Making Timesheet Review and Approval Easier for Managers 

In Factor, managers can review and approve the timesheets of their employees. This is a task that they perform regularly, so it’s critical that they can do so quickly and efficiently.

Now, of course, “quickly” and “efficiently” are relative terms. So, while the system already had time management functionality, we knew there was room for improvement. And as a company that listens to the people who rely on our software, we heard the feedback and took action. The following updates will be live on the "Approve Time" page on August 31, 2020.  

Timesheet Approval Delegation

Before the most recent Factor update, the only person who had authority to approve someone’s timesheet was their manager. This presented a problem if the manager was out sick, on vacation, or otherwise unavailable, as it brought certain workflows to a standstill.

In response, while the system is still centered around direct-report relationships, we’ve added the ability to delegate approval authority. That means that someone like an office manager, controller, or HR manager can step in and approve timesheets if someone’s manager isn’t able to do so, which keeps workflows moving in the manager’s absence.

Cleaner Approve Time Page With One-Click Approval Capability

Another enhancement we wanted to make for users was to make it easier to see timesheets that are ready for review and approve them with one click.

To address these needs, we made a few key changes. One is that the Approve Time page is now filtered automatically to the most recent timesheet submitted by each of a manager’s direct reports. No more long list of timesheets that a manager has to sort to find what they’re looking for.

Also, while the Approve Time page used to show only submitted timesheets, now it lists all employees so that managers can see who’s submitted their time and who hasn’t. Plus, rather than having to open a timesheet in order to approve it, managers can now simply click the Approve button in the table if they agree with the figure displayed in the Time Logged column.