PUQ Mautic

Support by Time WHMCS module

WHMCS module that adds time-based paid technical support. Sell support as a product with a monthly hour package and per-currency hourly rate for overage. Operators log time directly from ticket pages, the module tracks usage and history, and WHMCS billable items are generated automatically every month. Supports both cyclic and One Time billing cycles.

Description

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Support by Time WHMCS module

The Support by Time WHMCS module turns your WHMCS into a fully automated platform for selling paid technical support measured in hours. It lets you sell a recurring support plan that includes a fixed amount of hours per month, with an automatically calculated hourly rate for time used outside the package — or a one-time bucket of hours that the service consumes until it auto-terminates.

Operators log time directly from the ticket page — manually or with a built-in start/stop timer — the module aggregates totals per ticket, per service and per month, keeps a full audit trail of who logged what, and WHMCS billable items are created automatically by the daily cron.

Main features

System requirements

Requirement Minimum
WHMCS 8.x+, 9.x+
PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
ionCube Loader v15+

Note: The module uses ionCube encoding. Make sure ionCube Loader is installed and active on your server.

Screenshots

Client area — home screen

Client area home screen 09-client-home.png

Client area — usage history

Client area history and usage chart 11-client-history.png

Admin area — service page

Admin area service page 12-admin-product-page.png

Admin area — ticket time form

Ticket time-logging form 15-ticket-time-form.png

Changelog

Support by Time module WHMCS

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v4.0.0 (2026-10-07)

v3.0.1

v3.0 (2026-06-04)

Note: No manual reconfiguration is required after updating to v3.0 — settings are migrated automatically on first read. Re-saving the product through the new form is recommended but not mandatory.

v2.1 (2025-09-20)

v2.0 (2024-09-23)

v1.3 (2023-10-19)

v1.2.5 (2023-10-11)

v1.2 (2023-08-02)

v1.1 (2023-03-21)

v1.0 (2022-10-01)

Installation and Configuration Guide

Step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring the Support by Time WHMCS module: WHMCS deployment, product creation, hour package and per-currency hourly rate setup.

Installation and Configuration Guide

WHMCS Installation and Update

Support by Time module WHMCS

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System requirements

Requirement Minimum
WHMCS 8.x+, 9.x+
PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
ionCube Loader v15+

Note: The module uses ionCube encoding. Make sure ionCube Loader is installed and active on your server.

Download

The module can be ordered and downloaded from PUQ Cloud:

wget https://download.puqcloud.com/WHMCS/servers/PUQ_WHMCS-Support-by-time/PUQ_WHMCS-Support-by-time-latest.zip

All versions can be found at this link:
https://download.puqcloud.com/WHMCS/servers/PUQ_WHMCS-Support-by-time/

Older module versions for WHMCS 8 are available in the archive directory:
https://download.puqcloud.com/WHMCS/servers/PUQ_WHMCS-Support-by-time/archive/

After downloading, extract the archive:

unzip PUQ_WHMCS-Support-by-time-latest.zip

Installation

Upload files

Extract the module archive and copy the puqSupportByTime directory to the WHMCS servers module directory:

WHMCS_WEB_DIR/modules/servers/puqSupportByTime

Once the files are uploaded, proceed to the Product Configuration guide to configure the product and support packages.

Update

The update procedure is the same as installation — replace the existing files with the new version:

  1. Download the latest version as described in the Download section.
  2. Unzip the archive.
  3. Replace the existing WHMCS_WEB_DIR/modules/servers/puqSupportByTime directory with the new one.
  4. Verify the version number in the module interface matches the new release.
Installation and Configuration Guide

Product Configuration

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Add a new product to WHMCS

Navigate to System Settings → Products/Services → Create a New Product.

In the Module Settings tab select the PUQ Support by Time module (leave Server Group as None — this is a server module without a remote node). Two billing modes are supported, determined by the product's WHMCS billing cycle:

Module settings — full product configuration 05-product-config.png

Configuration parameters

All settings live in the Module Settings tab. Saving the product persists them as a single JSON document in tblproducts.configoption24 (the license key stays in configoption1).

Parameter Description
License key A pre-purchased license key for the PUQ Support by Time module. The license must be active for correct operation. After saving, the verification status (and the period it is valid until) is displayed below the field.
Hours per month Number of support hours included in the package. For One Time billing cycles this is the total bucket of hours.
Invoice action How the billable item for overage hours is generated at month-end: Invoice on Next Cron Run, Add to User's Next Invoice, or Do not invoice.
Invoice item name Description prefix used for billable items (default: Support). The final description is composed as <name> #<ticket> <YYYY-MM> <hours> Hour(s) (<currency> <rate>/Hour).
Show work log to client When ON, the client sees the operator name and the per-entry note for each ticket in their service-page ticket list. Date and time spent are always shown regardless of this setting.
Price per hour outside the package Hourly rate charged for time exceeding the package allocation, configured per WHMCS currency.
Notify thresholds (% of package) Comma-separated percentages (e.g. 80,100). When a client's monthly usage reaches a threshold, the email template below is sent — once per threshold per month. Empty disables notifications.
Notification email template WHMCS Product/Service email template used for usage alerts. Available custom variables: $puq_used_hours, $puq_package_hours, $puq_used_percentage, $puq_threshold, $puq_hours_left, $puq_used_hours_outside_package, $puq_price_per_hour, $puq_currency_prefix, $puq_currency_suffix, $puq_how_much_pay.

Support package

Support package settings 06-product-support-package.png

Price per hour (per currency)

Per-currency pricing 07-product-pricing.png

Usage notifications

Usage notification settings 08-product-usage-notifications.png

How billing works: One Time vs Recurring packages

The module supports two distinct operational and billing models, selected via the product's Payment Type / Billing Cycle in WHMCS:

Characteristic Recurring Package (Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, etc.) One Time Package
WHMCS Payment Type Recurring (with active billing cycles such as Monthly, Annually) One Time
Hours Allocation Included allowance per month (e.g. 5 hours each month) Fixed single bucket of hours (e.g. 5 hours total)
Monthly Reset Yes. On the 1st of each calendar month, the usage bucket resets. Unused hours do not roll over. No reset. The bucket remains until depleted, regardless of how many months pass.
Hours Outside Package (Overage) Allowed. If client exceeds included hours, additional time runs "outside package" and is tracked as billable overage. Strictly prohibited. When remaining hours reach 0:00, no further time can be added to the service.
Overage Rate & Billing Charged at the configured Price per hour outside the package in the client's currency. Generated as a WHMCS Billable Item at month-end. None. No post-payment overage invoices are created. Additional support requires purchasing a new package.
Ticket Time Input Limits No upper cap. Operators can enter any number of hours/minutes. An orange notice informs of overage rates. Capped. The HH:MM time picker is capped at the remaining bucket hours (used_hours_left). Operators cannot enter more time than remains.
Ticket Button State when Depleted Always active. Action buttons (Save time, Close & save, Start) remain enabled even if the monthly quota is exceeded. Blocked. When hours reach 0, action buttons and inputs are disabled with a red warning banner: Package hours exhausted.
Live Timer Behavior Can run indefinitely; extra time automatically goes to overage. Blocked from starting if hours left is 0. If stopped with time exceeding available bucket, hours are capped at the remaining balance.
Service Lifecycle & Termination Stays Active continuously as long as the recurring WHMCS subscription invoice is paid. When 100% of hours are consumed, the daily cron runs ModuleTerminate and sets the service to Terminated.
Client Area Interface Shows monthly stats, overage cost calculator, and a multi-month History tab with a 12-month usage graph. Shows single bucket progress bar, remaining hours, and ticket list. No monthly overage calculator and no History tab.
Next Service Purchase Automatic through WHMCS renewal invoices. Operator can use the inline Order another service form directly in the ticket header once hours run low or deplete.

Recurring billing cycle workflow

  1. Active tracking throughout the month: Operators log work on tickets via Save time, Close ticket and save time, or the live timer. Each log entry is saved into puqSupportByTime_items and linked to the parent ticket record in puqSupportByTime_tickets. At this stage, all entries are unbilled (billableid = '').
  2. Quota and overage calculation: Throughout the active month, WHMCS tracks hours used against the product's hours_per_month:
    • If total usage is within quota, it is covered by the customer's subscription.
    • If usage exceeds quota, the difference is tracked as Hours outside package (overage). Both admin and client area display the overage hours and calculate the projected cost based on the configured rate per hour.
  3. Monthly settlement via WHMCS daily cron (PreCronJob hook): When the WHMCS daily cron runs, the module's PreCronJob hook processes all unbilled tickets from the previous calendar month (date = date('Y-m', strtotime('-1 month'))):
    • Deterministic ticket pool allocation: All unbilled tickets for the service from that month are sorted by ticket ID in ascending order (ksort($unbilled_tickets, SORT_NUMERIC)).
    • Package allowance distribution: The service's included monthly hours (package_hours) are allocated to tickets starting from the lowest ticket ID:
      • If a ticket's logged time is fully covered by the remaining monthly package hours, no billable item is needed. The ticket is marked with the sentinel billableid = '0'.
      • When the included package pool is exhausted (remaining_pkg = 0), any remaining time on that ticket or subsequent tickets becomes billable overage (overage = hours - covered).
    • Creation of WHMCS Billable Items: For each ticket with overage (unless Invoice action is set to Do not invoice), the module calls the WHMCS AddBillableItem local API:
      • clientid: Customer ID
      • description: <Invoice Item Name> #<ticket_id> <YYYY-MM> <overage> Hour(s) (<currency><rate>/Hour) (e.g. Support #259 2026-10 1.5 Hour(s) ($10.00/Hour))
      • amount: overage_hours × price_per_hour
      • unit: 'hours'
      • hours: overage
      • invoiceaction: Configured product option (Invoice on Next Cron Run, Add to User's Next Invoice, or Do not invoice)
    • Database stamping & audit logging: The generated WHMCS billableid (or '0' if covered) is written to both puqSupportByTime_tickets and puqSupportByTime_items, along with billed_hours and billed_at timestamps. An audit event ticket_billed is logged.
  4. Post-billing lock & immutability: Once a ticket has been stamped with a billableid (either an actual billable ID or '0'), its time entries are permanently locked. Attempting to edit logged time or use the ReOpen button on closed tickets is refused by the system. This prevents accidental double-billing or discrepancies with generated invoices.
  5. Invoice generation & live status linking: Depending on the configured Invoice action:
    • If set to Invoice on Next Cron Run, WHMCS generates an invoice on its next billable items cron run.
    • If set to Add to User's Next Invoice, WHMCS includes the billable item in the customer's next renewal invoice.
    • The module automatically resolves generated invoices by joining tblinvoiceitems (type = 'Item', relid = billableid) with tblinvoices. In both the admin product view and the client area History tab, tickets display direct clickable links to the invoice (#12345) along with real-time payment status (Paid / Unpaid).

One Time billing cycle workflow

  1. Prepaid bucket consumption: The client purchases a fixed package (e.g., 5 or 10 hours total). Each logged ticket entry permanently deducts time from this bucket until used_hours_left reaches zero.
  2. Zero overage & no billable items: One Time packages never produce monthly overage billable items (SetAddBillableItem immediately exits with 0). All support is prepaid.
  3. Strict exhaustion locking: Once all prepaid hours have been consumed:
    • The ticket header blocks time-logging buttons and displays a notice: All prepaid hours for this One Time service have been used. Additional time cannot be added. Please order a new support package.
    • Starting a live timer is refused by both frontend and backend validation.
    • The ticket header presents the inline Order another service form so the operator or customer can immediately order a new support package.
  4. Automatic service termination (AfterCronJob hook): During the daily cron run, puqSupportByTimeHooks::afterCronJob() checks all active One Time services. When package_hours <= used_hours (100% of hours consumed):
    • The module executes WHMCS localAPI('ModuleTerminate', ['serviceid' => $service_id]), moving the service status to Terminated.
    • All items and parent ticket records are stamped with billableid = '0' so they are excluded from any candidate scans in the future.

Important notes

Warning: This module is a server module (Products/Services). It cannot be used as an addon. Attempting to use it as an addon will return an error.

License gate: Every entry point (Create / Suspend / Unsuspend / Change Package / Terminate, ticket header, configuration page) verifies the license. If license.puqcloud.com is unreachable and the offline cache has expired, module actions fail until connectivity is restored.

Configuration storage: The entire product configuration (hours, invoice action, item name, work-log visibility, per-currency rates, notification settings) is stored as a JSON document in tblproducts.configoption24. Existing installations are migrated automatically on first read.

Client Area

Overview of the client-facing features of the Support by Time WHMCS module: home screen with the current month's hour usage and overage cost, and the per-month history view.

Client Area

Home screen

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Client area home screen

After logging in to the client area and opening their support service, the customer sees a modern card-based layout with the following sections.

Client home screen 09-client-home.png

This month / Support package

A summary of the current period as three stat cards:

A progress bar shows the percentage of the allocation that has been consumed (it turns amber as the package fills and red at 100%).

Billing (recurring billing cycle only)

Cost calculator

An interactive predictor: the client enters a number of additional hours (or uses quick preset buttons +30m, +1h, +2h, +5h) and instantly sees the estimated total for the month, with the underlying overage hours × rate calculation shown beneath it.

Billing and cost calculator 09b-client-billing.png

List of tickets

A table with all tickets that have time logged in the current period:

Each ticket row can be expanded to reveal its individual time entries (date, time, operator, note):

Expanded ticket time entries 10-client-home-entries.png

Sidebar navigation

The client area sidebar contains two menu items:

Note: For One Time services, only the Information tab is shown — there is no per-month history because the service uses a single bucket of hours.

Client Area

History

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Client area history

The History tab is available in the sidebar for support services with a recurring billing cycle. It shows a per-month archive of all tickets that consumed hours, together with a 12-month usage chart.

Client history tab and usage chart 11-client-history.png

Month navigator

A row of buttons lists every past month for which time has been logged. Clicking a month switches the view to that period (loaded via AJAX); the currently selected month is highlighted.

Usage trend chart

A Last 12 months chart (Google ComboChart) plots Hours used as bars against the Package allocation as a dashed line. Bars are coloured by status so months with overage stand out at a glance.

Monthly summary

For the selected month the summary panel shows the package allocation, hours used, hours left, the overage rate, overage hours and the overage cost — all using the package size and hourly rate that were active when the time was logged.

Why a snapshot? Each ticket stores the package size and hourly rate that were active when the time was logged, so the history view always reflects what the customer was actually charged — even if the product configuration changes later.

Tickets table

For every ticket logged in the selected month the table shows the ticket number and title, total time spent, the most-recent date, a status badge, and — when an overage billable item exists — a direct link to the WHMCS invoice that contains it. As on the home screen, the operator and note are shown when Show work log to client is enabled, and each row can be expanded to its individual entries.

Admin Area

Administrative features available in the WHMCS admin panel: per-service summary and history on the product page, and the time-logging header injected into every ticket.

Admin Area

Product Home Screen

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Admin area service page

When the administrator opens a customer's Support by Time service in WHMCS, the module adds the following panels to the service page.

Admin service page — summary, operator report, history and tickets 12-admin-product-page.png

License verification

If the license is invalid or unreachable, a red bar with the error message is shown. While the license is invalid, the module's lifecycle hooks (Create / Suspend / Unsuspend / Change Package / Terminate) all return errors.

Summary

A one-row summary table for the current month: month, package hours, used hours, hours left, price per hour, hours outside the package, and the calculated overage amount.

Operator report

Two side-by-side tables — This month and Last month — listing each operator who logged time on this service with their total hours and number of entries.

History (recurring billing cycle)

A row of buttons that switches the List of tickets table to any past month for which time has been logged. The current month is the default. Clicking a button reloads the list via AJAX without leaving the WHMCS service page.

List of tickets

One row per ticket logged in the selected month:

Column Description
Ticket Ticket number and title (links to the support ticket)
Total Total time logged on the ticket, plus the number of entries
Operator The operator(s) who logged time
Date Date of the most recent entry
Billable Item Link to the WHMCS billable item created for this ticket (if any)
Invoice Link to the invoice that contains the billable item
Status Open / Billed / Paid / Unpaid

Expanding a ticket row reveals its time entries (date, time, note, operator) — each with Edit and Delete actions — followed by the per-ticket audit trail. Entries belonging to a ticket that has already been billed are locked (shown with a lock icon instead of the Edit/Delete buttons) so billed time cannot be altered.

Before any time has been logged for the selected month, the tickets list shows an empty state. The panels sit on the WHMCS service page below the standard product/billing fields:

Service page with no tickets logged yet 13-admin-product-overview.png

One Time services

For services with the One Time billing cycle the panel is simplified: a single Status block with package / used / left hours, and a list of all tickets that have consumed hours from the bucket.

Floating active-timers widget

On every admin page the module shows a small floating widget in the bottom-right corner listing all timers the current operator has running, each with a live elapsed clock and a link to the ticket. It polls in the background and ticks every second, so a running timer is never lost when navigating away from the ticket.

Floating active timers widget 14-admin-floating-timers.png

License alert on the admin homepage

The module also adds an alert to the WHMCS admin Home page that lists every Support by Time product whose license is currently invalid or unreachable. Each entry links directly to the corresponding product configuration page so the operator can fix it in one click.

Admin Area

Ticket header

Support by Time module WHMCS

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Time-logging header

Whenever an administrator opens a ticket in the WHMCS admin area, the module injects a context-aware header above the ticket. The header loads its state over AJAX and renders entirely client-side — every action (save, close, reopen, timer, order) happens without reloading the page. It detects the situation (active service, terminated service, no service, ticket charged in a previous month, ticket closed, license issue) and renders the appropriate UI.

Open ticket — time form

Open ticket time form 15-ticket-time-form.png

The default view is a panel containing:

Each save adds a new entry to the ticket — it does not overwrite previous entries. The running total ("Already logged") and the full breakdown are shown in the audit trail.

Dynamic button state and status guard

The action buttons and time picker adapt dynamically to the selected service's status and remaining quota:

Audit trail

Below the form, a timeline lists every action taken on the ticket (time logged, edited, deleted, timer start/stop/cancel, service ordered), with the operator name and a relative timestamp.

Time form with audit trail 16-ticket-time-form-audit.png

Live timer

Pressing Start opens a red Timer running panel with a server-anchored running clock and Stop / Cancel buttons. Stop rounds the elapsed time up to the nearest minute and appends it as a regular time entry (with the note, if any); Cancel discards it.

Timer running 17-ticket-timer-running.png

After stopping, the action is recorded in the audit trail (elapsed time, added hours, new total):

Audit trail after stopping the timer 18-ticket-timer-audit.png

Closed ticket

Closed ticket 19-ticket-closed.png

When the ticket is closed, the header shows a compact summary (logged time + service) plus a ReOpen button that switches the WHMCS ticket status back to Open so the operator can log more time. If the ticket has already been billed, ReOpen is refused (the time is locked).

Ticket charged in a previous month

Ticket charged in a previous month 20-ticket-past-month.png

If the ticket's time belongs to a previous month, editing is locked: the header shows a red panel with the recorded time, the service, and a hint to recreate or split the ticket if more time needs to be logged. This prevents retroactive changes after the monthly billable item has been created.

Inactive or terminated service handling

If a ticket has existing logged time associated with a service that has since been terminated or suspended:

Client without a support service

Order service inline 21-ticket-order-service.png

If the client does not yet have an Active or Suspended Support by Time service, the header shows an inline order form: a drop-down with all available Support by Time products and a drop-down with available WHMCS payment methods. Submitting it creates a WHMCS order, accepts it, runs auto-setup and reloads the ticket.

License issue

When any of the customer's Support by Time products has an invalid or unreachable license, the header shows a red banner instead of the time form, with the product name and the error message returned by the license server.