Guide · 4 min read
Timesheet approval process: a simple workflow
Approvals make timesheets trustworthy enough to bill from. A good process is weekly, quick and locks approved data.
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The workflow
- Employee submits the week.
- Submitted week locks for the employee.
- Manager reviews totals and details.
- Approve (locks for everyone) or send back with a note.
- Reopen approved weeks only for corrections.
Who should approve
The person closest to the work: a project lead or team manager. Keep one approver per person to avoid ping-pong.
Put it into practice in Hourtick
Timers, rates, approvals and reports in one place. Free for your whole team.
- Free for your whole team, forever
- No credit card
- Every feature included
Keep an audit trail
Grant-funded projects, public funding and client audits often ask two things: who approved the hours, and did anyone change them afterwards? Keep every step, not just the current status: who submitted, approved, sent back and reopened each week, and when. For changes to time, keep who changed what, when, and the value before and after. Corrections after a reopen are the ones an auditor looks at first.
In Hourtick, Approvals → History shows every step and downloads two CSV files for the period, the approval history and the change log, with changes after approval marked. The auditor doesn't need a login.
Frequently asked questions
What if a correction is needed after approval?
Reopen the week, correct it, and approve again. In Hourtick, invoiced entries stay locked even when a week is reopened, and the first approval, the reopen and the correction (before and after) stay in the history.
Is approval included in Hourtick's free plan?
Yes, every feature is included on both plans.
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