How dockets work

A docket is a client's confirmation that work was done — no rates, no amounts, just who worked, on what, and what was used. This explains the three ways one gets signed, what a signature actually means, and why nothing else in HoursEasy ever waits on one.

Three ways to get one signed

Most dockets are signed on the spot: someone on the crew hands their phone to the client's representative before leaving site — see getting a docket signed.

For work that has already happened, your office can raise one instead. Press Raise one over a past period, choose a project and dates, and preview exactly what it would say before raising it — see managing dockets. A raised docket downloads as a PDF straight away, unsigned, so you can hand it over on paper if that is how a client works.

Or send it to be signed remotely: Send link on a raised docket emails the client a link they can sign from their own phone, no visit required.

Why nothing waits on a signature

A docket is evidence held in reserve, not a gate. Hours and items reach payroll and invoicing the moment they are approved, whether or not a docket has ever been raised over them, and whether or not one that has been raised has been signed. Raise dockets for the jobs where a client's own sign-off matters to you — a signature never blocks you from invoicing, either way.

No money on it, ever

A docket lists who worked, when, and what they used — never a rate, a price or an amount. The person signing is standing on a site confirming that work happened, not approving what it costs; the schedule and the prices belong on the invoice, which nobody on site ever sees. That split runs through the whole product, not just this one document.

Signing stamps the work; it does not lock it

Once a docket is signed, the PDF always reprints exactly what was signed — that snapshot never changes. But the underlying hours and items stay open for editing, because a worker who was out of range all week can still sync Monday's hours on Friday, after a docket has already gone out. If that happens, the signed figure and the current work disagree, and your office is told about it in both directions — see signed dockets that no longer match. A signature is a record, not a lock.