How-to
    Core Workflows

    Approve staff time entries

    Learn how to review, approve, and lock staff time entries. This ensures accurate billing and payroll, and provides reliable data for job costing.

    4 min read
    Updated June 3, 2026

    This guide shows you how to approve time entries submitted by your staff members. Approving time entries locks them, which is a critical step for accurate invoicing and payroll.

    The approval process creates a formal checkpoint for time tracking. It helps you catch errors before they affect a client's invoice or a staff member's pay. It also improves the accuracy of your reporting on job profitability and staff utilization.

    Before you start

    • You need the Admin security role or a custom role with the Approve Time Entries permission enabled.
    • Your staff members must have submitted their weekly time for review. You cannot approve time entries that are still in a Draft status.

    Review and approve time by week

    Use this method to review and approve all the time a staff member submitted for a specific week or pay period.

    1. Navigate to Time → Approvals.
    2. The view defaults to the current week with the Status filter set to Pending Approval. You can use the filters at the top of the page to change the Date Range or view time with other statuses like Approved or Rejected.
    3. You will see a list of staff members who have submitted their time for the selected period.
    4. Click on a staff member’s name to expand their row and view their individual time entries for the week.
    5. To reject the submitted time, click the More actions (...) menu in the staff member's row and select Reject. You must enter a reason, which is shared with the staff member so they can make corrections.
    6. To approve the time for that single staff member, click the Approve button in their row.
    💡 Tip: To approve time for multiple staff members at once, select the checkbox next to each name. An action bar will appear at the top of the list. Click Approve Selected.

    Review and approve individual time entries

    If you need to approve a single time entry instead of a full week, you can do so from the main time log.

    1. Navigate to Time → Time Entries.
    2. Use the filters to find the entries you want to approve. You can filter by Staff Member, Job, Date Range, and Status.
    3. Click the checkbox next to one or more time entries.
    4. An action bar appears at the top of the list. Click Approve.
    5. A confirmation dialog will appear. Click Approve again to lock the entries.
    ⚠️ Heads up: Once a time entry is approved, it becomes locked. Standard staff members cannot edit or delete locked time entries. An Admin must first unlock the entry to allow changes.

    Good to know

    • Unlocking Entries: An Admin can unlock an approved time entry. Find the entry, click the More actions (...) menu, and select Unlock Time Entry. This moves it back to a Draft status for editing.
    • Invoiced Entries: You cannot unlock or edit a time entry that has been added to an invoice. You must first remove the time entry from the draft or final invoice before you can make changes.
    • Approval Statuses: Time entries have four statuses: Draft (in progress), Pending Approval (submitted), Approved (locked), and Rejected (sent back for edits).
    • Non-Billable Time: The approval process is the same for both billable and non-billable time entries.

    What's next

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