When you view a project, you'll see comprehensive information about the engagement. The project has a name and optional code for easy reference in reports and timesheets. It's always associated with a specific client, defining who the work is for. The status field shows whether the project is Active (currently being worked on), On Hold (paused temporarily), or Completed (finished and no longer accepting time entries). You can see which team members are assigned to work on this project, giving you visibility into who has access to log time against it. Budget and time tracking information shows how much time has been consumed, how close you are to budget limits, and whether the project is trending over or under estimated hours.

Projects are organized into several tabs that give you different views of the same engagement. The Overview tab provides a summary with key details, status, and quick metrics. The Time tab shows a detailed breakdown of all hours logged against the project, organized by team member and job type. The Bills tab displays all invoices generated from this project's tracked time, including paid, outstanding, and draft bills. The Team tab lists everyone assigned to work on the project, their roles, and their charge-out rates, giving you visibility into who can contribute and how their time will be billed.

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6. Jobs Section ​

Understanding Jobs ​

Jobs in Hidma represent the specific types of work activities you perform - they're the building blocks of how you track your time. Think of jobs as categories like "Client Meetings," "Research and Analysis," "Development Work," or "Administrative Tasks." Each job has a name and description that helps you and your team understand what it encompasses, and jobs can be associated with specific projects and clients to maintain proper context.

Jobs also have important properties that affect how your time gets tracked and billed. Each job is classified by type - whether it's client-facing work, internal company activities, or personal time off. Jobs also carry a billable or non-billable status that determines whether time logged against them can be invoiced to clients. When you're entering time in your timesheet, you'll select from the available jobs to categorize your work. This categorization then flows through to reporting, letting you track how much time goes into specific types of deliverables and generate insights about where your team's effort is concentrated.

7. Timesheets ​

Your Timesheet ​

Your timesheet is the daily workspace where you record how you spend your time. The layout presents your week in a grid format with days running across the top as columns and different projects or jobs forming the rows. This visual structure makes it easy to see your entire week at a glance while entering time for specific project-day combinations.

Adding time is deliberately simple and fast. Find the row for the project and job you worked on - or add a new row if you're starting something fresh. Click the cell where that row intersects with the day you worked, enter your hours in decimal format (so 2.5 represents 2 hours and 30 minutes), add any description or notes about what you accomplished, and either click save or just press Enter. Your hours are recorded and the totals at the end of each row and bottom of each column update automatically, showing you how many hours you've logged per day and per week.

The timesheet becomes your reliable record of how you spend your time, feeding into billing, capacity planning, and project profitability analysis. Getting into the habit of logging time daily, rather than trying to remember your whole week on Friday, leads to much more accurate tracking.

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Manage Timesheets (For Managers) ​

If you have manager permissions, you get access to the Manage Timesheets view where you oversee your team's time tracking. Here you can view all time entries from your team members in one consolidated view, filtering by person, date range, or project. Your primary responsibility is approving hours - reviewing team members' time entries and marking them as approved so they become available for billing. When something looks incorrect or needs clarification, you can reject specific entries with a note requesting corrections, prompting the team member to fix the issue and resubmit.

The management view also lets you export timesheet data for analysis outside of Hidma, whether that's for payroll integration, detailed project reporting, or capacity planning. This approval workflow ensures that only verified, accurate time makes it onto client invoices, protecting both your billing accuracy and client relationships.

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8. Bills Section ​

Creating & Managing Bills ​

Billing is where your tracked time transforms into revenue. The process of creating a bill starts with selecting which client and project you're billing for. Once you've made that selection, Hidma shows you all the approved, unbilled hours waiting to be invoiced. You have complete control over which hours to include - you can add everything with one click, cherry-pick specific hours from specific team members, or even manually specify hour amounts when billing fixed-price projects or capped arrangements.

After choosing your hours, you can enhance the bill by adding additional charges like expenses, fixed fees for deliverables, or one-time costs. As you build the bill, a live preview on the right side shows exactly what the invoice will look like, including the bill number, date, client details, all line items with their descriptions and amounts, subtotal calculations, applicable tax, and the total amount due. This preview lets you catch any issues before finalizing.

Once you're satisfied, save the bill to lock it in. The bill moves from draft status to ready for sending, at which point you can email it directly to the client from Hidma or export it as a PDF for your own delivery method. Throughout the bill's lifecycle, Hidma tracks its payment status so you always know what's outstanding, what's partially paid, and what's been settled.

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9. Mobile Interface ​

Using Hidma on Mobile ​

Hidma's mobile interface brings full time tracking and management capabilities to your smartphone or tablet, letting you work from anywhere without compromise. Whether you're on-site with a client, traveling between meetings, or working remotely, you can access all the essential features through a touch-optimized interface designed specifically for smaller screens.

The mobile experience centers around quick time entry, making it effortless to log hours as you work rather than trying to remember everything later. Open the app, select your project and job, enter your hours, and save - the entire process takes seconds. For managers, timesheet approval becomes remarkably fast through swipe gestures that feel natural on touch devices. Swipe right to approve, swipe left to reject, and handle an entire team's timesheets in minutes while waiting for a meeting to start or during your commute.

Beyond time entry and approvals, the mobile interface lets you view your clients and projects, check your performance statistics to understand your utilization and billable hours, and approve or reject timesheets with detailed notes when team members need corrections. The interface adapts intelligently to screen size, presenting information in a mobile-friendly format without sacrificing functionality.

The mobile app leverages touch gestures to make common actions faster. Swipe to delete removes timesheet entries with a quick gesture, perfect for correcting mistakes. Tap to edit lets you modify time entries by simply touching them. Pull to refresh updates your data from the server, ensuring you're always seeing current information. These gesture-based interactions make the mobile experience feel native and responsive rather than like a clunky web app squeezed onto a small screen.

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10. Settings (For Administrators) ​

System Configuration ​

The Settings section is the control center for administrators who need to configure how Hidma operates for the entire organization. Access to this area is typically restricted to users with administrative permissions, since the choices made here affect how the system behaves for everyone.

Organization settings let you manage your company details, branding, and legal entity structure. Configure your company name, logo, contact information, and address details that appear on invoices and throughout the system. If you operate multiple legal entities, the Organizations feature lets you set up separate entities within a single Hidma instance, each with its own financial tracking and billing setup while sharing user management across all entities.

Users & Roles gives you complete control over who can access Hidma and what they're permitted to do. Add new team members by sending activation emails, assign roles that determine permissions (team member, manager, administrator, or custom roles), organize users into teams that reflect your departmental structure, and deactivate users when they leave the organization. This centralized user management ensures appropriate access without constant manual permission adjustments.

Billing Configuration is where you set up the financial rules that govern how time converts to revenue. Configure charge-out rates that determine what you bill per hour for each person or role. Set up billing and payment codes for tracking and categorization. Define tax rates and rules for different clients or jurisdictions. Customize invoice numbering schemes and configure how bills are generated. These settings directly impact your revenue, so they typically require careful consideration and testing before going live.

Custom Fields extend Hidma's data model to capture information specific to your business. Add custom fields to clients, projects, jobs, or users to track whatever matters to your operations - perhaps project phases, industry classifications, expertise areas, or cost centers. Define field types (text, number, dropdown, date), set validation rules, and control where fields appear in the interface. This flexibility means Hidma can adapt to your business processes rather than forcing you to adapt to rigid software.

Integrations connect Hidma with other systems you use. Configure connections to accounting software for financial data synchronization, set up email integration for sending invoices directly from Hidma, connect to project management tools for workflow automation, or enable API access for custom integrations. These connections reduce double-entry, improve data accuracy, and let Hidma fit seamlessly into your broader technology ecosystem.

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Next Steps ​

Now that you're familiar with Hidma's main features:

Start Using Hidma ​

  1. Log your first time entry - Track some work
  2. Explore your assigned projects - See what you're working on
  3. Check your dashboard daily - Stay on top of your metrics

Learn Advanced Features ​

Get Help ​

  • Browse the Video Library for specific topics
  • Use the search feature to find answers
  • Contact your administrator for account-specific questions

Onboarding Complete! 🎉

You're ready to start using Hidma effectively. Bookmark this help center for easy reference.

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