Reviewing and Editing Timesheets

What is a Sequence?

A key part of using timesheets within HR Partner is understanding what we mean when we refer to a "sequence". Here are some pointers to help you out with that:

• When building your timesheet template, you have the option to specify a "frequency" which essentially dictates how long each sequence is: 7 days, 14 days or monthly and should usually mirror your pay period 
• A timesheet "sequence" is a specific date range, which correlates with the timesheet frequency and therefore your pay period.
• Let's look at an example using a 7-day frequency for January 2023 with each line in the screenshot below being a different sequence: 

When setting up your timesheet template you can stipulate whether or not you would like to trigger email notifications to an Approver upon completion of a timesheet:

If this box is selected, the Approving Admin User will be sent an email including a link to the submitted timesheet. If this has not been selected, Approving Admin Users will need to head to Timesheets  > Sequences at the end of each pay period to see what needs to be reviewed. 

When viewing the sequence, you can see in (1) the option to bulk mark all timesheets as either Submitted, Approved, Needs Review or Processed; in (2) the total number of hours submitted by each employee over the course of the sequence; in (3) you have the ability to select "Edit" which allows you to view the entries against each individual day; and, in (4) you have the "Sequence Actions" button which will allow you to sync employees, export data, delete sequence and lock / unlock sequences, which we've explained in some more detail below.

Locking the Sequence

Locking a sequence prevents employees from changing their timesheet entries. This can be done automatically at the end of a sequence, or a specified number of days after the end of a sequence. It can also be done manually, depending on your preferences. 

Automatically Locking Sequences

There are two ways to do this automatically! Both options are configured by heading to Timesheets > Configure > Templates and hitting the edit button beside the relevant template.

First, you can opt to automatically lock all timesheets in a sequence as soon as they are all marked as submitted (1) or alternatively within the menu option to "Auto Create Sequences" you have the ability to enter how many days after a sequence ends you would like the system to lock/close the sequence (2): 

Manually Locking Sequences

If you choose to manually lock a sequence, you can do this by heading to Timesheets > Sequences > View and then go to the "Sequence Action" button on the bottom right, where you will see the option to "Lock Sequence":

Unlocking a Sequence

If you need to amend a timesheet for either an Admin User or an Employee to make changes, you must first unlock it. This has to be done chronologically, starting with the most recent sequence first. To do this, head to Timesheets > Sequences and click on the "History" icon as shown in the screenshot above. 

You will then see your list of closed sequences, the padlock symbol beside each shows whether they are locked or unlocked:

Starting with the most recent locked sequence, click on the view button. When the sequence opens, select "Sequence Action" and "Unlock Sequence", before moving to the next most recent locked sequence: