Skip to main content

How to configure Rounding rules (Roubler)

Audience

HR Administrators / People & Culture / Payroll support teams who:

  • Configure or help maintain Rounding Rules in Roubler
  • Need to understand how rounding, grace periods and automatic breaks affect timesheets and pay

  • Work with Payroll and Operations to keep time-and-attendance behaviour aligned with policy and legislation

Description

Use this guide when you need to configure Rounding Rules in Roubler so that:

  • Clock-in/out times are rounded consistently (e.g. to the nearest 15 minutes)
  • Grace periods and auto-approval rules support your policies
  • Automatic breaks are applied (if you choose to use them)

Rounding Rules directly affect timesheet costings and what employees are paid, so always agree settings with Payroll and follow your internal approval process before changing them.

Steps

1. Before you start

  1. Confirm you can access: Settings (cog) → Company Settings → Rounding Rules.

  2. Align with Payroll / HR / Operations on:
    • Whether timesheets should pay from actual clocks or be more tightly aligned to the rostered schedule
    • What rounding interval (e.g. 5, 10, 15 minutes) and direction (backwards/nearest/forwards) is acceptable
    • Where automatic approval is allowed vs where a manager must review manually

    • Whether to use automatic breaks or rely on rostered breaks instead

  3. Remember: changes in Company Settings apply globally across your whole business, not just one location.

2. Open the Rounding Rules page

  1. In Roubler, click the Settings (cog) icon.

  2. Go to Company Settings → Rounding Rules. 

This screen controls rounding, grace periods and automatic breaks for timesheets.

3. Configure Rounding Rules

Rounding Rules define how clocked start/end times are rounded before they flow to payroll.

  1. Decide whether you want to use rounding at all:
    • If you want to pay from exact clock times, enable the option to ignore rounding rules.

    • If you want controlled rounding, leave rounding enabled.

  2. Set arrival rounding:

    • Round arrive time – choose the interval in minutes (e.g. 5, 10, 15).
    • Arrival round direction – choose one of:
      • Backwards – always round back by the chosen interval (more conservative, often avoids paying early clocks).
      • Nearest – round to the nearest interval (e.g. nearest 15 minutes).

      • Forwards – always round up by the chosen interval (more generous). 

    Example (Nearest 15 minutes):

    • Employee clocks in 7 minutes to 9:00 → rounds forward to 9:00
    • Employee clocks in 8 minutes to 9:00 → rounds back to 8:45
  3. Set departure rounding:

    • Configure Round departure time and Departure round direction using the same approach as arrival. 

  4. Click Save at the bottom of the page to apply your changes.

4. Configure Grace Periods & Automatic Approval

Grace periods define a window around the rostered start and end times where:

  • Timesheets can be automatically approved if all clocks fall within that window (if you enable auto-approval). 

  1. On the same Rounding Rules page, find the Grace periods section.

  2. (Optional) Tick Automatically approve when within grace period if you want timesheets that fully fall within grace periods to auto-approve.

  3. Set the four grace periods (in minutes):
    • Arrive early grace period – time allowed before shift start.
    • Arrive late grace period – time allowed after shift start.
    • Depart early grace period – time allowed before shift end.

    • Depart late grace period – time allowed after shift end.

Behaviour summary:

  • If both start and end clocks fall within grace periods:
    • Paid start/end times snap back to the rostered shift times.
    • If you enabled Automatic approval, the timesheet can be auto-approved.
  • If clocks fall outside grace periods:
    • The Rounding Rules you set earlier are applied instead.

Important: Automatic approval within grace periods does not work when “Pay according to rostered schedule” is enabled in Features.

5. Configure Automatic Breaks (if required)

Automatic breaks apply a universal break rule across your business, regardless of rostered break times.

  1. In the Automatic breaks section on the Rounding Rules page:
    • Tick Apply auto break to turn this on.
  2. Set:
    • Break duration – length in minutes (e.g. 30).

    • Every hour – how many hours must be worked before a break is automatically applied (e.g. every 5 hours). 

Behaviour and guidance:

  • A break is inserted automatically on the timesheet, typically mid-shift, once the “Every hour” threshold is reached.
  • It is not tied to rostered break times unless combined with Pay according to rostered schedule.
  • Help content recommends configuring breaks on the roster where possible for compliance and flexibility, and using auto-breaks only when you truly need a single global rule.

6. Review and test changes

After saving your Rounding Rules:

  1. Test with a small sample (one location or group) where possible.
  2. Check:
    • How timesheets show paid start/end times compared with clocks and rosters
    • How grace periods behave around shift boundaries

    • Whether auto-approval and automatic breaks work as intended

  3. Communicate key changes to Payroll and managers, so everyone understands why paid times may not always exactly match clock times.

Troubleshooting

A. Timesheet times don’t match clock-in / clock-out times

Possible causes:

  • Rounding Rules are adjusting start/end times (e.g. nearest 15 minutes).
  • Grace periods are snapping paid times back to the rostered shift.
  • Pay according to rostered schedule is enabled, so timesheets follow rostered times.

Admin checks:

  1. Go to Company Settings → Rounding Rules and review:
    • Round arrive/departure interval and direction

    • Grace period values and whether Automatically approve when within grace period is on

  2. Go to Company Settings → Features and confirm whether Pay according to rostered schedule is enabled.

  3. Align settings with your policy and explain to managers how rounding + grace periods + rostered pay interact.

B. Timesheets are being auto-approved when they shouldn’t be

Likely cause: Automatic approval within grace periods is enabled and the clocks fall within the grace window.

Steps:

  1. Go to Company Settings → Rounding Rules.
  2. Check if Automatically approve when within grace period is ticked.

  3. If you want all timesheets manually reviewed, turn this option off.

Note: Even with auto-approval off, times may still not match exact clocks due to rounding or Pay according to rostered schedule.

C. Breaks on the timesheet don’t match rostered break times

Expected when using automatic breaks:

  • Auto-breaks are inserted using the global rule, not the rostered break times.

Options:

  • If you need timesheets to reflect rostered break times exactly:
    • Consider using Pay according to rostered schedule, or

    • Turn off automatic breaks and rely on rostered breaks + manual adjustments.

D. Changes to rounding aren’t visible to managers/employees

  • Some behaviour only applies from the next use or period (e.g. new rounding rules), not retroactively on existing timesheets.

  • Ask users to refresh, log out and back in, and test on new shifts.

  • For changes that affect pay, confirm with Payroll which pay run or date range they should apply from.

Who to contact for help

  1. Payroll / HR / Finance
    • Own decisions about:
      • Rounding intervals and directions
      • Grace periods and automatic approval rules
      • Whether to use automatic breaks and Pay according to rostered schedule

    • Contact them for questions about how rounding should impact overtime, penalties and compliance.

  2. Internal Roubler/System Administrator or IT team
    • Own configuration of:
      • Company Settings → Rounding Rules and Features
      • Related Alerts for rosters and timesheets
    • Contact them when you:
      • Cannot see or edit Rounding Rules

      • Need help interpreting complex system behaviour across rosters, clocks and timesheets

  3. Roubler / MYOB Support
    • Should be contacted only by authorised internal administrators after internal checks.
    • Escalate when behaviour still looks wrong after you’ve:
      • Verified Rounding Rules, Grace Periods, Automatic Breaks
      • Reviewed relevant Features and Alerts
    • Include in your ticket:
      • Company name
      • Example employee IDs, dates and shifts
      • Screenshots of:
        • Rounding Rules and relevant Features
        • Alerts configuration

        • The affected timesheets vs roster and clocks

With these settings and processes in place, HR Administrators can keep Roubler’s rounding behaviour accurate, transparent, and aligned with organisational pay rules.