How to approve a time entry#
For: Manager You’ll need: A finished shift on the timesheet — confirmed first, if your company uses dual approval — and a management role, such as Manager, with access to the shift’s location.
You’ll move a single row to ‘Approved’ — the final state before payroll. Approval stamps the audit trail with your name and the time, so reports and exports can rely on it.
Approve the row#
In the sidebar, go to Planning → Management → Timesheet.
Find the row you want to approve.
Click ‘Approve’ on the row.
Tap More in the bottom bar, then ‘Manager’, then ‘Timesheets’.
Find the row you want to approve — each row names the employee under the shift times.
Tap the row, then tap ‘Approve’ in the sheet that opens.
The badge on the row turns to ‘Approved’ in place; the list keeps your scroll position. On a row nobody has clocked, ‘Approve’ records the scheduled hours first, just as on the web.
What approve does#
The status flips to ‘Approved’.
The audit fields (approver and timestamp) are stamped.
In manager-approval-only mode, a row with no clock times first gets the scheduled hours, confirmed as you — on the web and in the app.
Approval needs a clock-in and a clock-out that has already passed — the one-click fill above supplies them — and it’s refused on a shift the person declined. A row whose clock-out was closed automatically offers no ‘Approve’ until someone verifies or corrects the time — see How to turn on automatic clock-out.
Note
In dual-approval mode, ‘Approve’ isn’t offered until the row is confirmed — you’ll see ‘Awaiting confirmation’ instead. The person must confirm their hours first, or you can confirm on their behalf. A bulk ‘Approve’ skips such a row and leaves it exactly as it was. See How confirmation and approval work.
Tip
In manager-approval-only mode you don’t need a separate confirm step: ‘Approve’ on a row with no clock times — on the web or in the app — records the scheduled hours, confirms them as you, and approves the row in one click. The bulk ‘Approve’ on the web does the same for every selected row. See How to use bulk actions on the timesheet.
In ‘Automatic’ mode the hourly sweep approves most rows on its own. ‘Approve’ is there for the completed rows it holds back — rows with a break issue nobody’s answer or reason explains, hours people typed in themselves, and rows someone unapproved.
Approval and its reversal check the current time entry. Repeating an action from an older page cannot replace the recorded decision or its reason. If the row was approved in the meantime — in another tab, or by a colleague — ‘Approve’ changes nothing: the web says “Timesheet was already approved.”, and the app simply refreshes the list.
Verify it worked#
The row’s status badge reads ‘Approved’, and the only action left on the row is ‘Unapprove’. The row appears in payroll and approval reports.
Approval locks the row#
Approving freezes the row: it offers no ‘Confirm’, ‘Undo confirmation’ or ‘Edit’ until you unapprove it, and saving new times is refused. Approval is the only lock Shiftavo applies. See What a locked row looks like on the timesheet.