Timesheets
Altus now includes timesheet capabilities which will further enhance your current Altus solution. Instructions on activating and using timesheets are below.
Depending on the security group you are in, you will have access to different sections of the timesheet functionality. There are four main roles within the timesheet system:
- Timesheet User: these users complete timesheets. They can only see the timesheet items available within the Work section
- Resource Manager: these users assist with managing timesheets. They can see the timesheet items available within the Resources section, as well as the Work Section. Resource Managers can approve/reject timesheets if needed.
- Timesheet Manager: Manage timesheet approval and rejection. By default, they can only see timesheets they are managers for.
- System Administrator: Can see all timesheet items in the Work and Resources section, as well as the Settings section.
Timesheet Detail Screen - Task Mode
The Timesheet Detail screen is made up of several sections that help you enter, review, and submit your hours for the selected period.s.
Header
At the top of the screen, the header provides a summary of your timesheet:
- Timesheet user's name
- Timesheet period
- Current status (Draft, Submitted, Approved)
- Total actual hours entered for the period
Timesheet Grid
Below the header is the main grid, where you enter and review your hours. The grid includes the following columns:
- Project/Task: your projects and tasks displayed in a hierarchy
- Remaining: total remaining assigned hours across all periods
- Assigned: total assigned hours for this period
- Actual: total completed hours for this period
- Daily Columns (Mon–Sun): where you enter actual hours for each day
Footer and actions
At the bottom of the screen you’ll find:
- Totals: automatically calculated across all rows
- Action buttons:
- Submit for Approval: click when you’re ready to submit your timesheet for approval
- Recall Timesheet: recall a previously submitted timesheet to make changes.
- Approve: visible only if you have the required security access. Clicking this approves the timesheet.
- Reject: visible only if you have the required security access. Click this rejects the timesheet.
Hover Menus
Hovering over different fields gives you more information:
Column Headers
- Hover over Remaining: “The total number of remaining assigned hours across all periods.”
- Hover over Assigned: “The total number of assigned hours for this period.”
- Hover over Actual: “The total number of completed hours for this period.”
Project Details
Hover over a project name and you’ll see:
- Project Name
- Project Manager
- Start and Finish Dates
- Total Effort (planned hours)
- Remaining Effort
- % Complete
Task Details
Hover over a task name and you’ll see:
- Assigned This Period: Hours for this timesheet period
- Total Assignment Details:
- Unit Allocation (% of your time)
- Hours Assigned
- Hours Submitted
- This Timesheet
- Hours Remaining
- Task Info:
- Task Name
- Project
- Parent Task
- Start / Finish Dates
- Due Date
- Total Effort
- Remaining Effort
- % Complete
Daily Assignment
Hover over the Assigned value for a task and you’ll see:
- Assigned hours for each day
- Total Assigned for the period
Timesheet Detail Screen - Project mode
When Project mode is selected for timesheets, hours are entered at the project level rather than against individual tasks.
The Timesheet Detail screen layout is the same as Task mode, with the following differences:
- Only project names are displayed. Task information is not shown.
- Because tasks are not included:
- Remaining and Assigned values are not displayed.
- Hours are entered directly against each project.
- All other screen elements, including the header, daily entry columns, totals, and action buttons, behave the same as in Task mode.
Project hover details
Hovering over a project name shows the same project information as in Task mode, including project dates, effort, and completion details.
No task-level hover information is available in Project mode.
Delegation
Timesheet Delegation is not needed in this system.
The Timesheet Approval views are filtered so that users can initially see only the timesheets that they are set as the Timesheet Manager for. But any Timesheet Manager, Resource Manager or System Administrator can review, Approve or Reject any timesheets, all they need to do is remove this filter from their view. If you remove the filter, it will only stay removed for this session. When you refresh the page, the filter will be reinstated.
Timesheet Managers, Resource Managers and System Administrators can also create and submit timesheets on behalf of users.
Menus
The following new timesheet menu items are available:
Work menu
- Timesheets: this is where timesheet users can see a list view of all their timesheets
- My Timesheet: this is where users can access their timesheet detail and complete their timesheet. This view defaults to open the current week.
Resources menu
- Timesheet Approvals: this is where you can view the full list of timesheets for your team.
This view is set up with different views and filtering so make sure you have these options selected correctly for the action you would like to perform.
Settings menu
- Timesheet Periods: This is where you can set up the timesheet periods so that users can complete timesheets for those periods. This is also where you can close timesheet periods so that no changes can be made for that period any more.
- Non Project Times: this is where you can set up all system wide Non Project Times, these are tasks like: Leave, Training, etc.
Using Timesheets
Status
Timesheets can have the following statuses:
- Draft: the timesheet has not yet been submitted
- Submitted: the timesheet has been submitted but it hasn’t been reviewed yet. notification?
- Approved: the timesheet has been approved. You will see a comment at the top of this timesheet that shows when the timesheet was approved.
- Rejected: the timesheet has been rejected. When a timesheet is rejected, the user is prompted to enter a comment regarding why this decision was made. You will see a comment at the top of this timesheet that shows when the timesheet was rejected and the rejection comments that were entered.
You can also Recall your timesheet if you need to make changes to it after it has been submitted.
NOTE: If a timesheet period is closed you cannot change the status of a timesheet in that period.
NOTE: notifications can be activated in your system so that the user and Timesheet manager are notified when timesheets are submitted and responded to.
Timesheet Periods
By default the current week/period will display in the timesheet when you open it. You can navigate to different periods within the timesheet by using the < and > buttons.
You can also jump to a specific date by using the calendar button.
Tasks
Tasks that the user can timesheet to will show automatically for the period selected. If any new tasks have been added since the timesheet period was created users can use the refresh button to resync their timesheet and pick up any new tasks.
Users can also add tasks to their timesheet via the Add button. Users will only see project tasks that they have been assigned to.
Comments
Users can make comments into every cell in their timesheets. These comments can be edited until the timesheet is submitted.
Note
Use the tick and cross buttons to save or cancel your comments.
Approvals
Timesheets can be approved from the Timesheet Approvals table view or individually. From the Timesheet Approvals page, multiple timesheets can be approved at once by selecting multiple records in the Submitted status and clicking the Approve button. You can also Reject multiple records following the same process, but it will not give you an opportunity to add a comment for each of the rejected records, so this is not recommended.
Note
If you select multiple timesheets from the list and not all of them are in the Submitted status and click the Approve button only Submitted timesheets will be affected by the action. If you select a timesheet by clicking the timesheet Name, this will open the detail page for this timesheet. From the detail page you can Approve or Reject the timesheet you are viewing.
Reports
Three new tabs have been added to the Resources Assignments Insights report:
- Timesheet Compliance: this tab shows the list of users and their timesheets by period. This page is colour coded to show the different status’ the timesheets are in, and the number of hours in each of the timesheets. If you hover over a timesheet in the “Timesheet Compliance by Week” section, you can see the breakdown of the timesheet you hover over
- Non Project Time: this tab shows the details of timesheets that have been assigning time to Non Project Tasks. NOTE: make sure the Work Type field contains data on your Non Working Time items for this tab to show data.
- Actuals Variance: this tab shows the variance between the hours a resource has been committed to for a week versus what they submitted in their timesheet.
Note
If you would like these tabs filtered so that only resources who need to complete a timesheet show, use the Timesheet Manager filter, and deselect the (blank) option.
Task / Timesheet Locking
You can lock tasks within Altus, so that users cannot timesheet to them.
The PM sets the Task Locked value to Yes and Saves their changes.
This task is now locked.
- This task will not show on the Resource's timesheet if they have not added any values into the timesheet cells.
- This task will still show on the Resource's timesheet in they have already added hours into their timesheet against that task, but it will not allow a user to save or submit their timesheet with hours against it.
They will see a warning that lets them know that they have time against a locked task
They will then need to click the Clear Locked Rows button to remove the values from a locked cell.
FAQ
Users
What tasks can I see in my timesheet?
You will only see organisation wide, Open, Non Project Tasks and tasks that have been assigned to you in a project Task list in your timesheet.
In project Mode:
- The project is Active
- The user has access to the project
- The user is a member of the dynamics team that owns the project OR the user has been added to the project's resource plan and has therefore has been added to the project group
In Task Mode:
- The task is Active
- The project is Active
- The user has access to the project and task
Note
The exact conditions of project tasks that are visible to your organization is configurable.
I cannot see a task in my timesheet that I’ve been assigned to?
Use the refresh button or Add button in your timesheet to add any tasks that aren’t visible to your timesheet.
I do not have a timesheet manager, can I still submit a timesheet?
Even without a timesheet manager field set you can still complete a timesheet if needed. Any Timesheet Manager or Resource Manager can approve the timesheet.
Timesheet/Resource Managers
I am a Resource Manager, not a Timesheet Manager, why can I see and approve timesheets?
The Resource Manager security group role allows Resource Managers to see and approve timesheets by default. This is a configuration setting that can be modified by System Administrators if needed.
My organisation allows users to approve their own timesheets. How do I set this up within the system?
Set up the Resource with their own name in the Timesheet Manager field and the user will be able to automatically complete their own timesheet.
My organisation manages Agile projects outside of Altus, is there an easy way to allow users to timesheet without using a task schedule?
Yes, if you select Projects from the Timesheet Mode setting your organisation can timesheet from Resource Allocations rather than a task schedule.
Can I create a Non Project Time task and only send it to a specific user or group of users?
No, Non Project Time is available organisation wide.
Another Timesheet Manager is going on leave, do I need to delegate their work to another Manager to access their timesheets for approval?
No, any Timesheet/Resource Manager or System Administrator can approve timesheets. To see this manager’s timesheet approvals, change the filter on the Timesheet Approvals page so that their timesheet approvals show in your view. This feature is configurable through the timesheet configuration settings.
A staff member who needed to submit a timesheet did not, can another user submit their timesheets for approval?
Yes, any Timesheet/Resource Manager or System Administrator can create and submit a timesheet on behalf of a user. This feature is configurable through the timesheet configuration settings.
My Timesheet system sends Actual data into my LOB Finance system, how do I make sure users don’t change their timesheets for periods that are closed?
You can close timesheet periods in the system, when you do this any timesheets in these closed periods cannot be modified or deleted. By changing the Timesheet Period Status field to Closed you will lock this timesheet period.
Do Actuals from timesheets update Actuals in my Tasks or Financials tabs?
Yes, details can be found in these links.