Time approval

A team member records a work date, hours and the project receiving the time. A task may be named when the hours belong to a specific piece of delivery work. Submission triggers the approval workflow. The Time Approver can check its result against project context. Billable and Non-Billable labels help describe the entry, while the approval decision concerns whether the submitted hours are valid for the work.

• Capture. The Team Member records the work date, positive hours, project and optional task.
• Submit. Move an entry from Draft to Submitted to trigger the approval check.
• Decide. The approval workflow approves an eligible submitted entry and writes the decision and operation receipt.

The workflow checks that hours are positive and that the entry is still Submitted. On success it moves the entry to Approved, records a Review Decision and writes an Operation Receipt. A failed attempt produces a failed receipt. A receipt shows the result of the operation; the Time Approver should still review the entry and related project when answering a question about why a decision occurred.

Name the people who review approval results and decide how they check work performed. The project and task references should represent the actual assignment. Agree whether descriptions are required by local policy and how the team will treat time entered for a closed or paused project. Those are operating decisions to configure and rehearse with the team.

The Team Member should inspect the work date, hours and project before submission. The status change triggers the workflow. If the entry is no longer Submitted when the workflow checks it, the guard prevents an outdated approval from passing. The failed receipt helps the team investigate the attempted operation.

A developer records four hours against an active project and its implementation task, then submits the entry. The submission triggers the approval workflow. The Time Approver checks the named project, work date and resulting approval. The entry becomes Approved; the decision and receipt provide a trail for the review.

Now consider an entry with zero hours. The approval attempt should fail and leave a failed receipt rather than creating an approved entry. The Team Member corrects the hours and resubmits according to the team’s correction procedure. A second attempt on an already approved entry should also fail because it is no longer Submitted. These cases make the approval list and evidence useful when reconciling project hours.

• Time Entries Awaiting Approval — Show submitted entries whose result needs checking.
• Active Projects — Check the project named on the entry.

Read time decision and evidence review for the decision trail.