Currency Conversion settings, Expenses Entry screens and Expenses Entry Columns Management, Expenses entry and the Expenses Approvals process are all covered in this section.
The Currency Conversion Maintenance screen is used to:
The controls available in the Current Conversion Rates portion of this screen are:
The toolset for creation, modification and deletion of Expense Entry Screens is available from the Global Modification/Deletion of Expense Screens screen, which is accessed via the Expense Entry Screens link located under the Users' Entry Interface Management header on the main admin screen. This screen is used for these three functions, each of which is outlined below.
Timesheet allows you to create any number of new Expense Entry Screens via the Expense Entry Screen Modification screen, which is accessed via the User Entry Screens link located under the Application Interface Management header on the main Admin screen. To create a new Expense Entry Screen, enter a name for the new screen in the text box beneath the list of existing Expense Entry Screens and click the Button. Timesheet will then display the Expense Entry Modification Screen for the newly created Expense Entry Screen. This screen, shown below, is used to define specific settings for Expense Entry Screens.
Column Options
Timesheet allows the admin to control certain aspects of the Expense entry columns for any given Expense Entry Screen. The attributes that may be modified are Priority and Default Value. Additionally, the comments column can be set to have a lower maximum number of characters than the default maximum of 252 characters.
Priority
Each column must be assigned a Priority. This Priority defines the order of columns on the Expense Entry Screen. A column may be assigned a Priority of zero, which will hide it on the Expense Entry screen. A column with a Priority of zero must have a default value assigned. Each Priority other than zero can only be assigned to one column.
Default Value
A default value may be assigned for each column. The default value is only important for a column that has a priority of zero. The default value assigned to a hidden column will be associated with every time entry made from this Expense Entry screen. Please Note: The default value for a column does not appear as the default choice for a column that has a priority other than zero. Column options are displayed in alphabetical order and the default choice for a non-hidden column will always be the first alphabetical choice.
Maximum Characters
By default, Timesheet allows a maximum of 252 characters for the comments column for any particular Expense Entry Screen. You may choose to specify a lower number of characters as the maximum for any Time Entry screen, but you may not specify a higher number, as 252 is the maximum number of characters that the Timesheet database is designed to hold for this field.
The default expense codes that ship with Timesheet v5.5 are:
Timesheet v5.5 ships with nine default currencies:
The default sources that ship with Timesheet v5.5 are:
The process of entering expenses into Timesheet is described below. For Expense Entry screens that have certain columns hidden, please disregard references to those hidden columns.
Timesheet allows for two different approaches to graphically representing the Project Hierarchy Tree on the Expense Entry Screen. These options are discussed below.
When the Tree View has been enabled in the Project dropdown column of an Expense Entry Screen, Projects that have subprojects beneath them will appear with a plus sign (+) to their left. Selecting this type of Project will shift the focus from the previous level of the Project Tree to this Project. The Project dropdown will now display only this Project and its subprojects. At this point, the newly centered Project will be displayed with a minus sign (-) to its left, indicating that there are levels of the Project Tree above this Project. To return to the next level up, simply click on the "top" Project (the one with the minus sign) at this level. Please Note: If you are using a Macintosh, you will need to select a "blank" item in the dropdown menu to return to the next level up from the current level.
When the Tree View popup window has been enabled for Projects on an Expense Entry Screen, Timesheet will display a Tree link just above all Project selection boxes on the Expense Entry Screen. This link will open a popup window that contains a navigable version of the complete Project hierarchy that can be used for searching for and selecting a Project to use as part of the Time entry.
Expense Entry Screens that use the Project Tree Popup method will display the complete list of Projects alphabetically in the Project drop down menu. The Project Tree Popup window should be used to navigate to and select the desired Project for each record to be entered.
Finally, Timesheet provides the ability for each User to configure the Projects available for logging through the use of the My Project List link, which is located at the bottom of the Expense Entry Screen, in the Navigation & Controls section. This functionality is discussed below.
If you, as a User, have configured a Project List of your own, only those Projects you have included in the list will be available in the Project drop down menu.
Timesheet allows Users to create Diary Notes for each of their expense records. Diary Notes provide a way for Users to record complex comments and information for a Project over the course of a time period, much the way one might keep a diary of significant events or information in relation to a Project.
Users can create a Diary Note entry for a specific Expense Record by clicking the Diary Note icon () located immediately to the right of a saved Expense Record on their Expense Entry Screen. Timesheet will display the Diary Notes popup window, which can be used to create, edit or delete Diary Notes.
A complete discussion of the Diary Notes feature can be found in the Diary Notes portion of this documentation.
Diary Notes functionality is directly associated with the Journals feature of Timesheet, though it is not necessary for Users to access Journals directly to work with Diary Notes. For a more detailed discussion of Diary Notes and the Journals feature of Timesheet, please see the Journals portion of this documentation.
Timesheet includes the ability for individual Users to configure their own Project List, which limits the Projects that are available for logging entries against to only those selected by the User. This functionality can greatly improve the record entry experience by allowing Users to avoid navigating large Project hierarchies each time they enter a record simply to get to the one or two Projects they care about.
The My Project List link, located in the Navigation & Controls section at the bottom of the Time Entry Screen is the gateway to the Project list feature. Clicking this link will cause Timesheet to open a popup window that can be used to add and remove Projects from the Project list.
You may add Projects from the Project List by selecting the desired Project(s) in the Master Project List column located in the left side of this window and then clicking the Button. Your additions will be displayed onscreen and those added Projects will appear in the My Project List column located in the right side of this window.
You may remove Projects from your Project List by selecting the desired Project(s) in the My Project List column located in the right side of this window and then clicking the Button. Your changes will be displayed onscreen and those removed Projects will disappear from the My Project List column.
You may delete your Project list by clicking the Button. Deleting all Projects from your Project list will return your Project selection method to the method defined by your organization's Timesheet administrator for your Time Entry Screen. These methods are discussed above.
Once you have completed adding and removing Projects from your Project List, click the Button. Timesheet will close the My Project List Configuration Window and your Project List will be made active. Now when you click on the Project drop down menu to select a Project for record entry, the Projects displayed will be limited to only those that you have added to your Project List.
Timesheet allows users to create Memorized Expense Entries. These are combinations of Project/Expense Code/Currency/Source and Comment that will recur from time period to time period regardless of actual user entry. Memorized Expense Entries are an ideal way to streamline the process of entering recurring expenses.
Individual users may create any number of Memorized Expense Entries from an existing expense entry displayed on their Expense Entry Screen using the icon that appears at the far right end of each saved expense entry row. Clicking this icon will take the User to the User Memorized Entries Screen . This screen is used to create, modify and delete Memorized Expense Entries for that User only.
This screen is also accessible via the Memorized Entries link located in the Records Management section every user's Admin screen.
When this screen is displayed after clicking the icon, a green text message will appear at the top of the screen indicating that a new Memorized Expense Entry has been created - this is the entry whose icon was used to access the User Memorized Entries Screen. Please Note: When you return to the Expense Entry screen, this Memorized Expense Entry will not be displayed for the current time period because it already exists in the form of a current expense entry. This entry will, however, appear in any other time period (past or future) that you access from this point on.
This screen also allows the User to create new Memorized Expense Entries as well as the ability to modify or delete an existing Memorized Expense Entry. To create a new Memorized Expense Entry, the User should select the Project, Expense Code, Currency and Source that should comprise the Memorized Expense Entry. Additionally, the user may enter a default Comment for the Memorized Expense Entry. Once these options have been selected, the User should click the Button at the bottom of the New Memorized Expense Entries section of this screen. The Manage User Memorized Expense Entries Screen will refresh, displaying a green text message confirming the creation of the new Memorized Expense Entries.
Please Note: This screen may display columns that a User would not normally see if that user's Expense Entry Screen has been configured to hide certain columns.
To modify an existing Memorized Expense Entry, the user should click the checkbox to the left of the Memorized Expense Entries to be modified, make any changes that are needed and then click the Button located below the section that contains the existing Memorized Expense Entries. The User Memorized Entries Screen will refresh, displaying a green text message confirming the changes.
To delete one or more existing Memorized Expense Entries, the user should click the checkbox to the left of the Memorized Expense Entries to be deleted and click the Button located below this section. Timesheet will display a popup window asking the User to confirm that he does in fact wish to delete these memorized Expense Entries. If the User does want to delete the Memorized Expense Entries in question, he should click the Button in this popup window, otherwise the user should click the Button. The Manage User Memorized Expense Entries Screen will refresh, displaying a green text message confirming the deletion of the Memorized Expense Entries in question.
Users whose role includes the Corrections role ability, including the installing Admin, may make changes to records contained in an expensesheet that has already been approved via either a Period or Project Approvals process. Once an expensesheet has been approved, the Button appears on the Expense Entry Screen for that expensesheet. When this button is present, corrective entries can be made and then submitted for approval.
To make corrective entries for a prior period, a User who has the Corrections role ability should navigate to the expensesheet in question and enter corrective entries as needed. Corrective expense entry includes the concept of negative entry, i.e., because the existing records are approved and committed they cannot be directly edited - therefore negative records must be entered against the same Project, Expense Code, Source and Currency to reduce the actual value logged to the proper number.
Buck submitted his expensesheet with $60 logged to Project A and $20 logged to Project B on Tuesday. After the expensesheet was approved, Buck realized that he actually only spent $40 on Project A and also spent $20 on Project C on Tuesday. Buck opens his expensesheet for the expense period in question and prepares to make corrective entries.
Buck prepares a subtractive correction entry the same way he would prepare a normal entry, by selecting the Project, Expense Code, Source and Currency to be logged. In the case of correcting his overage on Project A, Buck carefully chooses the exact combination of these factors, including duplicating the comment field exactly, that comprised the original record. Buck then enters -20 (minus 20) for Project A on Tuesday.
Buck creates an additive correction entry the same way he would prepare a normal entry, by selecting the Project, Expense Code, Source and Currency to be logged. To add the missing expense for Project C, Buck creates the record "from scratch" as though he were entering expense normally and enters $20 for Project C on Tuesday.
Buck's expensesheet now contains the following records for Tuesday:
If Buck has any other corrections to make, he should make them now. Once Buck has added and subtracted values as needed from his expensesheet, Buck should click the Button located at the bottom of his screen. expensesheet will refresh the Expense Entry Screen and display a green text message confirming the corrective entries. Furthermore, the corrected expensesheet is submitted for approval as soon as the Button is clicked. The corrected expensesheet will now flow through the approvals processes that a normal "new" expensesheet would follow.
If further corrections are required, the expensesheet will either be rejected through the approvals process and returned for direct editing of the corrective entries or the expensesheet will need to be accessed for a new round of corrective entries after it has been completely approved.
Create Expense Approval Templates Screen This screen provides the admin with all the necessary tools for the creation of new Expense Approver Templates. The admin should name the new template and specify the number of levels of approval that this template specifies. The admin should then choose a primary and a backup approver for each level of approval from the dropdown menus provide at the top of this screen. Finally, this screen allows parameters for email notifications to be set up for the template that is being created. The admin should select any and all email notification parameters that are desired at this time. Below is a list of the possible parameters and information on what they mean.
Once all desired email parameters have been entered, the admin should click the Create button. The screen will refresh and display a green text message confirming that the new approver template has been created. The newly created template will now be available for assignment to new users in the expense approver template dropdown in the User Creation and Modification Screen.
Modify/Delete Expenses Templates Screen This screen allows an Admin to modify or delete an existing expense approver template. To delete a template, the Admin should simply select that template from the list of currently existing templates and click the delete button. Please Note: At this time, deleting a template does not change the current approvers for users who were assigned that template. Users who would be affected by this change will need to be modified directly to put this change into effect. To modify a template, the Admin should select the template that needs changes and click the modify button. The admin will then be taken to the Modify Expense Template screen, which is the same as the Create Expenses Template screen, discussed above. Once the desired changes have been made, the screen will refresh display a green text message confirming that the Expenses approver template in question has been modified. This message will also indicate the number of users who have been affected by this change.
Regular approvers have two links available under the Expense Approval Process Management header on their admin screen:
Superapprovers use the same general procedures for expense approval as regular approvers; however, their views are not limited by the group structure; therefore, a superapprover can see all users with open expensesheets when they take the Expensesheet Approval process as discussed above. Further, superapprovers will have all submitted expensesheets included in the count of Expensesheets Awaiting My Approval. In short, a superapprover has access to approve all submitted expensesheets regardless of group membership or approvals process design.
To approve these expensesheets, the approver should click the checkbox to the right of each available expensesheet , or click the Select All checkbox at the bottom of the list, and click the Approve button at the bottom of this screen. Timesheet will the display a screen containing a green text message confirming that the selected expensesheets were confirmed.
To reject any of these expensesheets, the approver should click the checkbox to the right of each available expensesheet , or click the Select All checkbox at the bottom of the list, enter a reason for the rejection and then click the Reject button at the bottom of this screen. Timesheet will the display a screen containing a green text message confirming that the selected expensesheets were rejected. Please Note: A reason for rejection must be supplied. Otherwise, Timesheet will display an error message reminding you to supply a rejection reason and the rejection will not take place.