Approving Time Entries and Reimbursements

Use Timesheets to review employee labor, travel, and reimbursement entries for a pay period. This guide is for approvers who review submitted entries and complete timesheet approval in the FORGE desktop workspace.

How the Approval Process Works

The employee submits their entries and timesheet. The approver then approves the submitted rows in Travel/Labor and Employee Reimbursements separately. After every row is Approved or Voided, the approver selects Approve Timesheet to approve the overall timesheet.

Approve Selected approves entry rows in the active tab. Approve Timesheet changes the overall timesheet status only; it does not approve outstanding rows. Payroll export is a separate action after approval.

Before You Begin

Confirm that you are working in the correct company and business unit and that your role includes both time-entry approval and timesheet approval access. Being able to enter or edit time does not by itself grant approval access.

A user with the TimesheetApprover role can review and approve time for employees in the active business unit. That role alone permits creating, editing, or deleting only the user’s own time. Ask your administrator to check your role or manager assignment if the employee or approval action is unavailable.

Only the employee can submit their own timesheet, including when an administrator has broader time access. On desktop, employees use Time Entries and Submit Timesheet. They complete any configured acknowledgement or required signature there.

Find the Timesheet

1. Select Timesheets in the workspace navigation.

2. Choose the period and locate the employee. Complete the following fields:

   • Pay period filter (Required): Select the period to review. The selector defaults to the most recent period that has started. Scroll to find older periods.

   • Search timesheets: Enter a search term to narrow the current timesheet list. Leave it blank to review the full list available to you.

3. Open the timesheet. Find the employee’s row and select its Pay Period link. Confirm the employee and period in the detail header. Review Notes for supporting information and Submission History for report attempts or archived reports.

Approve the Entries and Timesheet

1. Review labor and travel. Open Travel/Labor. Check Start/Correction Date, Rate Category, Activity, Job Cost Code where applicable, Start, End, Hours, and Status. The blue Submitted badge shows how many entries in this tab await approval.

2. Select the labor and travel rows to approve. Check each Submitted row you have reviewed. Select at least one row, or use Select all. Rows in other statuses cannot be selected for approval. Use it only after reviewing those rows; it does not select reimbursements.

3. Select Approve Selected. Confirm the selected rows change to Approved. Use Refresh to reload entries if needed.

4. Review reimbursements. Open Employee Reimbursements. Check Date, Rate Category, Activity, Amount, and Status. Confirm the service call and expense amount are correct. Reimbursements are approved as monetary amounts rather than worked hours.

5. Select the reimbursement rows to approve. Select at least one row, or use Select all reimbursements. Rows in other statuses cannot be selected. Check the header checkbox to select all Submitted reimbursement rows in this tab. This does not select labor or travel rows.

6. Approve the selected reimbursements. Select Approve Selected in Employee Reimbursements. Confirm the selected rows change to Approved. Skip reimbursement approval if the timesheet has no reimbursement entries.

7. Approve the overall timesheet. Check both tabs for remaining Open, Submitted, or Rejected rows. Once every row is Approved or Voided, select Approve Timesheet in the detail header. Confirm the message Timesheet approved. and the timesheet’s Approved status.

Resolve Approval Issues

• Approve Selected is disabled. Select at least one Submitted row in the active tab. Selecting rows in Travel/Labor does not select rows in Employee Reimbursements. If an entry is Open or Rejected, have the employee resolve it and submit it before approval.

• Approve Timesheet is disabled. Review both tabs and approve any remaining Submitted entries. Resolve Open or Rejected entries with the employee. Voided rows are ignored for readiness. A timesheet already Approved or Locked does not show this approval action.

• A row needs correction before approval. Leave it unselected and contact the employee. Use Notes to record review information when your access allows. The Timesheets approval screen does not provide a Reject or Reject Selected action. A TimesheetApprover role by itself does not let you edit another employee’s entries.

• FORGE reports missing rates or setup. Review the displayed error and have your administrator correct the relevant setup. This may include employee rates, position or labor billing rates, or accounting setup for general time. Reimbursement setup must include an eligible reimbursement rate category, a non-labor cost category, a service call, and a positive reimbursement amount.

• Some approvals fail. Select Refresh and review the current row statuses before retrying. Selected entries are processed individually, so some may have succeeded. Select only the remaining Submitted rows after the reported issue is resolved.

• An approved entry needs correction. Ask the employee or an authorized administrator to use the available edit or correction workflow. Posted, invoiced, or payroll-exported entries may be protected. Reopened or newly created correction entries must complete the applicable submission and approval steps again.

What Happens After Approval

Approving service-call labor, travel, or reimbursements starts background processing to create or update the related service-call cost. Customer invoicing is handled separately. Approving Job time creates or updates a Draft Job Cost. General time may start accounting posting when your organization has enabled it.

Approval does not itself pay the employee or send the timesheet to payroll. If Greenshades payroll is enabled, an authorized payroll user completes the separate export workflow.

Send Approved Timesheets to Greenshades

1. Return to the list. Use the detail back button to return to Timesheets for the correct pay period.

2. Choose approved timesheets. Check one or more Approved timesheets in the list. Timesheets already Queued, Processing, or Exported for payroll cannot be selected again.

3. Select Send to Greenshades and monitor export status. The selected pay period must be linked to a Greenshades Pay Run; contact your payroll administrator if the button explains that this link is missing.