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TimeSpan

Use the TimeSpan Rule Type when a field should contain a duration (e.g., hours and minutes). The rule parses common duration formats, validates them, and normalizes the result for downstream use.

TimeSpan — base options

When to use

  • Durations on timesheets, SLAs, call logs, and process timings.
  • Any field expected to hold elapsed time rather than a date or clock time.
  • Normalizing diverse inputs like “1h 30m”, “90 mins”, or “01:30” into a consistent output.

Open Field Configuration

See Field Rules (Rules Engine) for how to open the field configuration:

  • From the document overlay (supported services), or
  • From the Fields panel on the right sidebar.

Configure the TimeSpan rule

TimeSpan — base options

Core settings:

  • Rule Type: TimeSpan
  • Default Value: The value to return when nothing is extracted (e.g., Empty Text).

This rule has a simple configuration. All behavior focuses on recognizing common duration inputs and returning a normalized result.

Input parsing and normalization

Accepted patterns (examples):

  • Colon formats
    • HH:mm (e.g., 02:15)
    • HH:mm:ss (e.g., 02:15:30)
    • H:mm or m:ss (e.g., 8:05, 3:07)
  • Unit-based text
    • “1h 30m”, “1 hr 30 min”, “90m”, “90 minutes”, “2 hours”
    • “5400s”, “45 sec”, “45 seconds”
  • Mixed
    • “1h 30”, “1:30h”, “01:30 hours” (where units are present)

Normalization rules:

  • Whitespace and punctuation noise are trimmed.
  • Unit variants are standardized (e.g., hr, h → hours; m, min → minutes; s, sec → seconds).
  • If seconds are omitted, they normalize to 00.
  • Ambiguities like “1:30” are interpreted as HH:mm by default.

Ambiguous inputs

Inputs such as “1:30” can mean 1 hour 30 minutes or 1 minute 30 seconds depending on context. By default, they are parsed as HH:mm. If your process expects mm:ss, set a review policy for these cases.

Output and formatting

Standard output (recommended):

  • Canonical string in HH:mm:ss (zero‑padded), for example:
    • 00:45:00
    • 02:15:30
    • 36:00:00 (durations can exceed 24 hours if the source implies longer spans)

Alternative outputs (downstream):

  • Store the canonical HH:mm:ss, then derive totals where needed:
    • TotalMinutes (integer/decimal)
    • TotalSeconds (integer)
    • Human‑readable labels (“2h 15m” for UI)

Why HH:mm:ss?

A uniform, zero‑padded HH:mm:ss travels well across systems, avoids locale surprises, and is easy to convert into totals.

HITL triggers and reviewer guidance

Trigger review when:

  • The value cannot be parsed as a duration (unknown pattern or conflicting units).
  • The value is clearly out of policy (e.g., negative duration, or unexpectedly large if your process caps durations).
  • Ambiguous formats appear (e.g., “1:30” with no context and your policy requires explicit units).

Reviewer note suggestion:

  • “Confirm the duration format. If ambiguous (e.g., 1:30), interpret as HH:mm unless the document indicates mm:ss. Normalize to HH:mm:ss.”

Examples

  • Hours and minutes

    • Input: “1h 30m” → Output: 01:30:00
    • Input: “01:30” → Output: 01:30:00

  • Hours, minutes, seconds

    • Input: “2:15:30” → Output: 02:15:30

  • Minutes only

    • Input: “90 minutes” → Output: 01:30:00

  • Seconds only

    • Input: “5400s” → Output: 01:30:00

  • Long span (allowed)

    • Input: “36 hours” → Output: 36:00:00

  • Ambiguous (consider review)

    • Input: “1:30” → Default interpretation: 01:30:00; escalate if your process expects mm:ss.

Best practices

  • Standardize on HH:mm:ss for storage; convert to totals or human‑readable strings at the edges.
  • Decide how to handle ambiguous “m:ss” vs “H:mm” and write it into your reviewer guidance.
  • If your workflow has min/max limits, document them and route out‑of‑range values to HITL.
  • Avoid auto-correcting suspect OCR (e.g., “l:30” vs “1:30”) unless you have high confidence.

Testing checklist

  • [ ] HH:mm, HH:mm:ss, and H:mm inputs across typical ranges.
  • [ ] Unit-based inputs (h/hr, m/min, s/sec), including pluralization and spacing variants.
  • [ ] Large durations (>24h) if your process expects them.
  • [ ] Ambiguous values (e.g., 1:30) and your chosen handling policy.
  • [ ] Negative or zero durations if applicable to your process (e.g., disallow negatives).

Troubleshooting

  • Won’t parse

    • Check for unsupported symbols/typos; ensure units are recognizable or provide a colon format.

  • Interpreted as mm:ss instead of HH:mm (or vice versa)

    • Add reviewer guidance or pre‑classification to disambiguate; prefer explicit units in source templates if possible.

  • Unexpectedly large or small output

    • Confirm the source didn’t mix units (e.g., “1m 90s” expected → 02:30). Add HITL when totals exceed expected ranges.

UI reference

  • Base panel (Rule Type, Default Value) TimeSpan — base options