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Approving timesheets

People submit their week of time for approval, and a manager approves it or returns it with a note saying what to fix. While a week is waiting for approval or approved, its time is locked.

Submit your week

Everyone submits their own timesheet, once the week has started.

  1. Go to Time › Timesheet. Use the arrows beside This week to move to the week you want.
  2. Check the hours in the grid and the entries under each day.
  3. If a timer you started that week is still running, stop it.
  4. Click Submit timesheet, then confirm.

The week's status, above the grid, now reads Submitted. Its time is locked: nobody can log, edit or delete time in that week, or run a timer on it. That includes managers.

To change something before it's approved, click Withdraw. The week goes back to not submitted, and you can change its time again. Once a week is approved, only a manager can open it again, by returning it.

See what's waiting

Managers see how many weeks are waiting on Today, in the Money card, and all of them under Time › Approvals. That page has two lists:

  • Waiting for approval: each submitted week, with the person, the week, its hours and billable hours, and the day it was submitted.
  • Last week: each active team member's hours for last week, and where their timesheet stands: Approved, Waiting for approval, Returned (with the note) or Not submitted. Open shows their timesheet.

Approve a week

  1. On Time › Approvals, click Review beside the week. The person's timesheet opens on that week, with the grid of hours and each day's entries.
  2. Click Approve.

When you don't need to look first, click Approve in the Waiting for approval list instead. The week then reads Approved, with your name and the date, and its time stays locked.

Return a week with a note

  1. Open the person's timesheet on that week: Review or Open on the Approvals page, or choose them in the Whose menu on Time › Timesheet.
  2. Click Return….
  3. In the box that opens, say what needs fixing, for example "Tuesday is missing". The note is optional, up to 500 characters.
  4. Click the button that says Return to and their first name.

You can return a week that's waiting, or one that's already approved.

What a returned week means

The person sees Returned on their timesheet, with who returned it, when, and your note. The week is open again: they can log, edit and delete its time. When it's right, they click Submit again, and the week goes back to Waiting for approval.

Good to know

  • Approving and returning weeks is for managers and up: people titled Manager or Partner, and admins and owners. They can approve their own week too.
  • Managers can open and change anyone's timesheet, but not a locked week. Return it first, then change it.
  • A locked time entry shows View instead of Edit, and says why it can't change and how to open it again.
  • Approval and billing are separate. Approving a week doesn't bill its time: billable time waits under Time › Unbilled until it's invoiced, whether its week is approved or not.
  • Billed time is locked on its own, whatever its week's status.
  • A week runs from Monday to Sunday. A week that hasn't started yet can't be submitted.