Classifying engineering time as capex or opex
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How SquadBear tags projects and work items so finance can turn logged hours into evidence
How SquadBear tags projects and work items so finance can turn logged hours into per-person, per-project evidence for R&D capitalization and tax relief (e.g. IAS 38, Poland's ulga B+R / IP Box, UK R&D relief, US §174).
How SquadBear models it
Classification runs on a single, tenant-defined axis of time categories. A new workspace starts with none; the Time categories card on Workspace settings → Time tracking adds your own, or seeds a ready-made pair with one click - CAPEX / OPEX is one preset (Billable / Non-billable and R&D / Routine are the others). Everything below uses the CAPEX/OPEX preset as its running example, but the mechanism is identical whatever categories you define.
A category applies in two places: a project-level default (a category, or unset) and an optional work-item-level override that can also be left unset, in which case it inherits the project's default. Set the project default on Workspace settings → Projects when you create or edit a project (field "Default time category"); set a work item's override on that project's Work items tab, one select per row. Both are admin-only surfaces.
Categories are never deleted, only archived - an archived category stops appearing for new assignment but keeps labeling the hours already logged against it, so historical reports stay intact.
Every project is created with a General time work item. Time logged against a project without naming a work item lands in that project's General time bucket; time logged with neither lands in the workspace default project's. General time inherits its project's default like any other work item and can carry a category of its own; otherwise its hours report as Unclassified.
Classification never blocks logging - hours record against whatever project and work item is open, classified or not, and tagging is a separate step. Classification is resolved when the report runs, not stamped on the time entry: reclassify a work item and every hour ever logged against it, past and future, reports under the new category.
At review time, Reports → Time groups by Category as well as Person, Project and Work item. Reports is a top-level nav entry, open to managers and admins.
Month-end workflow
- Open Reports → Time.
- Set Group by to Category and Bucket to Month. The window spans twelve months, one column per month; Previous/Next and Today move it.
- Apply the Team, Project or Category filter if finance wants one slice - the Category filter offers every active category plus Unclassified.
- Export CSV - the link appears once the report has rows, and the file carries the same grouping, filters and window as the table.
- Hand the file to finance.
Worked example
In July, Northlake's engineers logged 1,000 hours combined: 700 on "Platform v2" (of which 90 were on the "Bug triage" work item, overridden to OPEX - the rest, 610 hours, inherits Platform v2's CAPEX default) and 300 on "Maintenance & support" (OPEX, the project's default). Grouping the July report by category gives 610 CAPEX hours and 390 OPEX hours - 61% of July's engineering hours under the CAPEX default.
Scope
SquadBear classifies and exports hours. Rates, capitalization policy and tax filings sit outside its scope - a time report carries hours only, never money.