The actual process of creating a Project Approval is outlined below.
The Button will cause Timesheet to refresh the Project Approval Settings Screen, including a green text message confirming the modifications.
The Button will cause Timesheet to refresh the Project Approval Settings Screen, including a green text message confirming the modifications and the application of those modifications to the Project Approval process of the current Project's descendents.
To delete one or more approvers (primary or backup) from the Project Approval process, simply click the Remove? checkbox next to the name(s) of the approvers in question and click either the Button or the Button. Timesheet will refresh the Project Approval Settings Screen, including a green text message confirming the modifications.
To change the order of approvers (primary or backup) within the Project Approval process, change the numbers in the Level text boxes to the left of each approver's name to reflect the new order of approvers. Hint: If you need to change only one approver level, use a decimal number to make the change. In the example pictured below, dchance will be moved from level three to level two, because Timesheet will automatically place "1.5" between level one and level two - thereby pushing djordan to level three. Once you have entered your changes, click the Remove? checkbox next to the name(s) of the approvers in question and click either the Button or the Button. Timesheet will refresh the Project Approval Settings Screen, including a green text message confirming the modifications.
Please Note: For approvals emails to function properly, your organization's Timesheet Administrator must enable email notification in the Global Preferences section of Timesheet. For more information on the Global Preferences section of Timesheet, please see the Global Preferences portion of this documentation.
The Subject Line and Body of each of the six types of email notification can be modified to meet the needs of your organization. Both of these fields can accept plain text, HTML tags, or Journyx Tags.
After you have finished with this portion of the Project Approvals Email Notifications configuration, you may activate your changes by clicking either the Button or the Button. These buttons, like their counterparts on the main Project Approvals Settings Screen commit your changes to either the Project in question alone or to it and its descendents as well.
Once you click either of these buttons, Timesheet will refresh the Project Approvals Email Settings Screen and display a green text message confirming the changes you have made to the email notifications settings for the currently selected Project Approvals process.
Please Note: Modifying a Project in this manner affects that Project only. Therefore, it is possible to change the setting of a descendents without affecting its siblings or parent. Journyx recommends that you proceed with caution when modifying an existing Project Approval process to ensure that you do not accidentally change the settings for a child Project in an unintended way.
If the record you wish to modify is in any state during the approval process (submitted for approval or completely approved), you can make corrections to the record by using the sheet "Open" feature. You can access this feature as an approver if you are designated as the approver for the record in question. You can also access this feature as an Administrator either through the Approvals area or via Timekeeping. The Open button appears below the submitted/approved sheet. When a sheet is re-opened, the approval process gets completely reset. Once a sheet is re-opened, anyone who has the ability to enter time for the employee (the employee, timekeepers) will be able to modify the records just as if the sheet had never been submitted for approval. This includes the ability to modify the records in Record Modification. The sheet re-open process does not maintain the original records that were submitted or approved via an approval process, and the modifications must be submitted for approval again. This option is only recommended when the correction requires that the original record be completely removed from the database (i.e., the employee's comments reveal confidential information or the employee entered and submitted time for the wrong period).
Kyle has a timesheet that contains entries against three projects, Support, Documentation and Development. These three projects each have three levels of approvers.
When Kyle submits this timesheet for approval it goes to Clark, Diana and Bruce for approval. No portion of this sheet goes to the second level approvers until all three first level approvers approve it. The same concept holds true for subsequent levels. Therefore, once this timesheet has made it to the second level, all three second level approvers must approve it before it continues on to the third approval level.
Kyle has an expensesheet that contains entries logged against the same three Projects, Support, Documentation and Development. Kyle submits his expense sheet and it begins to flow through the approvals process. Each Project continues on its own track without regard to other tracks, because Timesheet has been configured not to synchronize the approvals process. The approvers for Support, Clark, Peter and Janet all approve the entries associated with their Project without problem. The same happens with the approvers for the second Project, Documentation.
Bruce and Henry both approve the entries logged against Development, but the third level approver for that Project, Victor, spots and error with those records. Victor rejects the expensesheet. Because Timesheet has been configured to have rejected sheets start over at the first approval level, this expensesheet goes back to Bruce for approval and continues up the approval process again normally.
Kyle has a mileagesheet that contains entries logged against Support, Documentation and Development. Kyle submits this mileagesheet for approval and the sheet goes to the first level approvers for each Project. The sheet cannot move on to the second level of approvers until all three first level approvers, Clark, Diana and Bruce, approve the entries logged against their respective Projects.
Once the sheet moves to the second level, Peter and Steve both approve the entries logged against their Projects. However, Henry notices a problem with the entries logged against Development and rejects the sheet, so that Kyle can make the needed changes. Because Timesheet has been configured to restart the approvals process at the first level after a rejection, and because Timesheet is synchronizing approvals levels, Kyle's expensesheet is now, effectively, completely unapproved. Kyle will have to make his changes and resubmit the expensesheet for approval. When he does so, the sheet will begin with the first level approvers for each Project and have to go through each level completely again before it can pass to the next level for approval.
Obviously, using Synchronized Approvals and Restart at First Level can become quite complicated and time consuming. Journyx provides these options for our customers who require such exacting control over their Approval Processes. Please be aware that using these two options simultaneously can have a serious impact on the overall speed of the Approvals process, due to the interdependency imposed by synchronization as well as the potential for submitted records to be returned to the first level and have to traverse the entire Approvals process.
In general, the two Approvals formats can run side-by-side with little interaction. Users submit their sheets normally and the individual approvers approve or reject those sheets as needed. Project Approvals approvers and Period Approvals approvers work independently of one another. If one side approves a sheet completely, but another side rejects that same sheet, the sheet is returned to the user and must be resubmitted again if the total hours have changed.
The only time the two Approvals formats come into direct contact is if your organization has enabled the Synchronize Approvals Global Preference. When this Global Preference is enabled, both Period Approvals and Project Approvals are synchronized. The submitted sheet cannot move to the next level of approvers, in either category, until all approvers, from both categories, have approved it on its current level.
For more information about Period Approvals, please see the Period Approvals section of this documentation.
If Bruce approves Kyle's timesheet in both categories, it then passes to the second level approvers for both Period Approvals and Project Approvals. Once Clark and Diana approve Kyle's timesheet for the hours logged against their Projects, the timesheet will move forward in the Project Approvals line for those Projects as well.
If this installation of Timesheet has been configured to synchronize approvals levels, Kyle's timesheet would not be able to move on to the second level approvers for both Project Approvals and Period Approver until all first level approvers, both Project and Period, has approved the timesheet.
Just like the first level of approvals, each approver receives Kyle's timesheet in their queue and they must look at it and either approve or reject it. If Susan approves the timesheet, it is complete for Period Approvals and is simply waiting to finish the Project Approvals process. If Susan rejects the timesheet, it goes back to Kyle for modification.
If the three second level Project Approvers approve Kyle's timesheet, it moves on to the third level Project Approvers. If one or more of the second level approvers reject the timesheet, it is returned to Kyle to correct. Again, if approvals synchronization has been enabled, Kyle's timesheet will not be made available to the third level approvers until all second level approvers have approved it.
After Kyle's timesheet has passed the second level approvers, it enters the queue for the third level approvers. If the third level approvers approve the timesheet, its approval process is complete and the records are permanently stored in the Timesheet database.
If one or more of the third level approvers reject Kyle's timesheet, it returns to him to correct. Once he has made his corrections, he must submit it for approval again. If at any time during this process Kyle makes changes that affect another Project Approval or the Period Approval, the timesheet's approval status for those approval tracks is nullified and the timesheet must pass through the entire approvals process for that track again.