Weekly timesheets with approval
Each person's time for the week sits on one sheet, sent on Friday. The project manager or your approval chain approves it as a whole. Approved hours become the project's cost and what you bill.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Hours are typed into a spreadsheet at the end of the month from memory, and nobody can say which project they belong to.
- A manager signs off time line by line, or not at all, so unchecked hours reach the invoice.
- Someone edits last month's hours after the client was billed.
- People forget to fill in their week, and you find out when the invoice is short.
How it works
- Your team keeps time during the week: a timer on the task, the weekly grid (projects down, days across), or a line in My Time. Every entry lands on that person's sheet for the week by itself.
- On the last day each person presses Submit Week. A running timer is stopped first. The sheet shows the hours against their usual hours and anything the checks found, such as a short week.
- The week reaches its approver: by default the managers of the projects on it, or the levels your Weekly Timesheet approval chain has.
- The approver opens Timesheets to Approve and presses Approve, or Send Back with the reason. The person is told and corrects the week.
- Approved, the week is locked. Its billable hours are ready for billing (Growth) and its cost goes to the project's budget and profitability (Scale).
Everything it does
Keeping time
- Three ways: a timer on a task, the weekly grid, or a line in the time list (date, project, task, what was done, hours, billable)
- One timer runs at a time for each person; starting another stops the first
- The timer rounds up to the entity's minutes (15 to start with) and never goes past 24 hours
- Each entry records how it was made: by hand, timer, weekly grid or app
- Each entry is billable or not, starting from the project's Time Is Billable
The weekly sheet
- One sheet per person and week, made by itself when the first entry of the week is kept
- Shows hours, billable hours and the person's usual hours for the week
- Submit stops a running timer and runs the checks: a short week, and with SmartMy HRMS the days that do not match attendance
- An empty week cannot be submitted
- A submitted or approved week cannot change; a week sent back can be corrected or put back to draft
Approving
- Approve or Send Back from Timesheets to Approve; sending back needs a reason
- Through the approval chain Weekly Timesheet: project managers by default, more levels or Approved at Once if you set it so
- Nobody approves their own week
- A project manager decides on weeks whose projects they manage; a Projects Manager on any week except their own
Locks
- Time Locked Until: no time on or before a date (after you close a month, for example)
- Lock Time Older Than n days: a rolling lock
- Submitted and approved weeks are locked
Cost and reports
- Each entry takes the person's cost per hour when it is made: typed on the user, or from the salary with SmartMy HRMS payroll
- Cost columns are shown to managers only
- Time Analysis: hours by project, person, week, billable and status, as a pivot or a graph
- Filters for my time, this week, last week, billable, status and timers running
Who uses it
Team memberKeeps time with the timer, the grid or the app, and submits the week.
Project managerApproves or sends back the weeks of people on their projects.
Projects ManagerSees everyone's time and its cost, approves any week except their own, keeps time for others.
Projects AdministratorSets the week, the usual hours, the timer rounding, the locks and the reminders.
Where you use it
- Web: Projects > Time (My Time, Weekly Grid, Weekly Timesheets, Timesheets to Approve) and Reporting > Time Analysis
- The SmartMy Projects app: timer, time added and the week, also without signal. Managers can approve weeks (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- With SmartMy HRMS: the employee app's Projects and time, and weeks approved in My approvals
- Not on the client portal: clients see progress and milestones, not your hours
What you control
Settings
- Week starts on: Monday to start with
- Working days a week: 5; usual hours a day: 8 (also per person)
- Timer rounds to: 15 minutes (0 for exact time)
- Time locked until a date, and lock time older than n days: off to start with
- Remind missing time: on, on Mondays
- Time is billable: per project, on to start with
- With SmartMy HRMS: time against attendance off, warn (the default) or block, with 30 minutes of tolerance
Approvals
- Weekly Timesheet: one chain per entity; the project managers by default, with levels you add or Approved at Once
Notifications
- Timesheet Missing: to people who kept time in the last five weeks and whose last week is short or not submitted. It goes on the reminder day, in the app and by email
- Timesheet Sent Back: to the person, with who sent it back and why, in the app and by email
- Approvers get a to-do for each week waiting
- Each person can switch off a channel, such as email, for themselves; in-app notices always arrive
Works with
SmartMy HRMSTime checked against the day's attendance (off, warn or block), the cost per hour from the salary, and the same weeks in the employee app.
Questions
Can people approve their own week?
No. A week is approved by someone else: a manager of a project on the week, a Projects Manager, or the levels of your approval chain.What happens to a week that is sent back?
The person is told why, in the app and by email. Changing an entry puts it back to draft; they correct the week and submit it again.Can we stop anyone changing last month's time?
Yes. Set Time Locked Until to the last day of the month you closed, or lock time older than a number of days. Submitted and approved weeks are locked anyway.Can my team keep time on the phone?
The SmartMy Projects app has the timer, time added and the weekly timesheet. It keeps what is done without signal until the phone is back online. It is built and being tested; it is not in the app stores yet.Is the timesheet in the Starter plan?
Yes. Time entries, the timer, the weekly grid, weekly timesheets with approval, locks, reminders and Time Analysis are in every plan. Billing from approved hours starts in Growth.Can we import time from our old spreadsheet?
Not yet. Importing time from a sheet is not built; tell us if you need it before you start.Related features
TIMETime entries with a timer and a weekly gridYour team keeps time on projects and tasks in the way that suits the work. Use a timer on the task, a weekly grid of projects and days, or a line in the list. Each entry is billable or not and lands on that person's weekly timesheet by itself.TIMEMissing-time reminders and Time AnalysisEvery week, people whose last week is short or not submitted are reminded in the app and by email. Time Analysis shows managers the hours by project, person, task, week, billable and status.TIMETime checked against attendanceWith SmartMy HRMS, each submitted week is compared day by day with the person's attendance. It finds more hours than they worked, time on a day of leave or a holiday, or time on a day with no attendance. You choose to warn the approver or to block the week until it matches.MONEYBilling runs from approved hoursEach period, a billing run gathers what a project bills. That is approved hours at their rates, fixed-price instalments that are due, the retainer fee and overage, and expenses to pass on. Once approved, it becomes a draft invoice in accounting with the entity's GST or VAT.ACROSS SMARTMY PROJECTSApproval chainsTimesheets, billing runs, expenses, budgets, stage overrides and subcontract work go to the right people in the right order, set up by you without code. Every decision is kept with who made it, when and why.MONEYProfitability per projectOne row per project with revenue, cost, margin and budget used, read from the project's budget ledger. Time is costed at each person's cost per hour, and filters show the projects losing money or over budget.
See your next project on it.
Tell us how many people keep time, how you bill your clients today (hours, fixed price, retainers) and what you use now. We will set up one of your real projects with you.