The previous three-status model didn't distinguish between a timesheet that hadn't been submitted yet and one that had been reviewed and sent back. The new statuses make that difference clear, so employees know when a timesheet needs their attention and approvers know what's waiting on them.
The audit log gives you a complete record of approval history. If a timesheet is declined, you can see who declined it, when, and why, and the employee sees the decline reason so they know what to fix before resubmitting.
Clearer editing rules and status change notifications reduce back and forth. Timesheets lock at the appropriate points, unlock through a defined action, and the people involved are notified when something changes.
Note: You must have at least one of these company settings enabled to see the change: Time Approval, Time Off Approval, or Internal Time Approval.
Jump to...
- New Timesheet Approval Statuses
- Timesheet Approval Audit Log
- Timesheet Approval Actions and Permissions
- Retainer period lock behavior
- Notifications
- Where to go next
New Timesheet Approval Statuses
This section of the article covers the new timesheet approval statuses and where you’ll see them.
What's changing
Timesheet approval is moving from a 3-status model to a 5-status model. The new statuses are: Pending, Submitted, Declined, Approved, and Invoiced.
Here's how a timesheet moves through them:
- A timesheet starts as Pending.
- The employee submits it, moving it to Submitted.
- Someone with permission to review timesheets can either approve a timesheet (setting its status to Approved) or decline it (setting its status to Declined).
- Declined timesheets can be resubmitted, sending them back to Submitted.
- Once a timesheet is billed, it moves to Invoiced, its final state.
Approved and Declined are the two available outcomes when someone with permission to review timesheets reviews a submitted timesheet.
The only way the Invoiced status is removed is if the entire invoice is deleted. If an invoice is deleted, the timesheet status will change from Invoiced back to Approved.
Where you'll see the new statuses
Timesheet Approval tab — the tab you use to review timesheets will reflect the new statuses.
My Timesheet and Team Member Timesheet pages — status badges show the current status of each timesheet.
Time Entries page — a new status column shows the status of each entry.
Time Registrations Report — you can now filter by status, and a new column displays the status.
This video shows a continuous walkthrough of where you'll see these changes:
Timesheet Approval Audit Log
Every change in a timesheet's approval status is now recorded in an audit log, so you can see exactly who did what and when.
In this section of the article, you’ll learn where to find audit logs, what details they capture, and which updates are planned as future enhancements.
Where to find it
You can open the audit log from either:
The My Timesheets page
The Timesheet Entries page
What it shows
The audit log is grouped by day and project, and shows:
- Who changed the status
- What the change was
- When it happened
If a timesheet was declined, the audit log also shows the decline reason to the employee, so they know what to fix before resubmitting.
This video shows a continuous walkthrough of where you'll see these changes:
Timesheet Approval Actions and Permissions
This section of the article explains the new and renamed actions, whether a status can be edited, how to make a locked timesheet editable again, and retainer period lock behavior.
New and renamed actions
Reverse Approval replaces Unapproved.
- Previously, Unapproved moved a timesheet from Approved back to Not Submitted.
- Under the new statuses, Reverse Approval moves a timesheet from Approved to Declined instead, and the person who reversed the approval must enter a reason before it goes through.
The old Unapproved action is no longer available once the new statuses are turned on for your account.
This video walks through what happens when you reverse-approve a timesheet: before you can reverse it, you're required to enter a reason, and the timesheet then moves back into Declined status:
Decline requires a reason. When a person declines a submitted timesheet, they must enter a reason. Empty reasons aren't accepted.
Resubmit is available on Declined timesheets. Resubmitting moves it back to Submitted and clears the previous decline reason.
This video shows how, in My Timesheets, you can see when a timesheet was declined. Hovering over the Declined status shows the reason it was declined. When you resubmit from this view, the status changes to Submitted:
Force Approve is an admin-only action. Force Approve pushes a timesheet straight to Approved. It's restricted to Admin users and it exists to help unstick timesheets.
This video walks through how, on the Timesheet Entries page, setting a timesheet lock for a specific date automatically force-approves time entries — and shows how that appears in the audit log as "Force Approve - locked period":
Status and whether it's editable
| Status | Editable? |
|---|---|
| Pending | Yes |
| Submitted | No |
| Approved | No |
| Declined | Yes |
| Invoiced | No |
Getting a locked timesheet back to editable
| From | Action | To |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted | Un submit | Pending |
| Approved | Reverse Approval | Declined |
| Invoiced | Delete the invoice | Approved |
Retainer period lock behavior
- When a retainer period is locked, any time entries under the new statuses that are Pending or Submitted will move to Approved.
- Entries that are already Declined, Approved, or Invoiced stay in that status.
- Previously, Declined entries could be swept into Approved when a period locked; that no longer happens.
Notifications
In-app notifications (top navigation) now fire when a timesheet's approval status changes. Previously, this only covered time-off approvals.
How timesheet approval notifications work:
Notifications are sent to the person waiting on an action:
When a team member submits a timesheet, the assigned approver receives a notification.
When an approver approves or declines a timesheet, the team member who submitted it receives a notification.
Notifications are not sent to the person performing the action. For example, if you submit or approve a timesheet yourself (such as when acting as an Admin), you won't receive a notification for that action.
Reminder emails, previously sent only for timesheets that hadn't been Submitted, now also cover Declined timesheets.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.