How to Submit and Approve Weekly Timesheets in CrmLeaf
All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Availability: All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Overview
A weekly timesheet collects one user's time entries for one week and submits them for approval as a single set. It gives managers a predictable review point instead of approving individual logs as they arrive, and it gives finance a clean basis for billing.
Timesheets are per user and per week. The approver can approve them or reject them with a reason.
How It Works
Users record time during the week, submit the week for approval, and a manager decides.
Log time → Review the week → Submit for approval → Manager approves or rejects with a reason → Billing
- The timesheet is built from the week's time logs, which are themselves recorded against a project, task and user.
- Submitting sends the week to the approver as one set rather than as separate logs.
- The approver can approve, or reject with a reason so the user knows what to correct.
- Approved billable time is what feeds invoicing, including invoicing a completed milestone.
Who Can Use This Feature?
Administrator
- Review submitted weekly timesheets and approve them.
- Reject a timesheet with a reason so the user can correct and resubmit.
- Set the permissions that decide who reviews whose time.
User
- Review their own week of time entries before submitting.
- Submit the week for approval.
- Read the rejection reason, correct the entries and resubmit.
Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator.
Prerequisites
- Time logs must exist for the week being submitted.
- An approver must have the permission needed to approve time.
- Where the week includes manually entered time, the relevant projects must have the manual time log setting switched on.
For Users
Step 1: Open your timesheet
Open the week you want to submit. The timesheet is per user and per week, so confirm you are on the correct week before reviewing.
Step 2: Review the week
What to do: Check that every entry is on the right project and task, that no timer was left running, and that break time has been recorded where it applies.
What to verify: Confirm the week's total matches the hours you actually worked on client and internal work.
Step 3: Submit the week for approval
Select Submit. The week goes to your approver as one set.
Step 4: Handle a rejection
If the week is rejected, read the reason recorded with the rejection, correct the entries it refers to, and submit the week again.
For Administrators
Step 1: Open the submitted timesheets
What to do: Open the submitted timesheets for the week and review them per user. Use Filter to work through one team or one project at a time.
What to verify: Confirm you are reviewing the correct week and the correct user before deciding.
Step 2: Check the entries against the work
What to do: Compare the entries with the tasks they are logged against. Pay particular attention to billable entries, because these carry through to client invoices.
What to verify: Confirm that any unusually long entry is genuine rather than a timer left running.
Step 3: Approve or reject the timesheet
What to do: Select Approve to accept the week. Select Reject and enter the reason if entries need correcting; the reason is what tells the user what to change.
What to verify: Confirm the timesheet's state has changed and the reason is recorded on a rejection.
Expected Result
The week's entries are submitted as one timesheet and reach the approver. On approval, the week's time is available for reporting and, where entries are billable, for invoicing. On rejection, the reason is recorded and the user can correct and resubmit.
Why This Matters for Service Organisations
Every effort figure a service organisation quotes internally - hours delivered, billable ratio, effort against estimate - rests on whether people completed their timesheets and whether someone checked them. The weekly timesheet is the control that makes those numbers defensible. Firms that approve individual logs as they arrive tend to review nothing consistently, and delivery leads quietly stop trusting the reporting that comes out of it.
How It Supports Professional Services
- A timesheet is submitted per user per week, which gives a firm a predictable cadence: consultants submit at the end of the week, delivery managers review at the start of the next, and finance bills from what has been approved.
- The approver can reject with a reason, so a correction is made by the person who logged the time rather than silently edited by an administrator.
- Approved billable time is what invoicing and milestone invoicing draw on, so approval latency is billing latency. A week of unapproved timesheets is a week of unbilled revenue.
- Reviewing the week as one set is what catches time booked to the wrong engagement, which would otherwise distort both the client's invoice and any per-engagement effort comparison.
- Timesheet approval is separate from task approval, so a firm can review quality and effort through different people without one blocking the other.
Typical Service Workflow
Time → Weekly timesheet → Approval → Billing → Reporting
Approval is the gate between recorded effort and anything the organisation acts on. CrmLeaf requires approved billable timelogs for milestone invoicing and derives Budget actuals from timelog earnings; chasing submissions and setting a weekly deadline are practices the organisation runs itself.
Other Product-Type Use Cases
The same weekly submission suits site crews and production teams whose hours feed project cost rather than a client invoice, and internal teams that need a reviewed record of effort against operational projects.
Related PSA Capabilities
- How to Track Time with the Timer and Manual Entries — produces the entries a timesheet collects.
- How to Bill Tracked Time on an Invoice — consumes approved billable time.
- How to Invoice a Completed Project Milestone — collects approved but unbilled billable time for a milestone.
- How to Use Time Log and Task Reports — where reviewed hours become reportable.
- How to Use Resource Utilization Views — only as reliable as the hours behind it.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- A timesheet is per user and per week. Two users' time is never submitted together.
- Always record a reason when rejecting. Without it, the user cannot tell which entry was wrong.
- Timesheet approval is separate from task approval. Approving a task does not approve the time logged against it.
- Billing depends on approved billable time, so a delayed approval delays invoicing.
Common Scenarios
Example: a Friday submission routine. Each consultant reviews the week on Friday afternoon and submits it. The delivery manager approves on Monday morning, and finance raises client invoices from the approved billable time.
Example: time on the wrong project. A manager notices eight hours logged against an internal project that should have been client work, rejects the week with that reason, and the user moves the entries and resubmits.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| The week cannot be submitted | There are no time logs for that week. | Log the time first, either with the timer or, where the project allows it, as a manual entry. |
| Hours are missing from the week | The time was logged against a different week, or a timer was never stopped. | Check the surrounding weeks and stop any running timer before submitting. |
| The manager cannot see a submitted timesheet | The approver's permission scope does not include that user's records. | Ask the Administrator to widen the approver's scope. |
| Approved time is not appearing for billing | The underlying task is not marked billable. | Mark the task billable before the time is logged, and confirm the hourly rate with your Administrator. |
| A user does not know why a week was rejected | The rejection was recorded without a reason. | Reject with a specific reason naming the entries to correct. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I submit a partial week?
The timesheet covers a user's week. Submit it when the week's entries are complete and correct.
Can a rejected timesheet be resubmitted?
Yes. Correct the entries the reason refers to and submit the week again.
Is a reason required when rejecting?
Rejection is documented as being recorded with a reason. Always provide one.
Does approving a timesheet create an invoice?
No. It makes approved billable time available; the invoice is created separately.
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