Timesheet Approval Statuses, Audit Log, and Notifications

In this article, you'll learn about the five timesheet approval statuses, the audit log that records every approval status change, the approval actions available to you, when a timesheet can and can't be edited, and the notifications that fire when a status changes.

The five statuses make it clear whether a timesheet hasn't been submitted yet or has been reviewed and sent back, 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, including who declined a timesheet, when, and why. Clear 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 use timesheet approval statuses: Time Approval, Time Off Approval, or Internal Time Approval.

Jump to...

• Timesheet Approval Statuses
• Timesheet Approval Audit Log
• Timesheet Approval Actions and Permissions
• Retainer Period Lock Behavior
• Notifications

Timesheet Approval Statuses

Timesheet approval uses five statuses: Pending, Submitted, Declined, Approved, and Invoiced. This section covers how a timesheet moves through them and where you'll see them.

How a timesheet moves through the statuses

1. A timesheet starts as Pending.
2. The employee submits it, moving it to Submitted.
3. Someone with permission to review timesheets either approves it (setting its status to Approved) or declines it (setting its status to Declined).
4. A Declined timesheet can be resubmitted, sending it back to Submitted.
5. 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.

Note: The only way the Invoiced status is removed is if the entire invoice is deleted. If an invoice is deleted, the timesheet status changes from Invoiced back to Approved.

Where you'll see the statuses

• Timesheet Approval tab: the tab you use to review timesheets reflects each timesheet's status.

• My Timesheet and Team Member Timesheet pages: status badges show the current status of each timesheet.

• Time Entries page: a status column shows the status of each entry.

• Time Registrations Report: you can filter by status, and a column displays the status.

Timesheet Approval Audit Log

Every change in a timesheet's approval status is recorded in an audit log, so you can see exactly who did what and when. This section covers where to find the audit log, what it captures, and what it doesn't record.

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.

What the audit log doesn't record

The audit log doesn't record:

• Row deletions
• Approver edits that don't change the timesheet's status
• Edits to time off entries

Timesheet Approval Actions and Permissions

This section explains the approval actions available to you, which statuses can be edited, and how to make a locked timesheet editable again.

Approval actions

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 the timesheet back to Submitted and clears the previous decline reason.

Reverse Approval moves a timesheet from Approved to Declined. The person who reverses the approval must enter a reason before it goes through.

Note: Reverse Approval replaces the Unapproved action, which moved a timesheet from Approved back to Not Submitted. Unapproved is no longer available once timesheet approval statuses are turned on for your account.

Force Approve pushes a timesheet straight to Approved. It's restricted to Admin users and exists to help unstick timesheets.

On the Timesheet Entries page, setting a timesheet lock for a specific date automatically force-approves time entries. This appears in the audit log as Force Approve - locked period.

Which statuses can be edited

Make a locked timesheet editable again

Retainer Period Lock Behavior

When a retainer period is locked, any time entries that are Pending or Submitted move to Approved. Entries that are already Declined, Approved, or Invoiced stay in that status, so declined entries are never swept into Approved when a period locks.

Notifications

In-app notifications (top navigation) fire when a timesheet's approval status changes, as well as for time-off approvals.

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 aren't 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 are sent for timesheets that haven't been submitted and for Declined timesheets.

Where to go next

• Approving Timesheets
• About Timesheet Approval