Approving Timesheets
Understand the approval workflow, approve individual or bulk entries, handle disputes from clients, and learn what happens once entries are locked.
Before You Start
What you need to approve timesheets.
Before you start
- Access to the TempClock manage portal (/manage)
- Permission to approve timesheets (Admin, Manager, or authorised Client Portal user)
- Time entries that are in Pending status
You should review entries before approving them. Once approved, entries are locked and feed directly into payroll reports. Getting it right first time avoids headaches later.
How the Approval Workflow Works
The three stages every timesheet entry goes through.
Every time entry in TempClock follows a simple three-stage workflow:
kiosk or manually
or client checks it
ready for payroll
Entries start as Pending when a worker clocks in. They stay in this state until someone reviews and either approves or disputes them.
Pending — awaiting review, can be edited
Approved — locked and ready for payroll
Disputed — flagged with an issue, needs correction
Who Can Approve Timesheets?
Three roles have the ability to approve entries.
Timesheet approval is not limited to one person. Depending on how your agency is set up, approvals can come from:
Giving clients access to approve timesheets via the portal saves you time and builds trust. They can review entries for their own site and flag any issues directly.
Approving a Single Entry
How to approve one entry at a time.
Navigate to Timesheets
In the sidebar, click Timesheets. Use the filters to show only Pending entries if you want to focus on what needs your attention.
Click on the entry
Click on the row to open the entry detail panel. Review the clock-in time, clock-out time, duration, and match score to make sure everything looks correct.
Click "Approve"
At the bottom of the detail panel, click the green Approve button. The entry status will change to Approved immediately.
Bulk Approving Entries
Approve an entire week of entries at once.
If you have reviewed all the entries for a period and they look correct, you can approve them all at once rather than clicking through each one individually.
Filter by the week or date range
Use the date range filter to select the week you want to approve. You can also filter by a specific location or worker if needed.
Click "Select All" or use the checkbox
At the top of the timesheets table, tick the select all checkbox. This selects every visible entry on the current page. Alternatively, tick individual entries you want to approve.
Click "Bulk Approve"
With entries selected, the orange Bulk Approve button will appear at the top of the table. Click it to approve all selected entries at once.
Confirm the action
A confirmation dialog will appear showing how many entries you are about to approve. Click Yes, approve all to proceed.
Bulk approve only applies to Pending entries. Any entries that are already approved or disputed will be skipped automatically.
Handling Disputes
What happens when an entry is disputed by a client.
Clients who use the client portal can dispute entries they believe are incorrect. When an entry is disputed, it is flagged with a Disputed status and includes notes from the client explaining the issue.
Find disputed entries
On the Timesheets page, filter by Status: Disputed to see all entries that have been flagged. You will also see a notification on the dashboard when new disputes come in.
Read the client's notes
Click on a disputed entry to open the detail panel. Scroll down to see the dispute reason left by the client. This might say something like “Worker left early, should be 15:30 not 16:00” or “Worker was not at this location”.
Investigate and resolve
Check the details, talk to the worker or site supervisor if needed, and then decide what to do:
- Edit the entry to correct the times, then approve it
- Approve as-is if the client was mistaken and the times are correct
- Delete the entry if it was created in error (rare — this also gets logged)
“This worker left at 15:30, not 17:30. Please check and correct.”
Responding to disputes promptly builds a good relationship with your clients. They can see when a dispute has been resolved in their portal.
What Happens After Approval
Approved entries are locked and protected.
Once an entry is approved, it becomes locked. This means:
If you need to change an approved entry, you will first need to un-approve it. Click on the approved entry and use the Revert to Pending option. This unlocks the entry so you can make edits, but it also logs the revert in the audit trail.
Only Admins can un-approve entries. This is intentional — it prevents accidental changes to data that has already been processed for payroll.
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