Helpful Tips
July 2006
How can I use approval email notifications to remind employees to enter their time?
Approval Plans under the Management tab include two types of reminder notifications for users:
- Notice that a timesheet needs to be submitted for approval soon
- Notice that a timesheet is past due
Both notices are sent out based on a timeframe you define that is tied to the timesheet period each user is assigned to. For example, you can set the reminder notice to go out on the last day of the period - Friday for employees who are assigned to a weekly Saturday through Friday timesheet period. You can also start sending late notices the day a timesheet become overdue - with an option to skip notifications on weekends.
Past due notices also cover timesheets that are rejected by an approver. When a sheet is rejected, late notices are sent out daily (with the exception of weekends if the setting is enabled) starting the first day after rejection until the user resubmits the corrected timesheet.
Both notices can include custom subject lines and body text. Timesheet offers shortcut tags that pull information into the message that is applicable to each user such as approver names and emails, as well as links directly to the late sheets for easy entry and compliance.
How can I use approval email notifications & reports to keep supervisors updated on employee time entry compliance?
Approval Plans under the Management tab include three types of notifications for keeping supervisors up to date on the current approval cycle:
- Notice when a user submits a timesheet for approval
- Past due notice for users who haven't submitted timesheets for a period that has ended
- Reminder notice when timesheets are in the queue awaiting approval
The notice of user timesheet submission is sent at the time the timesheets is submitted. The past due notices are sent out based on a timeframe you define that is tied to the timesheet period each user is assigned to. For example, you can set the past due notice to go out on the first day after the ends - Saturday for employees who are assigned to a weekly Saturday through Friday timesheet period (or Monday if you have weekend notices disabled). The past due notices will continue each day until the users submit their late timesheets. Reminder notices for timesheet awaiting approval go out each day until all are removed from the queue (via approval or rejection).
Like past due notices for users, past due notices for approvers apply to rejected timesheets. If an approver rejects a timesheet, he will receive past due notices daily (with the exception of weekends if the setting is enabled) starting the first day after rejection until the user resubmits the corrected timesheet.
In addition to setting up email notifications as a method of monitoring compliance, you may also grant your supervisors access to Sheet Status Reports. These reports allow them to monitor the status of timesheets for all the employees they manage at any time. Standard Time Reports may also be configured, scheduled and emailed to show a list of employees who have not entered time for a given day.
