Understand companies, contacts, and relationships

Companies are the working entities

In TimeSentry, a login identifies the person signing in, while company records identify the entities that own, perform, receive, or supervise work. A company record can represent:

a business or firm;
an individual timekeeper;
a client or service provider; or
an AI agent.

The active company determines the projects, time entries, tasks, contracts, integrations, reports, and settings available in the current workspace.

Relationships connect companies

Open Org to manage connected entities. TimeSentry supports relationship views for Clients, Prospects, Contractors, Employers, Employees, Collaborators, Vendors, Customers, and Agents.

Relationship direction matters. For example, adding a company as your client describes a different commercial direction than adding it as your employer. TimeSentry uses that direction when building project, approval, staffing, and reporting context.

Adding a relationship does not merge the companies. Each entity keeps its own workspace and company-scoped records.

Company records versus contacts

Use a company record when the entity participates in work, owns records, keeps time, holds a contract, or needs a formal relationship in TimeSentry.

Use a contact for address-book information about a person. Contacts store names, email addresses, phone numbers, and postal address details, but they are not active-company workspaces or timekeepers.

Do not create a contact as a substitute for an employee or contractor who must be assigned to projects or track time.

Add or connect a company

From the appropriate Org relationship page, choose the add action. You can create a new company or individual record, or use Add using key to connect an existing TimeSentry company with its relationship key.

Confirm the company type and relationship direction before saving. Changing a name later is easier than untangling a record created under the wrong entity or relationship type.