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Activity types categorize your time entries and determine whether they’re billable. Choosing the correct activity type ensures accurate billing and reporting.

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All activity types

CharleOS has 6 main activity types:

Task

Client deliverable work on tasks and subtasks

Help Desk

Help desk tickets and support requests

Client Call

Scheduled or ad-hoc calls with clients

Internal Meeting

Team meetings, standups, planning sessions

Support

General support work not tied to tickets

Admin

Administrative tasks, timesheets, expenses

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Billable activity types

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Task

Use for: Client deliverable work on tasks and subtasks Billable? Yes, when linked to a task, subtask, or project task When to use:
  • Working on a specific task or subtask
  • Making progress on client deliverables
  • Building features or fixing bugs
  • Any work that moves tasks forward
Requirements:
  • Should link to the relevant task or subtask
  • Without a link, the entry is non-billable
  • For Task entries, also select a Work Type:
    • Design - Visual design work, mockups, prototypes
    • Development - Writing code, building features
    • QA - Testing, quality assurance, bug verification
    • Deployment - Deploying to production, release work
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “Logged 120 minutes (Development) against Fargro Homepage Redesign subtask”
  • ✅ “Logged 45 minutes (Design) creating mockups for Product Listing task”
  • ❌ “Logged Task time without linking to a subtask” (will be non-billable)
When you log time from a subtask, the work type is automatically set based on the subtask type (e.g., “development” subtask → “Development” work type).

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Help Desk

Use for: Help desk tickets and support requests Billable? Yes, when linked to a help desk ticket When to use:
  • Resolving help desk tickets
  • Client support requests
  • Bug fixes reported through help desk
  • Urgent client issues
Requirements:
  • Must link to a specific help desk ticket
  • Validation: When activity type is “Help Desk” and a client is selected, a ticket must be selected
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “Logged 30 minutes resolving ticket #42: Login issue”
  • ✅ “Logged 90 minutes on P1 ticket: Site down”
  • ❌ “Logged Help Desk time without selecting a ticket” (validation error)
If you’re doing support work but there’s no formal ticket, use the “Support” activity type instead (non-billable).

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Non-billable activity types

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Client Call

Use for: Scheduled or ad-hoc calls with clients Billable? No (always non-billable) When to use:
  • Client meetings (video or phone)
  • Status update calls
  • Planning or requirement gathering calls
  • Client presentations or demos
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “30-minute kickoff call with Fargro team”
  • ✅ “60-minute weekly sync with client”
  • ✅ “15-minute quick check-in on project status”
Client calls are tracked but not billed. They help you understand the overhead of client management.

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Internal Meeting

Use for: Team meetings, standups, planning sessions, 1:1s Billable? No (always non-billable) When to use:
  • Daily standups
  • Sprint planning or retrospectives
  • Team sync meetings
  • 1:1s with your manager
  • Training sessions
  • All-hands meetings
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “15-minute daily standup”
  • ✅ “60-minute sprint planning”
  • ✅ “30-minute 1:1 with PM”

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Support

Use for: General support work not tied to a formal help desk ticket Billable? No (always non-billable) When to use:
  • Ad-hoc client support via Slack/email
  • Quick questions or troubleshooting
  • Support that doesn’t warrant a ticket
  • Informal client assistance
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “Answered client question in Slack about feature usage”
  • ✅ “Helped client troubleshoot staging environment issue”
  • ✅ “Quick fix for minor client request”
If the support work is substantial or urgent, create a help desk ticket and use “Help Desk” activity type to make it billable.

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Admin

Use for: Administrative tasks, timesheets, expenses Billable? No (always non-billable) When to use:
  • Filling out timesheets
  • Submitting expenses
  • Updating documentation
  • Internal admin work
  • Performance reviews (your own)
Example scenarios:
  • ✅ “Logged time entries for the week”
  • ✅ “Submitted expenses for client trip”
  • ✅ “Updated project documentation”

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How billability works

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Automatic billability determination

CharleOS automatically marks entries as billable based on:
  1. Activity Type must be “Task” or “Help Desk”
  2. Linkage to a task, subtask, or help desk ticket
Activity TypeLinked to Work?Billable?
Task✅ Yes (task/subtask)✅ Yes
Task❌ No❌ No
Help Desk✅ Yes (ticket)✅ Yes
Help Desk❌ No❌ No
Client CallN/A❌ No
Internal MeetingN/A❌ No
SupportN/A❌ No
AdminN/A❌ No
Even if you select “Task” as the activity type, the entry is not billable unless you link it to a task, subtask, or help desk ticket. Always link your work!

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Choosing the right activity type

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Decision flowchart

1

Is it client work?

If YES, continue to Step 2If NO, go to Step 5
2

Is it a formal deliverable?

If YES (task/ticket), continue to Step 3If NO (call/meeting), continue to Step 4
3

What type of deliverable?

  • Task or subtask? → Use Task (billable when linked)
  • Help desk ticket? → Use Help Desk (billable when linked)
  • Neither? → Use Support (non-billable)
4

Call or meeting with client?

Use Client Call (non-billable)
5

Internal work

  • Team meeting? → Use Internal Meeting (non-billable)
  • Administrative task? → Use Admin (non-billable)

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Quick reference

Use Task, link to the task/subtask, select work type (Design/Development/QA/Deployment)
Use Help Desk, link to the help desk ticket
Use Client Call, select the client, no linking needed
Use Internal Meeting, select Internal
Use Support, select the client, brief notes about the question
Use Admin, select Internal

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Impact on reporting

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Utilization metrics

Your utilization percentage is calculated as: 
Utilization = Billable Hours / Available Hours
Only billable time (Task and Help Desk entries linked to work) counts toward utilization.

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Non-billable ratio reports

Non-billable time is tracked and reported by activity type:
  • Shows where non-billable time is spent
  • Identifies areas for efficiency improvement
  • Helps understand client management overhead

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Hidden costs analysis

Non-billable time has a cost to the business:
  • Client Calls - Time spent in meetings
  • Internal Meetings - Team coordination overhead
  • Support - Informal client assistance
  • Admin - Administrative burden
Tracking non-billable time helps the business understand true project costs and make better pricing decisions.

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Common mistakes

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Mistake 1: Using “Task” without linking

Problem: You select “Task” but don’t link to a task/subtask Result: Entry is marked non-billable Solution: Always link Task entries to the relevant work

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Mistake 2: Using “Support” for billable work

Problem: You do substantial client work but use “Support” activity type Result: Work isn’t billed to the client Solution: Create a help desk ticket or task and use the appropriate activity type

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Mistake 3: Forgetting to select a help desk ticket

Problem: You select “Help Desk” activity type but forget to link a ticket Result: Validation error - can’t submit the entry Solution: Link to the help desk ticket, or use “Support” if there’s no ticket

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Mistake 4: Logging calls as “Task”

Problem: You log a client call as “Task” thinking it’s client work Result: Incorrect activity categorization in reports Solution: Use “Client Call” for meetings and calls

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Best practices

Link work items

Always link Task and Help Desk entries to ensure they’re billable

Be consistent

Use the same activity type for the same kind of work to maintain accurate reports

Use context dialogs

Log time directly from tasks/tickets - activity type is pre-filled correctly

Add notes

Explain what you did, especially for non-billable time, to justify the effort

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Next steps

Logging Time

Learn how to log time entries

Tasks

Understand task management

Help Desk

Learn about help desk workflows

Utilisation

How billable time affects utilization metrics