What is a timesheet approval workflow?

A timesheet approval workflow is a structured review step between time being tracked and time being billed. Team members submit their weekly timesheet, an assigned approver (typically a manager) reviews each entry, and only approved time becomes invoiceable. Rejected entries are returned with a reason so the submitter can fix and resubmit.

Why do agencies and service teams need timesheet approvals?

Two reasons. First, accuracy: junior staff and contractors benefit from a second pair of eyes on the description and duration before that line item lands on a client invoice. Second, control: managers want to make sure cryptic, missing, or non-billable entries are not being charged out by mistake.

Does every team member need approvals?

No. Each member has a requires-approval flag. Senior people whose entries are already trusted can be left off the workflow; juniors and contractors who need a review pass through it. New entries for members requiring approval are automatically marked Unsubmitted.

Does time logged against a support conversation go through approvals too?

Yes. Time logged from a thread in the Customer Support Inbox is an ordinary time entry, so it follows the same rules as everything else: it belongs to the member who logged it, it appears on their weekly submission, and it is only invoiceable once approved. Approvers see it in the same review screen alongside project work.

Can rejected timesheets be resubmitted?

Yes. When an approver rejects with a reason, the submitter sees the reason on the entry, fixes the issue (clarifying a description, splitting a long block, correcting a duration), and resubmits. The full audit trail of who approved or rejected what stays on the record.

What stops approved time from being edited later?

Submitted entries awaiting review and approved entries are locked against edits and deletion. A rejected pending submission can be corrected and resubmitted. Rejecting a submission does not unlock entries that have already been approved.

Use case

Timesheet approval software

Review every hour before it hits a client invoice. Members submit weekly timesheets. Managers approve or reject with a reason. Members who require review need approved hourly entries before invoicing. The audit trail is complete.

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Timesheet review · Matt Rivera · Feb 10 to 16

Mon 10 · 6.5h

Approve Reject

Acme Corp · Rebuilt the checkout flow; tested across browsers.

Tue 11 · 4.0h

Approve Reject

Startup Inc · Migration planning meeting.

Wed 12 · 8.0h Rejected

Acme Corp · "Worked on stuff". Needs detail.

Before the client sees it

Unreviewed timesheets are where billing errors get through

Most teams have the story. A junior logged a 12-hour day that was actually 4 hours. A contractor's "Worked on Acme" entry made it onto the invoice. A description that looked fine at the time read terribly when the client got the PDF.

A weekly approval step takes minutes per manager and catches most billing errors before they reach a client.

Junior descriptions go straight to clients with no editing pass.
Contractors forget to log time and the manager does not know until invoice day.
Non-billable hours sneak onto billable invoices.
Errors are caught after the invoice has already been sent.

The mechanics

How approvals work in Hour Cap

Turned on per person, reviewed a week at a time, and enforced at the point the invoice is built.

Approvals only where you need them

Mark which members require approval and who their approver is. Senior staff submit and ship; juniors and contractors get a review pass. Nobody has to be in a workflow that does not fit them.

A requires-approval flag per member
Assign an approver, who must be a manager or above
New entries auto-marked Unsubmitted, ready for the next weekly submit

Team approval settings

Jonathan Bird · Owner No approval

Sarah Kim · Manager No approval

Matt Rivera · Employee Approved by Sarah

Alex Chen · Contractor Approved by Sarah

Approve or reject with a reason

The review screen shows every entry for the week. Approve in bulk or one at a time. Reject with a written reason and the submitter sees what to fix.

Approve, reject, or comment on individual entries
The rejection reason is visible to the submitter
Fix and resubmit in the same flow

Rejected, with a reason

Wed 12 · 8.0h · Acme Corp Rejected

"Worked on stuff"

Sarah Kim wrote

Eight hours needs more than three words. Split it by task and say what changed for the client.

Review required members before billing

Entries in PendingApproval and Approved status are locked. The invoice wizard only includes approved entries, and entries that do not require approval at all. Nothing in flight ends up on a client invoice by accident.

That includes time logged against a support conversation, which is an ordinary time entry and follows exactly the same rules.

Submitted entries lock automatically, with no further edits
The invoice wizard scopes to approved or no-approval-needed entries
A full audit trail: who approved, who rejected, what reason, and when

Entry status

Tracked Unsubmitted

Submitted Pending · locked

Reviewed Approved · invoiceable

Setup

Turn approvals on in three steps

Decide who needs a review, point them at an approver, and let the weekly rhythm do the rest.

Choose

Pick who needs approvals

Usually juniors and contractors. Senior people whose entries are already trusted can be left off entirely, so nobody is reviewing work that never needed reviewing.
Assign

Map each submitter to an approver

One approver can cover many people, and must be a manager or above. Approvers see everything their people logged that week, including hours from support threads.
Review

Friday submit, Monday review

The cycle takes minutes. By the time you reach invoicing, only approved entries are eligible and nothing still in review can be pushed to Xero.

What an approval step changes

Errors caught internally The bad description gets fixed by a manager, not queried by a client.

Invoices you can stand behind Required time reviews happen before hourly invoicing; fixed fees follow the agreed price.

Alex edited an entry 2m

Sam approved a week 1h

Mei deleted an entry 3h

A complete audit trail Who approved what, when, and why anything was sent back.

Better habits downstream People write clearer descriptions when they know somebody reads them on Monday.

Related use cases

Run your monthly billing Close the month with reviewed time. Write invoice-ready descriptions What approvers are looking for. Bill the client email Support hours, on the same weekly submission. For agencies A common reason agencies adopt time tracking.

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Common questions

Jonathan Bird, freelance web developer and creator of Hour Cap

Why I built Hour Cap

I'm Jonathan, a freelance web developer in Brisbane, Australia. After 15 years, I wanted my client work to run on one system instead of separate tools that didn't handle retainers or Xero, copy/paste errors, and time that never got invoiced. I needed one tool that handled retainers, fixed-price, and hourly projects, let me write proper multi-line descriptions, showed me what was actually profitable, and pushed straight to Xero as invoices. Nothing did all of it, so I built one. Today it is pivotal to my business: all my time tracking, invoice drafting, and profitability runs through Hour Cap, and it scales the same way for agencies and teams.

Jonathan Bird · Freelance web developer · Creator of Hour Cap

Independent and self-funded. When you email support, you reach the person who built it.

More about Jonathan

Approve before you invoice

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