--- title: "Activating the Time spent in roles add-on" description: "Switch on the Time spent add-on from Administration, check what your organisation is entitled to, and see what changes for members once it is on." category: structure-governance section: roles-and-assignments tags: [admin] type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/activate-the-time-spent-in-my-roles-add-on --- # Activating the Time spent in roles add-on ## Activating the Time spent in roles add-on Time spent in roles is switched on from **Administration**, and only an organisation administrator can do it. Two things have to line up: your organisation must be entitled to the add-on, and an administrator must switch it on. This article covers both, and what members see before and after. For what the add-on is for and how to use it, see [Time spent in roles add-on overview](/structure-governance/time-spent-in-roles-add-on-overview). ## Before you start - You need **administrator rights**. Administration redirects anyone else back to the cockpit. - The **Structure** module must be on. The add-ons only appear once it is, so an empty Add-ons area usually means Structure itself is switched off. - Time spent is a **paid add-on**, sold on top of Structure. It is not tied to a particular plan, so you do not need to move up a tier to get it. ## Switch the add-on on 1. Click your **organisation name or avatar** at the top right of the screen. 2. Click **Administration**. 3. In the left menu, under **Modules**, click **Structure**. 4. Scroll to the **Add-ons** section and switch on **Time spent**. ![The Structure module page in Administration, with the Time spent add-on row highlighted in the Add-ons section](/images/structure-governance/activate-the-time-spent-in-my-roles-add-on/01-administration-structure-add-ons.png) The row is labelled **Time spent**, not "Time spent in roles". Everywhere else in the product, the feature itself is called **Time spent in roles**. Switching it off asks you to confirm first. Nothing is deleted: allocations members have already entered stay in place, and reappear if you switch the add-on back on. ### If the switch is greyed out A greyed-out switch and an **Available on a higher plan** badge mean your organisation is not entitled to the add-on yet. A **Contact sales** button sits under the description: it opens the support chat, or falls back to an email to hello@talkspirit.com. The wording mentions a plan, but Time spent is bought as an add-on rather than by upgrading, so ask for the add-on by name. ## Configure it, once it is on Activation and configuration live in two different places, which is easy to trip over. The switch is in **Administration**. The settings are in **Structure settings**. Open Structure > **Structure settings** at the bottom of the left menu, then **Time spent in roles**. The page has two tabs: - **Time spent settings** sets the number of working days in a month, which is what turns a member's percentages into days and FTE. The default is **20**. It also holds the reminder schedule: switch on reminders, then pick a frequency, an hour, and a day. - **Export** offers export options for the collected data. ![The Time spent in roles settings page in Structure settings, showing working days per month and the reminder schedule](/images/structure-governance/activate-the-time-spent-in-my-roles-add-on/02-structure-settings-time-spent.png) Two caveats on this page. **Enable access for inactive members** is displayed but cannot currently be changed. And the **Export** tab's controls are not yet wired to anything, so the list of files it shows is a placeholder rather than your organisation's exports. The **Time spent in roles** entry only appears in the Structure settings menu for administrators. The page itself is not restricted, though, so a member who has the direct address can open it. They will see the settings and be refused when they save. ## What members see, before and after Before you switch the add-on on, there is nothing to find: **Time spent in roles** is absent from the user menu, and roles and circles show no FTE figures. Once it is on, every member gets a **Time spent in roles** entry in the menu under their avatar. It opens a panel where they choose full time or part time, then set a percentage per role. A donut on the right shows the total and flags an under or over allocation. ![The Time spent in roles panel, showing the work schedule choice, one slider per role, and the time distribution donut](/images/structure-governance/activate-the-time-spent-in-my-roles-add-on/03-time-spent-in-roles-panel.png) FTE figures then appear alongside members on circle and role pages, for everyone, not only administrators. A member with no role assignment sees the panel invite them to come back once they hold a role. Members set their own allocations, and only their own. Anyone can read what a colleague has entered from the **Roles** tab of that member's profile, where a bar shows their allocation across roles. There is no screen for editing someone else's figures, so a member who is off with the numbers has to correct them. If you switch reminders on, members receive an email pointing them straight at their own panel. ## What's next? - [Time spent in roles add-on overview](/structure-governance/time-spent-in-roles-add-on-overview) - [How do I assign a member to a role?](/structure-governance/how-to-assign-or-remove-a-member-from-a-role) - [How do I create a role?](/structure-governance/how-to-add-a-role-or-a-circle)