How to make timesheet approvals easy and effective

Timesheets and timesheet approvals have been around for a long time. From those images of workers queueing up around the punch clock in the early days of the assembly lines, time tracking (and approvals) have been a constant factor. They’ve been followed by ID forms, Excel sheets, biometric readers. And they do fulfill a very important function for many organizations.

Timesheets help keep track of how much employees need to be paid and can also give insights into other details like a breakdown of their working day. They help companies invoice customers for the time that employees spend on tasks. But as with most other systems, however, time review systems are not without their drawbacks. Processes are tedious and HR and team managers struggle to cope with them. They must chase down badly written or illegible timesheets, organize and review time for tens, maybe hundreds of employees at a time.  Another consideration is that, in a world that’s increasingly aware of the need for sustainability, paper timesheets are likely to be frowned upon if they can be avoided.

consuming and waste effort and resources. Fortunately, with systems like the PK4 TimeTracker, the whole time entry and approval process can be automated and made super-efficient!

Easy Time Sheet Approval

Today, companies need to automate processes to increase efficiency and reduce waste. Timesheet tracking and approval is a perfect example of a system that can be easily and effectively automated.

With the PK4 TimeTracker, employees can enter their timesheets in multiple ways – within Salesforce, on a mobile app, on a web app or in a Chrome extension.

• Employees track their time wherever it makes sense for them to easily and quickly.
• When an employee “Submits” her timesheets, it’s automatically routed to her manager in real-time.
• Internally, the Time Tracker workflows notify the manager that team member timesheets are available for approval. There’s no need for HR to chase employees or managers for approvals.
• The manager can review each of their team member’s timesheets within Salesforce or on the PK4 TimeTracker web app.
• Since approvals can be done on the web app, managers at customer sites (who are not Salesforce users) can also approve timesheets for contract employees.
• Workflows notify employees when timesheets are approved, rejected or need corrections.
• Employees and managers can add comments and discuss specific time entries directly on the time entry.

Timesheet Statuses

Within the PK4 TimeTracker, timesheets are placed into four main Statuses:

• Pending: The pending tab shows you which timesheets have not yet been approved, rejected, or sent back for corrections. This tab shows you time review entries from the previous week as default and allows you to easily see more information on specific users or specific dates if needed.
• Rejected: If you reject a timesheet, it will automatically be placed under the ‘rejected‘ tab. When rejecting a timesheet you can enter a reason why it has been rejected to let the employee know.
• Approved: As the name suggests, this category includes all the timesheets that have been approved. The tab will show approved time review sheets for the last 30 days by default. If you have mistakenly approved a timesheet then you can go back and un-approve it, sending the timesheet back into the pending category.
• Request Correction: Another option is to request a correction from the employee. This option will automatically send a request to the employee to correct their sheet, and you can state what needs to be corrected. Once the employee has made the correction, they can then move their time review sheet back into pending approval status so you can then approve it.

Automatic Messaging

When timesheets have been approved or rejected, the system can be set to automatically send an email informing employees individually. The employee can also see whether or not their manager has approved their timesheet in the Time Review tab in the My Time screen. If the timesheet is sent back for revisions then the employee will also receive a message. Using an automatic messaging system in this way allows the employee to correct any issues without team management having to go to and forth for corrections, making project management a lot more efficient.

Chasing up sheets for time review can be frustrating and time-consuming for team management. However, PK4 Tech’s time sheet approval software sends automatic reminders to help ensure that employees send their timesheets in good time.

Only people with the appropriate access to the system will be able to approve an employee’s timesheet. Team managers will also have access to other features, like the option to approve multiple time sheets at once, helping to save them time. The process can also be used to approve or reject expenses and PTO, which is again made as simple as clicking a button.

Summary

Time sheet approval is made a lot easier and more efficient thanks to PK4 Tech. Team managers can approve or reject timesheets at a click of a button, or request that the user makes changes. Multiple sheets can be approved at once and other details like expenses and PTO can also be approved or rejected. If you are looking for a timesheet tracking and approval mechanism that works easily and within Salesforce, then start a free 15-day-trial now!