Project Approvals vs. Timesheet Approvals

Project Approvals manage individual project entries; Timesheet Approvals manage the entire timesheet period. When Project Approvals are enabled, required project entries must be approved by the Project Manager before the timesheet can be finally approved/locked by the employee’s Default Timesheet Approver. This guide explains how the two layers interact, who is notified, where to review each, and how to resolve common blockers.

Who is this for? Admins and Managers who use both Project Approvals and Timesheet Approvals and need to understand the hand-off between them.

Mental model

• Project Approvals manage entries (by Project).
• Timesheet Approvals manage the timesheet period.

Order of operations

1. Employee submits the timesheet (entries requiring project review are flagged).
2. Project Manager reviews items on the Project Approvals tab and Approves/Rejects with comments.
   
3. When all required project items are Approved, the timesheet routes to the Default Timesheet Approver for final approval/lock.

What you’ll see in the UI

• Project Approvals tab — Filter by Project, Date, Person, Status; open Details to see date/hours/coding/notes; Approve or Reject (comment required on reject).
  
  
• Timesheet Review list — You can filter to surface timesheets impacted by project approvals: set Status to include entries in Waiting for Project Approval.
  

Notifications — who sees what

• When project entries require review: Email + Dashboard Approval Inbox card to the Project Manager.
  
• After project items are cleared: Email + Dashboard card to the employee’s Default Timesheet Approver.
  

Coverage & permissions

• Admins can approve project entries across the account.
• Managers can approve project entries only if assigned as the project’s Project Manager.
• Timesheet approval can be completed by the Default Approver (or any permissioned Admin/Manager acting in place, per your org’s permissions settings).

Undo Submission

• Employees can Undo Submission from Timesheet View while project approvals are pending. In weekly models where Week View is enabled, employees may submit from Week View, but unsubmit from Timesheet View.
  
• Previously Approved project entries are remembered on resubmission unless changed; changed/new entries that require review return to the Project Manager.

Known limitations

• DCAA: Accounts with DCAA Compliance features enabled cannot use Project Approvals.
• Override Timesheets: Not available while a period is in Waiting for Project Approval or Waiting for Approval; reject/unlock first if edits are needed.
• Disabling Project Approvals: Turning the feature off will remove existing project-approval data associations for past entries.
• Mobile: Project Approvals are not available in the mobile app; use the web app for review/approval.