Worklog / Guide
Work-record field guide

Agree a reporting time zone before comparing totals

Align dates, offsets, grouping and report settings.

Choose one reporting time zone and document any per-user override before comparing dated totals. The same instant can belong to different calendar dates in different zones.

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Documentation reviewed · 23 Sep 2026No hands-on merchant testing

Separate an instant, a local display and a reporting date

An event timestamp identifies when something happened; its local display depends on a zone or offset. A reporting date is a grouping decision. For a fictional instant 2026-09-21T23:30:00Z, a +02:00 display reads 01:30 on September 22. That change of date does not add work. Keep the original timestamp and the selected reporting convention distinct.

Inspect report settings before correcting entries

Check the account, user, viewer and export settings that can affect the display or grouping. Time Doctor documents a Time Zone Override option in custom exports. A report generated with it may not align with one using a single reference zone. Record the selected setting in the batch notes; do not change source timestamps just to make two differently configured reports agree.

Test the boundaries that matter

Use one interval well inside a day, one near midnight and one near the reporting-period boundary. Confirm which date and week each occupies in the receiving workflow. For zones with daylight-saving changes, test a relevant transition using explicit offsets and the actual product. Do not infer elapsed duration by subtracting ambiguous local clock labels with no zone context.

Keep an unresolved boundary visible

If the source supplies only a date and duration, it may not contain enough information to reconstruct exact UTC instants. Preserve that limitation instead of inventing timestamps. Agree a date-assignment rule with the recipient or request a more detailed export. This page does not choose payroll-day, employment or contractual reporting rules.

Continue this work-record check

Use the linked guide for the next decision in this workflow. Keep your original records separate from experiments and record any unresolved requirement before changing a live process.

Sources and boundaries

Primary documentation supports the dated product facts. Proposed checks and fictional examples are our editorial method, not observed product results.