# DWR Entry

How to find, read and create a Daily Work Record (DWR) in Job Book: the DWRs list and its saved views, the display view, and the create form from Date and Job through the labour, equipment and signature fields to Submitted.

Source: https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Entry
Last updated: 2026-09-18

## Key Concepts

A Daily Work Record (DWR) replaces the paper timesheet. It keeps the day's labour, equipment and materials tied to the job they belong to, and it is what the project manager approves and the Administrator invoices. Technicians create most DWRs each day, usually on a phone at the end of the shift; Managers and Administrators follow the same steps on the same form. If you work in the field, [Site Staff DWR Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_DWR_Entry) walks through the same form from a technician's account. What DWRs do for a surveying business is on the [Time Sheets](https://getjobbook.com/features/time-sheets) product page; this page is how to work them.

- **One DWR per day per job**: the **Date** should be the day the work happened, not the day you type it up. If you are logging multiple days, create one DWR per day per job.
- **The life of a DWR**: four stages, each one a checkbox on the record or a queue on the list:
    1. Draft: saved with the **Submitted** checkbox cleared. It waits in your own **My Forms (Not Submitted)** view and it is not yet in anyone's approval queue.
    2. **Submitted**: you check **Submitted** and save. **Submitted Date** is filled in for you and the DWR joins the approval backlog for the job's project manager.
    3. **PM Approved**: the job's project manager approves the DWR, which is covered in [DWR Approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Approval).
    4. Invoiced: on a Time & Materials job, an approved DWR waits in the DWR Invoice Backlog until an Administrator bills it, which is covered in [Invoicing a Time & Materials Job](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoicing_a_Time_and_Materials_Job). A DWR on any other billing type stops at PM Approved.
- **Saved views by role**: a Technician or a Job Coordinator gets views of their own forms only; an Administrator or a Manager also gets the queues the whole company works from. They are listed under [Finding a DWR](#finding-a-dwr).
- **Locked after approval**: an approved DWR is read-only to the Technician who submitted it. A Manager or an Administrator has to remove the approval first; [Undoing an approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Approval#undoing-an-approval) gives the steps.
- **Your own hours**: each labour line you enter shows up as a row on your [My Time Cards](https://getjobbook.com/help/Personal_Reports#my-time-cards) report, with its job, DWR number and hours.

## Performing Common Tasks

### Finding a DWR

On the dashboard, in the **Daily Work Records** card, click **Explore**.

![The Daily Work Records card on the dashboard, with Explore marked](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-card-explore.QJaxYI1B.png)

*Explore is where a DWR is picked up again after it is saved: a draft to finish, or a submitted one to check on.*

The **DWRs** list opens with a strip of saved views along the top, and the views you get depend on your role.

As an Administrator or a Manager the views are:

![The DWRs list on the All view, showing the six saved views, the toolbar and the first three cards](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-list.joMqodEW.png)

*The saved views are the queues a DWR moves through: Field Queue, PM Queue, then To Invoice on a Time & Materials job.*

- **Field Queue**: every DWR that has not been submitted yet, for everyone, not just you.
- **PM Queue**: submitted and waiting for approval. These are the same records as the **DWR Approval Backlog** on the **Workflow** card, shown as cards instead of a grid.
- **To Invoice**: approved DWRs on Time & Materials jobs that have not been invoiced yet. These are the same records as the **DWR Invoice Backlog**. An approved DWR on any other billing type is in **All** only.
- **My Forms (Not Submitted)**: your own drafts.
- **My Forms (Not Approved)**: your own submitted DWRs that are still waiting on approval.
- **All**: every DWR you can see.

As a Technician or a Job Coordinator the views are **My Forms (Not Submitted)**, **My Forms (Not Approved)** and **All My Forms**. The first two are named the same for everyone; the last is where the two lists differ, because a Technician's **All My Forms** holds only their own DWRs while an Administrator's **All** holds the company's. **All My Forms** has no **Create** button, so start a DWR from one of the other two views or from the dashboard.

The rest of the screen is the same on every view:

- **Filter Settings** opens a panel of **Office:**, **Project Manager:** and **Client:** filters.
- The search box reads "Type and press Enter to search". Type into it and press Enter, or click **Search**, to narrow the view.
- **Create** opens a blank DWR and **Export to Excel** downloads the view. Both buttons appear above and below the cards.
- A view with more records than fit on one page is paged, with a link to the next page beside the record counter.
- Each card reads **Client:**, **Job Number:**, **Project Name:**, **Date:** and **DWR #:**. Click the card to open that DWR.

### Viewing a DWR

Clicking a card opens the DWR's display view, which is read-only. The buttons above and below the record are **Edit**, **Export to PDF**, **Delete** and **Back**. **Export to PDF** creates a file you can print or email to a customer, and **Back** returns you to the list.

![The display view of a submitted DWR, open on the Labour Costs tab](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-display.DEkLLyTr.png)

*The display view is the saved DWR as it stands: read it, export it, or check whether it has been submitted and approved.*

- **Date:** and **DWR #:** sit at the top. The DWR number is the system's own and is not on the create form.
- The **Job** is a link that opens the job the day was booked to.
- **DWR Details:** carries the same tabs as the form: **Labour Costs**, **Equipment and Materials** and **Job Details**. On a saved DWR the **Labour Costs** tab is a table of **Line Item**, **Employees**, **Time** and **Hours** with a **Total** row. The **Line Items** / **Employees** switch above it regroups the table: **Line Items** shows one row per line item with the employees who worked it, and **Employees** puts each employee's name on a header row with their hours, and the line items they worked underneath.
- Below the tabs, **Representative Signature:** has a **View** button when a signature has been applied, and **Representative:** names who signed.
- **Submitted:**, **Submitted Date:**, **PM Approved:**, **PM Approved By:** and **PM Approved Date:** tell you where the DWR has got to.

### Creating a DWR

There are two ways in:

- On the dashboard, in the **Daily Work Records** card, click **Create New**.
- In the **DWRs** list, click **Create**.

![The Daily Work Records card on the dashboard, with Create New marked](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-card.DYr0ewV1.png)

*Create New is the quickest way to start the day's DWR.*

Either way you go straight into a new DWR form, titled **Create**. Any field with a red star is required, and the form starts with only two of them.

![The blank DWR create form with the Date and Job fields](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-create.CEeyZnjK.png)

*The job decides the rest of the form: the tabs offer its line items and nothing else.*

- **Date:** required. It defaults to today's date. Set it to the day the work happened.
- **Job (Selecting a job will allow entry of Daily Work Record):** required. Click the field and pick the job you worked on. Until a job is chosen there is nothing else on the form.

Once you pick a job, **DWR Details:** appears below it with the tabs **Labour Costs**, **Equipment and Materials** and **Job Details**, in that order.

### Filling in the Labour Costs tab

Under **Labour Cost Line Items:**, click **Add** to open a **Labour Cost Line Item:** row.

![The Labour Costs tab with a Labour Cost Line Item row open](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-create-labour-costs.BpfjsfyR.png)

*One row per person per activity. Payroll and the invoice both read Hours.*

- **Cost Item:** required. The choices are the job's own line items, set up when the job was created, so the list differs from job to job. Pick the labour line item that matches the work done. On a job split into phases, the list offers the line items of every phase whose dates cover the DWR's **Date:**. When one phase covers it the items read as usual, such as **Survey Party Chief**; when two do, each item carries its phase's prefix, such as **1000-Survey Party Chief** and **2000-Survey Party Chief**, so pick the one for the phase the work belongs to. See [Splitting a job into phases](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup#splitting-a-job-into-phases). An item that is set up in Administration but missing from this list is not on the job, is archived on it, or belongs to a phase whose dates do not cover the DWR's **Date:**; the fix is on the job's line item grid, not here. See [Adding line items](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup#adding-line-items).
- **Employee:** required. Pick the employee who did the work. Whoever creates the DWR can add rows for the rest of the crew; when you enter time for someone else, make sure the hours match what they worked.
- **Time Card:** a group holding **Start Time:**, **End Time:** and **Hours:**, of which **Hours:** is the required one. You can either select a start time and end time, and the hours are calculated for you, or enter the total hours worked.
- **Description:** required. A detailed note tells the project manager what happened that day without them having to call you.

Click **Add** again for each further row, whether you are breaking the shift into multiple activities or adding another crew member. The circled X beside a row removes it.

### Filling in the Equipment and Materials tab

Click the **Equipment and Materials** tab to log any equipment you used, then click **Add** under **Other Cost Line Items (Incidentals, Equipment, Materials):**. Just like the labour line items, this section pulls line items from the job.

![The Equipment and Materials tab of the DWR form with an Other Cost Line Item row open](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-create-equipment-and-materials.B-Mzhw2W.png)

*Equipment and materials turn a timesheet into a work record.*

An **Other Cost Line Item:** row holds:

- **Cost Item:** the equipment, incidental or material line item from the job.
- **Name:** required.
- **Unit:** required.
- **Quantity:** required. For equipment this is usually the number of hours it was used; for materials it is the count.
- **Description:** optional here, unlike on a labour row.
- **Include Description on DWR**: tick it to carry that row's description onto the DWR.

Add any consumables or materials as separate items, one row each.

### Checking the Job Details tab

The third tab, **Job Details**, is read-only. It repeats the job's client and billing details so you can check you are on the right job before you enter time; it does not show the job's status or its job-site locations, and the only address on it is the client's.

![The Job Details tab of a DWR, showing the nine read-only fields](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-job-details.Blx3ls2Q.png)

*Everything here comes from the job, so anything wrong is fixed on the job, not on the DWR.*

The fields are **Job Number:**, **Client:**, **Client Address:**, **Project Name:**, **Client Project #:**, **PO #:**, **Subcontract #:**, **DWR Billing Type:** and **Additional Fields:**. **DWR Billing Type** is the choice made on the job (see [Job Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup#dwr-billing-type)), and it decides how the day's costs are billed.

### Signing and submitting

The fields below **DWR Details:** apply to the whole record.

![The signature, Submitted and Save controls below the DWR Details tabs](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-create-signature.MkySvTjy.png)

*Your signature makes the record yours; Submitted sends it to the project manager.*

- **Representative Signature:** required. Because someone can create DWRs for other employees, the person creating the record needs to sign off on it. Assuming you have saved your signature on your employee profile, **Add My Signature** adds it and fills in the **Representative:** field for you. The second button, **Collect Signature**, takes a signature on the spot.
- **Client's Representative Signature:** optional, used when technicians need to get a client's signature on a DWR. **Collect Signature** takes the signature and **Client's Representative:** names who gave it.
- **Submitted**: checked by default. If you are still working in the field and plan to come back later to add information, uncheck **Submitted**; the DWR then waits in your **My Forms (Not Submitted)** view.
- **Submitted Date:** filled in for you when you submit. You cannot type it.

Click **Save**. The system validates the DWR; click the **Acknowledge and Close** button on the dialog it shows, and you are taken back to the dashboard. Saving with **Submitted** checked adds the DWR to the approval backlog for the job's project manager, and the DWR drops out of **My Forms (Not Submitted)** and into **My Forms (Not Approved)**.

### Editing a DWR after you submit it

A DWR in **My Forms (Not Submitted)** or **My Forms (Not Approved)** can still be edited: open it from one of those two views and click **Edit**. Opening the same record from **All My Forms** shows it read-only.

Once the DWR has been approved it can no longer be edited by a Technician. If you need to change an approved DWR, ask a Manager or an Administrator to unlock it by unchecking the **PM Approved** box.

![The Submitted and PM Approved checkboxes on the edit view of an approved DWR](https://getjobbook.com/_astro/dwr-edit-approved.SH-XxtE-.png)

*Once PM Approved is ticked the Technician can only read the DWR.*

**PM Approved** is the approval flag, and **PM Approved By:** and **PM Approved Date:** record who approved the DWR and when. [DWR Approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Approval) covers the approval itself from the approver's side.

### Best practices

- Submit DWRs every day. Waiting until the end of the week increases the risk of missing hours or losing track of equipment.
- Double-check the job and date before you submit, because correcting an approved DWR later takes time away from billing the job.

## Video

Watch the video: [Job Book How to Use Guide #5: Creating DWRs (Daily Work Records)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs_z7YqqsuM)

## Related Guides

- DWR Entry
- [Site Staff DWR Entry](https://getjobbook.com/help/Site_Staff_DWR_Entry)
- [DWR Approval](https://getjobbook.com/help/DWR_Approval)
- [Invoicing a Time & Materials Job](https://getjobbook.com/help/Invoicing_a_Time_and_Materials_Job)
- [Personal Reports](https://getjobbook.com/help/Personal_Reports)
- [Job Setup](https://getjobbook.com/help/Job_Setup)