Submitting Time

A user can go back and edit any of the entries in their active timesheet. At some point (typically weekly or monthly), users will need to go to the Daily Routine...Submit Timesheet menu item and then click the GO button to submit their active timesheet. Once they do, the timesheet will be marked submitted and users won't be able to edit that time any longer.

Users can always go back and review old timesheets by selecting the Time Entry...Review Old Time menu item. Time in this screen, however, can only be viewed, not edited. Once time is submitted, only administrators and managers can edit it.

Keep in mind that you don't need to submit time in order for it to appear in your management screens and reports. Time that hasn't been submitted yet is typically red-flagged (because the user could delete it tomorrow or decide that they made a mistake and change it).

Timesheet Rules

Some firms activate various time entry rules (e.g. - only 40 hours of "regular" time or all time for certain classes of projects must be marked no-charge or other optional rules). Those timesheet rules are applied when a user submits their time. If a timesheet violates any of those corporate rules, the system will reject it and ask the user to correct the problems and resubmit the time.

Activating Timesheet Rules. Timesheet rules like these are simple adjustments to your BigTime database. Check out the BigTime support site (or contact your sales rep) if there are rules you'd like to apply to your system.

Submitting Time Step-by-Step

1. Goto the Daily Routine... Submit Timesheet screen.
2. Select a timesheet period (note that the system will show you how much un-submitted time you have in the system for the period you've selected).
3. Click the GO button at the bottom of the submission page. BigTime will queue up your request and then let you know when the transaction has completed.

Submitting Another User's Time

While most firms ask their staff to submit their own time personally (as a way of providing a "digital signature" on the timesheet), users with special privileges can submit time on behalf of other users in the system.

In order to submit someone else's time, you'll need to have permission 3.1 in the system's security settings (administrators have that permission by default).

1. Goto the Tools... Collect Time/Expenses screen. There, you'll see a list of every active staff member in the system. You'll also see a column indicating the total number of un-submitted hours each individual has in the system.

   

2. Click on the row for the staff member you'd like to submit. When you do, you'll "highlight" that row, and you'll see a submission icon ( ) appear next to their un-submitted time.
3. Click on the submission icon to pop up a "submit" screen for the user you've highlighted.
4. Select the timesheet period you'd like to submit, and then click the GO button to submit that user's time.

EMail Integration

If you'd like to have BigTime send out email reminders to your staff when timesheets are due, you can take a look at the Tools... System Settings... EMail Settings page(s) to activate and use any of the timesheet email reminders that the system supports.

Take a look at the EMail Settings section for more information on how to configure BigTime's system emails. The program supports emails that can be sent out a few days before the end of each timesheet period, and it also supports emails that will go out once a timesheet period is completed. Each email is described in the EMail Settings page(s), so refer to the Tools... Options... Email Settings page for more information.