Time Tracking in Mothernode: What It Is—and What It Is Not

Overview

Time tracking in Mothernode is purpose-built for job costing and operational analysis, not employee payroll or timecard management. Understanding this distinction is critical to using the system correctly and avoiding downstream accounting issues.

What Mothernode Does Track

Mothernode tracks Production Time within Work Centers for the sole purpose of:

• Accurate job costing

• Measuring labor efficiency

• Understanding true project profitability

• Comparing estimated vs. actual production effort

Time is logged against specific jobs, inside defined work centers, to create a reliable cost picture at the job level.

This data lives entirely inside Mothernode and drives internal reporting, dashboards, and job costing metrics.

What Mothernode Does Not Do

Mothernode is not designed to function as:

• A time clock

• A payroll system

• A wage compliance tool

• A labor law enforcement mechanism

Specifically:

• It should not be used for employee punch-in / punch-out

• It should not be used to calculate payroll hours

• It does not replace timecard or attendance software

Using job-based production time for payroll almost always leads to inaccuracies, disputes, and compliance risk.

Payroll & Timecards: The Right Approach

If your goal is payroll accuracy, the recommended strategy is:

• Use a dedicated timecard / attendance solution

• Integrate that solution directly with QuickBooks

• Let payroll tools handle wage rules, overtime, breaks, and compliance

There are many proven payroll-focused tools that integrate cleanly with QuickBooks and are purpose-built for this task.

QuickBooks Integration Clarification

• Job costing data stays in Mothernode

• Production time is not transferred to QuickBooks

• QuickBooks remains the system of record for payroll and accounting

• Mothernode remains the system of record for operations and job costing

This separation is intentional and protects data integrity on both sides.

Bottom Line

Mothernode tracks how long work took on a job.
Payroll systems track how long an employee worked.

Those are different questions, with different answers—and they belong in different systems.

If you need help choosing a payroll-focused time tracking solution that works alongside Mothernode, our team can point you in the right direction.