Tracking time and submitting vouchers
Use Fluent's built-in stopwatch to track your appointment time, then submit a voucher with your final times, mileage, and signature.
AT A GLANCE
- Fluent acts as a stopwatch. It records timestamps when you mark arrived or check in, when the appointment starts, and when it ends.
- You can edit start and end times before submitting — but not the arrival or check-in timestamp.
- The voucher is two steps: an edit screen where you finalize times and (for in-person) mileage and travel time, then a signature screen.
- Once submitted, times are locked. Contact your agency’s scheduling team to correct a submitted voucher.
- Forgot to check in or start the timer? You can still submit a voucher with the times you remember.
How time tracking works
Fluent captures three kinds of timestamps for each appointment:
- Arrival / check-in timestamp — recorded when you tap Mark Arrived (in-person) or Check In (video or phone).
- Start time — when the appointment formally begins. Auto-starts at the scheduled start time, or earlier if you tap Start Appointment Early after checking in.
- End time — when you end the appointment.
The first one — arrival or check-in — is not editable once it’s recorded. It’s a true timestamp of when you signaled readiness. The other two — start and end — are editable on the voucher before you submit, because real appointments rarely begin and end exactly on the timer.
If you never marked arrived or checked in, the voucher will show “Did not mark arrived” or “Did not check in” in place of that timestamp.
Starting and ending an appointment
After you check in, the Current Appointment widget appears on your dashboard with a circular timer.
Starting the timer:
- The timer starts automatically at the scheduled start time.
- If the appointment actually begins earlier, tap Start Appointment Early to begin tracking right away.
Ending the appointment: when you’re done, tap the end action from the Current Appointment widget. Fluent records the end timestamp and stops the timer.
If you forget to end the appointment, the timer keeps running. You can correct the end time on the voucher edit screen before submitting.
If you forgot to check in or start the timer at all, you can still submit a voucher. The arrival/check-in field will show “Did not check in,” and you’ll enter the start and end times manually on the voucher edit screen.
The voucher
After an appointment ends, you submit a voucher to finalize the record. The voucher is a two-step flow.
Step 1: Edit screen
The edit screen lets you finalize the voucher’s editable fields:
- Start time and end time. The timestamps Fluent recorded are pre-filled. You can edit them if they don’t reflect what actually happened — for example, you started a few minutes late because the LEP client was delayed, or you forgot to end the appointment promptly. Validation rules apply: the start time can’t be before the check-in time or after the end time.
- Mileage (in-person only) — enter the miles you traveled.
- Travel time (in-person only) — enter your travel time.
The arrival/check-in timestamp is shown here too, but it can’t be edited.
Step 2: Signature screen
The signature screen requires a signature to finalize the voucher.
- Draw a signature on the signature pad using your finger.
- Type the name of the person who signed.
The interpreter can sign for themselves, or the customer can sign if your agency or the customer requires customer verification. There’s no system flag for “customer signature required” — whether to get the customer’s signature is a workflow handled between you and your agency.
Review and submit
Before final submission, you’ll see a review screen that shows everything about the appointment — all the details, the scheduled start and end times, and the times you entered on the voucher. Confirm everything looks right, then submit.
Once submitted, the voucher is locked. The appointment moves out of Incomplete status and the time is recorded.
After you submit
The voucher submission is the end of the appointment lifecycle from your side. From here:
- The agency can see your submitted times in the appointment record.
- Your times become part of your interpreter history and contribute to lifetime stats on your profile.
- (Coming soon: automated billing will use submitted voucher times to generate invoices and payroll summaries.)
Need to fix a submitted voucher? You can’t edit it from the app. Contact your agency’s scheduling team — they can correct submitted times on their end.
What happens if you don’t submit
If 15 minutes pass after the appointment’s scheduled end time and you haven’t submitted a voucher, Fluent sends you a voucher reminder notification.
Until you submit, the appointment stays in Incomplete status and continues to surface in the Incomplete Vouchers widget on your dashboard. The status changes from Assigned to Incomplete automatically once you’re past the scheduled end time with no voucher submitted.
This is different from a Missed appointment. Missed means you didn’t show up at all — that status is set manually by the scheduling team. Incomplete means the appointment happened but the voucher isn’t done yet.
Common scenarios
You arrived late. The check-in timestamp will reflect when you actually marked arrived. Your start time can be edited on the voucher to reflect when the appointment actually began.
You forgot to mark arrived. Mark arrived as soon as you remember. If the appointment is already underway, you’ll need to edit the start time on the voucher to reflect the real start (the check-in timestamp can’t be backdated).
The appointment ran long. Edit the end time on the voucher before submitting.
The appointment ended early. Edit the end time down before submitting. Don’t let the timer run past when you actually finished.
You forgot to end the appointment and the timer ran for hours. Edit the end time to the correct value before submitting.
You couldn’t get a required customer signature. Contact your agency’s scheduling team before submitting. They can guide you on next steps based on the customer’s requirements.