Timesheets
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 in USPS must have the ‘Timesheet Required' check marked under the Position that is required to create a timesheet 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 selected when creating the Timesheet 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 the position that you are creating the timesheet for, and click ‘Create Timesheet’. Both the Timesheet Period and the position are required. NOTE: If a timesheet already exists for the employee, an alert notification will be displayed 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 the edit icon for a specific row 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. overtime, exception, additional days). 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 will be 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 remove it entirely if the leave request is for the entire time) 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
If there are any exported Leave Requests within the timesheet period, the leave request will be displayed on the timesheet but will not be editable.
Once you enter both a start and end time value, the hours worked field will be updated to equal the number of hours between the start and end time minus the break time value. The hours worked field will be updated whether there is no shift, a regular shift, or a flexible shift.
If the employee would like to copy a Timesheet line item to another line on the timesheet, click on the copy function
. This will open another window where you can select which timesheet line items to copy. Click on the Copy button at the bottom of the dialog and then click on save to retain these changes.
The copy function will NOT work on a line item with a Leave Request; these line items that include a leave will not appear on the copy dialog box.
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 that 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 for the user to make additional changes. Once the changes are complete, the user will need to re-submit their timesheet for approval.
User may delete their timesheet as long as it is in the initiated status and the timesheet period is open.
User may Print Approval Trail Report for their timesheet from the Timesheet grid.
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: will show the action, user, note and timestamp information related to the submission of the timesheet.
Timesheet Approval Trail print: Tracks the activity on the timesheet from the original requester to the final approver. May be printed from the Timesheet grid using the Print Approval Trail report button.
Supervisor Timesheet
Role: For users with Timesheet Approver, District Manager or Admin role.
To approve a timesheet, the supervisor must have the Timesheet Approve role. Supervisors can approve timesheets via the Home screen (under Pending Workflow Tasks - Timesheet Approval) or the Timesheet Approval menu option.
Allows supervisors the ability to view their staff’s timesheet information regardless of approval status.
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 approval activity on the timesheet, from the original requester to the final approver. The ‘Note’ column on the grid will indicate the Group Chain the timesheet was submitted to.
Allows user the ability to delete initiated or approved timesheets.
User may Print Approval Trail Report for their timesheet from the District Timesheet grid.
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 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