A timesheet approval workflow moves each week of hours through four states: draft while the employee fills it in, submitted once it is sent for review, approved when the manager accepts it as the official record, and rejected when it goes back with a reason so it can be corrected and resubmitted. Give every employee one named approver, agree a single weekly cut-off, and the cycle takes minutes a week.
- Four states, visible to both the employee and the approver at all times.
- One named approver per employee — ambiguity is what stalls approvals.
- A fixed weekly cut-off, so chasing is a rule rather than a favour.
- Corrections after approval go through a re-open with a reason, never a quiet edit.
This guide explains the states, the roles, the weekly rhythm, and how to handle corrections after approval — then how to set it up in Aarveta specifically.
The four states
Every timesheet in Aarveta is in one of these states, and everyone can see which:
| State | What it means | Who acts next |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Being filled in. Not yet visible for review. | The employee |
| Submitted | Sent for review and waiting on a decision. | The approver |
| Approved | Accepted as the record. The week is locked from quiet edits. | Nobody — it is done |
| Rejected | Sent back with a reason so it can be corrected and resubmitted. | The employee |
Decide who approves whom
The most common failure is routing every timesheet to one administrator. They cannot possibly know whether 6 hours on a site visit is right, so they approve everything and the step becomes theatre. Map each employee to the manager who actually sees their work. Aarveta supports this directly: each employee has an approver, and the three roles are Admin, Approver and Staff.
Pick a cadence and a cut-off
Weekly works best for most teams: short enough that people still remember what they did, long enough not to be a daily chore. Pair it with two fixed times everyone knows:
- A submission cut-off — for example, Monday 12:00 for the previous week.
- An approval cut-off — for example, Tuesday 18:00, so payroll and client invoices have a stable number.
Publish both, and keep them the same every week. A predictable deadline does more for timesheet compliance than any reminder feature.
Handle corrections honestly
Hours will sometimes be wrong after approval. The unsafe fix is editing the record quietly; then nobody can explain why a report changed. In Aarveta an approved week is locked, and an admin must reopen that week for changes. The correction then goes back through approval, and the action is recorded in the audit log.
Rule of thumb: if a number can change without anyone noticing, it is not a record — it is a draft. Locking plus a visible reopen step is what turns timesheets into something you can defend to a client, an auditor or your own finance team.
Four mistakes that quietly break approvals
- One person approves everyone. They cannot verify the work, so approval becomes a rubber stamp.
- No fixed deadline. "Sometime next week" means month-end becomes a reconstruction exercise.
- Rejections without a reason. The employee guesses, resubmits the same thing, and both sides lose trust in the process.
- Silent edits after approval. If numbers can change without a trace, the approval meant nothing.
Watch the two reports that matter
- Pending approvals — anything sitting here after your approval cut-off is a blocked payroll or invoice.
- Rejected entries — a pattern of rejections usually means a project or job type is set up confusingly, not that someone is careless.
Set it up in Aarveta
- Create projects and job types. Mark each job type billable or non-billable, so reports split the two automatically.
- Allocate hours where it helps. Optionally set planned hours per employee per job type to compare planned against actual.
- Map each employee to an approver. Use the Staff Approvers screen so submissions reach the right manager.
- Announce the cut-offs. Tell the team the submission and approval deadlines, and keep them fixed.
- Run one week and review. Check pending approvals after the cut-off, then export the payroll-ready report.
Once the rhythm holds for a month, the workflow largely runs itself, and month-end stops being a reconstruction exercise.
Frequently asked questions
What are the timesheet approval states?
Draft while the employee is filling it in, Submitted once it is sent for review, then Approved or Rejected. Approved weeks are locked so they cannot be edited quietly.
Who should approve timesheets?
The manager who actually oversees the person's work, not a single central administrator. In Aarveta each employee is mapped to their own approver.
How often should timesheets be approved?
Weekly suits most teams: recent enough that people remember the work, and frequent enough to keep payroll and invoicing accurate. Publish a fixed submission and approval cut-off.
What happens if an approved timesheet is wrong?
An admin reopens that week, the correction is made, and it goes through approval again. The action is recorded in the audit log rather than changing the record silently.
How do we track timesheets that are stuck?
Use the pending approvals report after your approval cut-off. Anything still listed is blocking payroll or an invoice.