Timesheet Approval Process - Overlapping Updates

[JBJC]

We are entering actual work hours on a daily basis but approving them by
weekly time period. The following scenario occurs:

Step 1 - Resource A enters time for week one on a daily basis
Step 2 - At the beginning of week two (current period), Resource Manager
approves time for Resource A for week one (previous period)
Step 3 - Project Manager approves and updates the work plan after the
Resource Manager has approved previous period time entry

As Step 3 is being completed for previous period, actuals are being entered
by Resource A for current period. All updates get carried into the work plan
at the time of the update regardless of the previous/current reporting
periods. It appears that the project manager cannot control updates by
reporting period. Now when the Resource Manager goes to approve time for the
following week, it's missing from the Approve Timesheet view because the
project manager inadvertently included it in the last approval round.

Can this situation be avoided? Is the only way to prevent this is in
keeping the current week reporting period closed until all approvals are
completed for previous week (which can take two days)?

Thanks for any insights.

 

[Victoria]

Excellent question! I would like to hear a response to this as well, as it
may shed some light on our own ongoing approval woes!

Victoria

 

[Mike]

Some thoughts: The resource manager approval process is pretty limited.
It is essentially informational. The timesheet summary view better
shows the state of play with departmental timesheets. The timesheet
status flag is set by period by RM when approving the timesheet. The
PM accept flag is simply on or off at the task assignment level (not
period based). As soon as a timesheet is populated the PM flag is
removed. When PM updates it is changed to accepted.
When a timesheet is populated on a daily basis it can be saved or
updated. If updated a message is sent to the PM it also makes the
Timesheet available for RM approval. Simply saving the timesheet means
it gets caught up by your PM' approval process ( He can't do a part
approval/update) but is not visible to the RM. However if the resource
at some point before the end of the week clicks the update rather than
the save button it should be flagged for approval by the RM. It's
probably impractical stopping individuals populating the timesheet when
it suits them so probably the best process is to have PM's accept
timesheets first without waiting on RM approval. RM approval can the
follow at a more leisurely pace during the week with any adjustments
being made by an administrator.

regards

Mike