Legal
Last updated: 24 August 2026 · Compiled in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA)
Hour Glass Solutions (Pty) Ltd ("Hour Glass Solutions", "we", "us"), a company registered in the Republic of South Africa, operates Hourbooks. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why, and the rights you have over it under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
Hour Glass Solutions (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party for personal information processed through the Hourbooks platform itself (account holder and billing details). Where you use Hourbooks to store information about your own clients, suppliers or staff, you act as the responsible party for that data and Hour Glass Solutions acts as operator on your behalf.
Information Officer: Thuthukani Nxumalo, reachable at thuthukani@hourglasssolutions.co.za.
When you create a workspace, we collect your name, email address, company name and a password. If you subscribe to a paid plan, our payment processor, PayFast, collects and processes your payment details directly — we do not store your card or bank details ourselves. We also collect basic technical information such as login timestamps and IP address for security purposes.
Data you choose to enter into your workspace — client names, contact details, invoices, financial records and similar — is stored so the platform can function, and remains under your control as the responsible party for that information.
We process personal information to: create and operate your workspace; process subscription payments; send transactional emails such as password resets, invoices you generate, and account notices; provide customer support; and to maintain the security and integrity of the platform. Processing is based on the contract we have with you (these Terms), legal obligations (such as tax record-keeping), and, for optional communications, your consent.
We share limited information with service providers who help us run Hourbooks: PayFast (Pty) Ltd for payment processing, our hosting provider for infrastructure, and our email delivery infrastructure for transactional email. These providers only receive what they need to perform their function and are not permitted to use your information for their own purposes. We do not sell personal information to third parties.
Hourbooks is hosted on servers located in South Africa. Where any processing involves a party located outside South Africa (for example, an email delivery or infrastructure provider), we take reasonable steps to ensure an equivalent level of protection is applied, as required by POPIA.
We retain account and workspace data for as long as your workspace is active, and for a reasonable period after cancellation to allow you to export your records and to meet our own legal and tax obligations. You can request deletion of your account data at any time, subject to information we're legally required to retain.
We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access, and disclosure, including encrypted connections, hashed passwords, and per-workspace data isolation. No system is completely secure, and we encourage you to use a strong, unique password for your account.
As a data subject, you have the right to: be notified that your personal information is being collected; access the personal information we hold about you; request correction or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive or unlawfully obtained information; object to processing of your personal information in certain circumstances; and lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your information has been mishandled.
To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer at the email address above. We'll respond within a reasonable time and in line with POPIA's requirements.
Hourbooks uses essential cookies to keep you signed in and to remember basic preferences. We don't use third-party advertising or tracking cookies.
Hourbooks is a business tool intended for use by adults acting on behalf of a company. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Material changes will be communicated to account owners.
For any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, contact us at thuthukani@hourglasssolutions.co.za. If you're not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa (inforeg.org.za).