Users with Timesheet Manager access maintain escalated approvals, automatic period generation, periods, shifts, and timesheet holidays. Before a user can create a timesheet, both a period and a shift must be created

Role: Users with Timesheet Manager, District Manager, or Admin roles.

The Timesheet Escalated Approval grid will display submitted timesheets that are awaiting approval. The user can approve timesheets individually or in bulk directly from the grid, bypassing the standard workflow approval process.

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If you prefer to view the details of a timesheet before approving it, click on It will open a window containing their timesheet details. Options to Edit, Reject, or Approve it are displayed at the bottom of the screen.

• Edit: You may edit the timesheet as long as the approval status is ‘initiated'

• Approve: A pop-up confirmation window will appear providing a note area to optionally enter a reason for the approval. Click Approve. The timesheet will bypass the rest of the workflow and will be updated with an approved status. The originator will be notified that the timesheet has been approved. The originator may open their timesheet to view the ‘Timesheet Approval Trail’ which will include the approver who approved the timesheet, optional notes they entered, and the date/time the timesheet was approved.

• Reject: A pop-up confirmation window will appear providing a note area to enter a reason for the rejected timesheet. Click Reject. The originator will be notified that the timesheet has been rejected. The timesheet will be updated with as a status of ‘rejected’ and displayed in their ‘My Timesheets’ grid . The originator may view the timesheet to click on the ‘Timesheet Approval Trail’ to see the approval trail of who rejected the timesheet, optional notes they entered, and the date/time the timesheet was rejected. The originator also has the option of editing the timesheet, if needed, and re-submitting it for approval.

Role: For users with the Timesheet Manager, District Manager, or Admin role.

Allows users to select Approved timesheets to export and post timesheet information into USPS. ESS requires that the compensation records in USPS have a start and stop date to correctly identify the compensation to be paid during the timesheet extraction. If either date is missing, an error is produced--” no valid compensations found for this position.” For non-contract compensations, an end date of 2099 is acceptable. For employees paid using Daily compensation, timesheets may be entered in hours. During the export process, the hours are automatically converted to the corresponding percentage of a day, rounded to three decimal places, before being exported to USPS. [hours worked/hours in day or set to 1 if greater than 1]

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The User may filter approved timesheets by:

• Specific Period: Option to select a timesheet period. Only one period can be selected for export at a time.

• Specific Employees: Option to select one or more employees’ approved timesheets to be included in the export.

• Specific Pay Groups/Building Codes: Option to select one or more pay groups and/or building codes associated with the approved timesheet.

  • Select Pay Group/Building Code.

    • Click Add to add to the selection.

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    • To remove from selection, select Pay Group/Building Code and click Remove.

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Once the grid includes the approved Timesheets that should be exported, select the timesheets to Export individually or select all. At least one timesheet must be selected before the export button is enabled. Once all items on a timesheet are marked exported, the status of the entire timesheet will change from ‘Approved’ to ‘Exported’, and the timesheet will no longer appear in the Timesheet Export grid. Optionally, the grid can be printed by clicking the Print Grid Extract Report button, which will produce a .csv with all grid items that have been selected.

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- Example of Grid Extract Report:

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Note: If a timesheet line item has 0 hours worked, the export will exclude these line items since a length of 0 is not allowed in USPS.

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Once the grid displays the desired timesheets to be exported, click Export Timesheets. There will be two options for exporting Timesheets to USPS.

• CSV File: All filtered Timesheets displayed in the grid will be saved to a CSV file. The default filename is timesheet-export.csv. The file can then be manually imported into USPS using Utilities> Attendance/Absence Import in USPS.

• Direct to USPS: All filtered Timesheets displayed in the grid will be automatically posted to USPS. A resulting file will be generated listing the number of records that were successfully posted, along with any errors that prevented certain entries from being posted to USPS.

The export options are displayed below. You must select one Export Type and one Activity Option. This will generate a spreadsheet in CSV format containing timesheet data included in the filtered grid. The file can then be manually imported into USPS using the USPS Utilities>Attendance/Absence Import option. Please refer to the USPS Attendance/Absence Import specs for more information about the required CSV file format.

NOTE: Column Q in the CSV file generated by ESS will reflect the Pay Types mapped for use in USPS:

• REG = REG

• OV = OT

• EXC = MIS

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• If checked, all line items on the timesheet (including HO and leave type items) will be updated with an exported status.

• If left unchecked, only timesheet line items (REG, EXC, OV) included on the export CSV file will be updated with an exported status.

• Payments with Attendance: Includes items for payments and attendance based on the selected Activity Option. In the CSV file, column U is marked 'Y' to indicate that attendance should be posted. The Compensation Label is included in column Y.

• Payments without Attendance: Includes items for payments based on the selected Activity Option but does not include attendance in the CSV file. In the CSV file, Column U is marked N for no attendance. Attendance is already accounted for based on the employee’s job calendar in USPS. The compensation label is included in column Y.

• Attendance without Payments: Includes Attendance items based on the selected Activity Option but does not include payment information.

• Export all items (REG, EXC, OT): Includes all regular (REG), overtime (OT), and exception (EXC) line items in the CSV file.

• Export REG items only: Includes only regular (REG) line items in the CSV file.

• Export EXC & OT items only: Includes exception (EXC) and overtime (OT) line items only in the CSV file. This option may be used for employees who need to complete a timesheet but only need their exceptions and overtime items posted to USPS. Their regular hours are already accounted for in their contract compensation in USPS.

• Employees who do not receive attendance credit in USPS from a Position>Job Calendar and must obtain attendance credit via their timesheet.

  • Export Type: Attendance w/o Payments

  • Activity Option: Export All Items

  • Select Mark All Timesheets as Exported if you want all items on the timesheet to be updated with an exported status (including HO and leave entries)

• Employees who receive payroll payments for exceptions and overtime items through their timesheet:

  • Export Type: Payments w/o attendance

  • Activity Option: Export EXC & OT items only

  • Select Mark All Timesheets as Exported if you want all items on the timesheet to be updated with an exported status (including HO and leave entries)

• For employees who do not get credit for attendance in USPS from a Position>Job Calendar and must obtain attendance credit via their timesheet, are non-contract compensation employees (Compensation>Type = Non Contract), and must receive both their payroll payments and attendance credit through their timesheet.

  • Export Type: Payments with attendance

  • Activity Option: Export All Items

  • Select Mark All Timesheets as Exported if you want all items on the timesheet to be updated with an exported status (including HO and leave entries)

1. Go to Utilities>Attendance/Absence Import.

   1. Attendance Import File - Click Choose File and browse to the saved CSV file.

   2. Location Code - None.

   3. Post to Payroll Processing Options - Any payment information included in the CSV file can be posted to either Payroll Payments-Current or Payroll Payments-Future. Select the appropriate option from the drop-down. If None is selected, no payment entries will be created.

   4. Combine Attendance Entries - If payment information is being posted to Payroll Payments-Current or Payroll Payments-Future, determine whether multiple attendance entries for the same day should be combined into a single payroll payment entry.

      1. If yes, mark the checkbox. Multiple attendance entries for the same day will be combined into one entry in Payroll Payments-Current or Payroll Payments-Future. For entries to be combined, the Employee ID, Position Number, Pay Type, Tracking Unit, and Unit Amount must be the same on all entries.

      2. If no, leave the checkbox unmarked. Multiple attendance entries for the same day will remain as separate entries in Payroll Payments-Current or Payroll Payments-Future.

   5. Allow Negative Leave Balances - Leave this checkbox unchecked.

   6. Payroll Account to Charge - Select Defined Payroll Account for Position.

2. Click Import. The following information will be displayed:

   1. Records Loaded, Errors, Total Records, Future Pays Loaded (if applicable), and Current Pays Loaded (if applicable) will be displayed. Verify for accuracy.

3. Any errors will be generated in the ATTERR.TXT report. Verify for accuracy.

4. The Import will create Attendance records in USPS. The SSDT Attendance Journal Report can be run for verification purposes.

Possible Errors:

1. • Timesheet Line Item with a Length of 0: If a timesheet line item has a length of 0, its status will be set to Exported if processed. However, it will not be posted directly to USPS because USPS does not allow line items with a length of 0. The CSV file will display the following message:

     “This line item was marked as exported. However, it was not posted to USPS due to having a length value of 0.”

   • Terminated Job Status: If a position has a Terminated job status, an error will be generated when attempting to direct post the timesheet line item to USPS. The CSV file will display the following message:

     “An Attendance Entry cannot be posted to a position for which the job status is terminated.”

All filtered Timesheet line items displayed in the grid will be posted directly from ESS to the USPS Attendance grid under the Core menu. A CSV file named timesheet-export-errors.csv will be generated in ESS. The file will indicate the number of records successfully posted, along with any errors that prevented individual timesheet entries from being posted to USPS.

Select the criteria to filter the Timesheets you want to export to USPS and then click Export Timesheets.

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Print Grid Extract Report - A CSV File named timesheet-export-grid-extract.csv can be generated by clicking the button. The exported results will reflect the filters applied to the grid and include only the records currently displayed.

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After clicking , select Direct to USPS. The export options will update to display the available settings for exporting Timesheets directly to USPS as shown below.

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The selections correspond to the manual selections in USPS; however, the options are in a different order, and careful selection is recommended. For USPS instructions for each of the selections, you can access the link here.

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Direct to USPS menu options:

• • When selected, all line items on the timesheet, including HO/holiday and Leave Type items, will be updated with an Exported status.

  • When left unselected, only the timesheet line items (REG, EXC, OV) included on the export CSV file will be updated to an Exported status.

Combine Attendance Entries

• • Mark the checkbox – If checked, AT entries that include payment information will be combined when imported. This will combine the resulting Payroll Payment-Future or Payroll Payment-Current entries for an employee, provided the following columns match: Column B, Column C, Column Q, Column I, Column J, Column R, Column S, Column V, Column N, Column W. These entries will be combined on the Pay Report and the employee's pay slip.

  • Unmark the checkbox – If unchecked, AT entries that include payment information will not be combined when imported. Separate Payroll Payment-Future or Payroll Payment-Current entries will be created for the employee.

Allow Negative Leave Balance

• • Mark the checkbox - If AB entries, when imported, will create Attendance records for sick, vacation, and personal leave, should allow employees' leave balances to become negative. These situations will appear as warning errors on the error report.

  • Unmark the checkbox - If AB entries, when imported, will create Attendance records for sick, vacation, and personal leave, should not allow employees' leave balances to become negative. These situations will appear as fatal errors on the error report.

    • Even if the Rules>Rule to prevent Sick Leave balance from going negative is false, the checkbox needs to be checked to allow negative balances.

Location Code - Used to determine the Position to post the transaction to if one is not included in the load file. The Location Code may contain either a Position>Building IRN or Position>Building Code/Department Code. If using the Location Code field, select one of the following options: 

• •  Building IRN

  •  Building/Department Code

  •  None

Post to Payroll Processing Options offers the following options:

• • Post to Payroll Processing Future - Payment information will be posted to Payroll Payments - Future.

  • Post to Payroll Processing Current - Payment information will be posted to Payroll Payments - Current.

  • None - No Payroll Payments - Future or Payroll Payments - Current payment posting will occur. Column O (Gross) of the CSV file is ignored as well.

Payroll Account to Charge prompt offers the following options:

• Defined Payroll Account for Position - Charges the Position>Pay Account(s).

• Sub for SSN - Charges the regular employee’s Position>Pay Account(s). The Employee ID entered must have a Compensation with remaining pays (Pays Paid must be less than Pays In Contract).

This option may be used if your district prefers that timesheet periods be created automatically. You also have the option to automatically create timesheets for specified positions. Fields denoted with a bullet to the right of the field name are required fields. Once the Automatic Period Generator is enabled, the system will create the timesheet period(s), which will be displayed in the Period grid. If Positions were included when setting up the Automatic Period Generator, Timesheets are automatically created for the selected positions and displayed under the Timesheets grid.

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• Automatic Period Generator: Once you have finished configuring the Automatic Period Generator settings, set Automatic Generation Running? to True to start the ‘generatePeriodsjob’ batch job. For more details on the scheduled job, please refer to System > Batch Job .

  • After the Automatic Generation Running is set to true, a pop-up notification will appear indicating that the Automatic Period Generator has started and will begin generating the time periods defined in your batch job settings. You may click ‘Click here to navigate,’ to open System>Batch Job and view the current batch jobs and their results, or select Close to dismiss the notification window.

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  • Once all timesheet periods created by the Automatic Period Generator are closed, this setting will automatically change to ‘false’, indicating the job will no longer generate additional timesheet periods (or automatic timesheets if positions are included in the generator).

• Closing Time: Select the time - Hour/Minute/Period (AM/PM) - when a period should be automatically closed.

• Start Date: Select the date when automatic periods should begin to be generated. For example, the start date may coincide with the start date of a payroll period.

• Available Future Periods: Select the number of future periods to be created when the automatic period generator is enabled.

  • Example: If your start date is 11/01/2024, semi-monthly, and you enter 1 future period, once the generator is enabled, it will create 2 timesheet periods on the periods grid… the current period (11/1-11/15) and the future period (11/15-11/30). Please refer to Automatic Period Generator Example for more details.

• Timesheet Reminders: Sends an email reminder to timesheet employees notifying them of the upcoming timesheet period closing date.

• Duration: Select the duration. The duration must coincide with the USPS Pay Plan. Your period ending date options will change based on the Duration chosen:

  • Weekly: Required to enter a ‘Period Ending Day.’

  • Bi-Weekly: Required to enter a ‘Period Ending Day.’

  • Semi-Monthly: Required to enter a First Period Ending Date and a Second Period Ending Date

  • Monthly: Required to enter a ‘First Period Ending Date.’

• Close on a non-business day: Option to move the closing date if it happens to fall on a non-business day to a business day. For example, if the closing date were to fall on a Sunday, use this option to move the closing date to the next business day. This option is currently not working ESS-860.

• Months to Skip: Option to disallow timesheets to be created for a specified month(s)

• Period Ending Day: If ‘weekly’ or ‘biweekly’ duration is selected, the period ending day must be selected.

• Period Closing Day: You can either use the pre-defined setting under System>Configuration>Timesheet Period Close Configuration for the closing day or select a custom day to close the period.

• Positions: If position(s) are added, it automatically creates timesheets for the specified employee’s positions when the related period is auto-generated. If left blank, it will not auto-create timesheets. Instead, the user will manually create their timesheets via Timesheets>My Timesheets.

You may create multiple automatic period generator jobs as long as the timesheet periods defined in the job do not coincide with existing timesheet periods. All automatic period generator jobs are displayed in the grid. The actual timesheet period(s) created are displayed in the Period grid.

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• View the details of the Automatic Period Generator job.

• Edit an existing Automatic Period Generator job.

• Delete an existing Automatic Period Generator job [as long as the job is running (true)]. If an Automatic Period Generator job is deleted, a confirmation message will appear indicating the number of positions associated with the Periods generated during that time. 

  • NOTE: Periods created by the Automatic Period Generator, along with their associated timesheets, will remain intact and will not be deleted.

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• Listed below is the Automatic Period Generator setup for the example. The start date is 11/01/2024, the frequency is semi-monthly, and 1 future period will be created. This setup is configured to automatically close each period 3 days after the period end date, and a specified position is selected.

  • NOTE: If position(s) are not added in the Automatic Period Generator setup, employees must manually create their timesheets via ‘My Timesheets’.

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• Once the generator is enabled and running:

  • In this example, the Automatic Period Generator will create 2 timesheet periods, which will be displayed under the Periods grid. In the example, the current period (11/1-11/15) and the future period (11/15-11/30) are created. Both will be open by default.

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• Since a position was included in the Automatic Period Generator setup, the system will automatically create timesheets for both periods for the employee’s position. The employee's timesheet will be displayed under the Timesheets grid.

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• Once the 1st period (11/1-11/15) automatically closes on 11/18 at 11:59 PM, the next period (12/1-12/15) will automatically generate and display under the Period grid. Employee’s timesheet for the 12/1-12/15 period will be automatically created.

  • Once the 2nd period (11/15-11/30) automatically closes (on 12/3 at 11:59 PM), the next period (12/16-12/31) will automatically generate and display under the Period grid. Employee’s timesheet for the 12/16-12/31 period will be automatically created.

  • The automatic period generator will continue this cycle of automatically generating periods (and timesheets if positions are included in the setup) as long as the generator is enabled and the prior period is closed automatically. WARNING: Closing an auto-generated period manually via the Period grid will NOT automatically create the next period.

This option may be used if your district prefers to create timesheet period(s) manually rather than using the Automatic Period Generator. Multiple Timesheet periods may be created manually, provided that the specified timesheet periods do not overlap. Fields marked with a bullet to the right of the field name are required fields. Once the timesheet period(s) are generated, they will be displayed in the Period grid.

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Click to create a new timesheet period.

• Begin: Select the date the period should begin. For example, the beginning date may coincide with the start date of a payroll period.

• End: Select the date the period should end. For example, the end date may coincide with the end date of the payroll period.

• Close Date & Time: This field will auto-populate with the closing date and time if Periods are configured to automatically close periods via System>Configuration>Timesheet Period Close Configuration.

• Description: (optional) Enter a description defining the timesheet period. NOTE: When a period is generated automatically, it will not contain a description.

Click to save the timesheet period or Cancel to return to the Period grid. The period will be open by default and will remain open until it is closed manually or automatically.

Periods created either manually or via the automatic period generator will be displayed in the Period grid.

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• View an existing Timesheet period. While viewing, you may also Edit the period, X out to Close the pop-up, Open/Close the period, and generate an Audit Report for the period.

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  • - Audit Report allows an Audit report to be generated using the defined start and end dates.

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  • will close the Pop Up window to return to the Grid

  • - When editing a Closed Timesheet Period, you can click to open the period.

  • - When editing an Open Timesheet Period, you can click to close the period.

     

• Edit an existing Timesheet period. NOTE: The timesheet period must be opened to edit it.

• Delete an existing Timesheet period. NOTE: You can only delete an open timesheet period.

• Open a Timesheet period.

• Close an open Timesheet period. WARNING: Closing an auto-generated Timesheet period via the ‘close’ icon (or ‘close period’ button when viewing a period) will NOT automatically create the next period.

  • When closing a period, a confirmation box will appear displaying the number of timesheets within the specified period, their approval statuses, and the total number of timesheets for the period.

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Before an employee can create a timesheet, it is recommended to create a shift for their position. Doing so will automatically populate the start and stop times on the timesheet with the shift’s times. A single shift can be assigned to multiple positions. If no shift is defined, the timesheet will default to a Flexible Shift.

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• Name: Enter a Shift Name.

• Start Time/End Date: Select a start and ending time for the shift.

• Break Time: Enter a break time (i.e. 1.0 for an hour break, 0.50 for a half-hour break, etc).

• Hours in Work Day: The hours in the work day are required. Currently, the start/end times, break time, and hours in a workday do not check (balance) against one another.

• Flexible Shift: If this flag is enabled, the start/end time fields and the hours worked field are disabled. Please refer to Flexible Shift for more information.

• Select Position for this Shift: Add one or more positions that should be included in this shift.

  • NOTE: It will only display employees who have a user account in ESS and have marked the USPS record as a timesheet employee.

  • The employee’s name is included on the drop-down position list for selection.

After a position has been assigned a shift, when a user creates a timesheet for that position, all shift data will be prefilled for that user’s timesheet.

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• - View an existing shift. When viewing a Timesheet Shift, you have the option to Edit the Shift and generate an Audit report on that specific Timesheet Shift.

  • Audit Report allows an Audit report to be generated using the defined start and end dates.

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• - Edit an existing shift NOTE: The timesheet period must be opened to edit the shift.

• - Delete an existing shift. NOTE: A warning message will display with the number of positions currently associated with this shift.

• - Reset grid to original options

• - More option that allows selection of data to include on the grid

If a shift is created and the flexible shift flag is enabled, the split shift checkbox, the start/ending time, and the hours worked fields are disabled. Enter the break time (i.e. 0.5 for half an hour), select the positions, and click Create.

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When the employee creates their timesheet and selects the position associated with the flexible shift, the start time and end time will be blank on each line item. Once both the start and end times are entered, the hours worked field will be automatically calculated. A Timesheet can be saved if some of the line items have blank start/end times; however, the timesheet cannot be submitted until all times are filled in.

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Allows for 2 time periods to be defined for one shift. If selecting the checkbox for Split Shift, the flexible shift will be disabled. Enter the break time (i.e. 0.5 for half an hour), select the positions, and click Create.

If selecting Split Shift, the Flexible Shift can no longer be used. Then the 2 sets of times can be set for the shift, and the positions can be entered.

The ‘Break Time’ box is for the 1st set of Start/End times, and the ‘Split Break Time’ is for the Split Start/End times. Note that the combined break time will never force the hours worked to be less than what’s listed in the shift; you may not see all of the break time applied to the hours.

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Timesheet holidays are periods or specific dates during which timesheets are restricted due to a holiday. Timesheet Holidays will be reflected on any existing and/or future timesheets that fall on the Timesheet Holiday’s date and time. Since holiday hours do not apply to FLSA hours, Holiday hours will be reflected as zero on the user’s timesheet.

From Timesheet Manager,

1. Click ‘Create.’

2. Provide a Label for the timesheet holiday.

3. Check Notify Managers if you want Timesheet Managers to receive an email when a timesheet is submitted during the holiday date range.

4. Check ‘Enabled’ to activate the holiday.

5. Check Entire Day if it applies to the entire day, or leave unchecked to select a start/ending time.

6. Select start and end dates for your holiday period.

   1. When the Timesheet Holiday includes a span of multiple days, the user will be asked to confirm the creation of the Holiday,

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7. If any specific timesheet types should be included in the holiday, select all that apply. Leave empty to select all activity types.

8. You can filter by employee and their position. (or leave blank to include all positions for an employee).

9. If specific employees are not selected, you can filter by Pay Group and/or Department Codes.

10. Click ‘Create’ to save your holiday or ‘Cancel' to exit without saving changes.

When a user creates their timesheet, any holiday that falls within the timesheet period will automatically be marked as a holiday on the timesheet.

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The Timesheet Holiday grid allows users to filter holiday information by entering their search query in the filter row.

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• View entire holiday record.

• Edit an existing holiday record.

• Delete an existing holiday record.