Timesheets
- Michelle Drewes
The Timesheet menu includes the ability to manually create new timesheets as well as view, edit, or recall existing timesheets. If your user account has been granted additional roles (other than the Standard User role), you may have additional options under the Timesheet menu.
My Timesheets
Role: Users with User role
The user’s position must have the ‘Timesheet Required' selected in USPS>Positions for one or more positions a user needs to create a timesheet for in ESS. Also in order for the employee’s timesheet to process through the approval workflow, their position record(s) must have a supervisor defined.
If positions were entered in the Automatic Period Generator, once the period is automatically generated, it will also automatically create a timesheet for the specified positions. The employee can then view, edit (if needed), and submit their automatically created timesheet for approval.
Create a Timesheet
The steps provided below are for employees who need to create a timesheet manually:
NOTE: A period and shift must be created for the employee’s position(s) prior to the employee creating their timesheet.
Under My Timesheets, click ‘Create’
Select the timesheet period and position you are creating your timesheet for and click ‘Create Timesheet’. NOTE: If a timesheet already exists for the employee, an alert notification will display on the screen and the employee will be redirected to their existing timesheet.
The timesheet will be pre-filled with the information from the corresponding period and shift set up.
Click on a line item in order to edit the pre-filled information. You may overwrite any columns shaded gray. Once the timesheet has been exported, the exported column will display a checkmark.
Please refer to Flexible Shift for more information on shifts enabled with the ‘flexible shift’ option.
b. By default, timesheets will not include weekend days. Select ‘+' to add additional line items to your timesheet (i.e. weekend work). To remove any items, check the box to the left of the item(s) and select '-'.
If the employee has an approved leave request inclusive of the timesheet period, the leave request line item is added to the employee's timesheet automatically after clicking Create.
Leave request items are not editable in the timesheet. After creating your timesheet, it will automatically adjust the times on the REG line item (or removes entirely if the entire time is taken up by the leave request line item) to accommodate the leave request items. Depending on what leave types are configured for the district, the leave request items may include Calamity, Comp Time, Dock, Holiday, Jury Duty, Military, Other, Personal, Professional, Sick, Unknown, Vacation
Click 'Create’ to add your timesheet to your timesheet grid. Your timesheet is currently at a status of Initiated. The employee can review the timesheet after creation to confirm leave request(s) inclusive of the timesheet period are included.
The creation of the timesheet does not submit the timesheet to the workflow process. You must submit the timesheet for approval. See below.
Submit a Timesheet for Approval
You may submit your timesheet for approval one of two ways:
On your timesheet grid, click
icon to submit your timesheet for approval. A pop-up notification will be displayed indicating the timesheet has been submitted.
Or click
to view your newly created timesheet. Click ‘Submit for Approval’ to submit your timesheet to the approval workflow. Again, a pop-up notification will be displayed indicating the timesheet has been submitted.
Timesheet Grid
Displays a user’s existing timesheets in a grid format.
Approval Status indicates where in the approval workflow the timesheet is currently at:
Initiated: Originator has created their timesheet
Submitted: Originator has submitted their timesheet for approval
Approved: Timesheet has been through the entire approval workflow
Rejected: Timesheet was rejected at some point during the approval workflow
Exported: Approved timesheet was exported to a CSV (in order to be posted to USPS).
Cancelled: N/A
Grid Options
User may view the details of their timesheet regardless of the approval status.
User may edit their timesheet as long as the approval status is ‘initiated'. Once the timesheet has been submitted to the approval workflow process, the user can no longer edit it.
User may submit their timesheet for approval. Once submitted, if the timesheet has not been approved yet (and the period is still open), the user may recall the timesheet in order to make additional changes.
User may recall a submitted timesheet (as long as it hasn’t been approved and the period is still open). Once recalled, the timesheet is back at an initiated status in order for the user to make additional changes. Once changes are complete, the user will need to re-submit their timesheet for approval.
User may delete their timesheet as long as it’s at an initiated status and the period is open.
Viewing a timesheet
Timesheet Details: includes the information entered on the timesheet. If the timesheet has NOT been submitted for approval yet, the user may edit the timesheet to make any changes. Click on ‘Submit for Approval’ to submit the timesheet to the timesheet approval workflow.
Timesheet Approval Trail: Tracks the activity on the timesheet from original requester to final approver.
Supervisor Timesheet
Role: For users with Timesheet Approver, District Manager or Admin role.
Timesheet Details: includes the information entered on their staff’s timesheets
Timesheet Approval Trail: Tracks the activity on the timesheet, from original requester to final approver. The ‘Note’ column on the grid will indicate the Group Chain the timesheet is tied to.
Approval Status indicates where in the approval workflow the timesheet is currently at:
Initiated: Supervisor can edit or submit their staff’s timesheets for approval
Submitted: Supervisor can recall their staff’s timesheets
Approved: Supervisor can view their staff’s timesheets only
Rejected: Supervisor can edit or submit their staff’s timesheets for approval
Exported: Supervisor can view their staff’s timesheets only
Cancelled: N/A
District Timesheet
Role: For users with Timesheet Manager, District Manager or Admin role
Allows user the ability to view timesheets for anyone in the district regardless of approval status.
Timesheet Details: includes the information entered on all staff’s timesheets
Timesheet Approval Trail: Tracks the activity on the timesheet, from original requester to final approver. The ‘Note’ column on the grid will indicate the Group Chain the timesheet is tied to.
Allows user the ability to delete initiated or approved timesheets.
Approval Status indicates where in the approval workflow the timesheet is currently at:
Initiated: User can edit staff’s timesheet or submit staff’s timesheets for approval
Submitted: User can recall staff timesheets
Approved: User can view (only) staff timesheets
Rejected: User can edit staff’s timesheet or re-submit staff’s timesheets for approval
Exported: User can view (only) staff timesheets
Cancelled: N/A
Timesheet Export
Role: For users with Timesheet Manager, District Manager, or Admin role
Allows users the ability to export timesheets with a status of ‘approved’ in order to post timesheet information into USPS.
User may filter approved timesheets by:
Specific Period: Select a specific timesheet period. You may only select one period to export.
Specific Employees: Select one or more specific employee(s) approved timesheets to be included in the export.
Selecting Only show timesheets with exception and/or overtime hours will filter the grid to only display timesheets on the grid that include timesheet activity marked as overtime or exception hours.
When exporting, the ‘only export exceptions’ flag will be selected by default due to the ‘only show timesheets with exceptions and/or overtime hours’ being selected.
Once your grid displays the desired timesheets you would like to export, click on ‘Export Timesheets. You will be provided with the following export methods:
Post Attendance: Creates an attendance spreadsheet (CSV format) of the timesheet data included in the filtered grid. The default filename is called timesheet-export.csv The file can then be imported into USPS manually via the USPS Utilities> Attendance/Absence Import. Please refer to the USPS Attendance/Absence Import specs for more information on the format of the CSV file.
Only export exceptions: Includes timesheet items marked with an activity of ‘EXC’ (exception) only from their normal timesheet period. These items will be saved into a CSV file which can then be imported into USPS manually via the USPS Utilities>Attendance/Absence Import.
Mark all timesheets as exported: If checked, all timesheets on the grid will be marked as exported. Leave Unchecked to only mark exported line items.
Once timesheets are exported, the status of the timesheets will change from ‘Approved’ to ‘Exported’ and the timesheets will no longer appear in the Timesheet Export grid.
Timesheet Overview Report
This option provides the ability to generate a CSV file of summarized timesheet data. All timesheets will be automatically included in the report unless you filter by entering a specified period and/or employee(s) located in the filter area in the top half of the screen. On the bottom half of the screen, by default, it will display all existing timesheets unless filtering has been applied, in which case it will only include the timesheets inclusive of the selected filters. You can sort by period start/end dates or employee.
For example, to review all existing timesheets for the 11/1/24-11/15/24 pay period, select the pay period and click ‘Generate Overview Report’. The resulting CSV file includes all timesheet data (regardless of status) inclusive of that period.
More Information on Timesheets
The timesheet-export.csv file is formatted to be imported via USPS Attendance/Absence Import. Please refer to the import specs for further details. NOTE: Column Q on the CSV file is mapped to the following Pay Types in USPS: REG = REG; OV = OT; EXC = MIS