How to bill Zendesk ticket time to the right client project
By Jake Marsh · Updated
To bill Zendesk ticket time to the right client, map each Zendesk organization to that client's project in your time tool. In Meterwell, open the organization, click Choose a project in its sidebar, pick the project and optionally a task, and save. Every ticket from that organization then sends its time there, with the task from your Task rules and billable status from your Billable rules.
How Meterwell decides where time goes
| Decision | Order Meterwell checks |
|---|---|
| Project | The project chosen for this ticket, then the organization's project, then Default project |
| Task | The ticket's task, then the first matching task rule (type:, group:, form:, tag:), then the organization's task, then the default rule |
| Billable | The first matching billable rule (tag:, type:, org:, group:, priority:), then the default rule, then billable |
With no project at all, the time waits under To send and the sidebar asks for one.
Steps
- Map your clients. For each client organization, click Choose a project in the Meterwell organization sidebar and pick from your tool's live list. Only admins can change it. The mapping lives in the "Meterwell: billing project" organization field.
- Set a fallback. Default project catches tickets from unmapped organizations, as a project id or
project id/task id, for example your internal support project. - Write task rules, one per line:
type:incident = 8083365
group:360001234567 = 8083366
tag:onboarding = 8083367
default = 8083365
- Write billable rules, one per line:
tag:warranty = non-billable
priority:urgent = billable
default = billable
- Set rounding. Round up to (minutes) set to 6 or 15 bills in those steps; 0 sends exact time.
- Check a ticket. Goes to in the ticket sidebar shows the project, task and billable decision, and why.
Billable time in Harvest
Toggl Track and Clockify set the billable flag on the entry. Harvest takes billable from the task, so add a nonbillable = <task id> task rule: a ticket your billable rules mark non-billable switches to that task.
Exceptions on one ticket
Use another project for this ticket overrides the mapping for that ticket only, for example a project-specific request from a client with a retainer. Don't send keeps a line of time out of your tool, and you can send it later from the list.
A worked example
A client organization "Acme" is mapped to the project "Acme support retainer". A ticket from Acme tagged warranty, type incident, gets the incident task from type:incident and is marked non-billable by tag:warranty (in Harvest it switches to your nonbillable task instead), and two agents who each tracked 20 minutes on Tuesday produce two entries, each rounded up to 30 minutes with a 15-minute rounding.
What it costs
Meterwell is $100 a month per Zendesk account for up to 12 agents and admins on Team, or $9 per agent per month for 13 or more on Scale, every feature on both. 14-day trial with a card, billed monthly by Zendesk. Every rule format is in the Meterwell setup guide.
Meterwell
Time to Harvest, Toggl or Clockify: send what agents track in Zendesk, mapped to client and project. From $100 a month per Zendesk account.
Questions
Can I track Zendesk time by organization for invoicing?
Yes. Mapping each organization to a client project puts all of that client's ticket time under one project in Harvest, Toggl Track or Clockify, where their own client reports and invoices pick it up.
What if one organization works on several projects?
Map the organization to its usual project and use Use another project for this ticket on the exceptions.
Do I need to map every organization?
No. Unmapped organizations use Default project. With neither, the time waits under To send until someone picks a project.
Can agents change the mapping?
No. Only admins can change an organization's project in the Meterwell organization sidebar.