Equipment Charge Timeline | CLUE Learning

Tracking what equipment was charged, where it was, and what it was doing each day is a time-consuming task when done manually. The Equipment Charge Timeline feature in CLUE gives you a visual, color-coded timeline of every piece of equipment across all your projects, showing daily charge blocks by status and allowing you to view, edit, and manage charges directly from the timeline.

Each day is represented as a colored block: green for Working, orange for Standby, purple for In Yard, and blue for In Transit. Click any block to see the rate breakdown or edit the charge details. This makes it straightforward to review what was billed, catch errors before invoicing, and prepare accurate project cost reports.

Who Is This For?

• Equipment Managers use the timeline to verify that daily charges are being recorded accurately across all active projects and that the correct rate factor is applied based on what each machine was actually doing.
• Project Managers use it to review equipment charges tied to their specific projects and confirm that billing reflects actual field activity before costs are finalized.
• Finance and Billing Teams use the monthly view to compile accurate equipment charges for client invoicing and internal cost reporting. This connects to CLUE's Fleet Management solution where accurate charge tracking across projects is essential.

How to Use It

1. Open Equipment Charge

Go to Rates > Equipment Charge. The timeline displays equipment grouped by project or location, with color-coded daily charge blocks spanning the selected date range. A totals column on the right shows the sum for each equipment row within the visible period.

2. Change the Time View

Switch between Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly views using the view selector. Use the date picker to navigate to a specific date range. Monthly view is best for invoicing and end-of-period reporting.

3. View Charge Details

Hover over any colored block to see the charge breakdown for that day. The tooltip displays the rate factor, rate code, daily rate amount, operating cost, and total charge for that specific date and project.

4. Edit a Charge

Click any charge block to open the edit dialog. From here you can change the date range, project assignment, rate per day, rate factor, or charge method. Charge methods include 5-day (weekdays only), 6-day, 7-day (every day including weekends), and one-off for a single standalone charge.

Filtering and Grouping

Use Filters to narrow the timeline by organization, project, crew, asset type, product class, geofence, or ownership type including owned, rented, or leased equipment. This keeps the view focused on exactly what you need without scrolling through unrelated assets.

Use Data Structure to control how the timeline is grouped. Options include grouping by Project and Asset, with additional levels available for Sub-Organization, Asset Type, and Product Class.

Key Behaviors and Limitations

• Works on the web app. The Equipment Charge Timeline is available on the web app only.
• Charge methods control which days are billed. The 5-day method bills weekdays only, which is standard for most contractors. 7-day applies when equipment operates on weekends. One-off is used for a single charge that does not follow a recurring pattern.
• Rate factors on edit include six options. When editing a charge, the available rate factors are Working, Idle on Site, Standby, In Transit, In Maintenance, and In Yard. Learn more about how these factors work in Understanding Rate Factors.
• The totals column reflects the visible date range. The sum shown per equipment row and per project updates as you change the date range or time view. It always reflects what is currently displayed on screen.

Tips

• Use the Monthly view for invoicing. It rolls up daily charges into monthly totals per project, making it straightforward to pull what you need for a client invoice without manually adding up daily figures.
• Filter by project before preparing a client invoice. This isolates every piece of equipment charged to that specific job with full daily detail, so you can review accuracy before the invoice goes out.
• Check the charge method on each asset. If an asset is set to 5-day but ran over a weekend on a specific project, the charge needs to be updated to 7-day or a one-off entry to reflect actual usage.
• Use the hover tooltip to verify rate factor accuracy. Before finalizing charges for a period, hover over individual blocks to confirm that the correct rate factor was applied based on what the equipment was actually doing during those days.