Enabling Per Diem on a Project

Setup has two parts: optionally creating reusable rate presets at the company level, and then enabling and configuring per diem on the individual project.

Part 1: Set Up Company Per Diem Rates (Optional)

Company-level rates are saved presets you can apply to any project quickly. If your rates vary by location or region, creating presets here saves time when setting up projects.

Navigate to Settings → Per Diem.

Click New to create a rate. Fill in:

Field	Notes
Location / Region	A label identifying where this rate applies. Example: "California", "Northeast", "Standard".
Meals	Daily meal allowance in dollars.
Lodging	Daily lodging allowance in dollars.
Expiration Date	Optional. Useful if rates are tied to a contract period or GSA schedule.

Save the rate. Repeat for each location or rate tier you need.

Pulling rates from the GSA schedule: On the project edit page (see Part 2), there is a Get Per Diem Data button that fetches current GSA per diem rates by zip code. This populates the meals and lodging fields automatically using published government rates. You can use this instead of manually entering amounts.

Part 2: Enable Per Diem on a Project

Open the project and go to the Edit page. Find the Enable Per Diem checkbox.

Check the box. A details section expands below it with the following fields:

Field	Notes
Saved Per Diem Rate	Dropdown of your company-level rate presets. Select one and click Apply to populate the meals and lodging fields automatically.
Per Diem Meal	Daily meals allowance for this project in dollars.
Per Diem Lodging	Daily lodging allowance for this project in dollars.

To set amounts from a saved rate: Select a rate from the Saved Per Diem Rate dropdown and click Apply. The Meals and Lodging fields populate from that preset. You can adjust the values after applying.

To pull GSA rates instead: Click Get Per Diem Data and enter the project's zip code. Kudurru fetches the current GSA daily rates for that location and populates the fields.

To enter amounts manually: Type directly into the Per Diem Meal and Per Diem Lodging fields.

Save the project. Per diem is now active for this project.

What Changes on Time Entries

Per diem only appears on time entries when the task being logged against belongs to a per diem-enabled project. If an employee reports not seeing the per diem section, confirm the flag is checked and saved on the project.

Once per diem is enabled on a project, any time entry logged against a task on that project will display the per diem section on the Full Edit form. Employees will see the per diem fields when they open the full edit form for a qualifying time entry.

The per diem section does not appear in the quick edit modal — only on the full edit form accessed via the Full Edit button.

For details on how employees record per diem claims, allocate costs across projects, and upload receipts, see Time Entry: Per Diem, Equipment, and Expenses.

Tips

Set the Meals and Lodging amounts to match your policy or the applicable GSA rate for the work location — these are the amounts employees should be claiming, so accuracy here sets the expectation.
If a project spans multiple regions with different rates, set the rate for the primary location. Employees can adjust their actual claimed amounts within the limits on each time entry.
Company-level rate presets are worth creating if you run projects in recurring locations. A one-time setup makes it a two-click operation on each new project.