Applying Billing Rate Changes to Existing Time Slips

If a project's billing rate changes but time slips were already recorded before the update took effect, those time slips retain the old rate that was stamped on them at the time — and would bill at that old rate unless corrected. This article walks through how to update those existing time slips to reflect the current project rate.

Step 1: Update the Billing Rate on the Project

Update the billing rate(s) on the project — either by editing them directly, or by syncing to a current master rate (see Updating Billing Rates in Bulk). This new rate stamps onto any new time slips recorded going forward, but does not affect time slips already recorded.

Step 2: Find the Affected Time Slips

Use a query to find the time slips you want to update — filtering by project and a start date matching when the new rate went into effect works well. For example, if new rates take effect September 1st, filter for time slips starting on or after that date so you don't touch time slips correctly recorded under the old rate.

You're not limited to a single project — you could just as easily query across every project affected by a rate change as of a given date, rather than handling them one project at a time.

Step 3: Select and Refresh Billing Rates

Once your query returns the correct set of time slips, select all of them (or select individually if you only want some), then choose Refresh Billing Rates from the batch actions.

This stamps each time slip with the current rate from its associated project — not from your master rates directly. Even if the project's rates were originally set up by importing from a master rate group, each project maintains its own independent rate values, and it's those project-level rates that get applied. This means if your query pulls in time slips from several different projects, each time slip updates to match its own project's current rate, even if those rates differ from project to project.

Already-Billed Time Slips Are Protected

If some of the time slips in your selection have already been included on an invoice, those specific time slips will not be updated by this action — their rate stays locked in at whatever was billed, regardless of whether you included them in your selection or query. Only unbilled time slips are refreshed.

Best Practice

Update project billing rates as soon as the change takes effect, ideally before new time slips are recorded at the old rate, to minimize how many time slips need correcting. When correcting existing time slips, use a query filtered by effective date (and project, if applicable) rather than manually selecting records one at a time — this scales to hundreds of time slips just as easily as a handful, and already-billed time slips are automatically skipped regardless of how broad your selection is.

Summary

To correct time slips recorded before a billing rate change: update the rate(s) on the project (only new time slips are affected), then query for the time slips that need correcting — typically by project and an effective start date — select the results, and apply Refresh Billing Rates. Each time slip is stamped with its own project's current rate, and any time slip already included on an invoice is automatically left unchanged.