Approval of timesheets, time-off, and expense requests

My work

The rights of the User role and access to approved entities is required

Review

WorkPoint supports the timesheets, time-off, and expense requests.

The approval process is identical for all entities. One can set up an individual approval process for each entity and for each user, thus the list of approving users can be different.

Kindly note that a specific user or role can be added to the approval list: Supervisor, Project Manager, Co-Project Manager, Program Manager, or Co-manager of the program.

The approval is considered completed if all the approving users have approved the entity.

If someone rejected the entity, the approval process is terminated.

Connection with the life cycle of an entity

Timesheets, time-off, and expense requests can have four different states. The states are changed during the approval of the entity:

  • Draft — the approval process has not been started or terminated.
  • Submitted — the approval process has been started.
  • Approved — the approval has been successfully completed, the entity has been approved.
  • Rejected — the approval is completed, but the entity is rejected.

How to submit an entity for approval?

To submit an entity for approval, choose the Submit for approval command available in the entity card:

In the case of timesheets, the WorkPoint administrator can configure a number of formal requirements or so-called business rules. If the timesheet meets the requirements, the approval process will begin. Otherwise, a similar message will be displayed:

There are two types of rules: prohibiting and warning. Warning rules can be ignored, and the timesheet can be sent for approval. At the same time, the prohibiting rule cannot be ignored: before submitting for approval, one must correct the entity.

If one needs to submit a timesheet that does not meet the rules (for example, due to changes in the work schedule), then you need to contact your B usiness administrator.

What should one do if the entity was rejected?

During the approval process, the entity can be approved, but it can also be rejected.

If notifications are enabled for the author of the entity, they will receive an email with a message about the result of the approval process.

An additional navigation item will appear in the My work:

The number indicates the number of rejected entities.

Next, one needs to open the entity card and click Edit to make edits. After that, one can make adjustments and submit the entity for additional approval.

How to approve it?

If notifications are enabled for the approving user, they will receive an email asking them to approve the entity, including a link to the entity.

The My job applications shows Waiting for approval menu item if there are entities to approve:

The waiting for approval section shows all entities that the current user needs to approve.
The approval is carried out in the entity card:

One can use the Comment field to add notes and comments. For example, the reason for the rejection.

Approve and Reject — commands of the approval process.

Edit — this command is used to terminate the approval and transfer the entity to the «Draft» state. This command is available only to the author of the entity, Manager, or Business administrator (corresponding rights are required).

How to get information about the approval process?

Information about the approval process is available in the entity card:

  • State — the current state of the approval process.
  • Due — specifies the date (including the chosen date) when the entity should be sent for approval. The field is displayed only in timesheets.
  • Approving users — shows a list of approving users. The list is divided into stages according to the configured route. The approval is parallel at the stage, while the stages are approved sequentially.

Information about the approval state and current approvals is available in the list of entities (columns can be hidden; configure the view if you can’t see them):

The approval history is available in the entity card:

Such events as approval, rejection, termination of approval, as well as the comment and the performer are shown.

How to stop the approval process?

The author of the entity, manager, or business administrator can terminate the approval process.

In order to do that, one needs to use the Edit button of the approved entity card.

Additional features

  1. Approval by project managers. By default, after receiving the entity for approval, the project manager can see only timesheet strings directly related to their projects. The administrator can grant the right to view all strings.
  2. Re-approval and reduction of the number of approving users. When the approval cycle is repeated, the user skips their step if they have already approved the entity earlier (while the available strings were not changed).
  3. The author of the timesheet. The author of the timesheet skips the approval if they are included in the list of approving users.
  4. Business administrator and process administration. Users with the business administrator rolecan perform approval operations while bypassing the rules. For example:
    • They can approve or reject any entity while bypassing other participants.
    • They can send an entity that does not meet the requirements for approval.
    • They can return the already approved entity to the «Draft» state.