ADDTIMER and ENDTIMER — Running Multiple Concurrent Timers

What ADDTIMER and ENDTIMER Do

The standard scan sequence in Standard Time® starts one timer per employee at a time. Scanning STOP ends it. That covers most shop floor scenarios — one person, one job, one timer.

But some operations require one person to track time across several projects at once: a supervisor monitoring multiple workstations, a machine operator running several production jobs in parallel, or a technician handling concurrent maintenance tasks. ADDTIMER and ENDTIMER handle exactly this case.

These two scans work as a matched pair:

• ADDTIMER — after you already have one timer running, scan ADDTIMER to tell the system you want to add another. It clears the current project and task fields (but keeps your employee identity) and waits for you to scan the next project and task. A new timer starts immediately when the task is scanned, layering on top of any already-running timers.
• ENDTIMER — when you want to stop one specific timer without touching the others, scan ENDTIMER. The system prompts you to scan the project name. It finds the running timer for that project and stops it. All other timers keep running.

There is also a third option, ENDTIMERPROMPT, for the moment when you don't have a project barcode handy or simply want to see everything that is currently running before picking one to stop. Instead of scanning a project, it lists all of your open timers as a numbered menu and lets you type back the number of the one to end. See Ending a Timer by Number with ENDTIMERPROMPT below.

Starting Multiple Timers with ADDTIMER

The ADDTIMER scan is the bridge between timers. After your first timer is running, scan ADDTIMER to start the sequence for a second timer. The scanning engine responds by:

• Keeping your employee identity (no need to re-scan your badge)
• Clearing the project and task fields so you can enter new values
• Displaying the message: "Scan another project to add a new timer" (or "Scan another project, then a task" if task scans are required by your configuration)

From that point, scan the next project and task exactly as you would for a first timer. A new time log is created and starts immediately. The original timer keeps running in the background — it is not paused, not stopped, and not affected in any way.

The 9-Timer Walkthrough

This is the full scan sequence to get one employee tracking nine projects at the same time. Steps 5–8 repeat as many times as needed.

At this point, nine separate time logs exist in Standard Time®, all with an open end time, all linked to the same employee. Each time log has its own start timestamp recorded at the exact moment that timer was started, its own project, and its own task. When each timer is eventually stopped — by ENDTIMER or STOP — the stop timestamp and elapsed work time are written to that specific record only. No two time logs share time. A timer that started at 8:00 AM and stopped at 10:00 AM records exactly two hours of work regardless of how many other timers were running alongside it.

Ending a Specific Timer with ENDTIMER

When you are ready to stop one of your running timers — but not the others — scan ENDTIMER. The system immediately prompts: "Please scan a project to end a timer." Scan the project name (or project barcode label) and the matching timer stops. All other timers for that employee continue running untouched.

The system matches the project scan to the open timer by looking up the employee's running timers and finding the one whose project name matches what was scanned. If there is no running timer for that project, nothing happens and the other timers are not affected.

Continuing the 9-timer example — stopping them one at a time:

Ending a Timer by Number with ENDTIMERPROMPT

ENDTIMER works well when you can scan the project's barcode directly. But at a shared station, or when a job doesn't have a printed label within reach, that's not always convenient. ENDTIMERPROMPT solves this by skipping the project scan entirely — it shows you a numbered list of everything that employee currently has running and lets you type back the number of the one to stop.

After you're identified (your username has already been scanned), scan ENDTIMERPROMPT. The system looks up every running timer for that employee and displays a prompt titled "End Timer" reading "Enter the number of the timer to stop:" followed by a numbered list — one line per open timer, showing the project (and subproject and task, if scanned), plus the time that timer started.

Type the number of the timer you want to end and confirm. That one timer stops — its stop time and elapsed work time are recorded just as if you had used ENDTIMER — and every other timer on the list keeps running untouched. The status line confirms which project was closed, for example "Timer ended for: Alpha."

Stopping All Remaining Timers

If you want to end everything at once — all running timers for the current employee in a single scan — use the standard STOP scan. STOP does not ask which timer to end. It finds every open time log for the employee and closes them all simultaneously.

Use STOP at the end of a shift or whenever you want a clean slate. For a supervisor or operator wrapping up a day with several concurrent tasks still open, a single STOP scan handles everything at once.

Screen Timeout and CLEAR

The scanning station screen automatically clears after 60 seconds of inactivity. When the timeout fires, all pending scan state — the current username, project, and task fields — is wiped from the display. This is intentional: it ensures that the next operator who approaches the station starts with a clean screen and cannot accidentally inherit the previous person's context or trigger an unintended scan against the wrong employee.

You do not need to wait for the timeout. Scan CLEAR at any time to reset the screen immediately — either before walking away from a shared station, or when you arrive at one that may still show a previous session. It is good practice to scan CLEAR whenever handing off a station between operators.

If the screen has already timed out or been cleared and you need to resume scanning, simply scan your username. The system re-identifies you and restores your context — any in-progress session state associated with your username becomes active again and you can continue scanning immediately without starting over.

Viewing Running Timers in Time Logs

While any timer is still running you can see it in the Time Logs page. Open Standard Time® and navigate to Time Logs to get a live view of every open time record for your employees.

Running timers are highlighted with a yellow background so they stand out immediately from completed records. A yellow row means that timer has a start time but no stop time yet — the clock is still ticking. Once ENDTIMER or STOP closes the record, the yellow highlight disappears and a stop time appears in the row.

When an employee has several concurrent timers running via ADDTIMER, each open record appears as its own yellow row — one per project. You can count the yellow rows to confirm how many timers are active at any moment, and use the project name column to verify which jobs are being tracked.

Putting It All Together

Here is the complete scan sequence from first scan to last — starting as many timers as needed, ending specific ones by project, and finishing with a clean stop.

Advanced: Embedded Field Values

Both ADDTIMER and ENDTIMER support an embedded field-value format that combines the command and the project/task identification into a single barcode. This is useful when you want to print a single label that starts or stops a timer for a very specific job without requiring a follow-up project scan.

ADDTIMER with an embedded value

Format: ADDTIMER-fieldname-value

Example: ADDTIMER-Project-Alpha — adds a timer for the project named Alpha in one scan, without a separate project barcode scan. The field name (e.g., Project) tells the scanning engine which database column to use; the value (Alpha) is what gets written to that field.

ENDTIMER with an embedded value

Format: ENDTIMER-fieldname-value

Example: ENDTIMER-Project-Alpha — finds the running timer for project Alpha and stops it immediately, with no on-screen prompt. This is useful for a fixed workstation where you know in advance exactly which job is being tracked.

Quick Reference

For Admins: Finding All Running Timers

Administrators can see every running timer across all employees at a glance using the Filter panel on the left side of the Time Logs page. Open Time Logs, expand the Filter panel, and set the status filter to show only running timers. The grid updates immediately to display every open time record in the system — one row per active timer, regardless of which employee started it or when.

This view is useful at the end of a shift to catch any timers that were not properly stopped, or during the day to verify that concurrent ADDTIMER sessions are progressing as expected. Each yellow row represents a timer that is still accumulating time — identify the employee and project from the columns, then coordinate with the operator or use STOP on their behalf if the timer should have ended.

ADDTIMER vs. ADDTIMERSPLIT — Telling Them Apart

The names look almost identical on a barcode sheet, but they solve opposite problems. Mixing them up produces very different data, so it's worth being clear on which one fits the situation in front of you.

See the full ADDTIMERSPLIT guide for dividing one timer's time evenly across jobs.

When to Use ADDTIMER versus ADDTIMERSPLIT

The comparison table above explains the mechanics. This section is the practical version — concrete situations where one scan is clearly the right call.

Use ADDTIMER when…

• The jobs are actually happening at the same time. A supervisor watching three workstations, or a machine operator tending several machines that are each mid-cycle on a different job — real, simultaneous work deserves real, simultaneous timers.
• Accurate per-job hours matter for billing or costing. If a client is billed by actual hours worked on their job, or job costing decisions depend on knowing exactly how long each task took, ADDTIMER's independently measured timers are the only honest source of that number.
• The jobs take meaningfully different amounts of time. If one job realistically takes twenty minutes and another takes three hours, an even split would misrepresent both of them. ADDTIMER records what actually happened, whatever the split turns out to be.
• You need to end jobs independently, as each one actually finishes. ENDTIMER lets you close out one job the moment it's done while the rest keep running — there's no equivalent partial-stop in ADDTIMERSPLIT.

Use ADDTIMERSPLIT when…

• Work genuinely blends across jobs with no clean break. A production run that drifts from welding to metal finishing to deburring without a natural stopping point to rescan a new timer.
• Stopping to rescan at every transition would be disruptive or impractical. Fast-moving shop floor work where pausing to scan a new project barcode mid-task costs more in interruption than it's worth.
• An even split is a fair-enough approximation. The jobs involved are roughly comparable in effort, and nobody downstream — accounting, the client, the job cost report — needs minute-by-minute precision on how the hours divided.
• You want one simple end-of-shift step. Add each job as it comes up during the day, then scan STOP once — no need to remember which timer belongs to which job or to close several out individually.