Problem Definition:
Time entries are an important part of project management because they are used to record the
time spent by resources on project activities. This information can later be used for project
tracking, billing, cost calculation, and reporting.
However, without appropriate validation, users may enter unrealistic amounts of time for a single
day. For example, a user could accidentally record more hours than they worked, which can
affect the accuracy of project data and subsequent reporting.
Another challenge can occur when users in different time zones access the same time-entry data.
When dates are displayed according to the viewer’s time zone, the same entry may appear on a
different date, which can cause confusion when reviewing or managing time entries.
Therefore, administrators need a way to control the maximum amount of time that can be entered
for a day and, where required, control how dates are displayed across different time zones.
Solution:
Dynamics 365 Project Operations provides Time Entry Configuration settings that allow
administrators to control how time entries are validated and displayed.
As part of the 2026 Release Wave 1, Project Operations introduces the ability to configure the
maximum daily time entry duration. Administrators can define the maximum number of
minutes that users are allowed to record in time entries for a single day.
By default, the maximum duration is 24 hours (1,440 minutes). Administrators can reduce this
limit to a value that better reflects their organization’s working policies. For example, an
organization may configure the maximum daily duration to 9 hours (540 minutes).
The configured limit is checked whenever a time entry is created, or an existing time entry is
modified.
Project Operations also provides a setting to control the time zone behaviour of dates displayed
in time-entry grids. Administrators can use either the default Time Zone Aware behaviour or
configure the grid to use Time Zone Independent behaviour.
Time Entry Configuration
The Time Entry Configuration section contains settings that control how time entries are handled
in Project Operations.
The available configurations include:
•Maximum daily time entry duration.
•Preferred time zone behaviour on time entry grids.
These settings can be accessed by a system administrator through the Project Operations settings.
Steps to Access Time Entry Configuration
1.Sign in to Project Operations as a system administrator.
2.In the left navigation panel, change the area to Settings.
3.Under General, select Parameters.
4.Open the required Organization Unit.
5.Scroll down to the Time Entry Configuration section.
Figure 1: Time Entry Configuration section in Project Operations Parameters.
Configure Maximum Daily Time Entry Duration
By default, Project Operations allows a maximum of 24 hours (1,440 minutes) to be recorded
for a single day.
Administrators can change this value and configure a more suitable limit based on the
organization’s working policies.
For example, an organization with a standard working day of 9 hours could configure the
maximum daily duration as:
9 hours × 60 minutes = 540 minutes
The configured value is then used to validate time entries whenever a user creates a new entry or
modifies an existing one.
Hands-on Implementation
To understand how the configuration works, I tested the maximum daily time-entry duration in a Project
Operations environment.
For the demonstration, the maximum daily duration was configured to 9 hours (540 minutes).
Step 1: Configure the Maximum Duration
Navigate to:
Settings -> Parameters -> Organization Unit -> Time Entry Configuration
Set the maximum daily duration to 540 minutes
Figure 2: Configuring the maximum daily time entry duration to 540 minutes.
Step 2: Create a Time Entry
After configuring the limit, a time entry can be created from the Time Entries section.
The configured value is used as a validation limit whenever a new time entry is created, or an existing
entry is modified.
Figure 3: Creating a time entry after configuring the daily duration limit.
Step 3: Test the Validation
To test the configuration, a time entry exceeding the configured daily limit can be entered.
For example, if the configured maximum is 9 hours, entering a duration greater than the permitted limit
causes Project Operations to validate the entry and return an error.
This prevents users from recording time beyond the organization’s configured daily limit.
Figure 4: Validation triggered when the configured maximum daily duration is exceeded.
Default vs. Configured Limit
The configuration can be understood with a simple example:
| Configuration | Maximum Daily Duration |
| Default | 1,440 minutes / 24 hours |
| Example organization policy | 540 minutes / 9 hours |
The default value remains 24 hours (1,440 minutes) when an administrator does not configure a
preferred maximum duration.
Time Zone Behaviour on Time Entry Grids
Project Operations also allows administrators to control how dates are displayed in time-entry grids.
By default, time-entry grids are time zone aware. This means that dates can be displayed according to the
time zone of the user viewing the grid.
This can become relevant when users, managers, or delegates work from different time zones.
For example, an entry created by a user in one time zone may appear under a different date when viewed
by another user in a different time zone.
To avoid this behaviour where consistent dates are required, administrators can configure the time-entry
grid to use Time Zone Independent behaviour.
Time Zone Aware vs. Time Zone Independent
Time Zone Aware
This is the default behaviour.
The date displayed in the time-entry grid can change based on the viewer’s time zone.
This can be useful when the actual time and local date of the user are important.
Time Zone Independent
With this configuration, the same date is displayed regardless of the viewer’s time zone.
When this setting is applied, the grid uses the Date (Time Zone Independent) field instead of the
Thank you, Prathamesh Desai for your valuable insights for this blog.
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